The food itself wasn't even edible. It's was absolutely greasy and disgusting. The dining room was filthy dirty, so I cannot imagine what backstage in the kitchen looked like.
I explained my Gparents and pregnant friends wouldn't be drinking, and asked management (Doug & Katie) if they could be flexible (i.e. wristbands for open bar & food spend for those not drinking) Doug refused as he reiterated the pricing was seasonal and if I didn't want the space, he'd sell to someone else. Open bar rates were inflexible, and food orders could not cover pp rates for those not drinking.
Bottom line, stay away. They take your money and are not run by management that genuinely cares about customers.
Katie responded via email saying we could not cancel, and were bound to either take indoor space or forfeit our deposit. I called Doug, who was nasty and arrogant. He said he needed to make money ,and if I cancelled that's lost revenue he planned for. However, I explained the indoor 'option' wasn't the terms agreed upon when I signed a contract with "Rare Rooftop". He refused to pursue the conversation further, refund any part of my $1000+ deposit, and actually laughed at me on the phone.
2nd Issue: Rare needed to follow up 72 hrs with us prior to confirm a FINAL COUNT & our total. Never done.
Take it from my experience, and sincere recommendation NOT to book a private/ special event with Rare Murray Hill. I'm detailing the nightmare experience planning my own event at Rare Rooftop, for anyone doing research as I did, so it's public information how unprofessional, inconsiderate, and unethical management was.
Good for lunch. They almost have two different restaurants in one. 2 completely different menus: one Bar menu and one Grill menu. Plenty of outdoor seating. They have lunch menus that will cost under $10. Try their Rib tips, really good.
1st Issue: Rare incorrectly authorized duplicate transactions on each of the 2 cards provided to split the $1K deposit. It took days to get a response, and the erroneous extra $1K charge took 10 BD to resolve. They later lied to my CC provider investigating the dispute, claiming this was a partial refund vs error.
Eating Mcdonalds in the back a taxi would have been a superior experience.
Beer and burger lunch is a great deal
For my 30th (group of ~20) I wanted a local midtown spot with outdoor space to celebrate in the early evening. Rare Rooftop was walkable from my home, and ideal for my family traveling (incl 3 Gparents in their 80s).
If I could give this restaurant a zero I would! The service was absolutely appalling. I had to get up from the table three times to service from the waitstaff that was huddled around the hostess station talking to each other. There was no drink refills, no checking on our food order, zero attention.
On 5/10, a N'oreaster storm was extremely evident for the upcoming wkd of my 30th. "100% CHANCE OF RAIN, SEVERE FLOODING, HIGH WINDS" was all over the news for 5/13. We called in advance to cancel with no response, and followed up more than 2 days prior with an email again the next day. Doug later lied to my credit card provider, claiming we unfortunately did not provide any notice of weather and were a "no show", despite receiving a response from them to our weather notice email.
I decided to cover the extra cost as it was 2 wks prior, but before signing any contract, I spoke to the Doug to reconfirm in the event of an unlikely severe weather storm evident more than 2 days prior, I could cancel for a refund. The indoor space wouldn't suffice and I was paying extra for "SEASONAL SPACE". He confirmed 3x, as I noted the time of our verbal conversation, before the signed contract was sent. Contract was signed 4/27, for my 30th bday on 5/13, with the understanding in the unlikely event a severe storm was evident, (i.e force majeure) I could be refunded as the contract would be void. Rare has no outdoor cover on rooftop and I wouldn't be getting what I was paying for.
Food was okay, but not at all as pictured on the website. Medium-rare ordered burger was well done. Truffel Parmesan Fries saved the day. Service was not very attentive but friendly.
My guests couldn't make it to the city because of the severe storm, (flight & train cancellations the Saturday before Mother's Day)I was unable to reschedule because I had weddings to attend every wkd after through the summer. He was apathetic and implied it wasn't his problem. Clearly didn't honor his word. They have also done this to other people before based on recent customer reviews on Yelp.
The restaurant is an absolute dump with disgusting food and a wait staff that is doing very thing but proving service to customers.
3rd Issue: No where w/i the contract or during my prior discussion with Doug did it state a rain date OR use of alt indoor space was REQUIRED. And I made sure to also confirm this before signing anything, because I'm a CPA/CFO and very attentive to detail.
We inquired about pricing for the ROOFTOP ONLY; 18-22 people,early evening (5-8pm) on May 13th. Quoted ~$95 pp(with tax/tip) OPEN BAR ONLY, no food. Rate for all guests, drinking or not, as the Rooftop was "SEASONAL SPACE". Platters of bar food could be added.
Rare Bar Grill Murray Hill is a US Bar based in Manhattan New York, New York. Rare Bar Grill Murray Hill is located at 303 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10016, USA.
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