Popular — Restaurant in New York

Unreal experience, everything kept getting worse and worse and ended in tears! Hosted my bachelorette at the hotel and decided to book a 10:15am reservation for brunch on Saturday. It clearly has good reviews and I was excited! However the restaurant was nearly empty on a weekend morning and now I know why! We were seated by the male host pretty quickly, but we sat without service or acknowledgment for around 30-40 minutes, which was wild especially again considering the restaurant was NOT BUSY! We were definitely hungry and looking forward to coffee by this point so I got up from the table and asked the male host who seated us if we could please order some coffees. About ten minutes later a waitress came and by this point we were starving (two of the girls were pregnant and needed to eat) and we had nearly an hour to stare at the menu so we ordered food and coffee together. We asked why the service was slow and were told we were seated by the host in the wrong area as if it was our fault. One would also think there would be an apology or maybe even some sort of rush or acknowledgement on their end after it’s been brought to their attention that we’ve been waiting almost an hour to order coffees. Nope! Coffees didn’t come for another 20 minutes at which point it was 11:15am an hour after our reservation. More time passed, and we were uneasy that our orders had even been entered in. Once again we got up from our table to ask about this and were assured they were working on it. More time passed and at this point we’re approaching close to 2 hours since the time we sat down and 3 plates came out from the kitchen.. for four of us. The third plate of food was nothing any of us ordered and the kitchen took it back. We also realized plate number two was incomplete and missing a side of fruit that it came with. When we said something to the male host who seated us who was the only person we could find he got defensive, snappy and rude and made us feel EXTREMELY UNCOMFORTABLE. We asked to speak to the manager who offered to comp our coffees that we waited an hour for and seemed to care less as if this happened all the time!? At this point it had been two hours and I cried. This was my Bachelorette brunch at Popular and one of my biggest regrets. The way we were treated was extremely cold and unwelcoming. Great way to start our day and end our trip together. I’ve truly never experienced service like this before, let alone on such a special occasion. I’m still in complete shock that there is an establishment that exists and operates this way. Totally understand that mistakes happen but every opportunity they had to make it better they made it worse! By the way this was handled I’m certain this wasn’t a one off situation, and I want people to be aware. I should have stuck to the 1Hotel like I had originally planned, and they will be getting my business when I’m in NYC from now on. Please do yourself a favor and just stay away from here, especially if it’s a once in a lifetime event with time you can’t...

Planned to go here for almost a year before I actually made it! Made a reservation online (do this and save yourself any heart ache for any of the restaurants or bars you'd like to visit at Public).

1. Instagrammer's dream! This place has amazing atmosphere that is its own vibe worth visiting for. You dodge palm leaves as you walk to your table after having passed the neon escalators at the entrance which are some of the coolest things I've seen in a while!

2. The food! We knew Chef Diego was listed as one of the top in the world, so we had high expectations and weren't let down. We shared the Classic & Nikkei ceviches for starter - the Nikkei was KILLER. The creamy-spicy sauce with tuna was something else. I think we would have tons of great things to say about the Classic too, if we hadn't been so blown away by the Nikkei! I had the pisco picante and was not disappointed at all! Great flavor! For our main meal, we had the scallops & the duck leg (that we read was a specialty) and both were also recommended by our server, Mo. Really good food. I oved the crispies on top of the scallops, and there were so many different flavors to enjoy. If you get the scallops, I would suggest an extra side if you aren't getting dessert. For dessert we shared the Peruvian chocolate. The caramel icecream, candied peanuts, raspberries and chocolate mousses were something I never knew I needed in my life! But you do...you really do. It's a big dessert, we couldn't even finish it between two of us, which is why I say the side with the scallops only if you don't plan on dessert or you aren't sharing.

3. The service. Our reservation on Resy asked if it was a special occasion, we were 2 months late for our anniversary outing so I put it in but thought it was just a survey to see what occasions people are going out for in general. On arrival, the host asked if it was our anniversary and I was shocked because I didn't know it would be passed on. Our server, Mo, got us started with water right away and never pushed drinks. He happily took photos for us. When we ordered drinks, he always had the perfect timing for getting another round. He gave great recommendations throughout the meal, was courteous and friendly, and finished off with candles in the dessert and wished us a happy anniversary. He It was a real treat to have such wonderful service and Mo deserves to be recognized - top notch!

Would highly recommend Popular to anyone who likes great food, service,...

I saw that the photos were beautiful on Yelp but this place is absolutely gorgeous beyond the expectations set. Tucked away in an oasis on Christie street, past a secret garden, then behind these two impressive escalator space portals to the hotel above. Both the bar/lounge and restaurant have plentiful, beautifully designed seating. And the entire establishment is adorned in greenery. It’s like the rainforest cafe for sophisticated adults and unsophisticated foodies like me. I had to get the Popular Pisco Sour because when in Lima… one of the best cocktails I’ve ever had. I also had to try the classic ceviche which honestly blew my mind - the broth? Was so delicious and almost had a delicate chorizo flavor. The dish itself, all the dishes are absolutely beautiful. For entrees we got the shrimp rice which comes served in skillet, the sticky prawns (bigger than photos suggest! Definitely entree sized), the swordfish, and the market fish (striped bass with micro green salad and delicious sauce). We also got an order of yucca for the table (served two ways, fried and boiled? With another delicious sauce). The swordfish was my favorite entree - out of all the swordfish I’ve had, this somehow packed double the flavor. And since the fish plates come with just the fish (and a lot of garnish) - I would definitely recommend ordering some carbohydrates off the veggie section of the menu, and I do highly recommend the yucca which is just melt in your mouth. For dessert we tried the Neapolitan ice cream - my father in law is the number one ice cream fanatic and he was losing it at how good this flag of ice cream was. I tried it, it was pretty darn good and served really cool (in a rectangle). My boyfriend and I shared the baked Alaska which also blew my mind - covered in edible flowers and a graham-ish cracker cookie crumble, the meringue was marshmallowy and soft, piped kind of comically like the coronavirus (big spiky ball). Inside the ice cream was two flavors I couldn’t identify but they were in the honey, graham-y world and almost cookie dough textured. It’s a huge dessert, and I highly recommend getting it whether or not you have other people to share it with. Blown away by this magical place. It’s expensive, but it’s worth it! Also… not pretentious at all and very kind staff. I wish I had taken photos but I was too mesmerized. Excellent place to take a good friend for a...