Sweet Catch BK — Restaurant in New York

I'll start by saying the brunch DJ was a hit, food & drinks are typically great, as they were this time, w| the exception of my omelette which was a bit salty. We were greeted by Prince, who was attentive & amazing all night btw, but he was back of house so unable to be our server. Everything after went downhill. Service was very slow, our waitress Aloe kept forgetting to bring menus, straws, napkins & barely checked on us. I had to wave her over twice. We later found out this was her second day, so we tried to extend grace - still not excusable, but we understood. We discovered there was a party of 15 on the back patio, which may have impacted our service, however not our problem. Mgmt is responsible to staff accordingly. We regrettably stayed through happy hour & were told we had to move to the bar for happy hour service, which made no sense given that the restaurant was completely empty, we were already seated & comfortable. I asked our server if we could stay, she checked w| someone & advised we couldn't, but offered to help move our waters. Extremely inconvenient. Just before we were about to move, I asked again, this time the person she checked w| was near our table. Not sure of her name, but she was a Black woman with a long low ponytail & was wearing a long-sleeve black shirt & brown plaid pants. She immediately had an attitude as she told the waitress in front of us that we had to move to the bar. She didn't acknowledge us whatsoever until I asked her if it was a politics issue or a capacity issue, as she could see the restaurant up front was completely empty. With a "nice nasty" tone, she said it was politics but said she would check w| someone else. She came back to say we could stay where we were. For those in cust svc work or any job for that matter, please don't forget your goal is to please your customer within reason. What we were asking was not unreasonable. While waiting forever in a now dinner rush for our drinks,  Prince came to check on us several times & even brought us our drinks. Another back of house member brought us fries which he said were complimentary. Not sure if this was to our happy hour appetizers or for the poor service. Shortly after, we see our server Aloe leaving with her coat on. We assumed her shift was over, but how rude not to tell the table you're serving that your shift is ending or who will be taking over. Just as we were about to order another round of drinks, a tall blonde young white male came and pushed a bill in front of us. We never said we were done or asked for the bill at that time, so this was very aggressive & unwarranted. The "complimentary" fries, which was a small bowl, was on our bill for $21. I'll also quickly add that 2 out of the 3 times that I've been here, additional things were added onto the bill which had to be corrected. This is a pattern for them, so please check your bill before you pay. Then no one came back over to collect our cards so we could pay. My friend had to go to the staff to make the correction. As she went to the bathroom, the owner Nucomme whom we had a pleasant experience with prior, came over with a new bill & even offered us shots, which were never brought. Once my friend came back from the bathroom, we paid via the QR code. Immediately as we get up to leave, the young blonde man rushes to our table trying to make sure we paid the bill. My friend walked with him to the register & showed him proof of her QR code receipt, which he then walked her back to our table to make sure we paid again, as if we were trying to skip out on the bill. Now we feel harassed at this point. From the time we were there, we ordered brunch entrees and drinks, stayed through dinner and ordered multiple happy hour appetizers & several rounds of drinks. We came to enjoy ourselves, spend money & support a Black-woman owned business & this is the treatment we received. Aside from Prince, this was an absolutely horrible experience with customer service & it's unfortunate that we will no longer be visiting, spending our money here or...

I’ll be very honest. The food at this place is great. The waitstaff is amazing. And honestly if my experience had ended with walking out the door, I wouldn’t even be here giving it one star. But imagine dining at a restaurant, being given the worst seat, asking to move and being told sorry you can’t multiple times, having the DJ come in an hour into your meal and set up on top of your head, paying, leaving and then being called and accused of stealing in the form of dining and ditching.

This happened literally to me on Saturday. An hour or two after leaving the restaurant, a number I do not recognize calls my phone: “Hello” “Hi, did you dine at sweet catch earlier?” “I’m sorry excuse me?” “Hi. Did you make a reservation at sweet catch earlier?” “Yes.” “And you had a problem with your table?” “Yes that was me.” “And you walked out on your check?” PAUSE... “Excuse me.” “You walked out on your check?!?” “WHAT?”

I kid you not. The assistant manager for the restaurant, who would not accommodate my request to move my table, is now calling my personal phone two hours later and accusing me of not paying for my meal. In my life, I have never been accused of anything this level of outrageous.

We go back and forth for a bit and she’s asking me questions like did I leave a tip and I reminder her that it actually wasn’t optional, the gratuity was automatic. I told her we left cash. She tells me “Well your check is still listed as open, and the server is telling me she doesn’t know. And the guy said he found 7 dollars on the table.” I am livid. I remind her that none of that is my business or my concern. Your bartender picked up our check. We didn’t ask him to, he offered. And then we left. Her only retort was, “Oh well he is not a server, so I don’t know. I never said you were stealing. Okay thank you.” and then she tried to hang up.

With all due respect, and I promise none is due, how does a business have a manager that doesn’t know how to finesse a seating system in order to take care of the guests currently in house, while planning for those that are soon to come? How does a restaurant have a manager that doesn’t have the wherewithal to do the due diligence/find out what is going on internally within her own establishment before reaching out to me, the customer? How does a business have a manager that when calling a patron (for an issue as serious as this) doesn’t use even an once of actual professionalism? I was never once addressed by name. If she could do all the work to find my number in order to accuse me of stealing, my first and last name are listed on my reservation. Not once was I called by my first name, Mrs. XYZ or Ma’am. Every single thing she said during our phone call pointed to the fact that she assumed I was a thief and didn’t pay my check because she didn’t move my seat.

Let me make something very clear, yes the lack of flexibility she exhibited was off-putting but that doesn't mean that I don't have to pay. I will never stay and dine anywhere in which I am made to feel like an inconvenience versus a paying patron. I do not need to dine and ditch. And after I made that clear and that she needed to figure it out with her staff, she just tried to end the conversation with a thank you like the exchange we had was normal. The apologies later offered were flat. The “is there anything else I can do for you?” was forced and condescending. It’s been 24 hours since the encounter and I am still unsure how it even went so far.

I am a gracious diner. Whether you take my order, deliver my meal or pick up a rice grain from my table, it will be met with a thank you. Every. Single. Time.

The level of disrespect I feel after dining at Sweet Catch can not be described. It was really disgusting. What I thought was going to be a casual breakfast date, turned out to be one of my most horrific dining experiences. I hope that this manager considers how to better respond to situations such as these, and never has the opportunity to treat any paying customer that...

Two friends and I really wanted to try this establishment for my friend’s birthday. I made reservations on the Patio for a party of 3 but when we got there, the hostess tried to sit us in the dining area. I asked her about the Patio area that I made reservations for and she said something along the lines of, “It’s extremely hot. It’s covered in plastic. I don’t think you really want to sit out there.” That was odd but I said okay. If it’s not fit for guests, why is it available to reserve a space for?

The dining area was abnormally cramped. Seems like they’re trying to fit tables and seats in there that they don’t actually have room for. For us to even get to an open table, the other patrons had to get up from their table and food to scoot their chair in for us to pass. That was wildly awkward and inconvenient.

My friend and I felt uncomfortable being that close to other people (there was not normal spacing at all), so I asked to see the yard. It was empty and it was very warm - not because it was too hot outside but because they have it enclosed with what seems to be a dome of hard plastic so there’s no air. We were suffering inside so I said we’re fine with moving to the yard.

The hostess told us to just take our menu with us, and that she’d bring everything else. We never even received menus. My friend and I sat in the yard, alone, for about 10-15 minutes and no one ever came to give menus, utensils, water, nothing. It wasn’t even that busy, really.

We ended up leaving and going to a different establishment without trying any food. It’s unfortunate that the service/atmosphere was like that as we were so excited to try the place out. We make it a point to visit all the Black owned restaurants in Brooklyn.

If you’re okay with cramped spaces and long wait times for service, I’m sure their food is banging. Not sure, since I won’t go back. Based on the negative reviews that I didn’t read until just now, this is pretty common and the Owner doesn’t seem to have thoughtful replies - only generic...