Fraunces Tavern

05/16/09

Excellent Historical Dining

by lax87

AMAZING! I really enjoyed the food...the crab cakes are to die for and the beef wellington is fantastic. My friend got the Beef Roast which was also delicious. The staff are very friendly and helpful with suggestions on price fixe that changes weekly. Can only imagine the the menu. We also asked to see the lunch menu which is different from the dinner to find out that every week Fraunces Tavern offers a $20.09 three course price fixe to be as good as the normal food and for such a good price we are eager to return. Although we only dined in the restaurant side we peeked in the bar which has a back room with a pool table. Seems like a great place to have drinks with a group of friends and enjoy pool. I highly recommend it!

• Pros: Great food and historical ambiance

03/11/09

Rude, Nasty, and Not Worth the Time

by PhiloProf

Forget the restaurant. Making the reservations was a miserable experience. This nasty and arrogant "girl" answers the phone, puts me on hold for 5 minutes, comes back on the phone while chomping on food, huffing and puffing while I am asking the latest time to get reservations because I am lecturing that night, and then when I ask her if I am being a bother because she obviously doesn't want to be on the phone - she HANGS UP THE PHONE. So, I call back completely enraged and demand to speak to a manager. Apparently, Mr. Napolean complex as he is being described in all the reviews gets on the phone and refuses to account for this girl hanging up on me. He DEFENDS her and says she tried putting me on hold. I was persistent in making the point. He didn't want to listen. After about 5 minutes of going back and forth with this guy, and ARGUING (HE IS ARGUING WITH A PATRON), he says, do you want reservations or what? Then when I say I WANT THE LATEST POSSIBLE TIME FOR RESERVATIONS, he says, he will be working and I won't be happy so he will NOT take my reservations. AND HANGS UP THE PHONE.

Don't even think about going to this place. They changed management and apparently scooped up NYC's worst and rudest possible people. Go to another restaurant it is not worth it.

I have no gain in lying. Trust me, please. I wouldn't take time to write this review if I wasn't being sincere.

• Pros: NONE
• Cons: EVERYTHING

02/22/09

WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT!

by Whitbeck

My husband and I came to New York for a talk at the Met on Dutch Art. My husband is an artist who works in Still life and Interiors. One of our goals was to visit the Frauncus Tavern, which was presented as an elegant historical museum and restaurant by their website.

We got to the area, after much traffic and expensive parking, only to find it closed. We were very disappointed so we ate elsewhere. On our way back to our car, we saw that it was open so we were delighted and decided to go in and have something simple just to experience the lovely setting.

We were the only people there. Rock and roll music was being piped into the lovely 1700's tavern side, which totally ruined any attempt at conversation so we moved to the dining room, which was quieter but you could still hear the loud music.

We ordered soup, bread and a beer. The waiter was bored and unattentive. We tried not to let it spoil it for us. After we ate, we asked for the check several times, as we had to get our car out of the garage or pay another $ 15.00. We had a half hour to go next door and get the car. We asked three times for the check to no avail. (Remember there was not another soul in the place.) Finally I stood up and went up to the hostess, who was talking on the phone and ignored me and finally said in a loud voice, "Could we please have our check." This brought the check but we waited 15 more minutes for the change, no luck...asked again..told by the girl "I already told them you wanted the change, they're working on it!" It took 3 tries to get the change, with the older man from the kitchen literally hollering at us about how we couldn't wait!!

As we left, the group of 3, the hostess, the waiter and the rude man stood in the foyer talking loudly about what "jerks" we were..the man said, "what the hell did they expect, they only ordered the soup!"

I expected good service, nice ambiance, and a historical experience. I didn't get any of it. Don't waste your time here

• Pros: Couldn't find any.
• Cons: Read my post

09/19/08

Needs New Management

by NYCFRILLS5301

My coworkers and I have been holding happy hours at this place for the past 2 years and have seen it rapidly go downhill until it reached rock bottom last week. The bartenders and waitresses used to be awesome, greeting us by name, never messing up orders etc but most have been replaced by inexperienced people who constantly mess up orders and "accidently" slip drinks on our tab. This has happened on several occasions. The breaking point however, was the other night when the snobby manager with the Napolean complex kicked us out of one section of the lounge because a more important party was coming. Mind you, this party was three hours late for their reservation and the manager had no qualms about our party using the space (and dishing out money) while they were on their way but as soon as they came, we were basically expected to guzzle our drinks and shoo out of "the reserved area" to make way for Goldman Sachs. YES, the manager actually named dropped as if we were supposed to be impressed! He is basically a greedy little man who should've closed off the whole area in the first place if he were to really honor a groups reservation- not squeeze as much money as possible out of people in a given amount of time.

He lost a large group of regulars with his bad attitude. I wouldn't be surprised if he's the reason, the awesome bartenders and waitresses are no longer there.

In conclusion, spend your money elsewhere. Don't contribute to this poor man's ill-fitting suits tailored from the boys section of Bloomingdales.

• Pros: Pool table
• Cons: Snobby management, stuffy crowd,

10/18/07

Surprisingly Classy!

by bdbez

I work in the Financial District and most places to eat around here are quite seedy. A friend was visiting for lunch one day and I took her to Fraunces, expecting the usual pub food and atmosphere based on the word "Tavern" in the name. We were very surprised to find ourselves ushered into a nice dining room full of older men conducting business meetings at tables covered in clean linen cloths. As two casually dressed twenty something ladies we felt very out of place. Prices were more than what we were expecting in the area but they fit the fare as the food was very good. Service was fantastic as well. We both had salads. They were delicious.

• Pros: Nice atomosphere in a usually not so nice area
• Cons: A little boring