STK Steakhouse — Restaurant in New York

This was genuinely the worst experience I have had at a restaurant in my entire life.

They advertise their happy hour EVERYWHERE. On their signs, in their elevators, and then on the menus where it SPECIFICALLY says you can get happy hour on the weekends on the roof patio. We went up to the roof for it, and then clarified with our server what exactly happy hour was, what was included, and that we could do that. He told us yes we were all good for happy hour, but that to get the deal prices for our drinks, we had to go to the bar to get them, and then bring them back to our tables. He also said it would be all good to order the happy hour food from our table.

Okay, a little weird, and falsely advertised, but we do that. My friend goes inside to the bar and checks AGAIN TWICE with the bartender that what we’re ordering is the happy hour prices and it’s okay to take them outside with us. He says yes, she gives him her card, and he opens the tab with it. While this is happening we order the happy hour food outside at the table (after a very long wait for our server to return). My friend comes back with our drinks, our other friends do the same ordering at the bar situation (clarifying the deals once again), and we waited for our food. Then, after we all had maybe a sip left of our original drinks, our server returns. He gives my friend her card from the bar, and tells us actually no, just kidding, we weren’t allowed to get the happy hour deal so they charged us full price for them. Their reasoning? Because we are on the patio. Which is fully stated as being a part of the deal on the menu sitting in front of us, as well as multiple other places including their very current website.

So at this point they have now lied or miscommunicated to us how much we were going to be charged at LEAST 5 times, and then charged us a much higher amount than we were told we would have to pay. We told our server that this was not okay with us, that we were fine ordering the rest of our drinks full price, as we would know now what we were paying, but that they had to honor our original drink prices as it would be absolutely insane not to.

He agrees to talk to his manager, and comes back and tells us all that he worked it out and we will only have to pay full price for the next drinks we order, but will have to do full price going forward. To be fair, he was just about as nice as possible about it, but legitimately the worst and most dishonest service experience I have ever had. Until it got worse.

We decided to stay anyway despite these issues, and ordered more drinks and some food and even had more people who came to join us. When it was time to leave, we had 9 people at the table and for our sake and our servers, I just covered the entire bill on my card since it would've been impossible to know who ordered what easily. I got home and finally sat down to divide our expenses, and I realized that they had not only charged me for our original "happy hour" drinks, which were never on my tab or card at any point, but they had charged us the FULL NON HAPPY HOUR AMOUNT. This is fraud, capital F Fraud, illegal. I cannot believe they have good ratings at all, as we spoke with multiple other groups throughout the meal that were also lied to or swindled in some way (including be charged 2$ for literal...

I wasn’t planning to share this at first, but after chatting with a colleague about our Mother’s Day outings, she encouraged me to pass along a few reflections—especially given the lens I bring as someone who designs and refines experiences globally across regions and cultures. A few weeks prior, I celebrated my husband’s birthday at Little Alley Steakhouse in Atlanta. The contrast between that experience and our recent dinner at STK Downtown Manhattan was hard to ignore—and as someone deeply focused on how environments shape emotion, connection, and perception, I felt compelled to share. Little Alley delivered a 10/10 experience and truly went above and beyond. From the moment we arrived, the door was opened for us. The ambiance—from the wall finishes to the lighting—was cohesive and thoughtfully curated. Each server wore crisp, pressed white aprons and moved with precision and care. The table was impeccably set, the wine list featured Bordeaux options, and the food arrived on warm plates, seasoned beautifully. One team member was solely dedicated to polishing silverware tableside, which my husband, sister, and I found impressive. Even the seats were cleaned and sanitized between guests—small details, but deeply impactful. STK, by contrast, didn’t deliver that same level of intentionality—especially given the premium pricing. The vibe leaned more toward a nightlife setting, which I now understand may be part of the brand’s identity. In hindsight, STK might be better suited for a high-energy evening out rather than a refined Mother’s Day dinner. That’s on me for not choosing differently. Still, when a group is hoping for a luxury steakhouse experience, expectations naturally rise. While our server was kind, attentive, and made ordering easy, the meal itself was disappointing—under-seasoned, served on cold plates, and overall closer to a 5/10. There were visible spots on the wine glasses, water stains on the silverware, and food remnants left on some of the seats. These may seem like small things, but from my perspective, they’re signals of whether the experience has been fully thought through. That said, I do want to acknowledge a moment that stood out in a positive way: we dined late and closed with the team, and they remained warm and gracious throughout. I noticed one staff member meticulously polishing every wine glass and sanitizing each seat—his attention to detail and pride in the work truly stood out. I share all of this not as a complaint, but as a reflection—from the lens of someone who builds intentional, high-impact experiences for a living. I know how complex hospitality is, and how powerful it can be when all the pieces align. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and for all the work your team puts in...

I came in with my cousin for the Love Island watch party and had a horrible experience.

Starting with the host, she was quite rude and cold. Didn't make us feel welcome upon arrival. Attempted to seat us at a table where one of us would have our backs to the tv. Completely disregarding the fact that we came for a WATCH PARTY.

I asked to speak to the manager about sitting at a different table, he tried to say they had so many reservations for 3 or 4 guests and they couldn't seat us at a table where we could both see the tv.. meanwhile my original reservation was for 3. It only turned to a party of 2 about 5 minutes before this. Why not just sit us at the table that was originally reserved for us? I work as a hostess and know they could've seated us without issue. Instead they made me stand there for several minutes, while they pretended to figure it out. I'm 7 months pregnant and didn't appreciate having to wait for a table that was set and ready to be seated. The manager felt it was important to let us know in a rude manner he was only sitting us there because there was a cancellation. Throughout the time we were there the roof never got full there were about 3 4 tops free the whole time.

Next, the food was horrible the tuna tartare was some of the worst I ever had and my cousin got the girl dinner which came with fries and a Caesar salad. Her fries came out cold and I had no desire to try her salad at that point. If we weren't there watching the reunion, I definitely would've sent mine back. I left almost half my tartare on the plate because it wasn't cut properly and was just a large chunk of tuna and that point. Server didn't take note which is fine..

The actual watch party experience wasn't ideal either. The manager had trouble syncing the tvs and stopped the show several times to try to get them all playing at the same time. At one point the sound was almost inaudible. We were left to watch from one out of 3 tvs with sound because he ended up just giving up. The other 2 were just playing a couple seconds behind.

Because of this, we didnt get to watch the whole reunion. Tvs were cut off at 10:50 with no warning and there was alot that we missed i'm gonna have to watch it again at home. Which defeated the whole purpose of me coming.. if he would've had the syncing together from the beginning without issue we would've been able to actually watch the whole reunion at the reunion watch party..

Our server Marquise wasn't bad and the dessert was good but I definitely would not return or recommend it here. I feel like my time and money...