01/26/09

Rude Musician, Unimpressive Food

by otroyansky

Our recent experience at Blue Smoke was horrible! It had less to do with the service, food, ambiance etc. and more to do with the band that was performing there that night. We were seated right in front of the musicians and everything was going well until the composer/saxophonist (who happened to be an 80 year old man) proceeded to scold us for so much as moving a finger during the performance. We literally could not breathe, smile, or blink during the set. He commented and said ?why do people who don?t enjoy this music always have to sit in the front?. It was very demoralizing and embarrassing especially since no one in our group was being disrespectful to him. Thankfully the club manager refunded us the $30 cover after we complained, but we left very annoyed and our night was ruined! The food itself (specifically the ribs and gumbo) were not impressive. I double we?ll ever be back.

• Pros: ambiance
• Cons: food, rude musicians

04/17/08

worst service in town

by deem8

first time at jazz standard we tried the "world-famous" BBQ, which was served cold and came to the table faster than our drinks, but our server was nice, plus we went there for the music anyway, so didn't care too much.

second time was today and I'm still kinda mad. (I work in a 4 star restaurant in midtown so I look at the service differently, but have never got upset over poor service or anything)

I was in the neighborhood today and sat down to have a drink. There is a couple at one table and a guy eating at another one. I sat between them, in front of the server who's chatting with the couple. There are no menus on the table.

So I'm sitting there waiting for the server to come to me with the menus I guess... He's still chatting, which is fine, it's been only 5 minutes.

Another 5 minutes go by and another server brings some food for the couple. She gives it to the server, looks at me, i smile, she goes back.

Another 5 minutes go by, the server stopped chatting with the couple, he's somewhere behind me, I don't turn around, probably he's coming with the menus...

A few minutes go by, this time another server comes outside to check on the guy who's eating solo. He also sees me sitting there with no menus. I kinda nod like "what's up man, I'm here ready to order", he says nothing and goes back.

It's been about 20 minutes since I sat down, 3 (!!!!) servers saw me sitting, waiting for service. nothing.

So I get up, cuz it's time to go, but I'm kinda curious where the first server went, so I turn around, he's standing behind me leaning against the wall, arms crossed.

I didn't understand why I was ignored, so I was gonna step to the guy ask him what I was doing wrong, but instead, I kicked in a chair by accident and almost fell. I got distracted, so finally didn't ask him, just put the chair on the top of the table, hoping to catch somebody's attention... I'm not sure if anybody noticed.

• Pros: jazz
• Cons: service, food and drinks

08/26/07

Beautiful Beautiful Place

by mishma

This place is well worth your time. The hostess and the servers were very attentive. The food is delicious and the entertainment has you longing to come back. We had two sides, an entree, two glasses of wine, a non-alcoholic beverage and a cup of coffee all for $127 which included the $30 show fee per a person. Don't hesitate, just pick up and go.

• Pros: Food and entertainment
• Cons: Tables to close together