Richmond Republic — Restaurant in New York

I was so excited to experience this restaurant. Waited two weeks to get a reservation and invited guests to join me to savor what I thought was going to be unique, well prepared food that is a far cry from many of the restaurants here on Staten Island. I read the reviews and some of them were really good, so I ignored those reviews that were poor.

Let me see if I can recap our dining experience last night. Upon arriving, I was very please with the rustic and pleasing decor. The front desk host was very warm and friendly. We had a reservation and was asked to sit at the bar until our table was ready. Ordered drinks, the pour on the drinks were skimpy and too much club was pumped into my vodka and club, which made the drink overflow a bit, hence losing some of the already weak drink that was not cheap! Overall, not a big deal really!

We were led to a table near the bar that had stools and was almost a high top. Didnt make a reservation for four people to sit on stools. We could have grabbed a high top for that matter without a wait. However, after speaking to the hostess, she was more than pleasant and agreed to move us within a short time. Again, not a big deal!

Our server, while very pleasant, was in my opinion either poorly trained or brand new at being a server. She complained about how exhausted she was, how many hours she was required to work and had little knowledge of the menu items. Kept coming over to us after our main meal was done to ask if everything was okay. Never said can I get you dessert, coffee, the check .....she had no clue how to close us out. Again, no big deal!

The big deal for me was my overall disappointment in the food. Will say the fried pickles were good and on point. The pastrami eggroll was tasty, a bit too greasy, but overall good. The wings also were good, even though no one knew what the 'Chinatown BBQ' was all about! We took a chance and ordered them anyway, and they were good.

So now I'm anxious to taste this specialty sandwich described by our server as a crunchy southern fried chicken breast that is very flavorful, coated in Captain Crunch...hmmm, sounded delish! When my food arrived, I was thinking at first this has to be a mistake, this isnt what I ordered. But it was. It turns out that is was a thin chicken cutlet that was dry, not crunchy at all, looked nothing like one of the pics that were displayed showing a mouth watering sandwich. The provolone wasnt melted, the bun was way too big for such a thin piece of chicken with wilted arugala which could have easily been eaten at a local diner.

I never mind paying a premium price for something that is of quality. This was certainly not worth $15. The 'hand cut' fries were mushy, not crisp and tender inside as I had imagined they would be. My guest ordered the South West turkey burger wrapped in lettuce. Again, a bit on the dry side and looked nothing like the photos displayed for their burgers. This was served on a tray with a paper liner. While cutting into the burger (as it was not on a bun) the paper began to shred and incorporate with the food. Bad decision for items served that cannot be hand eaten. Another guest of mine, ordered the steak tacos, they did come nicely presented, but was on the skimpy side in terms of the filling.

While I do recognize that this restaurant is new and has to be tweaked, and I can understand the lack of professional service, can understand the wait time for service, can even understand the bartenders not being on their game for the drinks here and there. I thought it was deceptive regarding the 'specialty sandwich' which was nothing like what was described and not worthy of its price.

I have already gone to another new spot several times that is only opened a month and had no complaints regarding their food or price tag. Doubt I will try this place again. What a shame! Thought it had...

I will never come back to this place with such lack of professionalism it’s actually insane to see there still open, last night not even 5 mins walking inside with me and friends of mine at 8/9Pm , we all figure let’s go to the bathroom before sitting down figuring out what we want to eat drink etc etc. there’s a man inside basically laying on the bathroom sink who is way to drunk or on something else but shouldn’t be in public. We all act like he doesn’t exist but he continues to persist with starting problems, rude comments, weird vibes, starting with us pretty much trying to get a rise. we then leave the bathroom he follows us and continues. By this point I’m being told by multiple staff that this guy has been drinking all day and has started with 3 people before I got here including any employee ….. my question is why is he still on the property then…..? Kinda odd. Listen I’m not one type reviews like this but what makes this different for me and why I have to is because the icing on the cake is… I leave the situation to go sit at the bar since there clearly not going to kick him and his friends out…..the bartender then groups us all together even though I separated from the situation…. and says “I’m not serving you guys sorry and turns away” I then say ME what did me or my friends do I just got here 5 mins and I have someone trying to attack me? She says yup have a nice day turns around completely disrespectful and clearly not knowing how I’m the one who just got here and problems came to me. Moral of the story do what’s right for the business if you are a business owner. Stand behind your loyal customers which I once was but now I will never step foot in this place again. And most importantly get a better crew of workers who figures out the situation before pointing fingers. And lastly get rid of that bartender because I can only imagine how rude she...

I was not here more than 10 minutes and I had to listen to an older male employee with short graying hair berate the customer who invited me and 50 other people to eat here because a group of us sat ourselves after waiting 10 minutes in the lobby with no interaction from the staff. This is not an unusual thing to do when no one greets you or instructs you to wait to be seated and a restaurant is almost empty. The staff actually watched us all get up and go in and never said a word. The way he scolded him in front of other guests as if he was a child was painful to watch and undeserved. Then, as I approached my wife's table I heard the hostess barking at her group "You can't just sit anywhere!!" And then proceeded to allow them to sit where they were, made no sense. Everyone at the table was visibly upset by the host's attitude. There is a right way to say things and I have no issue with being told we need to be seated, even if the staff failed to manage the group properly by explaining things at the door, but don't yell at your guests, and especially don't yell at the guest who filled your establishment with patrons, it's bad for business and just plain mean, especially when your restaurant was maybe 10% occupied until we arrived. It was a huge turn off but we stayed to support our friends and listen to a few bands play. My food was okay, but others had mixed opinions. As for the wait staff, the kid serving us was nice but my order never arrived even though everyone else's did. I reminded the waiter and received half my order, but after waiting yet again I asked him to cancel the remaining items as we were done eating. Also, take note of all the negative reviews and not a single response from management. Needless to say, this is not a place we will return to. The irony of the word "Republic"...