Pebble Bar — Restaurant in New York

I've now been to Pebble Bar twice, and despite desperately wanting to like it have come away extremely disappointed both times. It all comes down to the service, which unfortunately at Pebble Bar has consistently been slow, disinterested, and unfriendly.

I was there yesterday evening. Walked to the bar to order a drink for my fiancé and I while she held a table. The bartender directly in front of me, not doing anything at the time, made sure to finish her conversation with the fellow bartender before even acknowledging me (no big deal but not a great start to experience either - I waited to have my order taken for a solid 90 seconds or so). After I ordered two cocktails, she was then pretty slow to actually start making them (really showed zero urgency at all...), but again, I'll give her a pass there - not the end of the world.

I walked back to the table my fiancé was waiting by because I could tell it would be a sec for the drinks, and while there observed someone else that I suppose the bartender knew walk to the bar and order three drinks. The bartender stopped making our cocktails literally pre-mixing (and let the drinks sit idle in the ice in the shakers and get watered down...) while she prepared three drinks for the new customer, doing so right in my face with no apology, explanation or acknowledgement of the situation whatsoever, given that I had now walked back to the bar to wait for my cocktails. She almost seemed to be waiting for me to say something so that she could retort - it was very bizarre and standoff-ish. Without exaggeration I probably waited for close to 10 minutes for my drinks. Received a pretty stiff attitude while paying my bill as well (safe to say I closed out after the one round).

In all fairness though, one of the cocktails was excellent - the other just okay, but definitely not terrible.

I'll spare you the details, but I had similarly disappointing and disinterested/unfriendly service during my first visit here. If I'm paying $20-ish a cocktail and the staff can't even be bothered to conduct themselves with a bit of hospitality, I have no interest in giving that establishment my business. My theory is that given the Roc Center location, they are so reliant on tourists and office workers passing through that they don't really care about being friendly to attract folks to become regulars patrons, and it shows.

Really wish I could like this place, but it is officially on my s##t-list. First negative Google Review I've...

Booked reservation online. No mention of time limit. Got there, sat down, thought our waitress Jennifer was really pleasant and friendly. We ordered bread & butter, got three large warm slices and a nice tasty hunk of butter. We also ordered the deviled eggs and the prosciutto tarte flambé. Everything comes in three, a little awkward considering more often than not people go in pairs, but they offered to add one extra egg for a premium. The eggs were supposed to have candied chicken brittle, but I couldn’t taste it. In my opinion, there was just too much going on with those eggs and you couldn’t really pull any particular flavor out of the mess other than deviled eggs, and something spicy on top, although I have to admit, the presentation was lovely. Drinks were well-made. The tart, however, wasn’t warm enough when it came out, and it seemed way too greasy and fatty to be anything other than difficult to eat. The worst part, after ordering a second round, just a few minutes later, the waitress comes out and tells us that the table is reserved for the next party and they’ve been waiting for five minutes. This was extremely unprofessional in my opinion seeing as how I was expected to pay an extra $21 for a drink that I was now going to have to chug. Unacceptable. When you seat a party at a table, you immediately let them know of any time restrictions, additionally, before they order their next drink, you let them know they are expected to leave in a certain timeframe. This information was not conveyed in a timely nor professional fashion and I truly feel like I was scammed into spending more money without being able to enjoy. Not sure I’ll be going back anytime soon, not really recommending it to anyone, unless you’re just going for a quick drink at the bar. It was also super loud in there - we were screaming...

Great space and ambiance. Music is excellent as well, and this place really is a breath of fresh air for the area, but unfortunately several of the staff behind the bar are extremely cold, unreceptive, and inattentive. In fact, they were more concerned about telling people that last call would be in an hour, and they would even roll their eyes or show visible annoyance as people continued to order drinks despite it not even being last call time. Also , unsure why last call was 45 minutes before the closing time, especially in a bar that was relatively full. Additionally, asking a question about a cocktail or a liquor (something that is common at the best cocktail bars) was tough as the staff genuinely seemed to have a lack of experience/knowledge about the art of cocktails. This place has all the components of being a real gem in the midtown area, but it lacks the talent and hospitality that makes a cocktail bar stand out. It’s a good cocktail bar with decent drinks, but until it has friendly, receptive , and knowledgeable bartenders it will only be a good cocktail bar and not a great one. Music...