Blue Eyes

Great location! We were fortunate to be given a table right at the front with an uninterrupted view of the waterfront and the New York skyline. The serving staff were friendly and helpful. Unfortunately two of the four main courses our party had chosen were not available and this was only mentioned when the order was placed ... It would have been more helpful if we had been told earlier, i.e. when menus were given to us, the items which were not available. The food was good. One member of our group declared that it was the best gluten free pizza he had ever had. The prices reflect the location as well as the food so are higher than for comparable food elsewhere. The one negative element was that there was only one restroom for all guests and this did not look as if it had been inspected or cleaned recently.

Most importantly: I AM CELIAC. I can’t have gluten because I’m currently undergoing treatment. I ordered a gluten-free pasta, but when I was almost done eating, I started having a reaction—my neck and arms began to itch. I flagged down another waitress (since ours wasn’t paying much attention to us), and she went to double-check with him. When she asked him, he looked surprised, checked the order tab, spoke to the manager/owner, and then came back to tell me HE WASN’T SURE if it was gluten-free—because sometimes he asks the kitchen, and they don’t do it. He took my plate away and said I could have the chicken that was already on my plate, and even offered me a gluten-free pizza “on him.” But by then, I had lost my appetite and declined. On top of that, my friends and I waited an hour for our drinks—mine was just a simple sparkling water. We ended up ordering dessert first because the main course was taking so long and we were all starving. No manager came over to apologize or even acknowledge what had happened. To make matters worse, after this whole terrible experience, they acted like they were doing me a favor by “not charging” for my pasta, but still charged $10 for two tiny chicken breasts. (Meanwhile, my friend ordered the same dish and got four large pieces—clearly, there’s no consistency in portion sizes.) We all had dessert, and they told us, “We’re not charging for the dessert, but please don’t tell anyone.” So many other things went wrong, but I’ll leave it to my friends to share their sides—otherwise, I could write an entire essay about how bad this was.

Extremely disappointing experience. I’ve been to this restaurant before and never had such a terrible time. Our drinks took over an hour to arrive, and our food nearly two. We ended up ordering dessert first just to have something to eat while waiting. The most serious issue: one of my friends is celiac and specifically requested a gluten-free dish. Halfway through eating, she started reacting and asked again—only to be told they weren’t sure if the dish was actually gluten-free. They removed the plate, but the damage was already done. They ended up not charging us for her dish or the desserts and asked us not to say anything. But this absolutely must be said. Food allergies are not a joke, and this was one of the worst service experiences I’ve had in any restaurant.