Pete's Tavern

05/10/09

The worst restaurant experience

by Chloe717 at Citysearch

Besides getting sick from the food, the wait staff was horrible. We actually thought our waitress was stoned or drunk. My friends and I will never go back there again.

• Pros: none
• Cons: Food, staff, hygiene

12/12/08

After 4 decades, I still love it!

by rt14park at Citysearch

I started eating here in the early 70's, and every trip back to New York includes at least one dinner and one brunch at Pete's. The bar is terrific, and the food has generally been very good. My kids [adults now] really enjoy the pasta ala pete. You can't beat the atmosphere, and the staff is always attentive and efficient. And a walk around Gramercy Park after dinner doesn't hurt either.

• Pros: Location, ambience, food, bar
• Cons: occasionally crowded, staff sometimes less than perfect

07/11/08

THIS PLACE NEEDS SERIOUS MANAGERIAL PRESSENCE AND DIRECTION AS HOW TO SAFELY AND HYGENICALLY PREPARE FOOD! OMG!

by elledriver2008 at Citysearch

My friend and I went there after work for drinks outside and some appetizers. Drinks were fine, service was slow and at best unorganized. I ordered fried calamari, very basic. The order came out half cooked the batter was doughy and raw, COMPLETELY tasteless. I sampled a few disgusting bites and waited almost a half an hour before our waiter came back to our table so that I could express my dissatifaction. I showed him how undercooked this order was and he agreed. He took back the calamari and returned about 10 minutes later with the EXACT SAME PLATE OF CALAMARI!!! THEY TOOK THE PLATE OF FOOD THAT WE TOUCHED AND ATE OFF OF AND PLACED IT DIRECTLY BACK INTO THE FRYER. THE WAITER CAME BACK WITH THE EXACT SAME PLATE OF FOOD BUT NOW MORE CRISPY AND COOKED! I was expecting them to actually bring us what we ordered but cooked this time. We assumed they would prepare this appetizer properly the second time around, instead of RECYCLING OUR FOOD! I do know that this is an unsafe way to handle food. If this is a common practice at Pete's Tavern, then contaminated food is a given. I was flabbergasted! I would strongly recommend NOT eating anything out of the fryer, nor the entire menu.

• Pros: OUTDOOR SEATING - BUT GRIMEY AS HELL
• Cons: RUDE SERVICE, UNDERCOOKED FOOD, UNCLEAN, OVERPRICED.

06/12/08

not interested in party of 1

by nshurigina at Citysearch

I left the restaurant I work at in search of outside seating, a good beer and burger....My GM reminded me about Pete's Tavern...I've been to Pete's before and enjoyed myself....so I was pretty excited to go and get some good food, relax after a day at work at my own restaurant...unfortunately, it didn't quite happen as I had imagined...I was greeted and ceremoniously dismissed by the male host who said "we don't seat parties of 1 outside"...look I can understand maybe having a policy of not allowing guests to sit outside just for drinks after a certain hour but to not allow someone who was interested in sitting down to have dinner just because they are by themselves is a bit ridiculous...therefore I will no longer be coming to this establishment...So, be forewarned, if you are interested in just chilling out by yourself skip Pete's Tavern.

• Pros: location
• Cons: not very service oriented or friendly

05/16/08

we were let down

by itdoesnttakemuch at Citysearch

The Bartender was very nice and helped us as soon as we came in. Our waitress didn't seem to care whether or not we received good service. In fact, she made us feel as if we were a nuisance when we ordered our food. This led us to believe she must be in some way related to the owner. We gave her the benefit of the doubt after our first encounter. But when she messed up several items in our order, we asked for her to fix the problem. She then seemed really irritated. The wings were enjoyable, but nothing spectacular. The burgers were ppppoison.

• Pros: great history, wonderful location, nice bartender
• Cons: waitress made darth vader seem friendly

02/06/08

Good Tavern

by arib at Citysearch

Good bar food. Highly recommend the house Ale. It gets a bit too crowded and uncomfortable, but if you can grab a booth with some friends you'll be pleased. I will say that I have NO idea why this place is ranked as having some of the best wings in NYC. They're quite average. Sure they were ok honey bbq wings, but certainly not much better than you would expect to get from KFC.

• Pros: Pete's Ale, A good place to drink with friends
• Cons: Nothing fancy here.

10/27/07

Great Service

by nyclawyer09 at Citysearch

I was taking a stroll around the area with my lady. I wanted sushi BUT she wanted Pete's Tavern. The service was great. The waiter recommended a delicious beer which I enjoyed with a monster burger. Although it seems like a normal bar for some odd reason it was a little more.

• Pros: great staff and great burgers
• Cons: none

03/06/07

Goof for beer and burger

by davemoore at Citysearch

Stopped by early Saturday evening because of its history. Found comfortable neighborhood bar, $5.50 for mug of Stella, $12 for burger; pleasant crowd. OK but nothing special. So now I have been to oldest bar in NYC. You will have more fun at McSorley.

01/15/07

Eh,ok

by n1y1c1 at Citysearch

Went there for appetizers and drinks on a Wed. night, pretty crowded & loud in bar area. We were seated in back end of restaurant in a booth - by far one of the most uncomfortable seats ever. Back end was more low-key for conversation. Got the spring rolls and grilled calamari - spring rolls had sundried tomatoes in them which is jsut weird and they weren't good at all, small portion also. The grilled calamari tasted as if it was left under the heat lamps for an hour, dried and extremely chewy. Overall, maybe didn't get the right things on the menu, so might give it another shot - although the atomsphere has an dive-bar feel, so I don't see myself ordering anything more then a sandwich with fries at a place like this. Oh, and the waitress brought us corona's when we asked for peroni's....

• Pros: Better Bar Scene then restaurant

11/12/06

Listen to the bad reviews.....

by mickie227 at Citysearch

I have been to Pete's just a few times and had an "OK" experience. I decided to try it again because I was dogsitting down the street and was too lazy to research a new spot in the 'hood. What a mistake. My friend and I took a booth by the bar. It was loud and crowded. Not a problem, I expected that. The server was no where to be found (which I read in other reviews but brushed it off as a bad experience). When we finally did get our food, the server screwed up our order, TWICE!!! The salmon I ordered was almost chewy, how is that possible!?!??! It took the server 30 minutes to bring me my bill! WTF?? I have many other complaints about that night but I choose to block them out and move on. PETE'S TAVERN IS NOT WORTH IT!!!!!! If I wasn't in such a hurry to enjoy evening with my friend I would have complained to the manager. I hate to say it but this place "is not good" for a meal.

• Pros: ???
• Cons: pretty much everything