Essex Restaurant 120 Essex St. (@ Rivington St.)
Lower East Side
212.533.9616
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Essex Restaurant:
There’s really nothing inherently wrong with Essex. In theory, transforming what appears to have previ-ously been a public school gymnasium into a cavernous drinking establishment is a fantastic idea, and the elementary school-style windows are enough to make you wistful for the days of naptime and show-and-tell. Essex has an extensive drink selection, but the bar’s real treat is the smokingly hot cocktail waitress staff. We’re not sure what it is about a bar with tennis balls stuck on the walls and that feels like you’re hanging out in a factory, but apparently it’s like Spanish fly for unemployed actresses. Another very important aspect of Essex to keep in mind is that it’s right across the street from the disgustingly popular Magician, so even if you’re fiending for the Rivington Street bar scene, you can still enjoy a drink and some tasty Latin-Jewish fusion cuisine without rubbing elbows with yet another blogger.
After reading some bad reviews, I was worried about hosting my birthday party here. But I had no troubles at all when they let me change the reservation twice to add or subtract the number of guests. We were promptly seated for our 9pm reservation of a group of 10. Food was great, decent priced & service was good. Overall it was a very pleasing experience. I highly recommend.
9/15/2008 4:16:00 PM
hoyt . says:
The managerial and hosts at this bar/restaurant are some of the worst I have ever experienced. We had a 9pm reservation for a private party space. Despite showing up promptly at 9pm and having put our credit card down for the reservation, and having had received a confirmation call the day before, Essex had no space available for our party. The space we had reserved was not clear until over 2 hrs later. In dealing with the issue, Essex was unapologetic, rude and obnoxious. NOT RECOMMENDED!
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