Tudor City Steakhouse — Restaurant in New York

My wife and I went to the Tudor City Steakhouse in midtown Manhattan after an event at the UN. You expect a restaurant in this part of New York to be expensive, but you also expect to get good service and good food for that price. Overall, it was a very disappointing experience.

First, some good points. The restaurant itself is lovely, with a 1920s vibe, and the maître d' was a charming young man who seemed committed to giving us a good experience. I couldn't say the same for our waiter. My wife ordered a "very dry martini." He brought us a martini with lots of vermouth, but my wife drank it. When he asked her if she wanted another, she very politely said, "Yes, but could you ask the bartender to make it really, really dry?" The waiter informed us that "Our martins have NO vermouth" (which is ridiculous) but said he would ask for very dry. He brought back a martini that had even MORE vermouth than the first one. I hope the joke was worth what it cost his tip. (More about that below.)

For my appetizer, I had the shrimp cocktail. I am not exaggerating when I say that I have had bigger and fresher shrimp from ShopRite. My wife had the "Sizzling Canadian Bacon," which was tough and burnt. For our main courses, my wife had the filet mignon. In fairness, she said it was good, though more like "rare" than the "medium rare" we asked for. (Actually, the waiter asserted "medium rare" when we ordered steaks, without asking us.) The side dishes were also actually good: we shared the pasta carbonara (which doesn't seem to be on their regular menu), and I had a baked potato, which was well prepared and well presented. (A minor point: in an upscale restaurant you don't expect the butter to be in those little plastic diner tubs. Their online menu brags about "Chef A’s signature Barolo wine cherry peppers & onions truffle butter," but don't expect that.) My sirloin steak was properly cooked and well presented (see the photo), but it was not tender, and would have been only adequate at half the price at a chain restaurant.

We did not order desert, but they brought us complimentary limoncellos. My wife and I stared to think, "Well, maybe they're doing the best they can." Then we looked at our bill: they had added a crème brûlée to the bill (hidden in the middle of the bill) that we had not ordered. I wanted to tip 0%, but my wife is too nice, so we tipped 18%, which is I think the lowest either of us have tipped in our lives.

Oh, one more fun tidbit: we were seated right in front of a bug zapper, which loudly popped every few minutes. The electrocuted bugs smelled of burnt hair, which really added to the ambience of...

I was here on Valentine’s Day and I experienced the worse service anyone could imagine . We arrived at 8:06 we did not leave until 11:45 , not because of me and my partner were enjoying each others company , but that’s how long our dining experience took . We waited 15 minutes for our menu then another 20 to take our order . The waiter passed us at least 10 times and we had to flag him down to take our order by my boyfriend touching his shoulder bc if not he would have ran passed us . We had to order everything at once . Took 25 minutes to get our appetizers and the owner was the one who brought it out not our waiter . The appetizers were not bad at all, but it took us 50 minutes to get our main course . The whole time we are waiting , we saw 3 people walk out and at least 5-7 people ask where is the waiter or their checks . We were seated right in front of an area were the waiters would go to get cutlery or wine and the kiosk to ring up tickets were . The first hour and a half our waiter was running around and the remainder of our time he was at the kiosk preparing tickets . Not attending to tables at all!! The one who was attentive to us the most was a busboy named Ard who would refill glasses or get us more bread . Our waiter came to our table for 1 minute to briefly take our order and get our wine and he ran to do both we did not have time to ask him any questions bc he ran off . Once we ate our main course , It took another 20 for the desert . After we finished our desert, it took another 45 minutes to get our ticket . We were to the point that my boyfriend had to go up to ask him for change and we put on the table exactly how much the dinner was and we left our waiter no tip . Instead we were trying to find the bus boy but he was no where to be found . Even though The restaurant thought it was busy, I can understand that it could be overwhelming or maybe someone called out so you have to step up . I get that . But our waiter would speed up every time he passed our table and acted like we were non existent. At least he could assure us our food is on our way or sorry about the delay. He ignored us completely and that is what we’re most upset about . The food was great But what we would remember the most was the service being horrible and waiting so long for our food. This place needs training on how to be attentive to customers and to get food out in a...

Diners beware, make sure to double check your bill before you pay the total printed at the bottom. When I got my check, there was an additional $10 charge listed beside the line "if pay by credit card," in addition to an automatic 20% tip (which wasn't a policy on their menu, website or check). I asked the waiter to clarify and he immediately became defensive and insisted it was NYS food tax, except there was already another line for tax under the subtotal. He repeated that it was tax twice more despite my pointing out the food tax line above. Given that he obviously didn't have an answer, I left it at that and opted to pay cash instead figuring it was a credit card related tax. On my way out the door, he stopped me and accused me of not paying the entire bill. I explained to him that the amount I gave him was calculated from an 18% tip based off the food subtotal, added to the subtotal and tax. He continued to insist that it was not the total on the bill as I continued to explain to him my math, going as far as to writing it down for him. Minutes later, as it became more obvious that he didn't understand my calculations or the random charges on the bill, combined with his accusations of cheating him of his tip, I asked to speak with the manager to which he answered "I AM the manager." Eventually he said he would go speak with someone else and less than two minutes later returns and dismisses me with a "it's fine you can go." However after all this frustration, I felt I was owed an explanation and an apology for his accusations and attitude, neither of which I received. I would have understood if he didn't know about all the components of the bill (although he should), but I did expect him to ask his supervisor to get me some clarity. Instead I was met with defensiveness and later on accusations of being a swindler. It wasn't exactly how I planned to end my Sunday family dinner. To top it all off, the service was very slow even though the restaurant was pretty empty when we ordered and the food was mediocre. By the way they DO offer free parking for dinner, contrary to what I was told over the phone the day before my reservation. If you've read this far, I normally don't post reviews on newer restaurants I feel blasé about but this waiter...