The Craftsman — Restaurant in New York

If you've ever seriously questioned how gentrified the island of Manhattan is, the fact that an edgy hipster cocktail bar like this is located above 125th Street should answer that for you. What a delight. My chum and I came in here to cleanse our palates after a pretty rough margarita experience a few doors down on the same block. We walked 20 feet, I saw this place, said, "I wish we'd gone in here instead," and my chum said, "We can." I realized she was right, and that was that. This is definitely my vibe. Sign me up for exposed brick, obligatory monochrome pictures and lots of wood. I just wish we'd had an appetite to sample more of the menu.

We came in here right before a mini rainstorm around 2ish this past Saturday afternoon. Now that I'm thinking about it, literally every place we stopped in at on our trek up Broadway was empty, regardless of the time of day. Was everyone out of town? No idea. Anyway. I don't recall any other customers inside while we were there.

Despite an atrocious Old Fashioned the prior weekend that made me dramatically declare I was done with bourbon, all of the hipster leather wore me down and I went with the Craftsman Campfire, conveniently served in a campfire mug. My chum side-eyed it a bit, concerned it was going to be served hot, but it was thankfully a cold beverage that provided a refreshing boost on a muggy summer day. My initial reaction was a little negative - the first few sips tasted like bland iced tea, and I'm not sure why. Maybe it wasn't blended entirely? I didn't really taste the referenced fall flavors (cinnamon, apple, etc.), but once I dropped the lemon garnish in and mixed it around, everything was solid.

The service and price point were fine - we actually experienced the opposite of sticker shock when we discovered the cocktails here were around $15 (par for the course, even this far north in Manhattan) versus the $20 next door at the mediocre Mexican place. THIS is the establishment that probably could get away with charging more for the artisanal cocktail goodness. I thought it took a LITTLE long to get the drinks, given that no one else was on the premises, but we weren't in a rush. It also wasn't the kind of situation where we needed waitstaff to check in on us on a regular basis - very DIY here.

I don't know how long it's going to take me to convince someone to hike up Manhattan again, but we're absolutely putting The Craftsman on...

Sunday is sad in comparison to Friday night.

Bad bar service, they closed the bar while we were still drinking, never called for the 'last call' and closed our tab on our corporate card without acknowledging receipt. Furthermore, they were in a hurry to close at 2:29 am when the website states there open to 4am.

The female bartender with red curly hair never remembers people's names on tabs. Totally gross. She is more interested in partying with customers than serving us - taking pictures, long jokes and all the time 4 customers waited more than 10 minutes for beers. Two or three bartenders behind a bar of 15 or 17 people. The service ought to be better than this.

Hopefully, the owner can reach out to us regarding dissatisfied encounter because this venue has major potential with the right employee training.

Not to mention, no female should be sprawled out in the back booth for 90 mins passed out _

*Initial review from a Friday now.

The Craftsman is an eclectic pub. As soon as you step inside, you are immediately swallowed in a dimly lit place heavily dotted with incandescent bulbs. On the whole, mixologists are well informed with a trailer of intercollegiate frequenters. Their Old Fashioned will literally stun you as you fall in love with the built-in lighting behind the bar. This is near Columbia University and juxtaposed with a subway viaduct. It literally yells Sex in the City...

Honestly, the food was really delicious— I recommend the cheese and charcuterie board and/or Craftsman Tots for anyone going with friends. However, I felt the service and the drinks we ordered were subpar. Initially a large portion of what was on the drink menu, the thing that made us stop, wasn’t available. For it being our first time, we were consistently asked what we would like to order by 3 different servers (all within a 5 to 10 minute window) without any real initiative to engage us or make us feel welcome. Once we got our food, it seemed that the same three staff members were more invested in 1 table with a cute dog than really checking on us or other surrounding tables. One couple left after just ordering one drink and they had been there longer than we had. My roommate and I were actively discussing how we planned to return and, since we live near by, were telling the remainder of our party to to meet us for our current venture...however, I found it made more sense to pay, leave, and chose from the many other restaurants on the street. Going to give them one more chance, purely for the aesthetics and testing other menu options, but I’m very heavily leaning towards never...