J
Jillian
New York City1 review
Dined on 23 February 2025
- Overall 4
- Food 5
- Service 1
- Ambience 5
The hostess was excellent upon our arrival! We had a 7:30 reservation and were brought promptly to our table.
The food was excellent! The bread, the clams casino, the Kan Kan pork, duck fat potato cake, and the short rib wellington were all to die for. The portions were large and cooked very well. The cocktails were also delicious! The atmosphere was wonderful. The bathrooms are on the outside of the restaurant and really not that clean, not sure if that's at the hotel's discretion but they could use a little more attention.
The bus boys and other staff were attentive and we honestly only tipped 20% in the hopes it went to them. They cleared the table after each course, filled our waters, bagged up our leftovers, etc.
Our waiter Alex was another story. I've never seen a waiter so uninvolved in his job at an establishment like Butcher and Banker. Not sure if he was having an off night, but when the first thing a waiter says to you after sitting there for 5-10 minutes is "are you ready to order?" is a turn off. No Hi, how are you, introduction, nothing. My boyfriend and I looked at each other and Alex must've known we were taken aback as he then said "drinks first?" which then took over ten minutes to come back for two mixed drinks. We then felt like we had to order both the appetizer and dinners at the same time because who knows when we'd see Alex at our table again. We would've ordered a second drink with dinner but Alex never came back to our table to ask.
I can totally understand if the restaurant was packed, but at any given time in the room we were in, there was no more than 4 tables. Alex not once came over except to take our order and then asked if we wanted dessert, which he didn't even present a menu for. We ordered two espresso martinis, and he dumped the bill off quickly, if only he was so prompt in his service elsewhere. The food was excellent and the value for it was great, but I don't think we'll be returning strictly due to Alex's service.