The Long Island Bar — Restaurant in New York

3 is the best I can do for this establishment. The place itself is very nice inside. It was probably a soda fountain shop in the 1930s or 40s and it does an excellent job of keeping that look and feel. When you walk in, you are immediately given a menu ( which we did not want since we were there for drinks). It is rumored that the man who invented the Cosmopolitan drink is the owner. He happened not to be there (and upon checking google we're still not sure he's the actual guy). So here I am, in the 2nd hipster place of the evening. The music was at a volume where you could hear it if you were sitting quietly, much like ALL the patrons were. We were offered menus 3 times in the hour or so we were there. After ordering drinks, we were brought glasses of warm tap water. I know they say NYC has the best water in the world, and having lived in Brooklyn all my life, I grew up drinking said water. With all the old pipes and other factors, I prefer COLD bottled or filtered water. I asked if that was tap water, knowing it was because when I touched the glass it was room temp at best. So when I said no thanks to the warm tap water, I was offered sparkling water. When did we get so fancy that warm water is a thing and so is sparkling water? The art deco was beautiful. There was a neon sign that said no dancing which I found odd and yet not. I mean the people were barely speaking out loud so I doubt they would dance but if you don't want people dancing, why play music? Anyhow, the inside is beautiful in all its vintage glory. Again, this is another place you go to for the history...not the real...

Last night we went to attend a relative's birthday party. A table of 12 was reserved. Once the table was full and a few other guests started to arrive, the hostess confronted our cousin at the table and demanded to know how many more people were expected. As it was unclear, we asked if any of the other tables were reserved in the back room and if they were available or if we could split off and have some of the party sit at the bar. The hostess responded that if there were more than 12 people, we were required to rent the whole back room at an additional cost. She added that we weren't allowed to stand around in the back room and to stay out of the way of her wait staff. She came back 15 minutes later, making the same speech in front of the whole room.

I understand the limitations of running a business in such a small place and the importance of organization and scheduling reservations to maintain some sense of order and flow for the kitchen and staff, but to repeatedly embarrass and humiliate your guests with such arrogance, hostility, and condescension is unforgiveable.

If our cousin misunderstood the rules or even if she was blatantly ignoring them, the hostess should have pulled her aside in private for that conversation.

Appalling, unprofessional, and disgusting behavior. I'll...

The curly white haired women with glasses was rude and condescending. She lectured me on sitting down at the table as she wiped it off stating "for future reference, you shouldn't sit while a table is being cleaned because someone else may have wiped a puddle of water on you." The table had a few drops of water on it so her comment was unnecessary. Next she picked up my plate of fries as I was still eating. When I advised her that I was not finished she again took the opportunity to educate me on dining etiquette. She believed base off the position of my plate that I was done. Typically the person who removes your plate asks if you're done eating before taking it away. I told her I was still eating and she put the plate down and walked away without acknowledging her mistake. Her attitude is horrible. She needs to learn how to do her job and not speak to people as though they have never dined out. The cheese curds were good but the burger was bland. The other servers were polite...