Split Eights — Restaurant in New York

Was here a couple of months back and thought it would be one of those hidden gems that I would/could frequent quite often and tell my friends about since my first experience here was amazing - service, ambiance, quality of drink….but tonight was a completely opposite experience to the point it seemed a bit discriminatory tbh.

Walked in around 1 am; it was empty with one couple at the main area; asked if we could take the corner seating area but the bartender (female) said they only give it to large parties…which is fine and I understand…even though they were gonna close in an hour since we arrived and the probability of a large party coming in was almost zero…but whatever, we took the 2 person seat and ordered our drinks.

The quality of drinks had changed and wasn’t the same (not in a positive way).

Around 1:30 AM the waiter (male) that took our order initially told us it was last call and if we wanted to order more drinks…to which I replied if I can get 1-2 mins to decide…but he emphasized that we had to order immediately and implied he could not wait for me to decide…so I just asked for the check.

At this point, I’m already feeling do they even want any customers…

Around 1:45 AM a large group from upstairs (which I didn’t notice were there) head down to the main area and the same male waiter asks one of the person from the group what drink they want and starts serving them…when he basically would not give me even 1-2 mins to decide what I want to order, but yet is serving a large party now…literally 15 mins before closing!

Not sure if the large group were buddies with the staff but I felt it was disrespectful, hypocritical, and discriminatory towards us!

I usually leave some tip even if the service is bad but this was too much and regretted even going back there to give them any business and left ZERO TIPS!

AVOID if you can (unless if you’re buddies with the staff there I suppose…there was a couple there I saw that did not pay for the drinks that was friends with the bartender too)

NEVER GOING BACK AGAIN!! (Wish I could...

Edit after reply: My ID was in perfect condition. What I clearly stated is that YOUR waitress almost broke it by bending it too hard. Its a valid swiss ID… just not american. A bar in one of the most touristic cities in the world should be well equipped for this. The rude behavior of the staff was unnecessary.

TOURISTS with european Ids: DO NOT come here. After being seated by a waitress, the bartender came to tell us we will not be served here simply because they “can refuse service to anyone”.

I had a swiss ID which was bent almost in half by her (checking for fake Id i assume) and my boyfriend had a german ID. Again…. If you do not have an AMERICAN form of identification do not go to this bar. They were rude.

UPDATE: i just read all other negative reviews. Seems like rude attitude from the waiters is common and to be expected& most answers to the negative reviews by the official bar website are attacks against the...

Was a regular during the daytime for nearly a year. The coffee is fine and the staff is cool. Came in a few times during the evening for a drink, and the drinks are OK, but each time it was the most obnoxiously pretentious and inhospitable place I’ve been to in recent memory. Don’t think I’ll come back even for coffee.

Edited based on Owner's response: My friend asked for a different lemon twist and your staff member decided to get offended like a petulant teenager, with retorts like "Well this is how we make it here". I'm sorry but at $18+ per cocktail, you make whatever kind of lemon twist the client wants without acting like you're god's gift to mixology. This type of thing has happened more than once with your staff, and I let it go the first two times. The business you're in is hospitality and there's a reason it is called...