Sea Wolf Brooklyn — Restaurant in New York

My friends and I came to have dinner here before a show because of all the great reviews, however our experience was disappointing. My friend had originally set our reservation an hour before its set time and right away she kept getting calls to remind her that we have to be there 6pm on the dot even though she mentioned she was already on her way. I arrived first and it was 10 minutes to our reservation time. When I checked in with the hostess I was told I couldn't be seated yet until my friend showed up, no problem as its standard for plenty of restaurants. However when I asked if I could just stand to the side as it was snowing outside I was told no, that I could wait outside or at the bar that wasn't opened yet. The bar area was packed so I decided to step outside as my friend was 5 minutes away. As I was outside waiting I did notice the hostess allowed another set of people to wait by the side inside the restaurant. Weird as they were still waiting inside even after i was finally sat down.

Now here is where the real disappointment comes in. After we were seated we were left waiting for almost a good 15 minutes before someone finally took our order. Not only was it an awkward wait, the waiter taking our order walked away to talk t another customer in the middle of taking our order. He didn't even apologize once he came back, just went straight to repeating our order. We usually consider ourselves very patient and understanding in the wait time at restaurants but it was not a busy night and our food didn't come out till almost an hour into our reservation. Mind you our food arrived before our drinks did and we noticed a table seated after us was already receiving their order.

We tried to flag our waiter down but to our surprise, he was standing by another table chatting it up with a drink in his hand. Not sure if he was on break or not but he did walk to another table and then go back to them. Odd. So giving up on getting his attention, we attempted to get the attention of staff walking by only to be ignored. I literally tired to wave at a staff and say excuse me only for her to walk directly pass me. Eventually I was able to grab someone's attention from the opposite end. When i explained our drinks we were quickly given the excuse of their printer being down the past 10 minutes. That's great and all but these drinks were ordered way before that.

The food was so-so, nothing to really say much about. I was a tad bit disappointed by the buffalos cauliflower as I had one half burnt, and the entire thing was very oily. That's my only real complaint about the food. I do recommend they make the price of add-on on a burger more clear, because there is no reason for a $28 burger to end up $40. Or the waiter could try to remind those ordering. It was indeed a surprise on my friend, but that's on her. Anyway they were really quick to get us our bill and I thought it was amusing that they made their tip minimum 25% for the lackluster service we received from the beginning. I'm not sure what was up with the staff that day that caused this service, but its very upsetting when you go somewhere for a nice meal and see everyone around you being treated more efficiently while you have done nothing but he polite. My friends liked to joke about it having to do with our choice of fashion but I highly doubt that was the reason.

Anyway I do hope no one else has the experience we had when they choose to go. Maybe don't let them sit you at the corner...

A friend and I went to Sea Wolf today at 2pm. It was truly an awful experience. A friend and I sat down and waited for a server to come. Waiting, waiting, waiting. A 4 top came in (all white people) and sat beside us. The waiter then came over and took their orders and walked away (despite us having been there before that 4 top table). The waiter came over finally and took our orders. We ordered everything at once. We ordered the deviled eggs, mac and cheese, spicy shrimp basket, shrimp and grits and Brooklyn graffiti and another drink. The table beside us of course got their drinks first. We have our drinks (38 minutes later) and waiting and waiting. 45 minutes later, our deviled egg app comes out. The waiter checks in on the 4 top beside us but never us. Our water bottle both empty at the same time and he does not refill ours. It’s been an hour and finally our food comes, or so I thought… nope my shrimp and grits. My friends spicy shrimp basket being super cold. Mac and cheese was good tho. I wait another 27 minutes to get my food, and it’s so awful I send it back… absolutely disgusting. The waiter gives me the excuse of “they ran out of grits and had to make more… I am from the south, it don’t take no hour 27 minutes to make grits… I get up to go to the bathroom and the toilet is clogged. I go over to the bartender to just ask if they have another restroom and he gets an awful attitude and tells me he’s a bartender I shouldn’t be asking him those questions. I go back to the table, and tell a busboy that I need to leave the establishment now, we need a check, this has been a ridiculous experience. Waiting waiting waiting, my friend flags the hostesss of all people… and asks for the check. Waiting waiting waiting, finally we get the check from the waiter, smug as hell says you didn’t like the shrimp and grits, well we took it off…like yeah bro least you could do. I left and went to Mominette French bistro, had a great meal there… told the waitress there what happened and she explained some experiences she and friends had as well as stories from friends that use to work there and said no to go there again because it’s that bad per her friends who worked there....

It was a great night.... until we arrived.

The hostess was honestly amazing, no complaints about her. She was very sweet, gave us a good laugh, and did her job! Same for the waiter, he was totally fine and was always willing to help. My review is solely based on the restaurant and the menu.

Food was overpriced immensely. We paid $42 for the lobster ravioli - which sounded amazing. We got 6 pieces of pasta on a plate the size of two hands and a shaving (literal shaving) of lobster. I almost couldn't tell it was lobster because it was grated like cheese for pasta would be. Not worth it, and it was certainly not that delicious.

I also had the half dozen oysters and shrimp cocktail. I was sick to my stomach for two days after the visit. I had not visited anywhere else to dine in, so I can connect the dots.

Tables were dirty everywhere, must not have enough people to help. Half eaten food on the main bar as soon as you walk in and every other table looked occupied by dishes.

Beyond the low quality and overpriced food, the manager had pulled a server to the side in the room 10 feet from us and we watched as he (what seemed like) had a meeting with her and was just complaining about her. Not the time or place, for sure. They were in an all glass window seating area, almost putting this poor server on display as he was laying everything on her. Couldn't this be after hours or in the back? I would be humiliated, and I definitely felt bad for the girl.

Finally, they need to fix their tip system. When you go to pay on the electronic device, the suggested tip options begin with 25%, then 30%, then 35%, with a small button asking to adjust the tip underneath. I have never heard of this being standard at any restaurant, nor is the experience at this place worth 25%+ tip on top of the food already being too high for what you receive.

I'm hoping this review encourages the restaurant or the owner/manager to change what they're doing. I feel awful for these employees, because they will get the heat of the review if I don't specifically mention that this was not their fault. Take accountability and please review what is...