Mitchell H.'s Profile

All I can say is, Holy Shiite: the cornflake fried chicken with papaya, yucca, and hot sauce had a crunchy exterior that gave way to a most succulent interior that had me mouthgasming all over the table. Hot damn it was good.

The menu changes daily but our friendly and attentive server suggested this dish is popular enough to make regular appearances. My appetizer of Caldo de Gallina (free range hen in tomatillo broth) and dessert of Raisin Apple Crisp were both also very good - and great value at $27 on the prix fixe menu.

Palo Santo also has a decent selection of wine and craft beer, and a modern yet cozy ambience located at the foot of a Brooklyn brownstone. I've only been once, so this isn't a definitive review, but my friends and I had an excellent experience and will definitely be back when we're next in the neighborhood.

I went to Dr. Simon because I needed a medical examination for my immigration interview & he's the only registered civil surgeon in the area. After turning up on time for my 9:30am appointment, I was shuffled into a tiny, uncomfortable, windowless room where I waited. And waited. And waited.

Forty minutes later Dr Simon wandered in. I asked him he how he would feel if he turned up for an appointment on time, only to be kept waiting for forty minutes?

He ignored me. I persisted: "How would you feel?" He then apologized, but gave me a patently bullsh$t excuse about how he had an emergency. Yeah ok; except he's an Ob-Gyn, not a doctor in triage. It took me an hour in total to receive a ten minute consultation.

How hard is it to a) give someone a heads up that there's going to be a wait, and/or b) let someone know how long the wait is expected to be? Surely this is the very least you can do?

He charged me $175 for a blood test, and $225 for a TB shot and measles/mumps shot. He knocked the latter down to $200 after I complained and asked for a discount.

What. A. Scam. And utterly crap service - don't give him your business.

Don't listen to the haters, Schmooks is legit. People that give a place one star after one visit (or especially if it's about one specific thing that pissed them off), are not only not credible reviewers, they're probably bad people too. Just sayin'.

So, Schmooks makes pizza right: thin crust, sauce ain't too sweet, not to much cheese, and quality ingredients. It's a hole in the wall where you can scarf a slice if there's two of you, the staff are friendly, and it's not too expensive.

It's no Pauli Gee's but the prices reflect that, so I dig this joint.

Looking for one of the best cocktail bars in Manhattan? Well you could go to more famous speakeasies such as Milk & Honey, PDT, Death & Co., Angel's Share etc - they all do fantastic drinks.

But if you want superb drinks and aren't in a dress-up-and-look-at-moi mood, or just want to avoid out-of-towners, Louis 649 has all the rest beat.

Step onto the black-and-white checker-tiled floor and it's every inch a neighborhood bar - but clean, with a great jazz soundtrack, friendly, passionate bartenders, a relaxed, unpretentious vibe, a stellar liquor and cocktail selection, and a well curated assortment of wine and craft beer. The food is quality, but perhaps on the pricey side.

It's relatively spacious given how intimate it feels, probably due to the dim lighting. Needless to say it's a great place for a date, and there's a few tables if you have a group of up to ten.

For my money, Louis 649 takes the prize for the classiest, friendliest neighborhood cocktail bar in Manhattan.

Just... wow. Went there last night (Friday) and stood at the bar waiting for a drink. A female bartender in a black and white patterned dress and glasses ignored me and my two friends' presence the entire time. They were busy, sure, but this woman served no less than three people ahead of us and not_ once_ even made eye contact, let alone acknowledged our existence. My friends were like 'f%*k this let's get out of here' after ten minutes but I wanted to wait her out. Gave up in disgust after waiting more than 20 minutes.

It's been literally years since I've had service that bad.

Here's a tip lady: you work in the service / hospitality industry. That involves a) making people feel welcome, and b) giving people service. If either a) or b) is too hard or makes you uncomfortable you're working the wrong industry. Either way you're an incompetent c@*t.

Place seemed otherwise cool, with good decor, tunes, vibes, and crowd, so I'll go back one more time to see if that was an isolated incident, but holy sh!t, I needed to vent about this.

Great soul and rock classics greet you like an old friend as you make your entrance at the long, sociable bar of the Village Whiskey. Behind said bar is a wall of whiskey that stretches from the bar to the ceiling as a showcase of the impressive selection on offer. Talk to the the bartenders and you soon discover they seriously know their onions when it comes to beer, cocktails, and liquor in general. The decor is like something out of a Bogart movie with small black & white floor tiles, high ceilings, large partially shuttered windows, and plenty of wood. The menu is simple, awesome bar food. For my money one of (if not) the best bars in downtown Philly.

Handily located on the edge of District 9 complete with tumbleweeds blowing by, the Prohibition Taproom boasts a cleverly camouflaged exterior that looks like a little like a brick probation facility with small windows and a solid pink neon BAR sign outside.

Step inside the dim surrounds, and you arrive in America's ultimate neighborhood gastropub dive bar. The staff are great, consistently & genuinely friendly, and knowledgeable about their beer & food. The food is high quality and all about the flavor; healthiness is not really a prime concern. The beer selection meanwhile, has been curated with the sort of tender loving passion you'd expect to see at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. You can feel the love.

The crowd is quiet locals and passionate beer nerds in fairly equal numbers. Music is care of a jukebox. Phillies games play on two medium sized flatscreens. Basically it's the sort of laidback and genuine neighborhood bar that hipsters seem attracted to like junkies to smack.

Pony sports one of the best all-American craft beer selections in New York City, (if not the best - depending on the day). The great thing about Pony's selection is that every time one of their 20 tap lines runs out it is replaced with an entirely different beer, which means the beer menu changes daily and is updated in real-time on their website, Facebook and Twitter. Verily this is beer nerd heaven - love it.

Pony also stocks a passable selection of wine and spirits for the non-beer drinkers dragged along by passionate friends.

The staff are friendly and knowledgeable and the food is quality too: I recommend the roast chicken sandwich, skillet sausages, and tempura green beans with spicy mustard. (Though strangely for a bar, for some reason there's no fries on the menu).

As mentioned elsewhere, you won't find beer this good that's this cheap anywhere else in Manhattan, or even possibly the five boroughs. So lucky to have this place as my local!

Scientifically, you can measure how healthy the food of a joint is by the ratio of female to male customers.

Step up Pita Joe. While dropping in for lunch today there was a ratio of about 5-6 girls for every guy in there, which suggested the food was as wholesome as White Castle isn't.

I had the #5 Joe combo: a falafel pita with all the fixin's and a drink for $4.95 - and can personally vouch that you can taste the nutrients in Pita Joe's food. Was tasty! Recommended.

3.5 stars. It's got one of, if not the best views of NYC out of the rooftop bars I've been to so far. I love the way the skyline seems to wrap around you in a big horseshoe shape over Hell's Kitchen. And on the other side, watching a seething red sunset over the Hudson rocks.

I've been three times now, and it's definitely improved from the first time - the major teething problems (communication between the bar and the hotel, quality of drinks and service) were definitely behind it upon my last visit.

Regarding other reviewers' criticisms of the plastic cups: please. It's a rooftop. If any glass goes over the side it's not going to tickle the luckless passerby - it'll kill them - so this is pretty standard practice. I liked that the plastic was at least in the shape of proper beer, wine & cocktail glasses, unlike other joints (I'm looking at you 230 5th, you suck). The drinks were stiff and properly made, definitely worth the price. The service was a bit slow, but it was busy and they were pleasant and courteous.

Not a place I'd hang at as a regular, but definitely a good spot to bring out-of-towners to enjoy some NYC rooftop action. Would add a star if they took reservations, sped up the service, and could attract a more eclectic crowd than straight-ass suits.