South Beach Not So South Beach

January 15, 2015

Recently I was Invited to go to a friends Birthday Party  in Washington Heights NYC at a location Called South Beach NYC. As soon as I got the invitation I was curious about the location so being the Event Planner that I am, I began doing my research. I had never heard of the place and if you know New York you know that new speak easy’s,  restaurants and lounges are popping up all over the place so I put my feelers out and I asked a couple of people if they had ever been and To my surprise no one I knew had heard of it either,  so my thoughts were this must be a very new spot. I then decided to go straight to the source, I thought any venue worth its salt will have a website so I googled it,  Jackpot I had found the website www.southbeachrestaurantny.com  and began to browse through the gallery and pages of it. Judging from the pictures it was a bright and happy place that was sort of reminiscent of a lounge in Actual South Beach Miami, it made me want to have Blue cocktails (which they do serve but not in the lounge) and relax and let loose. When I arrived I saw that it was a fairly large place divided in two sections, there was the actual restaurant entrance and then the lounge/takeout entrance. It looked like a nice place and as the website mentioned it was a mostly latin crowd, I observed the process of entering into the lounge and there was a two checkpoint process, First where you would pay and then one checkpoint where you would be frisked by the security Guard. Once I had passed the checkpoint process already exhausted by the crowd and may-lay I then began the Coat check process which was another long and hectic line. Finally! I was in to enjoy what I had hoped would be a lovely expierience the lounge was decorated in true south beach style with white couches and tall white tables that people stood around. At each Table there was a bottle menu suggesting that you would have to purchase bottles in order to occupy a table (which made no sense to me). The couches all had seating tables in front of them and on the table there were "RESERVED" place cards which is where I thought should be the necessary bottle purchase areas. The waitresses were Dressed in Scantily Clad rompers with “cheeks exposed” which i didn't think odd since this place was purposing to offer “the south beach Experience” . What i did not understand was that my friend had clearly booked a party but was not offered a designated area and the waitress kept coming over and suggesting that she had to purchase a bottle of some sort to stay there. I started to become uncomfortable as she explained to me How unhappy she was with the service. there were people sitting at the “reserved couches” that were not asked to purchase bottles nor did I see bottles at there tables.  the music was a constant flow of latin music with maybe a song or two that was not. we were never offered an appetizer menu an it is my belief that the lounge area does not serve from the kitchen (since i didn't see anyone eating)  just alcohol and dancing. I started to feel bad for my friend because after all it was her birthday and she was so upset by the treatment she received,  it was almost as if we were invisible. Needless to say, I was very disappointed with South beach NYC. Although they had the Atmosphere down, this place offered nothing else of south beach, it lacked the warmth and happiness of the people and the service and level of Professionalism you get when you visit an actual Miami south beach Restaurant or lounge. I can not recommend this place to anyone although its pretty its not very accommodating which is what I look when I'm scouting Venues for my clients. All in all South beach was not so south beach.