Envy Bar & Grille — Restaurant in Newark

I'm highly disappointed in the service that I received at this establishment!!! I went here on November 16th to celebrate my birthday with friends and after being there for almost 3 hours we never received our food. And to make matters worse, the manager didn’t even have the common courtesy to speak with us or apologize for the service, well “lack of service” that we received.

So back story... We arrived around 5:20 for our 5:15 reservations. There was no one at the door to greet us when walked in, but after a couple of minutes the bartender came over and escorted us upstairs to our table. The place was pretty empty, it was 3 people at the bar and 2 other parties seated upstairs. After seating us the waitress/bartender came back about 5 minutes later, she gave us some water and asked if we were ready to order. We were not ready to order just yet, our 1st mistake! She told us she’ll be back in a couple of minutes, however 20 minutes pass and she was not back. Instead she was behind the bar serving drinks, so my friend went downstairs to tell her that we were ready. We waited about another 15 minutes before she finally came to take our order. We ordered our appetizers & entrees at the same time (6:19) so we wouldn’t have to wait on her again. 20 minutes pass, still no drinks or appetizers.

In the midst of waiting we notice on there Instagram that they were currently running a $44 prefix menu special with unlimited mimosa’s from 1-11pm. So why were we not presented with this menu?? At this point were still waiting on our drinks & apps so my friend goes to get waitress again and we ask her about the prefix menu. She apologizes and offers us a free round of mimosa’s. She’s brings us the mimosa’s at 6:50, but we still don’t have our appetizers or the drinks that we ordered!!!! We finally get our apps & drinks around 7. We finish our drinks, the water is gone and appetizers are done and now were just waiting. No one never came to ask if we wanted another drink or anything and still no entrees.

Now another party is seated across from us, we watch them order and we watch their entrees come out while WE STILL WAIT for ours!! Finally someone heads to our table with 1 of our entrees. Mind you we’re a party of 6! We speak with the waitress again, she apologizes and says she’ll send the manager over. We wait some more, no manager and still no food.. At this point it’s 8pm so we tell the waitress to just give us the check and that we still would like to speak with the manager. She gave us that check so quickly, but still no manager. We ended up just paying the bill and leaving.

This is definitely not the way I envisioned celebrating my birthday. I would never recommend to this unprofessional restaurant...

As a Yelp Elite for five years, I’ve experienced a wide range of restaurants, and Envy Bar was by far one of the most unprofessional and unsanitary places I’ve visited. While the food was good, the service, staff behavior, and hygiene were absolutely unacceptable.

Poor Service & Questionable Policies

When I arrived, I was seated promptly, but no one acknowledged me for 16 minutes—despite the restaurant having only about nine guests at the time. I eventually moved to the bar, hoping for better service, but it wasn’t any better. The only staff actively working seemed to be the hookah servers and bottle girls, who were only tending to their own tables.

To make matters worse, they put an authorized hold on my card but refused to return it. The bartender’s excuse? “What if it declines?” That logic makes no sense—the charge was already pre-authorized, so keeping my card hostage was unnecessary and unprofessional. This is not a standard practice at any reputable establishment.

On top of that, the bartender threw out my unfinished drink without asking and then refused to make me another one. I paid for that drink, and there was no reason for them to discard it, let alone refuse to replace it.

Disgusting Lack of Hygiene & Cleanliness

The most disturbing part of my visit was the complete disregard for cleanliness and proper food handling. Here’s what I witnessed: • Bartenders spraying perfume on themselves over open drinks • Staff actively drinking and eating on the main floor during business hours • Employees not washing their hands after eating • Servers standing on the steps, touching the railings, then making and pouring drinks—without washing their hands

If this is what’s happening in plain sight, what’s going on in the back? The lack of basic hygiene was appalling, and it made me question the overall sanitation of the kitchen.

Between the poor service, sketchy payment practices, blatant health violations, and outright disrespect from the staff, this is not a place I can recommend. Envy Bar desperately needs to improve staff training, hygiene, and professionalism before I would ever consider coming back.

⭐ 1/5 – Good food, but the service, hygiene, and professionalism are a...

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Start on a Positive note - The art work was extremely colorful and upbeat.😊

First visit and most likely my last. I went here to help a friend celebrate her birthday. I arrived an hour early because I traveled from Waterbury, CT. There was some initial confusion as to whether there was a 7:00 p.m. reservation.🤷🏼‍♀️ Thereafter, a friendly server offered me a seat, a drink and a menu, the basics. I was the only patron here at this point. About 45 minutes into my wait for the 7:00 p.m. reservation, other patrons trickled in. I noticed a few ladies to my right eating tacos. I immediately inquired of the waitress, as I did not see tacos listed on the menu that I was given. I was informed that the establishment was low on taco shells and thus I needed to place an order NOW if I wanted tacos.🤷🏼‍♀️ I declined, since I was there for a 7:00 p.m. reservation. I didn’t want to be rude and order before my birthday friend’s guests arrived.

Upon being seated at our table, we ordered drinks and one of us attempted to order cod fish fritters, however it was out of stock.🤷🏼‍♀️ My friend’s friends enjoyed the empanadas but the calamari was “tough.”

While the server was very friendly, she was the only server on staff which was reflected in the service that we received. Again, she was very nice.😊 The food was just ok. I ordered the NY strip served with asparagus and a side of mixed veggies and what seemed to be reheated frozen potato squares. My birthday friend’s Shish kabob looked amazing- she said it was tasty but it wasn’t hot. As a regular diner who drove almost three hours to dine here, I found the dining experience to be a huge disappointment. Fortunately, I wasn’t very hungry. However, I am thankful for the great company and friendly server.

Verdict- On a Friday night, the “happy hour” taco shells should be overstocked.😊 The server should not have had to work solo- she was hustling and bustling up/down the steps, which probably contributed to the warm food and slow service. Our appetizer plates weren’t cleared until after we started eating our warm dinner. This is a FAIL for me.

A...