Two Hands — Restaurant in New York

I visited here twice in one week and had two very different experiences. My first experience was taking my cousin out to eat here on Tuesday (10th Sept.) late morning, everything was perfect from the food, the drinks, atmosphere and service. We were lucky it was relatively quiet, the server was very friendly and accommodating, I had the lavender matcha, which was the best matcha drink I ever had, I also had the green tomato, prosciutto and hummus toast which was delicious and my cousin (from NY) had the lemon poppy seed waffle, which was absolutely delicious too. We left there feeling very satisfied with our experience. My boyfriend and I were visiting NYC and in the same week I wanted to bring him here as I knew he would love it too, as we love brunch places and after having such a great experience there I thought it would be perfect but it was far from it. This time I came here Thursday (12th Sept.) early afternoon. The server that served me last time was there again and was very friendly and accommodating like last time. However this time it was very busy and on top of that the music was far too loud, so my boyfriend and I decided to sit outside. We wanted the nice view from one of the seats that was vacant there but still had the dishes from the people who were last there but we didn't mind waiting for this to be cleared. However a different server came over and was very rude to us. She said for us to move to one of the other tables and implied that it was obviously not ready yet as if we were too stupid to realise that the table wasn't clearly ready yet. Any other restaurant we had been to previously where we wanted a table that wasn't ready yet we have always had someone come and clean it right away or be told kindly that they will come and clean it right away for us. However after we said we don't mind waiting, the server seemed very bothered by this and said "well, you'll have to wait five minutes then" very rudely, making us feel very unwelcome and an inconvenience. My boyfriend then said "we don't have a problem waiting but we're leaving because you're being so rude". It was a very unpleasant and disappointing experience, which left us having to find somewhere else to eat, where we...

Two Hands has a hipster feel to it, even though I'm pretty sure it was an Australian cafe. Our party of 12 came in on one Monday afternoon for a work outing, without a reservation (though I don't think they accept them here if it isn't for dinner). They were not able to accommodate such a large group at one table, so they ended up seating us in two separate areas. So much for a team event.

All of the dishes on the menu sounded pretty good. They all consisted of fresh-sounding ingredients. However, they also didn't sound very filling. Because of this, I decided to go with the Two Hands Beef Burger (with cheese, fried egg, pickled cucumber, beet relish - side of crispy potatoes and house-made ketchup on seeded bun). This definitely filled me up and then some. We ate at around 1 and I wasn't even hungry by the time dinnertime rolled around.

I must have missed the part where it said the burger came with beet in it because I was very surprised when it showed up. It made me think back to the first and only other time I had a burger with beets in it, which was at a McDonald's at the Sydney Airport. I remember thinking it was the weirdest thing ever, that the two didn't even go together. But now that I've tried it again, I think I'm starting to take a liking to beets and beets in burgers. My only warning to you is that the burger is extremely messy to eat. Between the fried egg and the beet relish, it's hard to even take a bite with everything in it, let alone keep all of the ingredients in the bun.

The smashed potatoes were great but a tad too greasy. I forgave this though because I just love tiny potatoes for some odd reason. The house-made ketchup was not for me. It had cinnamon (?) or some other kind of spice, which gave it this strange taste. I would have preferred Heinz. This just proves that sometimes, it's best to K.I.S.S.

I wouldn't mind coming back and trying some of their avocado toast as a light brunch. Plus, they make a pretty...

We came for brunch and were seated by a server with black hair and a beard (there were no name tags). While he was friendly to us at first, we asked a simple question about an item on the menu that we were confused about. The ingredient in question was called "Kewpie" and was on several menu items. We asked him what this was and he responded with a fairly condescending attitude... It is perfectly fine to have different ingredients than standard fare, but it gave us a really bad first impression when he treated us as if we were stupid for not knowing what it was.

While we were waiting for our food after ordering, we also couldn't help but notice what seemed to be all of the employees gathered in a circle around the bar talking loudly and laughing, some with airpods in.

We were also forced to watch our server touching another employee inappropriately, as we were seated about 3 feet away from their chatting circle, this happened a few separate times... Just seemed a little weird when there were all standing in clear view of the dining area.

The food itself came quickly and was very good! Although there was a hair in the chicken (but we understand things happen).

Once the food had come, though, we did not get checked on once by any of the servers. Not a huge deal, but as two people who have worked in the restaurant business, it was just another thing we noticed... especially since the place wasn't busy.

Prices are fair for the area, but the service just seemed a little lacking when each of our breakfast meals was over $25.

We tipped 20% because it was a nice place and we understand it is the main source of income for the employees but we did not feel the service warranted this tip amount.

Overall not a bad spot, but we were slightly...