The Water Tower Bar — Restaurant in New York

Absolutely terrible experience. We came an hour and a half early and got there at 5:30pm becayse we had just had an incredible meal at Weslight at the William Vale hotel two blocks away. We were looking to have drinks to finish the night, we'd been celebrating my partners new promotion.

When we got there we were told that the water tower was not open till 7pm despite their Google listing states 6pm. We then patiently sat at the down stairs lobby waiting to eb let up. Only to be told that we wouldn't be allowed to enter due to my service dog being present. I have full proof and identification for his legitimacy as a service animal and yet I was rudely told by staff that we would not be let upstairs.

When we first got there was asked the host when we could go up and he saw my service dog and yet said nothing of this policy which is not legal under ADA legislation. Service animals are legally allowed to be present where they are needed.

I then asked for management hoping that the issue would be quickly resolved. I waited thirty minutes while others were let upstairs. My night had already been ruined by the tardy response from management and gave me an overall taste that they didn't put the customer first.

I then called the restaurant in frustration asking if someone could resolve the issue and if management would be able to come down to help and got a lackluster response. The person who picked uo simply said that they didn't see a manager on the floor and didn't know why to do to help, she took my number down and said a manager would call back. No one ever did.

Frustrated we ended up leaving, feeling disrespected and upset that nearly two hours of time had been wasted.

I will not be going back to the water tower and I recommend that you spend your money in a place where you're actually appreciated as a patron. For $24.00 a drink you'd expect a much better experience especially with such sensitive matters. I highly recommend Westlight for great views, food, drinks and overall customer care and experience.

I'm disappointed in the water tower being that this happened on my first trio there I will not be trying again. Do better Water tower...

We had our wedding reception in the downstairs section a few years ago and have been to the water tower bar multiple times with friends (pre-covid). This time, the manager was extremely rude and agressive. There was a misunderstanding where we didn't realize that the hostess was downstairs before we headed up to the top. We had our friends wait for us upstairs as two of us sorted it out with the hostess and she was OK. But when we got back up, our friends had been kicked out and left standing in a dark room not knowimg what was going on. When the upstairs mgr saw us, he wanted to kick us out again before realizing that we had the greelight from the hostess but he was still super intense, in our face, and telling us that we were blaming them for what was clearly poor coordination on their behalf (the waiter had told us that is was ok tk sit down). And they kept reminding us of the 50 min per head. Yeah. We know. AND THERE WERE 5 OF US. And we would have gotten multiple drinks. Talked to the manager and he just wanted us to appease us with a free drink instead of acknowleding that maybe their upstairs manager was a douche or that their process was less than ideal. Guess this is their way of appearing elite but just comes across as dated. If you want excellent views and service, go...

If I could start with zero stars I would. First of all, the maitre d' required that we pay to check our coats and wait in line. Ok, not great, but not so bad I suppose. But then he did not require same of others nor did he monitor the line to wait for the elevator to go up to the water tower.

Multiple different groups of inconsiderate folks then proceeded to circulate in and out of the line. Here's where what we expected to be a halfway decent experience turned south: pandemonium. Upon entering the elevator, two inconsiderate men who did not check their coats and cut the line decided to then also bribe the elevator attendant to circumvent the process.

Does this sound pleasant? Somewhere you'd like to go for a fancy rooftop experience to enjoy the Manhattan skyline? Oh wait, there's more!

We had reserved a high table for our group of four. This table did not exist. Instead, upon reaching the top we were greeted by an overcrowded room with the same inconsiderate groups of folks alluded to in the aforementioned along with a line of some 30 people before we could get our first drink. Needless to say, despite paying $16 to check our coats, we took a photo of the skyline in the freezing cold and breezy conditions then we were off to...