Lair 201 Lafayette St. Bt. Broome & Kenmare Sts.
SoHo
212.334.5247
Try our free Party Aid service to find the perfect venue Click here
Lair:
It may not be underground, but SoHo’s newest restaurant/lounge could easily become the secret lair of New Yorkers craving the Kenmare’s scene with slightly less drama at the door. Though it’s more lounge than restaurant, the food is not to be overlooked—crafted by Chris Cheung (of Nobu and Monkey Bar renown), the menu features goodies like chicken and foie gras dumplings ($14), and bacon and egg bao buns ($10). The cocktail menu is yet to make an appearance, but the young bartenders will create whatever you desire, and draught beer includes Radeberger, Saratoga and Harpoon IPA ($7-$8). Twenty-and-thirty-somethings mingle under the raised DJ booth listening to today’s top pop, or relax at the reserved tables beyond metal curtains. You too can party at this not-so-secret hideaway beneath African-inspired sculptures, a cave-painting mural and crystal chandeliers, just as long as you dress to impress—show up in running sneakers, and you might as well use them to hustle right back home.
I'd give it one star but I heard two stars are more effective:
While I may not be a business owner - a qualification the owner of Lair thinks their reviewers should have - I am a social media savvy and connected girl who enjoys going out, so I'm qualified to make the following review.
After months of research and indecisiveness, I decided to have my MILESTONE birthday party at Lair because it was one of the best options recommended to me by Shecky's Party Aid. I emailed back and forth with a promoter (I guess) who set my party up for me. After I described my group, she told me that I can do an open bar for $30 for two hours, would get a wristband for free since it was my party, and get a bottle of champagne, vodka or sangria, but just pay the $40 tip. After agreeing to set up the $30 open bar, I said "well, that doesn't mean everyone has to do it, right" and she said "no, it's just preferred because we've had people who will pay for an open bar and give drinks away to people who aren't doing the open bar". I said "I guess I could understand that, but we're an older group. Anyway, you're not going to turn anyone away who decides to come for a drink or just stop by, are you" and she said no, but suggested they come on the later side, which I thought was weird.
Upon arrival, I met up with about half of the number of people that would be there. Unfortunately, it was the first snow of the season and a few people weren't there on time or unable to come at all. Regardless, two people who I didn't expect to show up were there for an hour before my party drinking at the bar. When I arrived, I was "greeted" by a guy who told me had me that he had speak to the party booker because my two friends weren't buying the open bar. I was like "seriously, I can't make them do the open bar!". So, I ironed that out with the girl on the phone because I told her "If you're going to give us trouble, we'll go somewhere else right now". She said “no, it’s fine”, so we stayed.
Unfortunately, while the first group of people got there and enjoyed themselves, I learned slowly, text by text, that people were getting turned away for one of the following: 1. Wearing sneakers (while I don't usually advocate wearing sneakers to a "nice" bar, it was snowy and people INSIDE the bar already had sneakers on) 2. Not wearing a dress (a girl wasn't wearing a dress but was wearing cute jeans, cute shoes and a cute sweater, much like 99% of everyone else in there) 3. Not wanting to pay for the open bar 4. Not wanting to pay for the open bar when there was 15 minutes left 5. Saying they were just there to meet A friend (After I heard they were turning people away, I told them not to say they were with me and the bouncers told them "No, we know you're here for a party, who is it?" SERIOUSLY, I can't make this up) Yes, they were turning people down who came from the UWS, Harlem, Brooklyn, Queens and yes, NEW JERSEY.
At this point, there were nearly 15 of us there, which yes, is a decent turnout, but I couldn't just ask them to leave after we already spent money on the open bar. Yes, they even charged me for the open bar even though I was promised a free birthday wristband. At the time, I said "Fine, when you can talk to the party booker, and she tells you that she offered me a wristband, give me my money back".
So, once the open bar was over - which my friends and I took very full advantage of since we were stuck there - Lair did follow through on ONE promise, which was a free bottle of Grey Goose. At this point, I was so irritated that I wanted to leave the bottle there, but my friends convinced me to try to make lemonade out of the rotten lemons, so I tried.
And now for the icing on the cake: My phone was stolen from the table in front of me. Seeing as I’ve never lost a phone before, I was clearly distraught (and unable to tweet about this terrible bar). I went downstairs to double-check it wasn’t in the bathroom and ran into another girl who was looking for her phone. So, apparently it was STOLEN. At first, I thought “well, maybe it’s just on the floor” but nope, it HAD to have been swiped.
I may not be a business owner, but I do understand how to run a business as well as a thing or two about customer service. The attitude I got from certain staff members was absolutely disgusting, and as I said, I offered to take my party elsewhere. While Lair tries to be a fancy schmancy bar, the lack of customer service and attitude just destroys it. Sure, it's a nice bar, and I'll even overlook the two guys puking outside or the suspicious guy near the bathroom, but I can't overlook them seemingly going out of their way to make customers miserable. You’d think that given it wasn’t even packed because of the weather, they wouldn’t have turned people away, who, let’s face it, would have spent way more on drinks AND food had they been let in the door.
Pros: 1. Nice looking club 2. Very nice hostess who apologized for everything and said it wasn't the first time this sort of thing happened 3. Very nice girl at the front door who also apologized for everything and ALSO said it wasn't the first time
Cons: Everything else
Lessons Learned: 1. Get everything in email, like the fact that you're going to turn my friends away if we don't do an open bar AND the fact that you'd give me a wristband but you had no intention of doing so. I made this mistake despite planning conferences, events and parties for five years. 2. If I ever encounter disgusting management - or lack thereof - go with my gut instinct and go to another bar. 3. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY - NEVER COME BACK HERE AND TELL AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE ABOUT HOW HORRIBLE IT IS.
1/26/2012 7:16:26 PM
Chris says:
Dont Go Here
My friends and I just went to LAIR, a downtown modern dim sum lounge. We went for our friends 23rd Birthday Party and were a party of 9. When we initially made the reservation by calling the restaurant and given a hard time. They told us that they had a reservation immediately after ours and that we would need to be out by that time. We told the restaurant we would not be any problem and would be done by the agreed upon time. (Which was very disrespectful for a party reservation) Upon arrival, we were given the table by the door which was very drafty. We ordered drinks and appetizers to start our group off. The food took forever to come out. While we were waiting for the food we wanted to place additional food and drink orders but our waitress, Nichole was no where to be found. When we went looking for our server we saw her hanging out with a guy with a baseball hat and making-out with him. I spoke to her about how things were going not so well she responded that she would try her hardest to make things better. In the end Nicole worked thing out but was still very inattentive . The bussing and serving staff was so bad and would occasionally take away our dishes before we were done. Finally, after we talked to Nichole and Michael, the manager they tried to make the rest of the night positive. Desert was ok but they tired to push us out after we tried to pay the high bill instead of trying to make out night a positive one. Overall it is an okay downtown bar but the service sucks. I would not recommend going here.
based on 
