Rolf's — Restaurant in New York

What an incredibly odd experience. We went out of season in March just because we were seeing a show and wanted to get out of midtown. The place was deserted. An older couple was seated, there were a few folks at the bar. We had made a reservation but they didn't check for it; disregarded me when I said we were early. Indeed, we witnessed a few reservations come in over the phone that they took but didn't write down. Weirdly, any time someone came in after us they told them there was no food service tonight, only the bar. Someone pushed back and said they had a reservation, there was a pause, they didn't look at anything and then they sat them but it was very awkward the rest of the time. With no one in the place, our food came incredibly fast. This was good in that the food was hot but bad in that we had booked a ride home estimated on a typical NYC dinner and we ended up having to sit around and order extra drinks to eat up nearly an hour. The menu was pretty good, though was somewhat odd. The shrimp cocktail comes on a salad? The French onion soup was bland. However, the over-large potato pancakes were great. Filling, but great. Two of us ordered schnitzel which was very good. Crispy, tender but very dry to eat without a sauce or a wet side dish. There are two other options with a sauce that we probably should have been directed to. The spatzele was good, but barely buttered, but the green beans were meaningless. Another in our party ordered the duck which was good, but oddly presented and it looked much bigger than it was considering how much was bones. Desert was tasty if a little dry. A mixed drink was a little light on the liquor, but the beer was good. In addition to the weird prohibition on other people eating in the dining section, the bar was home to a small row between a customer and the bartender over drink prices. The drinks are hilariously over-priced but you kinda know that going in. The customer threw a little hissy fit over the price for his double whiskeys and ended up breaking an ornament. The staff were passive much of the time, quiet, reserved. Not inattentive, but also it felt like we were doing them a favor much of the time and not like paying customers. The decor is the star and it is neat. Creepy and weird and festive. The seats are small, the bathrooms outdated. We were done with our meal within 45 minutes, we then dragged out desert, and then had to kill an hour. The staff let us chill and didn't bother us. We were overall okay with the experience but it feels very odd for such a tourist-y attraction to be this off the mark. Especially as a friend was here in January and waited 45 minutes to get to the bar and then missed their train because it took so long. Overpriced for what it is. The food is fine, if not exactly authentic. To me, it felt like the owners are only around during peak season and then the waiters just maintain the place until November as best they can. Would...

Friends and I ordered cheeseburger, duck, and tilapia. We added their holiday drinks of the muled wine and spiced cider.

While the decorations are wonderful, the lack of music or ambiance was apparent. Servers did not seem to worry about being accommodating or present and felt a bit rushed. However, I'll be lenient as they have mentioned that the reservation time for a table is 90 mins.

I found it odd that such place can push for good quality food yet lack the decency to season their food. I understand they plan to accomodate everyone but from the mashed potatoes, to the fries, to the burger and to the bread everything felt lackluster and simply bland and old.

First with the bread, I've noticed that there was a fine crust on the already cut bread. Cold to the touch and very rigid. They could help improve their intro by 1. Warming the bread. 2. Cutting it after warming. 3. Adding some slight butter. 4. If not butter at least offer some decent quality olive oil. All in all, the introduction of the restaurant with low quality bread and oil was a arguable a sign of how the remainder of the evening would take place.

To the entrés. I was forewarned about the sausages, hence I decided to go with something simple. A cheeseburger. While the burger meat itself was not that bad. I did find it, surprise, surprise, Lacking in seasoning. I also found it odd that they did not place the lettuce, onion, tomato, and pickle on the bun itself in an open fashion for you to adjust if you wanted to remove them if needed. Sadly, it just seems as they used it to make the plate seem "full". That and coupled with the lack of any condiments made this burger only ok.

For the fries I've received, I think it's atrocious to provide me with seemingly freezer burnt fries that is enthralled in old oil. Not only that, but to not even season the fries. I was truly disappointed, since even any hole in the wall bar knows to season your fries.

As, I helped my friends with their food I've tried their food as well. Lack of seasoning in the potatoes and a very odd cut of duck. Where they provided half of the duck, of which seems to have missed a large portion of the duck. It might be my opinion, but I think a well cut of a duck breast prepared, seared and cooked to an appropriate tempature would help elevate the dish. They had trouble eating the meat around the duck and we're under the impression that it was more bone than actual duck.

Furthermore, while the drinks we're indeed delicious. I have barely seen our server, and when we have seen him. They seem to have tried rushing us to leave at our one hour mark.

I don't think I would recommend this to a friend unless there were very limited options. Yes it's beautiful inside. But the whole experience is lackluster. If they provided good food with the environment that would be well worth its...

DO NOT COME HERE. WORST SERVICE, WORST FOOD, INSANE PRICES. I have never left a review on here but I feel like this is necessary. The only positive aspect was the decorations, but the negatives outweigh them times 100. We made a reservation in September and showed up an hour early to make sure they still had our name in because they wouldn’t answer the phone the multiple times we called over the last few months. The “bouncer” said he couldn’t tell us but to get in the long line of people who had reservations outside of the building in the pouring rain.

When we got inside it was packed to the point where you can’t stand up and put on your coat without hitting someone or something. The first thing we noticed was that there was not a single German person despite it being a German restaurant. The server came up to us immediately and didn’t even greet us, just asked us “what do you want” and when we didn’t know yet he came back at least 5 times in 10 minutes to ask us what we wanted again. He was insanely rude the whole time and then brought us the wrong drink and never apologized just grabbed it, didn’t say a word, and brought the right drink as if it was such a struggle. We got the meatloaf and the schnitzel, for the price of fine dining, and it was literally inedible. We are not picky and will practically eat anything but we literally could not eat this. We got desert because it looked good and were still hungry and it was so insanely dry and stale we couldn’t eat it. When the server came by and said “how is it” and we said “honestly it was okay but not great”, trying to still be nice, he just walked away and said “okay”. then continued to come by and try to grab plates out of the way despite us still eating. Additionally, they don’t put the drink prices on the menu so you don’t realize that they are $30 per drink which is literally insane.

Last but not least, the server dropped the check when we were still eating and after we had paid and filled out the check and it was still in our hands he came over and said “where’s the check book?” which is insanely rude and never said thank you for coming or any goodbye. When he walked away with the checkbook he immediately opened it basically in front of us and stopped in his tracks and called over the other waiters to show that we tipped him 15%, which is more than he deserved.

Overall so so bad and will obviously...