Max Brenner New York — Restaurant in New York

The Flames From The Lamps Placed On The Table Here Could Easily Burn You; But Does Max Brenner Care?

It was meant to be a pleasant evening for five at a restaurant my wife and I had sold the other three on, since they hadn't been there before. The two of us have been going to Max Brenner for a while, and we were in agreement with just about everything on its menu and the place --- until that evening though.

Our problem wasn't with the food. It was with the tea-lamps the restaurant was using to create the ambience it wanted for its diners. Perhaps there had not been any incident until then for Max Brenner to think too much about the safety aspects of using such lamps. In many other dining places, the table-top illumination is powered by batteries or cables that run from outlets. Seldom is there a naked flame -- for obvious reasons.

In Max Brenner's case, not only was the fire real. It was also too high. The flame stretched well above the lip of the bowl that held the lamp. At a glance, the whole thing looks harmless enough and -- I'll admit -- quite elegant. Yet, one moment of oversight and there could be real danger. And that's what happened that evening.

Our guest was reaching out for the food before her when her husband noticed that the left sleeve of her shirt had caught fire from contact with the lamp. He yelled and she immediately grabbed the napkin before her to stamp a few times on the sleeve to put the blaze out. Despite her quick action, her skin had been a little scorched and she was smarting from that.

For a while, we were all too stunned by what had happened. Then, as we started to investigate, we realized the high flame from the tea-lamp was to blame.

We summoned our waiter who brought on the manager. After we told the manager what had happened, what surprised us was his refusal to acknowledge the safety hazard caused by the lamps placed on the tables. He seemed more keen in compensating my guest for her shirt after she told him it was a gift from her daughter. More odd was his need to call his superiors to work out a compensation amount for the shirt. At one point, he even wanted to look at the label of her shirt behind her neck to be sure what the shirt might be worth. Really? Here was a customer literally burned by a poor decor decision by his restaurant and all he could think of was what to pay as compensation for her shirt.

While the manager did bring my guest some ice and other first aid, his preoccupation was on the burnt shirt -- not the lamps that remain as a clear and present danger to other guests who may be wearing long sleeves like her.

Eventually, the manager returned to our table and said the management had approved $40 as compensation for the shirt. Again, he did not acknowledge the hazard posed by the lamp placed on our table. I asked my guest what she wanted. I felt she was deserving of legal remedy but she indicated she did not want to ruin the evening anymore by dwelling on the matter.

I'm writing to let you know that Max Brenner prioritized its ambience over our safety..

Picture captions:

Caption 1: The tea lamp at Max Brenner is a safety hazard. See how high the flame reaches above the bowl.

Caption 2: My guest's burned sleeve. It could have been a lot worse if not for her quick action in...

UPDATE 12/29/23- Removed another star solely because of the service. We have become somewhat of regulars here since my initial review... because the chocolate martinis are just so good. However, on our most recent visit, we were seated on the main floor close to the door. We waited for about 15 mins and no one came to take our order or even bring water... another couple gor seated next to us about 5 mins later, and within another 3 mins, they were being served while we were waiting.... my partner got up and asked to be moved because the cold air was aweful each time someone opened the door, and also made a complaint about us not being served. They moved us to the elevated area where we usually sit. This time, the server came quickly, but not only did the order take forever, he totally forgot a whole half of the order, which then took another forever ! It wasn't even that busy.... this place is starting to annoy me, they are lucky the drinks are good. We also tried the hot chocolate, which not only came out cold but was mostly a cup filled with whipped cream. 90% whipped cream 10% cold chocolate.... chicken quesadilla also wasn't really a hit... | ORIGINAL REVIEW - could have been an easy 5 stars. However, the service was kinda sub-par. We were greeted and seated very quickly. We then sat there for quite a while, and no one came to serve us or even offer us some water. After I started to complain to my date about the service, a nearby waitress overheard us, apologized, and came over. She said we aren't her table but since we have been waiting she will take us. She took our drink order and brought us water. The drink order took over 20 mins, no fault of hers, because I could see she was overwhelmed and had many tables. So as soon as the drinks came we ordered another so that we wouldn't have to wait in-between. Alejandra, our server, went above and beyond to accommodate us, and she deserves a raise. She was running around like a crazy person. The overall ambiance is amazing, the food is great and the drinks were better. They just need more staff, or maybe this was just an understaffed night. I highly recommend this place, and I will be back. Hopefully, the experience is better, and I only want Alejandra to...

This restaurant is a family favorite! Although we used to go much more often because I lived in the city, we now go about once a year.

Last night we went because a friend was in from FL and we wanted to introduce her to Max Brenner’s. It didn’t disappoint.

Our server, Mark, was great! He was attentive to our needs and always making sure we had whatever we needed. He was polite and engaged with our table.

We ordered one appetizer, five meals and three desserts. Most everything was delicious. My daughter order the Brenner Burger which came with seasoned waffle fries and liked it a lot (although she said she thought it had too much BBQ sauce, I tried a bite of it and loved it). My daughter ordered the pasta w red sauce on the side and loved it! My husband ordered the banana, chocolate crepe and loved it. My friend ordered the chicken Panini with seasoned waffle fries and loved it. I ordered the quesadilla appetizer as my meal and it was average. It was not a lot of filling and the quesadilla was fairly flat and the shell was dry. I would give the quesadilla the least favorite reading out of all the meals. We ordered the onion rings for our appetizer and everyone of them, especially the chocolate ranch dipping sauce.

For dessert we ordered the chocolate fondue which was absolutely delicious (we had the Caramel, white chocolate, and milk chocolate dips). We ordered the cookies and cream milkshake that was good but not great. It could have been much thicker in our opinion. But the favorite of the night was the peanut butter, chocolate, Marshmallow dessert pizza. Everyone loved it and it’s the one item I order every time I come.

The atmosphere of Max Brenners is also very beautiful and fun. It is very high ceilings and unique decoration with chocolate syrups on the wall behind the bar. Very nice atmosphere!

Also this was our first time being able to walk in and be seated immediately. We had placed the reservation days before for 6:30 PM on Monday night. He got sat right away. We also think this has something to do with the new Max Brenner’s restaurant that had opened up at Times Square.

We would highly recommend Max Brenner’s wherever you can find one!! It’s one of our all...