Maison Close Restaurant — Restaurant in New York

I went to this restaurant for my birthday with a small group of friends in September. We chose the 10 PM late seating for dinner on a Sat night, and brought a birthday cake that we wanted to share later on in the evening. The night started great - until we were blindsided with an extremely expensive bottle of champagne that we didn't order/was poured without our consent, and then were stuck with the bill. As someone who has worked in restaurants, hospitality, and with luxury clientele, I would never recommend this establishment and would NEVER come back.

We were seated promptly and orders taken quickly. We ordered 1 round of cocktails, 3-4 appetizers and $80 bottles of rose to share. We were planning on having a night out here, but aren't people who order flashy club bottle service or anything in the thousands. About 30 minutes into dinner, my fiance asked if we could order a bottle of Don Julio or Casamigos tequila for the table assuming it would be $300-400 at most, and was taken into a different room to "see options." Once he went there, servers tried to force him into ordering a bottle of Ace of Spades in order to order a bottle of tequila. We were not planning on spending anywhere near that amount and definitely not on champagne, so he declined and wasn't allowed to order the tequila... already quite strange.

We continue on with our night, ordering more of the $80 rose (the only other alcohol we ordered for the rest of the night), and then the servers come out with a Magnum bottle of the same rose asking if we wanted that. We asked what the price was and it was $300+, so we declined and told them we were fine with out current selection. Again, we are not trying to rack up a massive bill

Now our night has progressed without any other incident, we ordered more rose throughout the evening, and it's 1:20 AM. My birthday cake that we had brought still hadn't been brought out, and the restaurant closes at 2 AM. One of my friends asked about it, and the restaurant must've forgotten because immediately after that it was brought out. Following that, the servers make a huge show of pouring champagne in my and my friends mouths immediately following the cake. We hadn't ordered champagne but having been to multiple nightlife establishments like Lavo, Bounce, the former Bagatelle, etc, this is something that those places do when someone is celebrating an occasion to create a show.

At this point it's 1:40 AM and the restaurant is starting to clear out, so we ask for the bill. To expedite, my fiance gives his credit card and asks them to bring the bill for him to sign for our group.

Imagine our shock when I see that bottle they had just made a show of pouring was $1350 and is on our bill?! We hadn't ordered that, to be honest I don't even like champagne and wouldn't have ordered champagne to begin with (aka why we had rose the whole night) and they poured it directly into our mouths without even asking?! Also at 1:30 AM, why would I order a bottle of alcohol at that price point, when the place is clearing out, lights are about to be turned on, and we are literally about to leave? I asked the server right there to take the bottle off and they go "you had a minimum and this bottle hits that minimum charge." Actually no, we had hit the minimum charge required before that bottle, and it's illegal/fraudulent to force an item onto a customer's bill without their express consent. Not once over the course of the evening was anything about this mentioned, and no one from my group ordered anything separate from me.

We disputed the bill with the server, and he refused to take the item off. We then disputed with AmEx, but because my fiancé had already given his card, it looked like we had ordered that bottle and they refused to credit us.

I mentioned this situation to my coworkers at the office and one of them says "oh that place is known for doing that". I was speechless. In summary, it appears this is a regular occurrence and unless you want to be swindled out of a significant amount of money, AVOID...

Was able to get last minute reservations at Maison Close this past Friday. Have been hearing a lot of great things so we decided to go for a girl's night dinner (3 Girls). Our reservation was at 10 PM but we got there around 9:20 PM and decided to grab some drinks at the bar. 2 espresso martinis and 1 glass of white wine ran us about $75.

After we got seated we ordered some apps. We got the Plateau de Fruits de Mer (Small Seafood Tower) and the Gnocchis aux Champignons de saison. Both were very good but the gnocchi was a small portion. For our main meal we decided to share the Linguine a la Truffe, Cote de Boeuf with a side of truffle fries and creamed spinach. The steak we got cooked medium was delicious, especially with the sauces they paired with it. Only recommendations we have are more sauce needed to be added to the linguine because it was very dry and the creamed spinach needed some work. We did not love the taste at all. During our meal they gave us some bread and butter, the butter was delicious. We continued the night with some cocktails, I got the Chouchout (watered down), and then we decided to get 3 bottles of Veuve Clicquot Rose. Each bottle was $280.00, and they brought out the bottle like they were serving us water. For a table of 3 girls getting these bottles there should have been a little more effort in how they brought it out to us. Not saying we needed a show but at least to be more attentive with the way they were serving an expensive bottle of champagne.

Some other issues we had was 1. An unpleasant encounter with the front desk host/bouncer but the manager (idk her name) was very quick to assess the situation and she was super helpful. 2. At the end of the night when paying the bill, I left a tip and the server made me add more money because "it wasn't enough tip". I was having a good night and didn't want to ruin my time with his behavior so I let it slide and gave him more money. Mind you our server half the time was dressing up and serving other tables their expensive bottle packages.

Would I be back? Probably. The atmosphere reminded me of a Miami restaurant/club vibe so I loved that a lot. There aren't a lot of places like this near us since we live in Jersey. There was also a dancer that came out like twice while we were eating which was super cool. Food and entertainment was good. I will give them that but, if they work on the staff we would be more likely to return...

(6/15 update)

I’m glad we gave Maison close another chance as our experience this time was fantastic. Management team went above and beyond to ensure best quality of EVERYTHING. They were professional and yet friendly. Expectations were met and more. And the entertainment towards the end of the night definitely gives them an interesting edge. We definitely enjoyed our food with amazing service and entertainment. Now this is the place I will recommend if you are looking for a great night in NYC!

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I want to like this place so much… but I just … really really can’t. Service was subpar, food was subpar, the entire dinner was just underwhelming and borderline annoying. Service, while they were friendly, it was sooooo very slow. Took 15-20 mins for a drink. Given the price tag, I really don’t care if it’s a week night and restaurant owner decided to have one bartender for entire restaurant. If I am paying ridiculously expensive price tag, I need the service to go with it. Dinner service was very slow as well, we were seated for 15 mins plus without anyone coming to even pour water, we had to flag down a very confused looking waiter with a pitcher of water. And after we finally placed our order, bread for the table took another 20 mins or so to appear… and that’s after we asked a few times. Appetizers, escargot came out lukewarm!!!! It was terrible. Did they just warm it up quickly??? Tuna tartar was prepared … weirdly with a bunch of garlics / onions chopped up on the side. And… don’t even get me started with our main courses. Why the need of over using vinegar? A fresh Bronzino does not need a lot of seasonings or vinegar. Unless it isn’t fresh and they were trying to mask it with vinegar? I can go on and on with my disappointment, but don’t want to waste anymore time on this place. Come here for parties if you must, but don’t bother with...