theBoil Prime — Restaurant in New York

I feel the need to write this review because I’ve been going to all the locations of theBoil since 2017 but yesterday was not a great experience like I usually have & honestly felt offended as I’ve been a server, held a manager position & now own my own restaurant. I got there at 9pm (I do know that they close at 10pm) & there were only 3 tables seated that were eating in the whole restaurant. The man standing in the front asked if I had a reservation & I said no. He walked away from me with an iPad in his hand, came back 2 minutes later after pacing back & forth asking for my phone number (he didn’t even explain why). I gave it to him & after 1 minute of him pacing back & forth again, I finally get seated. They let us know its last call at the bar which wasnt a problem for us because we were starving & just wanted to order food asap.

When the server came, she did NOT introduce herself & asked if we were ready. Her service was horrible as she only checked on us once because she was too busy chatting to her coworker in her language & she speaks very little english (I believe she’s from a Spanish speaking country). We ordered the fried catfish basket, a seafood boil combo which included snow crab legs & shrimp, & a side order of pasta. Everything came at once after 20 minutes of ordering. The pasta was a little bland but not bad & the seafood boil was AMAZING as always. The catfish basket was not good. My partner ate a piece of the catfish filet & said something was off. I picked up another piece of the catfish & the breading literally SLID off the fish. The fish was a grayish color when revealed under the batter & when I touched the bare fish, it felt slimy. Very unappealing & made me lose my appetite TBH.

I eat all kinds of fish & literally ate fried catfish from Ben’s Crab 2 days prior & I can tell something was off with this catfish. Now the server did ask if we were okay but we were in the middle of bussing down our seafood boil & did not touch the catfish basket yet. After tasting the catfish basket, I did not even want it on our table so I called the server & let her know that I didnt want it & I expressed that it either wasnt cooked properly or wasnt fresh. She looked at me, looked at the plate & walked away without saying anything. She came back with boxes & walked away again. When she came back, she dropped the check on our table. The catfish was still on the tab. I then asked her to get the manager.

The manager that comes to my table, is the same man with the ipad that sat us, which I assumed was a host. I explained to him that the catfish didnt taste fresh & I didnt want it but he can charge me for the fries since we did taste the fish & ate a little of the fries. He said that the server told him that when she came to the table, we said everything was okay. I said she didnt even understand what I said to her because when I complained, she came back with boxes. He responds that HE doesnt understand & that they have been serving the catfish all day… ATP I’m annoyed because as a manager, why are you going back & forth with a customer? Anyways I told him I wasn’t going to eat it & he said he can take off some money off the tab but not the whole catfish platter. I just took that as the final resolution, paid my bill, & left. One thing that they need to learn is better customer service. The only reason I didn’t give 1 star is because the seafood boil really saved them & the quality & consistency of the boils are always good every time I eat there. I will going to the Manhattan locations...

I frequent this location with friends and family. Prior to it's opening, for years we'd travel to the city for carry out at the main location. So I KNOW the quality of food & service to be expected... but my most recent visit literally left a bad taste in my mouth. My mom wanted happy hour oysters, I got oysters Rockefeller, and fried calamari to share. The oysters were as expected, but as soon as I tasted the calamari I knew something was wrong with it. I commented on it not being fresh, spoke to our server about it & asked for the manager as well.

I also ordered a side of plain boiled potatoes w/garlic butter for my 8 month old 🤦🏾‍♀️ She ate a few bites & started itching right away. I had to call my son to come down the street with benadryl. She's eaten potatoes, garlic, & butter at home without an issue... so I figure this was either cross-contamination handling or the veggies are cooked together with the seafood 🤷🏾‍♀️

The "manager" came over & starts going back & forth with me (lowkey arguing) that the calamari was good in his opinion--eats one of them, doubles down that it is fresh & that's how they're prepared. I stopped him there & informed that I've eaten calamari in many different establishments & SEVERAL times (on each visit actually) at this location & it has NEVER BEFORE tasted like chewing a fried rubber band until now. Noting that it either wasn't fresh calamari or the frying oil was old. He insisted that oil is changed daily. He offered to take it off the bill, but continued saying that it tasted fine. I really wanted calamari, so I agreed to him replacing it with a new order of calamari 🙄. This time the breading was light & crisp, but alas.... fried rubber band texture inside.

Obviously the calamari is old or they're freezing it... but its NOT FRESH & it affects the dish. Idk who was more annoyed--me or the "manager" who tried to gaslight us. Our server was fine until then, but after the calamari issue she didn't come back to check on us until we flagged her down for the bill. To be fair, it looked like she was the only server at opening (poor managing). I actually had to ask a busser to replenish my seltzer water because she was zipping back & forth or chatting.

I review many of the places I visit [on google platform], but this was even a first for me with such subpar service from someone holding a "manger" title. The food quality & customer service were very off-brand. I see some other people who've had similar experiences at this location & this manager. Very surprising considering how hands-on Mike (owner) has always been with customer service at the Chrystie St. location. Definitely worth mentioning the next time I bump into...

I ate here two times. Both times bad experience. The first was in Sept. 2024 for my birthday. Appetizer (fried shrimp) was raw. Sent it back. No soda machine working. Soda was flat. Sent it back. Ended up getting sodas from the store. Second time was yesterday. Pretty chilly inside, didn't feel much heat. Again issues with soda. Ordered a coke and there was some kind of soapy foam in it. Sent it back. Ordered two more cokes. They didn't have it. Ordered Sprites. Didn't have it. We didn't order appetizers because of what happened the first time so we just ordered crab legs. No drinks available so went to the store AGAIN. Came back and we started eating our food. Near the end of our ONE BUNDLE of snow crab the manager Dennis came to the table to exclaim no outside food or drinks were allowed. I explained there had been soap in the first drink and then there was nothing available we wanted to order. I am not sure if he sent them to get sodas in the mean time, but he said he was sending a coke and sprite to my table. I told him no as we were pretty much done with our food and I had gone out in the blistering cold to get drinks seeing as how they didn't have any. He threated to put it on my bill anyway and then he told me there was no soap in the first drink, which how would he know what the issue was when he was not the one dealing with it. He went back and forth with me quite a bit over sodas. The couple next to us had also gone out to buy sodas. When they left they said they would not be returning. On my way out I saw Dennis and approached him about his HORRIBLE customer service and again, he went back and forth with me. I would avoid this location. The aesthetic looks pleasing, however the service is way below par. The fact that the word BOIL is out on the sign says more than enough about how this location is managed. Simply, THE. Because of Dennis, this location lost 4 customers in one night. I am sure his gross customer service will continue to drain the returning pool of customers. Of note, the crab legs were very garlicy. Might I also add that this location places an automatic 20% gratuity on the bill and not during either visit did the server come to the table to see if we needed anything. That could be because we had no drinks for them to refill, but it is quite ridiculous for a party of two to have this gratuity be mandatory, yet the service...