Redeye Grill — Restaurant in New York

We came here after performing at Carnegie Hall. Since it was a production that involved a large number of groups across the country, room was reserved at the Red Eye Grill and their associated Italian restaurant across the street, made by the production team.

Upon our arrival, we discovered our group did not have the right number of seats for our members, even though the restaurant was given the number in our group. Welton (my apologies if I have spelled that wrong or gotten the name wrong) was the person telling people where to go.

I do understand that there was a massive number of people there. It was a buffet style dinner and were were guided to the area where our groups were seated. I understand that it meant it was busy and a bit stressful. However, that does not excuse the behaviour of Welton. When we pointed out (politely) that we didn't have enough seats, he said "We have four seats for you over here, but you won't be sitting with these people here!" It wasn't so much the words, it was the tone of voice, the nagging, 'you're bothering me' tone that people get. I wasn't the only one taken aback - one member who hadn't said a word was completely flabbergasted at the way he talked to us. Two people said it wasn't worth it and just left. That meant we had enough seats for everyone who remained behind.

I was really upset, because this meal had been prepaid for before we ever arrived in New York. I couldn't afford to not eat there and lose out that money so I remained, but I was very upset.

Another man, Rubins, was very nice, and encouraged me not to let someone's bad attitude ruin my night. I did my best to enjoy the fellowship with others there, but I was angry because of my friend who felt like she couldn't stay.

On the other hand, a waiter by the name of Christian was fantastic. I have another friend who, before coming to NYC, asked about gluten free options and was told there would be options. This is not out of a desire to avoid wheat, but a sincere need. She gets hives if she eats wheat. However, although things like croutons were kept separate from the lettuce, people going through the line did not take good care, and we could see croutons had fallen into the salad. He went to the back and made sure to get a plate of lettuce that had no cross contamination. He did the same thing for her when she wanted some of the chocolate covered strawberries and brought her back 8 huge strawberries generously dipped in chocolate! The ones on the table had crumbles and pieces of cake that had fallen on them from when people got the other dessert options. So Christian deserves a huge kudos for his care and understanding.

As for the food, it was so so. Because it was such a large group and they offered a limited menu with buffet style offerings, I don't think we got the best of the best. The salmon and chicken were decent, but nothing to write home about. The salad was extremely fresh, and the dressing quite good. The macaroni and cheese was all right.

However, considering how the night started, I'm not sure I would return if I come...

The restaurant is beautiful, the food is ok, the service is 50/50 It's a restaurant filled with older guests and a plethora of regular customers. Dress code is casual When we got there, the hostess who is also the manager walked us to the back of the restaurant where it is was darker and quiet isolated. We then asked for a different table. The blonde middle age lady walks us to the Cafe side of the restaurant which also felt like a different part of the main dining area. My friend and I started to wonder if she was trying to hide us from the rest of the guests ( all of them were Caucasians) So I decided to demand for a table in the main dining area as few tables were available . She refused at first so I immediately started assuming that my colored friend was the problem. It's only when I told her I was vlogging and reviewing the restaurant that she sat us at the required table in the main dining area. It took a good 35mins to be seated among other patrons!!! It was revolting but we are not the kind of people to leave the premises because you dont want us there. On the contrary, we will make you give us the service that we deserve. Anyway, the rest of the night was pretty smooth as we were filming everything and the blonde lady/manager change her approach to us and became "nice". Surprising? Not at all. Who would act uppity and discriminatory on camera.haha Our waiter was very pleasant regardless of the whole ordeal. As far as the food, it is ok: we ordered the following: oysters: very fresh sushi: dont bother ordering, nothing special and their presentation sucks vegetarian bowl: the only thing there for vegetarians.was pretty good. -dancing shrimps: stay away. Nothing dancing about them. The waiter brings them and he started moving the plate so they could move. Lol. $36 for 6 fried shrimps, they could have thought of a better presentation or a different name. Oh and make sure to remove the head of the shrimp before biting into it as they fry them as a whole. fries: arrived cold and I am not sure they are really hand cut Virginia mojito: was good All that to say , it could have been a better night if the service provided by the hostess/manager/blonde middle age woman was reflecting respect and hospitality. 1 star for the decor in the restaurant, one star...

The service was atrocious. When we entered the hostess sat us immediately. We waited at least 15 minutes for a server to greet us and fill our water glasses, but no one ever came. There were a number of servers casually standing around the bar area. None of the staff was rushed. We finally flagged down a hostess and asked for service. She and another hostess immediately apologized and attended to our waters and took our food order rather than finding us a server. The hostesses were very pleasant and we chalked it up as a miscommunication between hostess and servers. It took quite a bit for our food to come out. When we finally received our food it was lukewarm at best, and some almost cold. I ordered the pastrami hash. Flavorful, but lukewarm at best. I found it odd that it was a hash of potatoes and pastrami and the side was more of the same potatoes only larger. The menu also said the hash came with toast or a croissant. I received neither. We also ordered the pastrami sandwich with onion rings. The sandwich bread was toasted, but the pastrami was ice cold straight from the refrigerator. The onion rings were cooked well, but had zero seasoning. We had the cheese omelette as well. The omelette was lukewarm, the side of potatoes with it were cold. We would have communicated the temperature issues with staff; however, no one ever returned to our table after dropping the food. We waited a while. Finally, we just ate what we could as we were so very hungry. We were also going to order some other drinks rather than just water, but again, no one ever returned to our table. Once we had finally given up on eating any more of our food and sat with empty water glasses for about 10 minutes, a server took notice and said she would be back to fill our waters. We gave up on ordering any other drinks by this point. We just wanted our check and to leave, which is quite unfortunate considering our $79 total for 3 unimpressive lunches and waters. We...