Chelsea Brewing

11/10/09

So Bad it was Almost Comic!!

by venueguru at Citysearch

The experience started with so much potential. A group of good friends on a summer night, celebrating a friend’s birthday, we were all ready to drink, eat and be merry. On top of it, we were ready to spend some $$. Reservations in advance for 15, we arrived to a near empty bar, rudely greeted by the hostess. Regardless, I introduced myself to our server with a big smile and let him know we were celebrating and very generous tippers, slipping him a $20 before we even ordered a drink. Note: we are a friendly group of people who love dining in NYC.

Our beer was served with “hot” glasses which the server would not replace because that was apparently all the glasses they had (the enormous BREWERY that could seat a few 100 was almost empty). We kindly asked to move to a table on the outside patio, which took them 40 minutes to do because they claimed there was no room (clearly in our view the deck was half empty). We waited over a half hour for the server to take our dinner order, another hour after we finished dinner to have the cake brought out, which the waiter basically refused to bring out when kindly asked several times. Asking for the check, that was the fastest service we had received all night – gratuity added and the waiter said to me “be sure to leave an additional tip” WTF?!?!

The service was so bad it was almost comic.

What the Chelsea Brewery didn’t know was that within our group of friends was a restaurant critic for a major food publication, another critic for a well known NY magazine and myself – an events planner in NYC. They lost more business than just the 15 people that came to dinner that night. The food was sub-par.

• Pros: The venue has potential if it were to change management
• Cons: Worst Service in NYC

06/08/09

Terrible service & food

by UptownGirl310 at Citysearch

Let's start with the good: I planned a surprise birthday party here for a large group of people. The event staff (Colleen) was extremely helpful in setting up the private brewery tour and dinner reservations.

The brewery tour was the best part of the evening. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and laid-back, perfect for our group of friends.

The next four hours were terrible. I had to track down our waiter for menus, then to place drink orders and then to order food. When we asked him about the beers, the waiter had absolutely no clue how they tasted. This was only made worse when he finally delivered the pitchers and had no idea which beer was in which container.

The food finally arrived, with only a few mix-ups of who ordered what. It was not worth the wait and definitely not worth the price; my $13 medium hamburger arrived burnt, cold and dry. Everyone was equally disappointed in the food. We didn't see our waiter again until 2.5 hours later when we tracked him down (in a now empty restaurant) for the check.

Save yourself the aggravation and money - go somewhere else.

• Pros: Brewery tour, outdoor seating
• Cons: Service, food, management

05/19/09

Come for the view, not the food.

by GramercyGal at Citysearch

Do not in anyway, shape, or form, make this a destination for the food. Come here only to sit outside on the water and have a beer. Otherwise, look elsewhere.

The food is absolutely terrible and ridiculously over priced - and I mean, ridiculously over priced especially for such poor quality. The service is horrendously slow and incompetent. The beer is ok. However, if you can manage to sit out in the sun next to the water, it's not a bad place to spend an afternoon. Just don't come hungry... even the appetizers aren't worth it, unless you only eat over priced, over cooked, fried food.

• Pros: Marina view
• Cons: The food, the service, the prices