The Dead Poet — Restaurant in New York

I went to this pub for the first time tonight with my boyfriend. A waiter, chewing gum and looking pretty smug, saw us walk in and told us to sit wherever. When he came over, he didn’t bring any menus, and there was no QR code on our table, so we had no idea we were supposed to look it up ourselves. In a rush, we just ordered the first thing that came to mind. He asked if we wanted to pay right away or after our drinks, and we paid straight away. My boyfriend paid by card and didn’t leave a tip. The waiter looked at the screen and said “Thanks, that’s very generous of you” in a bitter, not sarcastic tone before turning his back and walking off. After that, he completely ignored us, acting like a sulky five-year-old. For context, my boyfriend is visiting from Italy, where tipping isn’t a thing. I’ve been living here for seven months and, even on a tight budget, I’ve gotten used to tipping. For him, it’s still new. He works as a waiter himself and earns very little, but he would never expect tips from anyone, let alone comment on it. I get that tipping is important here, and I always try to leave one. But tips are never something you’re entitled to, and it’s seriously unprofessional and rude to peek at what a customer leaves — let alone call them out for it and give them attitude after. That’s just petty and arrogant. I’m not going back. Drinks were okay, but the service was awful, and the place was way too crowded and loud. Some people just aren’t cut out for working...

Ugh! Really sad to be writing this as I've been coming here for a few years now and considered it to be my go-to neighborhood spot. My girlfriends and I stopped in on march 2nd and were chatting for about forty minutes with our drinks, then we ordered water, and were about to order another round of beer when our waiter cut us off mid-order and said "Here's the thing ladies, it's going to get really busy in here soon and what we're not gonna do is have you sit and order waters from me all night." I'm not sure what brought this on as I didn't feel we were taking up too much space, it wasn't crowded, and we had finished our first round very recently. I haven't seen this server before, so maybe he was new, or a manager or something, but it just felt unnecessarily pointed, patronizing, and unkind. I'm a former bartender and my priority was always the safety and sobriety of my customers. Especially as a young woman, it sucks to be spoken to this way in a bar setting by staff who should be looking out for us.

I, too, wish I could slam a beer quickly and order the next -- but alas, my pals and I are small people! The Dead Poet has always been so welcoming and I'm not sure what was going on, but I hope that there's a bit more awareness of customer service and safety...

We went here because google said they were open until 4am and that they served food until late. Unfortunately the two people working behind the bar ignored us for 15 min after we sat down. When we tried to go to the bar to ask about ordering food, the young woman said she would be right over after she finished making the cocktails she was working on. When she came to the back where we were, she walked past our table to the juke box and started picking music to play. The young man who was there working also passed us twice without asking if we had ordered or how he could help. Finally he came back over and He sat down at the table with us and then asked what we wanted to order. When we said what we wanted to order from the kitchen he shared “that we have bad luck, the kitchen just closed.” It was 12:06 am. This was after the young woman had already said she would be over to take our order. When we arrived it was 11:40pm. Would have loved to try this place but...