Local Gastropub

Reviews 4

RO

Rodney N.

I visited this establishment on March 7th with my girlfriend. We were both impeccably dressed. I was wearing slacks, dress shoes a shirt, a sportscoat and a Wigens herringbone hat which I was wearing reversed like I normally do. Upon entering the place I was told that there was a wait time. The manager, told me that I would have to turn my hat around in order to remain there because of their dress code. Mind you this was not a baseball hat but a rather expensive type of Kangol style hat. I have often worn my Wigens hats into this establishment prior to this evening and many other establishments on Madison Square without a word from anyone as I have also seen other patrons do. My girlfriend and I decided not to eat there and we left to go to bar Louie where we had an excellent time. As we were leaving, Brian thought it necessary to point out the posted dress code sign which clearly depicted a picture of a baseball cap and which was clearly not a part of my attire. This Sunday we decided to get out for brunch since it was a beautiful day. We agreed to try Local again, this time I was wearing a baseball cap with the bill turned towards the front. After entering the facility we noticed a customer at the bar with a baseball cap on and the bill of the cap was facing backwards. We sat down and after reviewing the menu and no one waited on us so we decided that we would go to Bar Louie again because of the excellent service we received before and we both liked the food and atmosphere. We watched 2 of the games at Bar Louie and decided to call it a day. As we were walking back to our car we noticed that there was another customer on the deck of Local wearing a baseball cap and the bill was turned backwards. We went in to talk to the manager to find out what was their official policy on the wearing of hats because I was told one thing but what I was seeing was something totally different. We asked to see the manager and Brian came out. We asked him why he had allowed 2 customers to be seated and waited on when they had on baseball caps with the bills facing backwards? I even showed him a picture of the one on the deck who was still there. He had no answer but insisted that we leave. The manager, Brian simply had to ask the other gentleman to turn his hat around and it would have ended the conversation. Brian apparently would rather encourage us to leave than be consistent in enforcing the policy that he was so anxious to enforce on me. This place suffers from bad management and it extends to their staff of bad bartenders, bad servers, bad food (over priced) and just overall bad atmosphere of we don’t care. I live in Midtown and I look forward to the day when this place closes so that we can get an establishment there that deserves to be on Overton Square.

A

A Private User

We went to Local for a "quick" dinner the other night before going to a show at the Orpheum. Because we needed to be at the Orpheum we booked a table for 6pm (it was confirmed by email). When we arrived at about 5:45pm there was no reservation in my name, but that wasnt a problem as the downstairs restaurant was not full so we easily got table. This is when the "fun" began. 5:45pm: seated at our table 5:55pm: server finally came over and introduced herself and we ordered drinks 6:05pm: server came back with said drinks (2 sodas and 1 ice tea) and took our order 6:45pm: 40min wait and still no starters. Have been trying to get the servers attention for a while now but she is ignoring us. When she finally comes over we asked where our food is and tell her we need to be at the Orpheum at 7:30pm. Look of panic on servers face. She walked off to "check on our food" and then never came back to the table to tell us where it was (though from the look on her face we strongly suspected that she had failed to put our order in). 7pm: Starters finally turn up, only to have cold fries with blue cheese (we got them replaced), over salted she crab bisque and salad dressing slopped over my hand by the server. No apology for the length of time it took or for spilling my food on me. 7:10pm: Mains arrive and we had to shovel our food in so we wouldnt be late for the show. Ask for the bill at this stage as we really need to be out of there in 5min. 7:20pm: Finally get our bill (split wrong). We throw down some cash and run to try and make our show on time (as if we were going to try to charge it...hate to think how long that would have taken) 7:30pm: Just make it in time....with indigestion (of course) Next day: Contact the restaurant to complain and ask for our money back....still no response. So not only do they treat you horribly when you are there but they dont even care enough to respond to a complaint. DONT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY ON THIS PLACE

ER

Erica Cox

This is normally one of my go to spots on the square and I like the food and drinks. Ive been patronizing this location since the first one opened on main st. I had a awful experience the other night with a friend. First we sat at the bar and my freind was ordering a cocktail and I was ordering a appetizer. He realized he left his ID after going to check in his car. He returned with his temporary paper ID that the bar wouldnt except which was fine. So I ordered something out of the norm of what I usually do (spinach dip) and when it arrived it wasnt what I was expecting.. So I asked if I could return it in exchange for fries and the bartender said I would still have to pay for it even if I get something else and dont eat it. About 10 min later I asked the hostess that walked pass could I get the manager and she came out and was very nice about making sure I was satisfied. Now here is the Problem!! As we sat and watched the game we watched a man sit at the bar and then 2 ladies a little bit after. NONE OF THEM WHERE ASKED FOR ID by neither bar tender. So at this point Im just trying to figure out what was the difference between them and us ( not even gonna pull the race card) Funny thing we where probably the oldest sitting on our side. All I ask is if you have a sign up that says we ID I would hope its for every person..

JU

Justin Ford

Came here on a late-night whim on a road trip as our group was traveling and we needed some food and this place served food really late. Food was tasty but overpriced by about 20-30% of what I expected things to cost. Menu had a price typo of $12 for an item that actually cost $20 and they could have simply fixed it with a Sharpie to avoid further confusion. The waitress told me about the correction like she had to do this dozens of times before. We had guests in our group that had food-restrictive diets and when asked about certain items being gluten-free we got an "I dont know" for a response and they didnt bother to ask the kitchen. The item that the food-restrictive person was going to order was probably gluten-free but they couldnt take the risk and ordered nothing instead. We had to go to a grocery store afterwards to get our guest some food that they could eat. The music was exceptionally loud to the point that I had to basically yell my order at the waitress so that she could hear me. It seems like a fun place for hanging out for whiskey and watching sports but I would not eat here or recommend this restaurant to a friend for dinner again.