West Bar and Lounge — Restaurant in New York

I'm on a quest to support local businesses in my community, so I must admit I visited this place inquisitive to find out more, as this place recently opened in the neighborhood.

Decor: I agree with other reviewers, this place has been newly renovated and has potential, but appears extremely dark even during the day when it's light out. This is the result of them pulling their shades down on purpose. My genuine feeling is that this restaurant is trying more to be a nightclub/lounge than a light bright brunch-esque spot. The bar is prominent in the space and appears to be a focal point.

The hostess who manned the door the whole time didn't appear to be the friendliest and didn't take kindly to my questions about the darkness. She just seemed mad. The waitress who took my to-go order was very nice and seemed invested in both my experience there and the establishment. The wait was pretty long, but I didnt mind because the ambiance was ok. Maybe invest in Pandora or Tidal sans commercials.

A chef/owner/cook sat at the bar the whole time chatting it up with a friend and never asked if I'd been helped. He could do better. Yet the bartender who seemed good at her job kept the conversation going with patrons and managed a warm smile, and a, "Have you been helped?"

The food: The food was well seasoned for the most part and portioned generously for the price. I ordered 3 appetizers to go. The conch fritters: good value and tastee...don't expect an overflow of conch though. It was very good though! The jerk chicken sliders where...mehhhhhhhh. In a Caribbean neighborhood, if you're gonna call something jerk, you had better make it well seasoned with some smokey kick. The escovich fish taco was delicious and well portioned for the price. They won with that.

All in all I'm writing this because it wasn't a bad first visit and the food was pretty good. I will be back for a sit down dinner. My general feeling is that this place is trying to contend with Dunn River in Rockville Centre. Good for you! Leave the $$$ in Queens and keep it local. I'm encouraged by more cool restaurants popping up in the neighborhood and I want them to get better as this community is made up of middle class Afro-Americans and the hope is that we can support viable businesses in our communities.

Best...

This past Saturday 6/18/22 my party of 4 went to this establishment. We were treating our significant others to an early Father’s Day. This was our 2nd time here, but this time it was TERRIBLE. Upon arrival we were seated and waited for about 20 minutes before anyone came to assist us. Our server was Melany V and she was the absolute worst. She approached us already annoyed, and with a terrible attitude/demeanor. We didn’t have water, eating utensils, napkins, or plates. When we asked her for these things, her attitude became worse. She proceeded to slam things on the table as she brought them, and roll her eyes. She NEVER came to check on us, we ALWAYS had to call her. We ordered our drinks, appetizers and entrees at the same time. However, our drinks came 20 minutes later. Appetizers came 30 minutes after the drinks. And only 3 of the 4 entrees came an hour after the appetizers. After waiting for another 45 minutes for my missing entree, and inquiring with Melany. I was informed that my entree was given to someone else and that she was speaking to the manager about the issue. She then came back and inform me that the kitchen was backed up and they will remake my entrée asap. I was through at this point, and told her to cancel it. Therefore I didn’t have a meal (good thing I got appetizers). Now, on to the drinks. We all ordered alcoholic frozen drinks (Soca daiquiris) and we wondered if they even put liquor in them. The drinks were WEAK/WATERED DOWN, so we ordered 2 shots of Tito’s $11 and Hennessy $13. Which didn’t help. The drinks were high priced juices and very disappointing. We were not pleased about paying $34.16 gratuity for terrible service, but it is what it is. The music was a bit loud but ok, and the place is intimate and cozy. I will say that we noticed there was another server that was on top of everything. Wish we had her serve us instead, kudos to her. Melany needs to take notes. Over all will NEVER patronize this establishment again, and we have already started to tell our friends etc about this...

I really like this place but I had a very bad experience there on Mother's day this year (May 12, 2024) and I meant to leave a review but realized I never got around to it. I went there with my mother shortly after it opened because we love the food and drinks. I never had an issue before but on that day there was a bartender that was extremely rude and ghetto...to the point where if my mother was not there it would not have ended well...for her! I'm sitting there trying to have a good time with my mother and noticed the bartender staring at me from the bar. Then when the waitress goes to give her my drink order she says something and starts laughing and looks at me again! So the waitress brings me my drink. After a few sips I realize it was extremely strong...and I like my drinks strong but this was even too strong for me and it took away from the taste. So I asked the waitress to please see if she can put more coconut flavor in it etc to dilute the alcohol. The waitress, who was very nice and professional, said sure and I watched as she went to the bar and again the bartender (who was busy scrolling on her cell phone) said something, laughed and looked over towards me and rolled her eyes! The experience really pissed me off and ruined my day. Please hire MATURE, professional people and not these ignorant ghetto birds!! I passed here the other day and because of that incident I chose to eat someplace else. I have a very large Instagram following and always promote the places I eat/drink at and I go out often. But that bad experience, with a bartender I do not know from a hole in the wall, that I did nothing to, really put a bad taste in my mouth about WestBar. Hopefully you can look to see who was behind the bar that day at...