3 years, 1 month ago

Wow, where to start? The atmosphere here is spot-on. The thematic presentation of a library of alcohol is pitch-perfect, and comes across as very high-end, rather than tacky. The "librarians" are knowledgeable, and when talking to customers are friendly and helpful.

That said, boy did I have a bad experience here. The food and drinks were great, but were all brought out at once, creating a huge logistical problem as the tables are really, really tiny. Then, further orders were complicated by having to go through the librarian for drink orders. When I told a waiter I wanted to order ... Wow, where to start? The atmosphere here is spot-on. The thematic presentation of a library of alcohol is pitch-perfect, and comes across as very high-end, rather than tacky. The "librarians" are knowledgeable, and when talking to customers are friendly and helpful.

That said, boy did I have a bad experience here. The food and drinks were great, but were all brought out at once, creating a huge logistical problem as the tables are really, really tiny. Then, further orders were complicated by having to go through the librarian for drink orders. When I told a waiter I wanted to order another drink, I overheard him ask our librarian, who responded (within earshot), "Well, they're just going to have to wait like everyone else!!"

Seriously? Lady, you just spent the last 45 minutes talking to a guy who was going on and on, loudly, in what is ostensibly a speakeasy, about what Jon Stewart said to him the other day. Maybe if you were doing your job instead, and didn't wait 15 minutes to finally come by and take my drink order, I wouldn't have asked to speak to a manager rather than for some armagnac.

That said, the manager turned out to be a bit of a passive-aggressive, and also said something rude as we left the place.

So, my message for this place is: your customers are not deaf, you need to hire some more librarians or train your waiters to feel comfortable taking drink orders, and you all need to chill out and be polite.

Final verdict? I'd give this place another shot, just because the selection is so fantastic, but the service here really doesn't match the decor.