harlem tavern

oh Harlem Tavern, I so want to love you but you keep breaking my heart.  Love, love the space, so spacious, so casual, you feel so comfy like you can put your feet  up and dive into a good book for hours and no one would bother you or you can invite your friends from college , your friends from work, you uptown friends, your downtown friends and everyone would be happy and just get along in an alcohol-fueled haze.. For that one moment I thought I had found perfection and then there it was, the first inkling that all was not quite what it seemed.  The waitstaff is enthusiastic but spotty but the bartender always remembers my drink and places it in front of me without a word being spoken, I'm sorry but I love that!! But then the food, oh dear, don't get me wrong now,  it has been very, very good at times.  and other times, what the hell??  The burger was so yummy and the nachos so delicious but the second time we ordered the same thing i thought  are we in a different restaurant, did they fire the chef??  Ok, so I know its bar food nothing gourmet but i want good bar food and the detail put into the decor and layout should be transferred into the kitchen,  Okay so my tavern is a little flawed, I was willing to accept that until last Friday....you know in a relationship there are some things you just can't ignore,  Went on friday about 4pm,  of course the restaurant is mostly empty, no one at the hostess stand to seat us which was fine because we wanted to sit in the bar area anyway.They have those high tabletops with bar stools where you can still order food but is clearly part of the bar area.  It was our friends birthday and we were treating her to dinner.  A few minutes after our food arrived  and we had  taken only a bite or two, a hostess came over and said that we had to leave the table by six because it was reserved.  completely taken aback by the intrusion. we questioned her and she responded "did I seat you?" and lightly pounded the table.  At this point we had already been in the restaurant for about 45 minutes so if there was any concern about needing the table they could have addressed that when we first sat down or anytime thereafter, meanwhile the restaurant is not even crowded and it's only about five o'clock.  Not cool!!

The manager was lovely and very apologetic, and in fact he said he remembered  me, hmm was that a lIne??  The hostess actaually came back and apologized to the table.  The manager also took off my birthday friend's dinner and dessert.  Nice!!  so Harlem Tavern, please try to do better, I don't want to break up just yet.