Legacy Records — Restaurant in New York

if youre going for just a dinner, great, but if youre going for a special event - beware. this place fails even basic courtesy for events.

we went to celebrate my friends birthday. came early to discreetly give the restaurant a cake that we had custom made for her to put in the fridge beforehand as a surprise. hostess told the birthday girl about it when she arrived and ruined the surprise. however was an honest mistake of her not knowing who the bday girl was so we told the hostess that its okay she'll just act surprised at the table when the other guests arrive.

then we got appetizers, pasta, and meat entrees for the table. problem was each of these categories took about 45 min each (after we finished eating) to reach the table. it was a lot of waiting. food was great though.

after the meals were finished, instead of walking out with the cake, waitress then asked the whole table if we were ready for the cake, ruining the surprise this time for the whole table. (birthday girl couldnt even fake being surprised).

cake comes out and we thought we should ask if there was a cake cutting fee. waitress said she was unaware and would have to ask (also odd how you dont know? has no one brought a cake before?) but then left for another 30 minutes. we eventually flagged someone else down who likewise said they didnt know but guessed it was about $35. our waitress finally came back and said its $7 per person.

as all of us just had a significant meal, we asked if we could just divide the cake in half and then split the half amongst the guests, while the birthday girl could take the remaining half home. when we went to leave, the remaining half was given to us on a plate wrapped in aluminum foil(????). when we asked where the original cake box was, they said they threw it out. then we asked for at least a bag to bring it home in and they said they dont have any.

so youre telling me in an entire restaurant you dont have a single bag???? when you also do takeout???? that makes no sense. one of the other servers eventually gave us one. guess they managed to find one....

Been to more than 100 restaurants in NYC, and this was undoubtedly the worst. Like most people, I usually only rate if exceptionally good, or bad as this one.

Location (2/5) - is dubious to begin with

Food (2/5) - bread is good, roasted beets is fine. Everything else was so bad we literally poured back to the serving plate it came from. Carrots were tasteless and the snapper required water to wash the mouth off. The raviolo looked worse than the place itself.

Atmosphere (1/5) - was awful. We sat at a table for two for my fiancée's birthday. The gap between me and the person sitting behind me was so narrow that the poor staff had to rub against us every time. When I asked the host to move us to another table, even though the restaurant was unsurprisingly empty, he gave me a look of "sure but you owe me one". Bum. What's funnier, is that two minutes later when they moved us, we look back and see they rotated the tables 90 degrees. Geniuses.

Services (minus 50 out of 5) - ahhhh the icing on the cake. Worst I've ever ran to by a margin. Almost 10 minutes to get someone to even approach us. Who did? The manager of the restaurant. Clearly told her our food allergies. Nothing too strict - JUST NO SHELLFISH. Said twice. She came back to us saying - "so the spaghetti has anchovy, is that ok?" "sure, it was stated in the menu so we know, just no shellfish pls". When we took a bite and realized the food had shellfish, she said "did I say anchovy? I meant shellfish.". We both looked at her stunned. First grader's professionalism, at its finest. They even had the audacity to call us when we left and lie about the ingredients after. Ridiculous lol.

p.s. what manager doesn't know allergy restrictions for maybe the 5-6 items on the menu ever being...

I really enjoyed my night at Legacy Records. The atmosphere, service, and menu were incredible. Even the music was a vibe. The staff was mindful of my girlfriend's dietary restrictions right from the start.

We ordered the mackerel with pepitas and gooseberries (what a delightfully unexpected combo), grilled octopus, squid ink spaghetti with anchovy, pain d'epi legacy bread, oysters, scallops, japanese sweet potatoes, and prickly pear sorbet.

Maybe it was a silly story, but learning that their bread was imported from France and churned by nuns was hilarious. I loved that little bit of info.

I did order the squid ink spaghetti with anchovy anticipating a more fishy and salty flavor, but it tasted a bit on the bright with citrus side perhaps.

The mackerel and sweet potatoes were the big standouts for both of us, while everything else was still so exceptional...

However, we wanted to end the night with dessert, and unfortunately, the final impression was not a great one. We exchanged bites of the prickly pear sorbet, and both got a mouth full of sea salt that really pulled us out of the experience. I had to ask our waiter if that was intentional and it appeared to be so. I didn't want to be "one of those people" and return my food, so I tried to eat around it, but it really did put a damper on my mood. If this was noted on the menu or by my waiter prior, I could've asked to please hold the sea salt, and the food would be 5 stars. But I do thank you for an overall...