London Lennie's — Restaurant in New York

I’m going to describe our whole experience from beginning to end just to make it clear that this place isn’t what it used to be, isn’t worth your time nor money in the least. My family and I have been coming here since I was a child. I came back to visit my family recently and went to have dinner and drinks there before we went into the city for a show. Walk in, aren’t even greeted by the young hostesses while they were speaking with Sandy (we have known him since I was little) but we went on to the bar which was mildly busy and sat there waiting to order drinks. There are 2 bartenders, 1 older man and a younger blond woman. The male bartender is trying to get around while he seems to have a leg injury taking care of the whole bar while the blond one is talking to a man that looks like something out of a bad biker film for about 40 minutes, not helping the other bartender. We tried 3 times to get drinks and I went up to the blond and asked for her to help us, she says, “yeah, give me sec.” Then proceeded to smile at the guy she was talking to and start another conversation with him. Then we decided to go to hostess stand and get a table on the other side of the restaurant and we see the owner who greeted us kindly and directed the hostess to seat us with what he called the best server in the house, Andy. We were delighted after all the bustle and lack of kindness at the bar. We were seated in a nice area in the middle where our server described specials such as the king crab and wines. We told him that we weren’t interested in crab, lobster or wine (my father also has a crustacean allergy) and ordered our favorite appetizers the baked clams, shrimp cocktail, a hook and 2 cups of New England clam chowder. We would order our entrees later. We got 2 bowls of soup and told him that we ordered cups. He argues with us a bit and takes them back. We say we don’t want them anymore and he asked if we want to order entrees and mentions he has one crab left. We say no, we will wait. Then he comes back a few minutes later with 2 cups of soup and says it’s on him. He leaves us alone for a while we eat our appetizers and catch up. He comes back, would you like to order entrees? We ask for Sandy or Les. Andy leaves and we see Sandy walk past 4 times, he saw us but kept walking like he didn’t see we were unhappy. After we finally got his attention, he greeted us like he knew us and said there was nothing he could do about the poor service and Les had gone home. He wouldn’t even listen to us at all. It seemed like he was overwhelmed with a larger party but isn’t he the manager? We don’t know anymore. The point is this place has gone down the tubes. From the young bus boy kicking doors and swearing, the blond bartender being too busy talking to just make us a few drinks while the other bartender is obviously overwhelmed to this server that was rushing us because he couldn’t upsell us and tried to buy us off with soup to Sandy just basically talking over us and acting so fake- we had it, we just left cash on the table that was enough to cover our check and left. This place is not what it used to be, the food is decent but not worth the atmosphere and service. The staff seems so unhappy or like used car salesmen that it just makes you unhappy being around them. This place was our neighborhood staple for happy occasions. We will...

My boyfriend and I were excited to try this place out. We arrived at reservation time thinking we would be seated within the next 5-10 minutes or so. As we were waiting we overheard they were still waiting to sit there 8pm guests. The owners wife did a very kind gesture and gave all the waiting guests a glass of prosecco. About 9:20 we finally got seated. It was Valentine's Day so they had a special menu that we did not receive. We only knew about it due to everyone kept requesting Monkfish. About 5-10 minutes already seated, Our waiter came to the table, never greeting himself. He poured us water and asked us if we knew what we wanted. I informed him I wanted a glass of prosecco. He showed us a picture of the tiger shrimp special. Informed us it could be an appetizer or a main. We informed him we needed time to go over the menu. Why did we do that? It now became a waiting game. During the waiting period a server brings out the bread for the table. He returns back another 10 minutes with the prosecco. We have finally decided what we wanted. I asked him about the menu I saw online and he let me know those options were not available for the evening. Being that the paper menu was limited we went with options we knew would be good. We ordered the mussels in the spicy red sauce, fried calamari and the tiger shrimp. We also informed him of our main course. I went with the Nantucket scallops and truffle fries with asparagus. My boyfriend decided to go with a rib eye and a side order of fries. The waiter cleans the table off with his fancy tool and About 20 minutes later our appetizers came out. The waiter never comes and asks us if everything is okay. How is the food. Can I get you anything. Basic customer service. During that time I had finished my prosecco. A busboy comes and cleans off our empty dishes. When the waiter returns only part of our main course has arrived. I received my scallops and fries, my boyfriend received only his rib eye. I would assume since we both ordered fries we would receive them at the same time with our dishes . When the waiter finally did come over I had informed him I wanted another glass of prosecco. More than half way done with our food the basket of fries came out and the asparagus. I have yet to receive my glass of prosecco. We are now tired of waiting we finally just asked for our bill to be brought to us. That's when he realized he never brought me another glass of prosecco. I informed him I didn't want it. We were ready to go. Bringing out the check became another waiting process. We watched the couple who sat next to us receive better service. He informed them of his name if I'm not mistaken was Alex. Their raw bar was brought out to them in a timely manner. They even had chocolate kisses brought to them in between time. I understand it was Valentine's Day one of the busiest nights. However, food was delicious but the customer service was very poor! As much as we enjoyed our meal I don't think we would ever return after that experience. Simple communication could go a long way. I am paying for service as well as my food. I could have gone anywhere but I decided to spend my hard earned money...

The people rating this place as excellent now are local queens people who have no idea what fine dining is like. They have also never been to the precovid london lennies which under the son of the founder had still been run as a top shelf affair. London lennies has been sold and has become just another local city restaurant serving the masses.

We have been there 3 times since it was sold and reopened after covid and every time we felt as though the staff are untrained "diner" staff. The food is now like food we can get any place in queens. Yet it will drain your wallet the same as if it were in manhattan.

The bar has changed for the worse as well. It seems it has become a place for local degenerates. There was an older working class man at the bar who for whatever reason was snorting like an animal. Something might have been in his throat, i do not know, but get up and go to the restroom or step outside. And this kicker was this: they continued to serve alcohol to someone who should not have been drinking and probably to someone who should not have been in a bar. The person slid off their stool and ended up curled up on the floor. It took 2 staff to pick this person up and seat them and keep them from leaving before someone came to carry them out. We later found out that this had happen once before with the same person and the same bartender.

Bartender was inattentive as well. It took forever to get my drink order in. As we finished our first round of appitizers she never checked to see if we wanted more until the kitchen was about to close at which time she gave us a warning with a "we have to get that in before the kitchen closes". Had she let us go until after the kitchen closed, she would not have gotten any tip.

This place has become a parody of itself and it represents what is happening to america. Service is going down the toilet. The problem here is neither the owners nor staff understand what a fine dining experience is and the owners probably will not care to read this and if they did they would have no idea what i am talking about.

Save your money and go to a decent diner or go to bridies hamberger joint where you would expect to see a drunk fall...