The Headless Widow — Restaurant in New York

10/10 would come again.

The location of this place is a bit of a walk from the train. It's almost 2 avenues from the 6 line. If it's too hot or cold, you might not want to make the trek but I think it's worth it.

The place itself is a very traditional bar and restaurant. They had decorated it for Christmas with the birch trees around the columns and a bunch of other holiday decorations. It felt very warm and inviting.

Happy hour was great! $5 draft beers, $8 wine and $10 cocktail. I had the Allagash draft, which is always good.

Happy hour also included $1 oysters, which is the main reason why we went there. They were blue point oysters and so good! Large and juicy, they were worth the walk in the freezing cold and snow. We got 4 doezn between 5 people because why wouldn't you?

We also ordered some of their hot food. I liked the fact that it wasn't an extensive menu so you don't get decision fatigue. We ordered the nachos, slider and the grilled cheese.

The nachos were a large serving so it was good plate to share. With cheese, guac, tomatoes, olives and really crispy chips. So good!

The sliders were okay. They were what you expect sliders to be. I wasn't particularly impressed by them but they weren't bad.

I didn't try the grilled cheese but it was very big and came with a side bowl of olives.

There was one waitress and one bartender since it was a snow day on a Wednesday. The waitress was very nice and I think the bartender was maybe the owner. He came up to us asking how everything was and was very nice.

I would come here again for sure...

Terrible experience time and time again. This place is officially on my “DO NOT GO” list.

My last trip here, my friend and I waited 1 whole hour for 6 measly oysters. We were not visited by our server 1 single time during that period. We had to flag him down and he gave us the “it’ll be right out” line and then another 30 minutes passed before our order finally came. We then had to go inside to ask for our check because he never came back.

My most recent visit was even worse. My group and I walked up to the front door and were greeted by the rudest staff member I’ve ever interacted with. The doorman got about and inch from my face and just stood there, not saying a word. I proceeded to get out my ID and held it out to him and said “I have a reservation at 9”. He didn’t take my ID and responded “you can’t just walk up here and say ‘I have a reservation’ and think you can get in here” in a very mean tone. I’m not sure what I was supposed to do as I had my ID out and ready and informed him that I had a reservation. After he finally managed to get through everyone’s IDs, he didn’t even step aside, he just didn’t say a word. We had to walk around him uncomfortably to get inside. The whole interaction felt intimidating, rude, and frankly threatening. We immediately left the establishment after telling our waiter about our experience. Our waiter wasn’t very sympathetic and just made excuses for the doorman instead of apologizing to his customers.

Overall, I wish I could give this place 0 stars and I will never...

We stopped in The Headless Widow on our last night in NYC while walking through the neighborhood. The happy hour special and atmosphere drew us in. The music was great, loud enough to fit the vibe and have privacy from nearby tables but not so loud you need to yell.

We didn’t love our happy hour cocktails Botanical Disco and Time Traveler as they were heavier on the fresh citrus than we prefer (certain cocktails are HH priced).

We debated trying to get into the speakeasy next door but knowing it would be packed and not wanting to judge THW on their happy hour specials, we decided to hold onto our table and gave a few more cocktails a shot. So glad we did! My absolute favorite was the lip gloss. The essence sprayed to finish it and the sugar rim perfectly complimented the sweet, juicy cocktail. The essence made the stem of the coupe glass a little sticky, however it’s served with a wet towel and well worth it! I had 3 of those! My husband liked the Blacker The Berry as his favorite of the night. He described it as an upscale slightly spiced sangria. We also tried Smokey & The Bandit, Passenger Princess + Hubbs ordered a regular old fashioned with Makers. All very good! Service was top notch on a busy night. If you’re heading there for a drink before going next door, stay a while! We stayed for hours and explored the menu for a fraction of the price next door and didn’t feel like we missed...