Chinatown Brasserie (CLOSED)

The last reviewer said it all, exactly the same experience. The waiter disappears and you deal with the bussers. Adaquate food, but terrible service, especially when the server had his thumb in the water pitcher. Yech!!! Asian food, Asian decor, but no Asians on the floor? I can't imagine who's in the kitchen, maybe I don't want to know!

I've been there a few times and although the food and atmosphere is good.. the service from the waitress/waiter is not good. My waiter was only present to take my order. I did not see him for the rest of the time until we asked for our check.. which we had to first ask a busser. He didn't come by once to check up on us. The bussers and runner provided more service than he did. I never left less than 20% tip, but he was an exception. I gave him 15 but he deserved zero.

We were meeting another couple here at 8, we arrived first, told the hostess that we would be at the bar to which she responded that we should come and get her once the other half of the party arrived. Once our friends did show up and we told the hostess, she had apparently forgotten who we were, or marked that we had shown up or done something because she read the situation as if we didn’t have a reservation. So they made us wait another two minutes while they “accommodated” our table. Everything was going fine, it was 8:30, the waiter had taken our drink orders, our appetizers were on the way, things were rolling. Two out of my party finished their drinks and to everyone’s chagrin, their glasses stayed on the table with no refreshing as our waiter had flat out disappeared. The food was delicious the food runner having to explain what everything was because our waiter was AWOL. Our bellies full with a good amount of haute Chinese cuisine, we sat . . . and we sat . . . and we sat. I don’t know if the desserts are good I don’t even know what the desserts were because our waiter NEVER came over and offered us anything. In fact, we sat from maybe 10 until 10:30 without a sign of our server. We finally had to get our check from the host so that we could end this culinary hostage situation. I was ready to chalk up the “relaxed” service pace to a more elegant dining experience, but sitting there, sequestered, tired and frustrated I would have to label it as flat out bad service. In fact, the service was so bad that it ruined the experience of the meal. The food could have been more delicious, the atmosphere more chic and the entire experience more palatable had the service not taken such a hard left turn. For the price versus the level of service I would not recommend this venue.

My boyfriend and I were first lured into the restaurant by its tasteful interior design (beautiful facades, red lanterns and curtains...) and that remains the only thing that impresses me about the restaurant after eating there last weekend. I ordered a seasonal mushroom soup ($7.00) to start with. I liked they used different kinds of mushrooms but was disappointed by the excessive white peppers and seasame oil they put in there. The soup ended up tasting just like white peppers and seasame oil. They could have used real chicken broth or any kind of broth instead of white peppers and seasame oil... So I shifted my hope into the Peking duck ($48.00) we ordered. It tasted like it was broiled instead of roasted (BTW, an authentic Cantonese restaurant does not serve Peking duck). We were also recommended to try Bak Choi with Mushrooms ($18.00) because my waiter said "It is VERY good!". It turned out to be another disappointment. In terms of services, I am afraid I have to be objectively mean to say forget about it. I would have been more forgiving about the waiting time between acknowledging the waiter we were ready to order and the actual time that he finally came take our orders, if he was a little friendlier (or at least looks he enjoys what he does!). Also one bizzare thing is he only refilled water for me but not my boyfriend even his glass was empty. The interior design is tasteful but not tasteful enough to make up for the mediocre and overpriced food and services.

The best thing about this place is definitely the environment. The atmosphere is really lovely. I went during restaurant week and found the service to be pretty poor. The server didn't know the menu, didn't introduce himself, and was pretty much scarce throughout the entire meal despite the fact that we ate on a Monday night in an empty restaurant. As for the food, I enjoyed my appetizer (bbq ribs) but everything that followed was pretty average. My entree was filet mignon and asparagus and while I picked out the veggies I left almost all the pieces of meat untouched. And normally I have such high hopes for filet mignon. The meat was either poorly cooked, poorly seasoned, or just off. Everyone at my table agreed that it had a distinct taste that was less than desirable.

I was really excited to go here b/c i saw this place reviewed by rachel ray on the food network. I wasn't very impressed. The speciality drinks were not that good for the amount of money that you pay for them. The dumplings were just okay, the best one was the one that is sorta like a soup dumpling that one was very good, the main dish was very good but was it worth it to spend this much on gourmet chinese food, that i'm still contemplating-maybe i came on an off night, would say it was just OK!

My boyfriend and I stopped in here on a very cold Saturday evening, and the host up front acted as if he was too good to even look at us. After learning that we didn't have a reservation, he acted even more annoyed. He was very rude and arrogant. We were finally seated all the way in the back by the bar - the place was empty by the way. The food was nothing to write home about, especially with those prices - I expected the quality to be a little better than your average Chinese take-out place - but no, it was actually pretty poor: I don't usually write reviews, but after having such an negative experience here, I am now posting my review about this anywhere I can. Seriously, save your money and your stomach from the aweful food and atmosphere that this restaurant exudes, and go some place else, where you will be treated like a paying customer and not like a bum on the street!