Pitt's — Restaurant in New York

I am rooting for this place, I really am. That's why I am writing such a thorough review of our experience. I hope someone reads it and fixes the service ASAP. Afterall, it is only week two, so of course there a few kinks to work out. Unfortunately, however, our experience went beyond "just kinks".

We went into this place with high hopes after our Agi's Counter experiences. I was really looking forward to it. I had a "notify" setting on the resy app and snagged a 6pm reservation on Saturday, February 1, 2025 - just two weeks after they opened. For this reason, I am giving them the benefit of the doubt more than I otherwise would have for a well established restaurant.

We were seated immediately per our reservation, things were looking good. We knew the menu going in and while it was "limited" the three of us are all open to try almost anything. The décor is fun and the music was played at just the right volume and the playlist was great. So A+ on the ambiance.

The first red flag didn't take long to appear. We were seated for at least 10 minutes before a server came to offer us water and a complimentary bread basket. The warm bread was delivered promptly after that - I still had hope. And now red flag #2 - we didn't see anyone else for another 10+ minutes at which time a different person came to ask for our drink order. We asked about wine and while they only serve by the glass, they would happily serve us one of the "by the glass options" as a bottle. So wine list is "limited" as well. My daughter ordered their version of a Shirley Temple. The wine was delivered to the table in a somewhat delayed fashion - maybe another 15 minutes and they forgot my daughter's Shirley Temple so we had to aggressively flag someone down.

We all indulged in the bread basket as we were losing hope about our meal. About 45 minutes to an hour after we were seated, a server finally came to take our order. We ordered 2 appetizers - the pimiento cheese and the oysters both of which require little time to prepare. We did not see these for at least another 25 minutes. And while each appetizer was tasty, so much time was passing that we were getting full and tired.

We also each ordered one entrée and a side dish to share. Being that there are only four entrée options, this should not have been particularly complicated. Now all the red flags are everywhere -- Once our appetizers were removed from the table, we waited and waited and waited. Noone came to even update us on what was going on. I knew it was a new restaurant so I was trying to remain positive. But our wine was long gone and there was no server in sight. An entire 45 minutes after our appetizers were removed from the table, my husband got up to request that they just package our food in "to go" boxes. At that point, the server arrived with two of our entrees and informed us that the food would taste better fresh out of the kitchen (of course it would). I told them we no longer wanted them and were ready to go, it had been over two hours since we had been seated.

They ended up comping our entire experience - wine, appetizers, two of three to-go entrees (not sure what happened to the third). We tipped fairly well since it is a new restaurant and it takes time to get sea legs.

As a new restaurant works through its kinks, I am a very forgiving person, but well over two hours for a meal of two courses with such a limited menu is a death sentence for a restaurant. I am truly rooting for this place as I enjoy the ambience and the music selection is great. I really want them to survive but if they don't exponentially improve the service and the offerings ASAP, I give this place three months at the absolute max. I hope this review helps management to streamline and rethink the menu and service. I love the concept, but a concept sans proper execution is...

Woof. I really wanted to like this place, but wow was I disappointed. Maybe they were having an off night, but I wouldn’t take the risk of going back at those price points - not in NYC anyway when you have a million other restaurants to choose from on any night of the week.

Things started off well - my friend and I had two very good cocktails. We were given a thorough explanation of the menu, including helpful hints as to portion sizes so that we could order enough without overdoing it. Things went downhill from there.

Our first dish was the skordalia - served to us as an app (traditionally it’s served as a dip or a side for other meats and veggies). It was probably the tastiest thing we ate that night, but the lack of any kind of pita or bread to use with it was an odd choice. When we inquired why there was no breast item to eat with it, we were told “the potato base is all the starch you need.” What hilariously bad advice! We were basically eating dip with a spoon. Tasty but crazy.

For our entrees, we had the hanger steak and the sausage. When ordering, we were warned that “portion sizes are really large.” Spoiler alert: they are not. And we aren’t pro athletes or anything - just two very normal adults who often have to take home leftovers. Not in this case! The steak was fine - tasty, but unremarkable. The sausage was not fine - very dry and mealy like they didn’t get the binding correct. Not sure what happened there.

And then the dessert: pancake soufflé. They make a big deal about you needing to order the soufflé at the beginning of the meal so that they have time to bake it. Totally understandable, but it definitely heightens expectations. So we were eager to dig in once our entrees were cleared away and we’d had a few minutes to digest. Those few minutes turned into FORTY-FIVE. We were given a couple of timing updates (much appreciated, though wholly inaccurate), and then offered a special drink on the house as compensation - an appropriate response to the situation. After a few words with the server about our typical drink preferences, they returned with two glasses of a special amaro. Hilariously, I had specifically told the server I do not like amaro. Needless to say, the gesture was a waste.

Finally, the soufflé arrived, served with a table-side flair of hand-poured syrup which we found quirky but wholly unnecessary as the syrup immediately sank through to the bottom of the bowl. I’d rather have just added it myself as I worked my way through the dish so that I could balance the flavors instead of having to conduct a pastry excavation with each bite. Overall tasty, though tbh the butter was the best part.

Service was overall good minus the amaro and a couple of small hiccups like not clearing finished cocktail glasses.

$200 and change for this meal seemed very pricey for the experience. Did we tip 20%? Of course we did - we aren’t monsters. Will we visit again?...

I’m only giving any stars because of our very sweet server and the rest of the staff, who are clearly trying their best within this mess of a restaurant.

We had a reservation for 4 people on a Saturday night. Waited 15 minutes for anyone to show up and greet us. Finally, we’re told that our table wasn’t quite ready. Okay, fine, these things happen. Another 15 minutes go by and we are finally seated - no apology or acknowledgement that it is now 30 minutes past our reservation time.

Again, our server was very sweet. But the service itself was a mess from beginning to end. Basic drink orders (one beer and one soda water) were forgotten until we reminded someone after waiting about 20 minutes. The first entree came out…and then we waited…probably half an hour (!!) for the other entrees to arrive. Bizarre! Bad! No! This should not happen!

All of this could be forgiven if the food was great. The food, my friends, was not great. It was really not even good. A tiny, chewy steak with flavorless onion rings for $40. Gorgeous tomatoes absolutely destroyed under a liter of oil and vinegar. Fried saltines served with everything, somehow, for some reason. Extremely expensive duck fat something or other peanuts that just tasted like peanuts. The peach salad was good, so there’s that. The pancake soufflé, which is apparently viral on Instagram (??), was undercooked and what I imagine eating pancake batter with syrup would be like. It was $22.

As you can probably tell, nothing about this restaurant agreed with me. Or my digestive system. Without offering too many details, I can safely say that every ounce of Pitt’s was violently and unpleasantly eradicated from my body about 12 hours after our meal. For such a hefty tab, I guess it’s only fair that they throw in a free enema.

I wish the service staff at Pitt’s the best, and I hope they all land on their feet when this really overrated and ultimately bad restaurant closes in the...