Southern Hospitality BBQ

Reviews 4

SH

Shanique Merritt

My husband and I went to the location on 45th and 9th Avenue for dinner to celebrate my birthday on 7/26/2017 at 6:45 pm maybe 7pm. I was so excited because I heard so many great reviews of the restaurant menu and homely environment, but my visit was the complete opposite. When we first entered the restaurant the hostess wasnt pleasant at all! She didnt even greet us with a smile nor a warm welcome. In opinion, outstanding customer services begins at the front door! I should have known my visit was bound to be a horrible experience. Once seated the waitress (African American female with long hair) introduced herself and asked if were ready to order our drink without informing us of the house specials or drinks. I thought that was procedure until overheard another waitress explaining to patrons at the next table drink specials. Before bringing our drinks to the table, she only place one glass of water on the table. I was kind of lost due to two people at the table so my best guess was "do we suppose to share one glass of water"? By this time ten minutes passed and she return with our drinks and asked to take our order at first sip of my "ice" tea it was really warm. Another fifteen minutes passed and I asked her more ice for my drinks and I was told that she will be right back; but she never returned. By this time our food was brought to the table and I could not have been so disappointed with the salty fries, over cooked fried catfish, and tasteless cole slaw. My husband meal was awful as well. The fried chicken was very bland and overcooked! Each bite he took was almost like eating rubbery food. The only I kept thinking to myself "this is the worst food and birthday EVER! By this time another waitress overheard me complaining to my husband about the food and service, and she was very attentive and helpful but by this time I was over the experience and Southern Hospitality. The first waitress never return to check on us nor replace the hot ice tea. The second waitress spoke to the manager and my meal was taken off our bill, and not once the manager walked over to our table to apologize for our dining experience or try to find a way to remedy the situation. He just glanced in our direction one time and carried on as if he did not have paying customers in his restaurant with complaints. I was shock and very displeased with the service I received at Southern Hospitality and I will never return to this establishment. The last time I checked southern hospitality is being neighborly and welcoming to family, friends, and strangers; while showing graciousness, kindness, and warmth. Southern hospitality is a behavior of altruistic. Instead of Southern Hospitality it should be renamed Southern Inhospitality.

MI

Michael Marcos

The moment I walked into this place, I knew I wasnt going to be impressed. The two hostesses that were on duty were somehow too busy to even greet us. One was one the phone, which is understandable, but the other shuffling papers at her station and barely took the time acknowledge our existence. When she finally did, we were rushed to our tables without so much as a smile so she could go back to whatever she was doing, because that obviously more important. The concept of "Southern Hospitality" was obviously lost on these two. Our server was fairly attentive, he checked up on us regularly however our food took longer than expected to come out. Normally this wouldnt be a big deal if it was busy, but there were only four or five other tables seated besides ours and only a few people at the bar on a weekday so there wasnt exactly a dinner rush. Also, this is barbecue, which is presumably cooked earlier in the day so it just has to be prepped and served. The both of us were scratching our heads as to why it was taking so long. When the food finally did come out, it was dry and flavorless, like it had been sitting under a heat lamp for an extended period of time. I had the brisket and a side of ribs. Both were dry and tough and needed lot of BBQ sauce to give it any kind of flavor. My friend had the pulled pork, which looked incredibly dry and totally unappetizing. Oh and did I mention that this place is expensive? The quality of the food definitely does not warrant the price by any stretch of the imagination in my opinion. We paid about $35 per person to be completely disappointed. On our way out, the one hostess was remarkably- again- too busy to say good bye to us as we walked out. Let me be clear - I dont like this place. Ill never come back here. If youre in the mood for barbecue, theres other places in the city that have better quality food and way better service for sure. Brother Jimmys BBQ and Mighty Quinns Barbecue come to mind. If youre just hungry and in the area, Id suggest going across the street to 5 Napkin Burger.

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Nikki Pederson Talent

I own a small business in Texas and each year I host a company client celebration party in New York. This year we booked our party at Southern Hospitaity at the 9th street location - to be held on Thursday, 3/14/2013. Of course, the restaurant was happy to book the party and as most establishments do, they asked me to guarantee the party of 25 people with a credit card. Restaurant booked....invitations sent out....and all guests have RSVPd. Today, the event coordinator from the restaurant called to tell me they were BUMPING my party for another group coming to the restaurant. (Obviously, the "other" group booked AFTER we did.) She just kept saying it was "out of her hands". She was condecending and totally detached from the how this situation was going to affect me...the customer. The more condescending she was, the angrier I became. It was like she didnt feel that I should have any reason to be angry! After all, she suggested, I could just have my party on another night. I guess the "guarantee" only went one way!...ie, If my party didnt show up I would be charged. But , apparently, the restaurant didnt feel they had to guarantee that they would also honor their end of the contract. When I asked her what group was bumping us, she said it was the owners and stock holders of the restaurant, and that they were closing the restaurant to the public for the day. (maybe theyre hoping for a sighting of Justin T.) If I were a stock holder of this restaurant I would be LIVID! It would be very hard for me to believe that the owners & stockholders would be OK with losing revenue AND losing customers in this manner. I hadnt taken the time to read the review sights before this incident, but based on the customer reviews Im now seeing, its plain to see that the Southern Hospitaity Restaurant is STRUGGLING...STRUGGLING because of VERY POOR customer service and numerous other reasons! The restaurant owners need to rethink its name. Im from Texas...AND THIS IS NOT SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY! Nikki

DO

Doug Tracey

Twice I ordered delivery from here. It is 3 blocks from my apt. I added a 15%tip for a delivery order, no staff service required. The standard in NYC is 4 to 5 bucks. I tipped 11 on a 70 dollar total. Both times, slow sunday nights, the food came cold and took 70 mins to arrive. The first time, they said they thought it was a takeout order. The 2nd, they had no excuse. The 2nd time, they provided the 2 large extra sides I ordered at $18 added cost with tax and tip, but did not include the 3 basic sides (cornbread, slaw, beans) that come with the 2 expensive bbq entrees we ordered. Mark, The supervisor I spoke with, said he would send me the sides 20 minutes after his delivery guy returned....for my already ice cold food which I was desperately hungry to eat. Not acceptable response. He shoud have compd our entire meal. Cold food. Looooonnnnggg delayed delivery for a 3 block distance on a slow night. Shorted on 6 sides (3 per entree ordered). Bad service. Bad management. Bad trouble shooting of well paying local returning customers. Expensive to begin with for sub-par bar food. Sad to say. We love to support neighborhood businesses. We will never give southern hospitality our business again. We will keep our loyalty to Daisy Maes BBQ for BBQ and Virgils for Fried Chicken. That is Hells Kitchen Hospitality. We pay up front and support our local businesses, and hope you will succeed. We give you extra chances. When you keep failing, we move on to the better prepared and better performing providers that deserve our money and that earn our loyalty.