TABÚ - Williamsburg — Restaurant in New York

I attended a birthday dinner here last night at 7:30pm and from the moment I walked in I felt othered by the man who greeted me.

First, as we ordered drinks the waiter let us know that the frozen margaritas were not quite frozen. Those who wanted one decided we would wait. We ordered two staters for the table during this time. Drinks came out and they were still not frozen. It was a slushy at best. I noticed another table order similarly. The machine must have been working then because the drinks were actually frozen and tasted much better. We were asked if we wanted another row but no one offered to correct the previous order. Disappointing.

Second, we were timed and rushed ALL NIGHT. As we are eating and talking, every time it appeared that someone was finished with the plate someone came to clear them. There was still food on the plate. Whole tacos, plenty of guacamole, plantain etc. They would take them along with the silverware. We had to pull the dish close to us for them not to take it. I noticed the one of the managers watching our table and getting frustrated with the server as we asked for silverware, water or more drinks. At this point I’m upset.

Third, I mentioned it was a birthday celebration. We saw the staffed sing to the table behind us but did not show the same level of kindness towards my friend. They left the plate and walked away. Then as she was eating the dessert someone came by and took the spoon so we couldn’t eat the rest. We were rushed.

Lastly , the overall experience was and I let one of the managers( I guess) know this privately. We get the check and it is clear the they are ready for us to leave to get the next table ready. While I understand the reservation had a time limit, we should not have felt that was the whole time or that we were being monitored. I noticed the table behind us arrived later and they were not having the same experience. Ismael or whatever the second manager’s name is came over to our table and demanded that we leave, then proceeded to argue with us at the table. Then said you and I quote “If you want more water you can have it by the door.” This is unacceptable and disrespectful behavior towards guests. I have shared the awful experience with my networks.

The servers were wonderful and the best part of the experience. Could speak much about the food and drinks cornering I had to chase down my silverware to eat. I give this establishment a 0/10. Pick...

Not impressed. Saw this new restaurant with Tulum vibes in Williamsburg and decided to go for drinks on a Saturday evening. The decor was amazing and initial service. It was a rainy day and the outside was closed, my first thought was the inside was a bit small. A table was made for 3, and first issue was a chair was wet that I assume was bought in from outside. I swapped it for another one. We ordered a round of drinks, beef tostada and fish tacos. We got beef tostada and octopus tostada. This is after we received consistant interruptions from different staff or management asking if we ordered while someone else has taken our order. Also confirming if we ordered two tostadas and we mentioned no, a beef tostada and fish taco. Then they mentioned the octopus tostada is on the house and goes well with the beef. Then we ordered a second round of drinks, a frozen passionfruit margarita, a frozen mango margarita, and a spicy passionfruit margarita. We received a strawberry frozen margarita, a spicy mango frozen margarita and a regular passionfruit margarita. We called our waiter and the waiter was dumbfounded and said we did not order that and laughed at us as if we were crazy. He then said passionfruit does not come frozen, I would expect that would be communicated rather than bring whatever flavor they had. Then he said there was an ingredient he didn't know about in the frozen mango margarita that made it spicy and swapped it for a regular one. I never had an interaction where the waiter laughed at us as if we made a mistake. After closing the bill guess what I saw after requesting to see the actual bill before paying? The octopus tostada on the bill. As far as decor? Great Tulum vibes but small interior. Service - overattentive at first, staff might as well join us at the table if constantly interrupted, remembering orders and bringing out correct orders is key, and not laughing at guests as if we made the mistake is not hospitality (coming from a general manager in...

AVOID THIS PLACE AT ALL COSTS!!

I went to Tabu over Labor Day weekend for a friend’s birthday dinner, and it was an absolute disaster from start to finish. We were a party of 6, and even though the restaurant was maybe 80% full, the service was beyond atrocious.

It took forever after being seated to even get menus, and we had to ask multiple times just to get water. When the server finally came to explain the menu—10 minutes after we already had it—he asked if we had any questions or were ready to order, but before we could even respond, he just walked away! We were left stunned.

We ordered the guacamole and the chips and salsa, but both came with so few chips that we had to ask for extras. We weren’t told that there would be an extra charge (which we would’ve been fine with), but the worst part? It took 20 minutes and multiple reminders for the extra chips to arrive. When they finally did, we were only given 1 extra serving, but we were charged for 2.

Speaking of the bill—it was a nightmare. We waited 15 minutes before having to walk to the bar to find someone. Even then, it took another 10 minutes for it to arrive, and when it did, it was the wrong table’s check (we honestly should’ve just paid it since it was cheaper!). We had to go back to the bar again to get the correct check, only to notice we were charged for two servings of chips but only got one. We had to get that corrected too.

As for the food, it was actually not bad but severely overpriced. I get that they’re trying to create a trendy Tulum vibe, but the price-to-value ratio is ridiculous given the abysmal service.

I wasn’t even planning to write this review until I noticed that all of the negative reviews on Google were getting buried under a flood of suspicious 5-star reviews. Many of them are from accounts with only 1 or 2 reviews, posting at odd hours. This needs to be a warning: Do not go to Tabu. The experience isn’t worth the headache...