Divine Bar (Reported Closed)

(212) 319-9463

244 E 51st St, New York, NY | Directions   10022

40.755685 -73.968705

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Neighborhoods:
Midtown East, Midtown East (Turtle Bay), Midtown


At a Glance ?
98% ambiance
“great wine, and friendly waitresses keeps this place fun and a perfect fallback when you're in the area!”
94% drinks
“The best wine bar in NY!”
87% food quality
“Nice cozy atmosphere, the food is decent, the drinks creative (though everything is overpriced given the relative nastiness of the neighborhood.”
100% menu variety
“The tapas choices are uninspired but decetly made and a perfect accompaniment to the drinks.”
100% overall
“Its a great place to go and relax with some friends or even with a date, I highly recommend coming to this place.”
100% return potential
“think it was a wonderful value and cannot wait to go back.”
83% service
“The service was attentive and unobtrusive.”
71% value
“To add insult to injury, the waitress then punished us with a discretionary service charge of 18% in addition to the cost of our overpriced meal, drinks and horrifying service.”
0% wait time
“Not only that, but the manager was rude and not very bright and after trying several times to figure this thing out (and about 45 minutes.”

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Divine Bar

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From The Owner of Divine Bar

This townhouse-cum-tapas bar delivers an arty party that packs classy professionals into its Spanish cavern.


 

Tips for Divine Bar

1.0
February 12, 2009

CLOSED. FYI it says on their website that Divine Bar East is now closed. Divine Bar West is good though. 123

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3.0
December 27, 2008

Food so Oily It Shines. Last night a friend was in town and wanted to go to a cozy wine bar, so naturally, I thought of...Divine. I was always a fan of the one on the east side and thought the one one on the west side had to be good. The flights were great and the atmosphere is cozy and comfy, but the Tapas were horrible. Everything we ordered was filled with grease and fried or doused in some heavy sauce. The olive plate was the most oily of all. I'd go again for drinks, but if you plan on steering clear of heart disease I'd eat somewhere else. Wine selection was great and not expensive!

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5.0
January 30, 2008

Great for after work!. Great place to grab a drink and some food after work with the coworkers.

CareerBuilder's hosting an "UnHappy Hour" there next week on the Wednesday and Thursday after Superbowl.

There will be free appetizers for an hour around 6pm or so

Great timing, amazing food? Sounds like a good time!

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1.0
October 26, 2007

Horrifying service. My experience at the Divine Bar was nothing short of terrible. The wine was absurdly overpriced, and the food was sub-par at best. Furthermore, the service was among the worst I've experienced anywhere. Impolite and arrogant service people largely ignored us throughout the night. On more than one occasion, I had to literally get out of my chair and walk to the service stand in order to get the attention of our waitress. Additionally, they would not allow us to reconfigure our seating so I could upgrade my seat from a tiny ottoman to a chair when one became available. To add insult to injury, the waitress then punished us with a discretionary service charge of 18% in addition to the cost of our overpriced meal, drinks and horrifying service. They claimed that the service charge is the restaurant policy for groups of 4 or more, which is contrary to what is clearly written on the cover of their menu (6 or more). After extensive discussion with the poor-excuse for a manager, who actually had the audacity to raise his voice to us, the service charge was finally removed. Needless to say, I recommend all to stay away from this place and spend your hard earned money on some quality food and service somewhere else. You'll find better service at McDonald's.

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1.0
October 26, 2007

horrible experience. TOTAL NIGHTMARE!! This is the perfect place if you have no idea what good wine is all about and your date can be impressed by the size of the check. But if you happen to care about food, wine, or service, and don't want to spend a week's paycheck on a first date, steer clear. Although you might feel hip while you wait forever for a table, any expression of dissatisfaction with the food or service will subject you to angry management somewhat reminiscent of the SoupNazi from Seinfeld. The only difference is that presumably the soup was fabulous whereas your only reward for subjecting yourself to pure misery at Divine Bar is a mediocre and incredibly expensive meal.

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4.0
August 08, 2007

Great Wine, Delicious Tapas, Attentive Service, Relaxing Ambience. I have been to Divine Bar before, but I had a great experience last Friday night that I had to mention here. Our group of 10 people arrived for my roomate's birthday dinner at 8pm and the manager Mike -- spoke to him ahead of time -- made sure we were taken care of. Our waitress was extremely attentive and sought to provide us with a great experience. We all drank either glasses or flights of wine -- I had the Spanish/South American reds, which were truly delicious, especially for $19 -- the 2 oz. tasting glasses offer a glimpse into what a wine is, and it's great that we were able to try so many. The tapas were also very enjoyable and everyone shared pretty much everything. Some of the highlights that I tasted included the Milano bruschetta (made with warm goat cheese), the Indian beef samosas, and the baked brie (try the granny smith apple option -- so good). The best part of all is that the tapas are very reasonably priced. I am looking forward to my next visit to Divine Bar, and I can't wait to try more tapas and wine. It would be a great spot for a date (3rd date?) and I wouldn't hesistate to come here for another birthday dinner. Like I said, with great service, delicious food and awesome wine, good prices, and a fun/relaxed atmosphere... let's just say it's hard to go wrong.

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5.0
July 03, 2007

Its worth every penny!. Even though it is a bit pricey, its worth every penny, the service is great and the drinks are reallly good and the food is amazing! Its a great place to go and relax with some friends or even with a date, I highly recommend coming to this place.

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5.0
January 15, 2007

Flights every night and great cheese. I enjoy getting wine flights and this place had nearly 20 flights of wine, along with monthly specials. All of them were exciting and the four of us each settled on a different one. We only ordered the cheese plate here but would recommend it as a great value for your buck. There were 6 very large portions on different types of cheese along with an array of bread and fruits. Ten people could easily nibble on this as an appetizer.

Also, the waitstaff was very patient. I say "patient" because delivering 4 flights all of different types of wine with 5 to 6 glasses per flight would have totally tried my patience, but both of our servers were polite and laid-back. The atmosphere was great and we really enjoyed the bar downstairs and seating upstairs.

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4.0
October 12, 2006

last review in error.... the last review appears to be of divine bar west (which is down the street from flute and across from a peep show shop), so ignore it if you're interested in the east side location.

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1.0
August 28, 2006

Overpriced and Horrible Service!. We decided to go to Divine Bar last night since it's supposed to be the type of place where you can eat and have drinks and not feel pressured to leave. Nice cozy atmosphere, the food is decent, the drinks creative (though everything is overpriced given the relative nastiness of the neighborhood...there's a "pre-Giulliani" 25c peep shop for your viewing pleasure right across the street). However, when it came to dividing up the check amongst 5 people, you would have thought you were requesting the server and the manager (who got involved after something like 10 minutes of this Hell) to do a complex series of tasks involving higher mathamatics(like, adding and subtracting...). Not only that, but the manager was rude and not very bright and after trying several times to figure this thing out (and about 45 minutes...no joke!), she still had the audacity to charge us each an 18% gratuity for her troubles!! Maybe this could be justified if you are splitting up a $50.00 check between 5 people, but it's not like we went cheap on them either...I think each of us spent over $100.00 each! This took an otherwise amazing evening and ruined it totally. So, if you don't want to feel like you need to shower like an abused victim after a meal or drinks, I recommend you find somewhere else to hang out. Try Flute down the street for a nice setting and great cocktails...stay away from this place.

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Nominated for:
Wine List (2007)
Wine List (2006)