Vetro Restaurant & Lounge — Restaurant in New York

I had recently had my daughter’s sweet sixteen birthday at Vetro and was greatly disappointed with the outcome of the dinner and the setting up before the dinner. First in our contract that was put together by Meena (the party planner at Vetro) the party was to consist of 30 people and we were promised the WHOLE terrace room. The contract stated we would arrive at 6 pm to set up our decorations and the party was to start at 7:30 pm. When we arrived it was around 7:10 due to traffic and the room was nowhere near ready for decorations. Tables, plates, chairs, and silverware were not set up; their excuse for this was that there was another party before this. Weird because Meena told us there was no party before and that 6 would be a good time to come and that everything would be ready for us by the time we arrived but we came at 7:10 and still nothing was ready for the guests. The set up was supposed to be long tables going into one round table. While setting up the tables for the last table they added a table that was much smaller than the others and looked like a backyard fold up table and when we asked the manager about it he very rudely said “well we don't have another table” and bullied us into saying okay like it was either this table or no table. I felt very embarrassed having to have my 86 year old aunt and my boss sit at a small folding table. Meena had said that our guests were to walk in and be greeted by our candy table but were not, instead they were greeted by the back of the set up seeing the wood and the weights holding it together. The cause of this was because part of the room was closed off by a screen and another table was put there for people to eat when in our contract it stated we had the whole terrace space but with the screen it cut off part of the room and left barely any for the setup so the back was right in front of where guests came in. The tables and silverware setup was so rushed and done carelessly that my daughter (the guest of honor) had no forks. Once settled in, one of my guests realized that there were no napkins either and that he had to ask for them to be passed around. The calamari was near inedible, it was chewy and it was like it was double fried. Once each course was passed out to each guest it was like two seconds later they were already quickly taking away the plates. The main course took a while to come out. My daughter had also noticed the bartender that was accompanied by a waiter walk straight to the candy table and take candy and proceed to eat it back at the bar. That's really professional! After talking to another manager and Meena over the phone a couple days after the party to tell them all of the things we had encountered at our party, We were unpleasantly surprised at how unprofessional they were speaking and how poor their attitudes were. Both of them did not sound apologetic at all. The manager was very nasty and said “I'm going to debate the things you said” and also “we looked back at the cameras, you took lots of pictures, you must have enjoyed it.” Who says that?? First of all, are you stalking my party guests? And second, am I not allowed to make something of my party that I paid lots of money to put together and had guests coming from out of state to attend my daughter's special day? I did not want this extremely poor restaurant experience to ruin my daughter's sweet sixteen. I am lucky that most of my guests did not realize the horrible service and rushed setup that I had...

Title: "Déjà Vu Disappointment: Vetro's Encore of Underwhelming Service"

Review:

Once again, I find myself navigating the choppy waters of Vetro Restaurant, a place where promises sink faster than a lead balloon. Last year, I penned a one-star review, lamenting the lack of warmth and hospitality. Lo and behold, the saga continues, with the same dreary tune but a different dance.

I was wooed by calls and messages from Teal and B.J., painting a picture of a revamped Vetro, assuring me that this year's Thanksgiving dinner would be as smooth as silk. My hopes were buoyed further by a conversation with a gentleman claiming to be the manager of both Russo on the Bay and Vetro. He assured me that my reservation woes were a thing of the past. Spoiler alert: they were not.

Fast forward to reservation time. I make my booking online, $180 lighter and hopeful. But hope, it seems, is a currency not accepted at Vetro. For ten agonizing days, my reservation hung in limbo, with my calls echoing unanswered in the vast emptiness of their customer service.

When I finally connected with Christina, the overseer of the elusive Murano room reservations, my tale of woe fell on deaf ears. Despite past experiences and a heartfelt explanation of our reduced family size due to the pandemic, her response was as cold as the draft in their restaurant last year: "eight people for a reservation, or nothing."

The cherry on top? Christina mentioned she had read my last year's review on Yelp. A small detail, but a telling one, as my review was on Google Maps. This slip revealed a lack of attention to detail that seems to be a hallmark of Vetro's service.

In summary, my latest encounter with Vetro was marked by a series of unfulfilled promises, inflexibility, and a notable lack of empathy. The Murano room, once a symbol of fine dining, remains an elusive dream, and the overall customer service is alarmingly detached. My hopes for a memorable Thanksgiving experience were thoroughly dashed, leaving me with a lingering sense of disappointment.

Given these repeated experiences of subpar service and unmet expectations, I cannot recommend Vetro Restaurant. It's disheartening to see a restaurant of its caliber fail to uphold basic standards of hospitality. Therefore, to fellow Google Maps users seeking a delightful dining experience, I advise looking elsewhere, as Vetro, in my experience, has consistently fallen short of delivering a...

We had never been to Vetra Restaurant before and were looking forward to it because it was my aunts 94 birthday. The restaurant was quite busy when we came in and my cousin always insists on sitting outside due to her fear of getting the covid virus again. My aunt ordered the prime rib which was a good-sized steak. My cousin ordered the salmon on a plank oven roasted on a cedar plank, glazed with maple butter & dusted with toasted fennel and broccoli rabe. My wife and I ordered the oreganata tasting (Alaskan cod, shrimp, clams & calamari. Served with spaghetti agli olio, with a lemon white wine sauce). Our portions were small, and I had to send my plate back because the food was lukewarm not hot! The food tasted very good. For dessert we had pistachio tartufo, vanilla cheesecake, tiramisu and my aunt was given a sparkling birthday cake for free. The desserts were excellent and well portioned. The outside terrace is very nice as we are on the Broad Channel causeway. The only downside was I didn’t bring my jacket with me, and a strong breeze hit my back as we finished. The other downside was the restaurant allowed smoking on the terrace in designated sections which isn’t good for me because of asthma, and it is taking away from the taste of my food. The service was very slow, although the staff was friendly and cordial with many old time customers coming here on a standard basis. I was thinking they may have gone fishing to get our seafood plate together! The bathrooms were clean and there is valet parking on the premises. The bill was not paid by me but by my cousin and was well over $200.00 for the four of us. It’s unfortunate that my food was cold and there is nothing to make up for the slowness of the staff. When we arrived, the outside was full of people but few staff and I believe there was a party taking place in the banquet hall and either there weren’t enough servers or chefs to accommodate them both for the food to take so long and be cold. The restaurant is also singled out as the “go to place” for Woodhaven events and if this is what they get…it may be time for...