Central Park Boathouse

Doesn't Recommend

Dvaccaro

Joined 2 years ago

Worst Service Ever. The waiter was soooo rude and he added a 15% gratuity on a check for a party of 2 without telling us. He didn't mention that the gratuity was being added and I ended up tipping him and additional $13 for terrible service (my bad). He must have thought that he wasn't going to get a tip because he was so rude. He new what he was doing because he picked the check up while we were still sitting at the table (something a waiter should never do) once again sooooooooo rude. I feel angry and violated by that restaurant and will never go back there again. It's too bad because they serve a decent crab cake. It's an absolute crime and violation and I hope he gets the bad Karma that he's racking up.

Doesn't Recommend

mtwain

Joined 7 years ago

Nice view, but treated like cattle. I travel most of the time and like most travelers have eaten in too many restaurants to count. This is the first time in all my years that I have written a complaint about a restaurant.

In this case, the poor service, low quality food, and lack of hospitality were appalling to us, especially for the high prices they charge for you to enjoy a view of the lake. It is a lot more fun to bring food and drink to the lakeside while enjoying the view without dealing with this really pretentious restaurant.

Like other reviewers, we have gone here now a few times on Sunday mornings in Central Park fooled into thinking that the view was worth the probability of obviously poor treatment by the restaurant staff.

However, on this visit, the restaurant outdid themselves. Since they open on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. (no reservations allowed), we arrived at the front door about 9:00 a.m. and were the first in line. At 9:35 we were allowed in, but the manager had opened the side door first and there were about 60 people ahead of us. Nevertheless, there were about 15 lake side tables available which the hostess had instructions to be reserved only for parties of 4 or more unless you had pull with the managers. Since there were only two of us this time, we were ushered to seats inside the restaurant.

The rest was worse. No one greeted us - not the hostess, the server, or any other staff member the entire time we were there. It was like it was a perfunctory obligation on their part to get us seated, get us served, and get us out. The bread and rolls were very stale and hard. The $40 steak and eggs came back undercooked (medium rare vs. medium well) and when sent back, did not come out again for about 45 minutes. The manager sat at the bar having breakfast most of the time we were there while his staff was pushing crowds in and out. For visitors to New York, I would say it is definitely not worth the risk of ending a fun trip to New York with an experience at this place. No we will not be back.

Recommends

coastalvr

Joined 4 years ago

Great food & people watching!. saw Bono & family here the other day. The food is great and if you get lunch/dinner to go in the back is really a good value! Must try it!

Recommends

AvonBarksdale

Joined 3 years ago

A meal in the park!. I have tried to take my girlfriend here quite a few times but never with a reservation. We've always stopped in hoping to get a table but it's nearly impossible and we never ended up waiting the 2 hours that we were required to. I finally smartened up and made a reservation. We had a phenomenal meal, the food, service and setting was great. The boat house is one of my favorite places in the city.