Maraca NYC — Restaurant in New York

so i attended Maraca on saturday 10/26. I first made a reservation on 10/01 i booked it through the website, later on i spoke to someone and i paid $100 for a deposit which i understood as a standard. as the time approached i reached out to said promoter or hostess and she said that everything is set. She then calls me on 10/25 and told me that they no longer have the service i booked for and that she would refund my money or go the next day, or just go to the establishment at a later time. I opted to go to the establishment at a later time. upon arrival they said they open at 11:00 pm so when i arrived i was surprise that they did in fact did not open until 11:45 pm. I mean you are running an establishment so it’s kinda weird that you didn’t even open up on time. nevertheless i got in with a party of 10 the security guard hassled me out of 20 dollars to bring in my vape and others for the same. Then had the audacity to charge $60 at the door, when i spoke to other promoters they claim that on saturday the entrance fee is no more than $30. So now we at $80 spent to get in. when i walked up the stairs the place was nicely decorated for the theme. I was somewhat greeted by a lady she claimed that she had my info and sat me down. A two seater green couch and half a table for 10 people that’s the section i “paid ” a $100 for that was supposed to go towards the bill. but i was catfish the area you people promote is not what is expected in real life its way too small to accommodate to the crowd you people bring in. The capacity they allow is not safe guaranteed i had an okay time. i don’t know if this spot doesn’t like black people but they sure do show favoritism for example, security kept coming to my section hassling me and others and demanded to see our bags periodically through out the night. mind you no one else was hassled like us the people behind us was smoking and yet security did nothing to them. next i have a hard time understanding how you guys have 3 different djs that share the same playlist? throughout the night i kept hearing the same songs on repeat i swear it was a loop of the same playlist just different djs talking. the server was okay she was barely there no comment. i seen the hookah people more than i saw her next i don’t understand how is im using the bathroom why is security banging on the door and yelling at me to hurry up. first of all it’s halloween i have on a costume it’s going to take some time to take it on and off rushing me for no reason knowing they have 10 rooms like bffr. the bill arrived ( spent 1.2k on three bottles btw) and they said they had no clue who the lady i spoke to was and why she took my 100 dollars and it somehow didn’t go towards the bill. so now im hunting down the lady for my $100 because why would you take it if it did nothing for me or the bill or the area i so called secured. anyways i got my $100 but honestly what was that. overall the ambiance was okay 7/10 the place and the staff 4/10 and at the bottom of this they’re going to say “80% of our comments are negative” yeah how about you do something about it and take criticism and adapt it to your place duhhh you’re better off going to Republica...

Gave a 2 because the DJ was ok but Horrible service on 12/22/24 night & way to expensive for such lack of hospitality. When I walked in, there’s a cover charge of $80 for men & $60 for women. I was with 3 other people so that was $200 for the entrance; as the birthday girl, I didn’t get charged. Clubs downtown Manhattan don’t have such a high cover charge and when you have a reserved table, your party doesn’t pay the entrance fee because they understand that you’re spending inflated prices on bottles so why charge at the door. Not Maraca [El Jefe used to be WAY better on hospitality pre-pandemic & spending $2k+ was nothing because they made you feel like celebrity] For those prices you would think, you’re about to get an excellent superb service. & no. After getting past the entrance, there’s a $10 coat check fee and then the rude, nasty waitresses. China is the worse of all and should be fired. That place needs training on hospitality because they clearly have no clue what that is. When we walked in on that Saturday night, no one approached us to help us not direct us to a table. We had to literally walk up to the waitresses that were jus either sitting or standing around with long faces. Horrible! Almost made me feel like I was bothering them for asking to spend $1000 at their venue. China was very unreasonable. I ordered the $700 birthday package and they didn’t even bring out the birthday banner not sparking candles. The $700 package had listed 2 premium bottles and a champagne and I only got one Moet and one Don Julio Reposado. Yet I paid $745. I then proceeded to order another bottle because honestly I didn’t want to argue with China about her messing up the order since she was being unreasonable and with an attitude from the beginning. Plus it was already 1am and I had no idea where else to go at that time. Unfortunately this place was recommended by a family member that works there but this place is so ghetto and unprofessional. I am often at venues with professional service and I had never been charged so much. On top of ordering a second Don Julio Reposado for an extra $340, the waitress assigned to our table only served the first drink and never came back around to make sure that we were ok or if we needed anything. I had 4 people and they gave me a table for 2. & they added gratuity automatically as if their service is great; one of my guests m was the one making the drinks- she should have got the Tip . I spent $1, 325 and the only thing that was ok was the DJ. They need to fire those botched body waitresses with nasty attitudes and hire people with great welcoming smiles so people want to continue coming back to spend their money. Start by firing China who is running those girls and doenst know what she’s doing… clearly the reviews here speak for itself which is why I had to chime in. Only a few good reviews and most likely from the same employees and/or friends/family members of employees. Now I think I will try Opus Lounge since I keep hearing great things about them but Maraca will never see a penny out my wallet....

Where do I begin?!!! Maybe should have read the reviews and taken them to heart. To begin with don't make a 1:30 reservation for 14ppl because that doesn't even exist. Apparently they don't open until 2pm. Well we did anyways, paid a $10pp deposit for a 1:30 reservation and told everyone be on time because they have a 15 minute grace period and everyone needs to be there to be seated. OK so we all get there at 1:30 and hold behold they aren't even open. A. Manager isn't there yet. B. Hostess who charges your deposit isn't there yet C. Staff is slowly arriving. So now we have to scramble to entertain 14 ppl. Found a spot OK great just having drinking. We get a text at around 2:15, oh we are ready. Great! We finish our drinks to get there at 2:30. Get here, FIRSTTTTT table to enter, but wait about 40 mns to order any type of drinks. But this isn't on the server. Until we asked if we could order drinks, Whats the deal, ok drinks on the way. Now we are rolling, we get to order food. Again don't blame the server because while he is getting our drinks, 10+ staff members are eating there lunch in plain sight. Again still only table here at this point (now about 330). OK great get drinks, get food cant complain. We are content at this point and now fast forward to close to about 4pm, wait another 30 mns to get a cake to be served because idk why at this point. Bring the cake and what not, now how do we serve the cake? Oh napkins! Because we don't have plates?!!!!!! At this point we are like we need to leave! Okkk another 45 mns to get a check because yes appreciate the one hookah and one complimentary meal, one the house, for your mistake but we have to go. We end up getting plates, our friend has to wait at the bar for 30 mns to pay (POS is down) and we get 45 mns complimentary mimosas and sangria (courtesy of the manager who had ZERO idea of what had occurred at this point) to get kicked out because the HOSTESS needs the table. At the end of the day, if you are planning a birthday or something special don't even think about it. If your bored and want messed up entertainment for a night out then by all means. Will never come again and I'm sure they aren't concerned because they will continue to run this...