Hit or Miss?
For a birthday dinner ...
Hit: Il Buco. LilBee had her birthday celebration at my newly-discovered, favorite spot and it was award-winning. If restaurants received Oscars for their performances, Il Buco would win for best. We ate downstairs in the wine cellar at an enormous banquet table. The friendly servers brought us delectable hors-d'oeuvres and we had a wonderful menu to choose from. Appetizers ranged from beef carpaccio to sashimi, from flat bread pizza to empanadas. Entrees ranged from pappardelle and risotto to salmon and pork. As we were leaving I walked out and felt like I was on the set of a medieval movie. It was dark, candlelit and cavernous. I imagined myself coming back with a boy on a romantic date. Don't miss Il Buco.
47 Bond Street, between Lafayette & Bowery
212.533.1932
Miss: The Smith. I read The Smith was a poor man's Pastis and since it was close to my birthday party at Black and White, it seemed a no-brainer. I made reservations earlier in the week for ten people at 7:30.
Grievance #1: We showed up and despite having a huge table reserved for the crew, they would not seat us until we were all there. Now, I know this is a widely-enforced restaurant policy and I would have understood had we been assigned to a collection of smaller tables they had to move together. If I was at Jean-Georges or Chanterelle I wouldn't have flinched. But this was The Smith. Their excuse was they didn't want to screw a server out of the business if the table was left empty. Yet there was no other group of ten in sight and the table was clearly meant for large parties so they were the only ones being screwed. The seven of us who were there would have sat down and immediately ordered cocktails.
Grievance #2: My friend brought in cupcakes for the festivities. I understand this is a huge no-no without clearing with the restaurant and/or asking about a "bring your own dessert" fee, but the server did not say a word about the cupcakes when she saw them at the table, other than "MMM! YUMMY!" nor did she inform us there would be a $50 charge for us eating them out of a box - no slicing and dicing required. After a decisive battle back and forth, the manager came and understood our argument that the server should have said something about the steep fee instead of pulling the apron over our eyes and slipping it on our final bill. The food at The Smith was decent though forgettable. I will not be hurrying back and if you have a choice, stick to Keith McNally's Pastis, not the poseur.
55 Third Ave., between 10th and 11th St.
212-420-9800
Hit: Il Buco. LilBee had her birthday celebration at my newly-discovered, favorite spot and it was award-winning. If restaurants received Oscars for their performances, Il Buco would win for best. We ate downstairs in the wine cellar at an enormous banquet table. The friendly servers brought us delectable hors-d'oeuvres and we had a wonderful menu to choose from. Appetizers ranged from beef carpaccio to sashimi, from flat bread pizza to empanadas. Entrees ranged from pappardelle and risotto to salmon and pork. As we were leaving I walked out and felt like I was on the set of a medieval movie. It was dark, candlelit and cavernous. I imagined myself coming back with a boy on a romantic date. Don't miss Il Buco.
47 Bond Street, between Lafayette & Bowery
212.533.1932
Miss: The Smith. I read The Smith was a poor man's Pastis and since it was close to my birthday party at Black and White, it seemed a no-brainer. I made reservations earlier in the week for ten people at 7:30.
Grievance #1: We showed up and despite having a huge table reserved for the crew, they would not seat us until we were all there. Now, I know this is a widely-enforced restaurant policy and I would have understood had we been assigned to a collection of smaller tables they had to move together. If I was at Jean-Georges or Chanterelle I wouldn't have flinched. But this was The Smith. Their excuse was they didn't want to screw a server out of the business if the table was left empty. Yet there was no other group of ten in sight and the table was clearly meant for large parties so they were the only ones being screwed. The seven of us who were there would have sat down and immediately ordered cocktails.
Grievance #2: My friend brought in cupcakes for the festivities. I understand this is a huge no-no without clearing with the restaurant and/or asking about a "bring your own dessert" fee, but the server did not say a word about the cupcakes when she saw them at the table, other than "MMM! YUMMY!" nor did she inform us there would be a $50 charge for us eating them out of a box - no slicing and dicing required. After a decisive battle back and forth, the manager came and understood our argument that the server should have said something about the steep fee instead of pulling the apron over our eyes and slipping it on our final bill. The food at The Smith was decent though forgettable. I will not be hurrying back and if you have a choice, stick to Keith McNally's Pastis, not the poseur.
55 Third Ave., between 10th and 11th St.212-420-9800
posted by Mona at 7:32 AM
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22 Comments:
Hmmmmm???
Isn't it possible that the server thought you guys already cleared it with the restaurant about bringing in the cupcakes and knew about the $50 charge?
regardless, anon, she should have said, you guys are aware blahblahblah. i used to waitress, and those would have been the first words out of my mouth.
Having been a waitress then you know you don't bring your own food to a restaurant and that the industry standard for plating is around $7 or $8 pperson/ or a couple of dollars less than the average dessert price. Look long and hard in the mirror. You may see a cheapskate staring back at you....
Looks like both sides assumed something...
As the manager was gracious enough to waive the fee, why make it a complaint?
You put the restaurant in a precarious position!! You should have cleared this otherwise it's their right to assume you know the policy. Who starts serving their own food in a restaurant???? You admit it was a no no and your responsibility to find out the policy yet you didnt. And you expect the server to interupt the festivities proclaiming that its going to be $50? Do you understand how awkward that is? And nobody but nobody in the industry likes to seat incomplete parties. Have a drink at the bar and hang out till your group arrives. That's the European way.
Mona is 100% in the right here to have a grievance about the charge for the cupcakes. Thousands of people a day bring cupcakes to bday parties at restaurants because it's cute and fun! It's not like they brought steaks and lobsters. Frankly, the waitress should have been honored that Mona decided to choose The Smith to have her birthday there and bring them a large party for food that isn't that great.
-nycfoodie
this post and it's comments are hilarious. i am especially cracking up at nycfoodie's comment. please tell me that was sarcasm. sadly, i am guessing it's probably not. mona admit you were wrong and move on. plus, the "i used to waitress so I know" defense- is just sad. i mean- come the f on. this is dining 101.
sad state of affairs over here.
this is stupid... i am sure you picked this place for your birthday because it has bad food... and if that's what your friend brought you as a present then she should have been gracious enough to cover the $50 and not let this get into a big deal on your birthday.
bringing cupcakes or cakes to a restaurant or a bar is uncouth and tacky, though the latter seems more acceptable. you should have them stick a candle in a dessert next time.
pastis has been horrible for years and so have all the other mcnally joints.
anon, don't you have anything better to do than leave dozens of comments on my blog?
I am the first anon. I disagree with you that the waitress should have mentioned the $50 fee. Obviously, you guys were in the wrong for bringing in cupcakes. By the waitress mentioning the fee again (in her mind, as a diner should have had it OKed with the staff before bringing in outside food), it gives the impression that you guys are clueless (which appears you guys may be). She was probably giving you the benefit of the doubt.
And I also have worked in the restaurant industry as well. If the waitress did mention the $50, it sounds terribly condescending.
And, no, I'm not the waitress or have any affiliation with any restaurants anymore.
...and i am anon 5. just because people don't us caps doesn't mean they are the same person. just saying. as you may know- this post is published on eater so you are getting a lot of attention. makes for a good convo really. does appear that you are slightly clueless about nyc dining however, though you have been to a ton of great spots.
Ummm... nice move jumping to conclusions. Your blog post is on eater.com, hence all these new comments. Thank you for assuming the best of us, just like you did for the waitress. Optimist, aren't you?
hi anon 5, i never assume i'm on eater, but after all the comments i checked and low and behold, there i was. seems people are pretty fired up. in the grand scheme of things, yeah, $5 a head isn't a lot, i know. it's just the principle. she could have said something. i didn't know my friend was bringing the cupcakes, and when she said she hadn't called i did think "oh $@%&*!" to myself. but what are ya gonna do?
Geesh...5 anon's? Who can keep track? It's so rude and lame....take some ownership people!
Wow, a lot of rude anons on here. At the end of the day, you were both probably wrong. It is tacky to bring food to a restaurant, but it's a birthday and their just cupcakes so I can at least understand. I will say that it's even more tacky to charge somebody for it, the right thing to do is not charge for it and expect the tip to include an extra $5 a head. It's like when you're given anything on the house, you still pay for it in full, it's just in the tip and not on the check. If the tip doesn't include the extra than shame on the patrons but it's not classy to put charges like this on the bill, even if made aware beforehand. It just leaves a bad taste in everybody's mouth, why would you want to do that as a restaurant owner? It's certainly not worth the $50 you got out of it.
uh. i'm a little stunned by the preceding comment and want to say to this poster that restaurants stay open by selling their wares. Do you understand that? It's not in the restaurants best interest to encourage folks to bring in their own food. The profit margin is miniscule and sometimes dessert sales are your profit. I dont expect you would bring cupcakes to Babbo or Balthazar but somehow because the Smith is a little under the radar and not as popular they should allow this practice because their lucky you even stepped foot inside their establishment. You guys are evil!
When you guys inevitably had the waitress split the bill nine ways (not evenly, but according to what each of you had ordered) so you could each use your own credit card (and consequently avoid all the usual "Why should SHE get all the miles?" argument), did you make the the girl who paid the for the cupcakes in the first place pay her share of the $50 cakeage fee or did the rest you begrudgingly tack on the additional sixty-nine cents (plus tax and tip) to your cards?
Wow Mona. What an incredible douchebag you are. You walk into a restautrant with YOUR OWN food, and expect not to get charged for it? What planet are you from? You think because it's someone's birthday you're all SPECIAL? C'mon, for someone who purports to know the NYC restaurant scene, you should know better. Or maybe you've gone over to The Dark Side.
You should check out Bacara if you liked Il Buco. The food might not be life-altering, but the decor is great. Subeterrenean, cavernous, chandeliers. The whole nine yards. Near a bunch of fun dive bars as well!
That would be Bacaro.
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