Old Homestead Steakhouse — Restaurant in New York

Old Homestead - ASIAN DISCRIMINATION

I was extremely disappointed with my experience at Old Homestead Steakhouse. My visit made it clear that this restaurant practices blatant discrimination, particularly against Asian patrons. Me and my husband were seated on the second floor, which initially seemed fine until we realized that the entire room was filled with Asian diners. Curious, we went downstairs to check, and to our surprise, there were no Asians seated on the first floor, despite it being relatively empty with plenty of available tables. When we questioned the manager (Fior) about this, she dismissed our concerns, saying we were “overthinking it”. However, after looking up reviews online, we found that countless other Asian diners had similar experiences, all being seated in the same corner on the second floor. This was a consistent pattern that couldn’t be ignored.

We spoke with our server, asking if this happens every night. Without us specifying what we meant, he immediately apologized and explained that it wasn’t his decision—it was the host and manager who plan the seating. This confirmed our suspicions, and it was clear that even the staff knew what was happening. Though he kept apologizing, we reassured him that it wasn’t his fault.

The situation escalated when the manager, noticing our conversation with the server, offered to move us downstairs. However, since we had already started our meal, we declined. Shortly after, the server brought us our check, despite us not requesting it. We didn’t even have our main course yet! When we tried to speak with the manager again, she claimed they wanted us to leave because we were uncomfortable. The hostess also accused us of being underdressed, even though my husband was in pants, t-shirt, and sneakers—while white patrons wearing shorts, t-shirts, and some even in slippers were comfortably seated on the first floor.

My husband, fed up with the absurdity of the double standard she was trying to justify, pointed this out to the manager who was wearing shorts and a crop top. The manger paused and simple said, “I don’t need to explain myself to you.”

Wow. It is disturbing that despite COUNTLESS reviews describing nearly the exact same narrative (please see for yourself) this restaurant continues to operate without addressing this issue. This was not just a misunderstanding. The staff’s reactions, and the management’s dismissive attitude, made it clear that they are aware of this discrimination. They simply don’t care.

I strongly advise any Asian patrons to avoid this establishment, and I encourage others to reconsider supporting a restaurant that practices such blatant racism. In fact, spread the news if you don’t think this backwards behavior belongs in NYC. If we want a better future, this kind of discrimination needs to end. Old Homestead Steakhouse does not deserve your business.

Replying to the restaurant response:

I appreciate your response, but the experiences of many guests tell a different story. There are numerous reviews and accounts online from people who have experienced racial discrimination at your restaurant, and it's concerning that these reviews remain unaddressed. I suggest you take a closer look at your CCTV footage from that night to verify what your manager was wearing and reassess the situation. It's important to ensure that your stated values of inclusivity and respect for all guests are consistently upheld...

DENIAL OF SERVICE You are INSISTING that you did not do what COUNTLESS reviewers as recently as this month are complaining about, here and pretty much everywhere your restaurant is up for public review. They INDEPENDENTLY recount extremely similar experiences of discrimination. I had NO CLUE that these reviews even existed until AFTER we were prematurely given a $20 check and denied the food we ordered. So for the reviewer “sitting at the bar” saying that my wife is lying in an attempt to get a free meal, please get your facts straight and go play in traffic. Also for those who care about facts, there was no one sitting at the bar.

My wife (Bongkote) is not lying. Her account of what happened Sunday is detailed and accurate. She did not accuse the restaurant of being racist, but she was wondering why we were seated on the second floor exclusively with 20 other Asian diners when there was plenty of room on the main floor. I was being fair and impartial to both my wife and your management when I asked why we were given the check. You told me I was underdressed but CLEARLY that wasn't the case as the diners on the first floor were wearing shorts and a T-shirt.

When I pointed this out do you remember what you said to me?

"I don't need to explain myself to you."

As jarring (and quite honestly crazy) as that is to hear from someone trying to sell you something, the real problem here is that you DO need to explain yourself when you DENY SERVICE.

Your dress code argument is irrelevant at best, regardless of what we were wearing since you sat us, took our order and served us our first course. We were not loud or disruptive and no, we were not trying to cause problems. We had no clue that so many others think your establishment is racist, which, I don’t understand how your management wouldn’t already know very well from a simple Google search. I was in the bathroom when you brought my wife the check we did not request so for me, I was extremely confused as to why you did that.

So again, why did you refuse to serve us? Denying us service for reasons you refuse to explain is ILLEGAL.

Dress code violation? Unruly behavior?

Please think carefully about the timeline of events and decide what would actually hold up in a...

Had a really bad dining experience, but they at least tried to make it right, so gave them 1 "extra" Star for the effort. Read on & see what you think about the experience... This is billed as the oldest steakhouse in NYC. It's in the meatpacking district of the city. It's around dinner time on a Thursday. We landed here because other restaurants in the area were at least an hour wait. This place was maybe 25% full. As time was an issue this seemed to fit our needs, but I was a bit concerned nobody was here. Reviews were all over the place so at least I knew some were happy with their meal. I ordered their $70 "Our Best Cut..." steak. ...and waited for ½ hr. No table bread. Nothing. We were checked on after a couple bites which turned out to be the only two half decent bites in the steak. What do you do? There's no time to wait another ½ hr for another and we were deserted anyway. In the end there was so much gristle that my plate was piled with chewed attempts that couldn't be eaten. It wasn't until bill time that we saw the waitress again & I explained that while I had indeed eaten what I could there was no way it was anywhere near the standards of a $70 cut of meat. Her response was that I should have told her sooner. (She's not all wrong but when & how?). Asking for the manager, I repeated the story & he asked what I wanted to do. I said I had eaten a portion and at least the flavor was good. He said with a bit of a chip... Do you want me to remove the steak? I said it wasn't necessary to go quite that far & just said "well it's your steakhouse what do you think would be fair. Instead of making any offer he went into small quip about it definitely not being "his" steakhouse. OK, buddy I thought, if you don't understand that when you are a manager that you are representing the establishment then I guess I'll just go ahead and accept your offer. I said "Take it off" and he did. Save yourself the low level expensive experience and just go to Keene's Chop House...