Side Door — Restaurant in New York

Met up with my wife on 1/18 /23 at about 6pm for dinner near our new apartment .The bar crowded/lively on Wednesday evening though almost all the tables in the back area were empty... front and back hostess stands both empty...asked for a table for 2 for dinner to the confused younger man after we walked to the deserted back of the restaurant . he pointed to a table for 4 and said he couldn't seat us there (we asked for a table for 2 not 4) ...We pointed to the empty table for 2 in the back (almost all the tables were empty regardless) & he looked perplexed and then went and spoke to the bartender for a good 2-3 minutes(can not imagine what they were talking about but kept looking over at us. ) .The bartender then shook her head no disapprovingly as she looked over at us again (?!...Bizarre., maybe they didn't want anyone older than 20s/30s... i have no idea ,we were simply meeting there after work. My wife was very upset at how we were treated and she is extremely laid back. .Honestly, this was the Worst experience we have ever had in a restaurant and we eat out multiple times per week x 20 years). We recently moved to the neighborhood and eat out/order out most nights --have already taken out from Side door (food mediocre but we liked the idea of supporting our neighborhood sports bar and figured we would try eating in) .BTW we were also going to take back another 2 meals for our kids that eve , Anyway ,we walked out bewildered and decided to walk for a minute as we were both upset ..walked over to try a new place to us, Yara--excellent place with live music om 53rd and 2nd (a little pricier but when we did takeout from sidedoor a few weeks earlier , the salad with protein cost 25$ so Yara wasnt much of a stretch in price but big difference in quality and atmosphere ). Anyway, given that Side Door is within steps from our apartment...and we eat out a lot as a family and with groups of friends ..this incident will cost side door a good of amount of business indefinitely. Never...

We went here on a late Sunday afternoon to watch the football games. There were enough TVs and a solid menu offering various takes on Eastern European gastro fare.

Everything was pretty much new to me. The friend I went with is Eastern European so she was able to explain the various dishes. She loved the diahes we ordered. My favorite was the fried burger. Never had this before. Called langosbrgr, it's an angus prime on a bed of caramelizedonion, gouda cheese, ajvar wrapped in dough and deep fried. Never had anything like it. We also had Mici sliders. Romanian style sausage made of beef and lamb on a homemade flatbread layered with mustard and giardiniera . It was like a mini open gyro in a taco format.

The owner and staff were super nice and funny. Also met a couple of regulars and had a good time.

The space is large and has a bunch of Eastern European flags hanging.

I will definitely go back and check the rest of the menu.

Go check out their take on Eastern...

Will start off by saying the food was great and reasonably priced. We had a reservation and arrived but there was no host to seat us. Had to ask a bartender who brought us to our table. We asked to switch to a different empty table to get a better view of the game but was told by a guy sitting in the back on a laptop (manager? owner?) that those tables were reserved. I told him we had a reservation and he said no they are reserved for someone else. Of course, no one ended up showing up for those two tables and it appears they were reserved so the guy in the back could do his work without being bothered by having customers next to him. The two bartenders both waited on us and there was some confusion and frustration amongst them as to who was our waiter (that's for them to figure out, not us). Other than this, we really enjoyed, the food, drinks, and atmosphere. Not ready to give up on this place because it seems like a nice spot to watch the game and get some great...