What clients say about The Wallace Lounge in New York (NY)
The manager (I think his name was Antoine) was incredibly rude for no reason. At the end of the night, the place was basically empty, the musicians had already left and it was just my friends and I and one other couple.
We were just taking a couple quick pictures before leaving, and he came up to us with a nasty attitude saying, “This is not a studio,” basically forcing us to stop.
What made it worse is that when we told him he could have simply asked us nicely and that we were just expecting basic respect, he got visibly annoyed and defensive, started talking under his breath and didn’t apologize at all.
It was so unnecessary and completely ruined the vibe at the end of the night. There was no crowd or no disruption that we caused, just a manager being dismissive and unprofessional to paying customers.
Definitely left a bad impression and we won’t be returning.
Went here for NYE. Live music was phenomenal! They gave complimentary fries with an aioli sauce for dipping that was super yummy. The caviar martini was to die for! The creme brûlée was very good as well. Overall, comfortable seating and had very classy, romantic vibe.
Absolutely loved the atmosphere here. The host was very accommodating and everyone was so attentive, the service was top tier. I only had a drink and cocktail and both were delicious ?? I'll definitely be back. Highly recommend ❤️⭐
A wonderful setting to meet one or a group of friends and be able to have well made cocktails, snack-able bites. There isn’t bar top seating but there are tables available for walk in seating if you don’t make a Lounge reservation.
this place has the worst service and food. our waiter didn’t write anything down then couldn’t remember it right away. he rarely checked on us. i ordered a drink that never came even after i asked (after about 50 minutes) and he just stared at me and walked away. i had 2 more times and he brought it - never acknowledged the error. the food was awful. the french fries were all broken like 1/2” long. the mediterranean plate was hilariously terrible - my friend and i were like “how do you screw this up”? all the spreads were about 1/8 of a cup and served with bread that would break your teeth. all the spreads tasted like fish even though they weren’t fish. i told the waiter it didn’t taste good and he ran away and got the manager who instead of just apologizing and taking it away asked us a million questions making it so much more awkward. i was bummed because i had been here before and liked it but i won’t be going back
There aren't too many lounges in this area in UWS. So I was pleasantly surprised. It's a classy place to enjoy a few cocktails with live jazz music.
It's primarily about the vibe, atmosphere, and drinks. Food is limited to snacks. You do feel like you're in a lounge with like-minded people.
Looking to meet a date or hang with friends. Well, this is definitely worth a visit!
Had a drink for a date here -- excellent vibes and ambience. Also, very nice place that didn't feel too claustrophobic or too noisy even when it was fully packed.
Looking for a charming, intimate lounge with a real NYC feel? This Upper West Side spot delivers. With its location near the Beacon Theatre, it's perfect for a pre-show cocktail or a romantic date night. They offer live music on certain evenings, and a surprisingly good food menu. Highly recommended.
We were having a great time, but they kicked us off out because of a "reservation" at our table. I guess they would prefer we order $20 drinks all night somewhere else. Sure! Apologies to the great musicians, we didn't get to see the rest of your show.
Gorgeous piano bar on the Upper West Side with a classy and beautifully designed interior. The service is excellent, and while I didn’t order food, everything I saw on other tables looked delicious. There’s live music and no cover fee—at least when I visited. I’m definitely coming back! It’s the perfect spot for a date or an intimate night out with a friend.
I feel I should rate it higher as you usually get live music and it's free. The host is amazing, but servers are usually slow and forgetting things.
I do go here often as it's close by, and a really nice vibe
Had a FABULOUS time at The Wallace Lounge. We had to wait ~30 minutes for a table, but it was very well worth the wait. Joshua (he’s the best!) hooked it up, and gave us a great table. There was live jazz, and not only was the trio fantastic, but the acoustics were perfect! It was never too loud for my partner and I to have a conversation. I ordered two The Wallace Martinis and my partner got an Allagash beer. Our server was wonderful - kind, funny, and attentive. The drinks were also phenomenal - it was a strong martini, but not overly so. The Wallace is definitely a new favorite we will frequent!
We came here on Christmas Day and loved the atmosphere. It’s an upscale, cozy lounge with a fireplace and you forget you’re in UWS.
The service was a bit odd, though, to say the least. There was plenty of seating available, but we were seated in an area with one bench sofa and two lounge chairs across from it and told to sit specifically with one of us at the end of the bench and the other on one of lounge chairs—because someone else was apparently coming to use the other side of the bench. Even with the two of us sitting next to each other on the bench, there was plenty of space for someone else to sit on the other end. During the hour or so that we were there, no one else even came to sit in the area.
On top of the seating, we were there for happy hour, but were never even offered fries. And 5 min before happy hour ended, the servers came around all the tables to remove the happy hour menu, without even asking for additional orders.
The intimate setting would make for a lovely date night (esp. with live music which they didn’t have last night), but I would recommend managing expectations on the service…
We visited the Wallace Lounge on a Thursday evening and had a very enjoyable time. My Oaxaca Negroni was among the best (and arguably strongest) cocktails I’ve ever had.
The live music that night was lively and engaging, giving the space a vibrant energy. Although we couldn’t see the band from where we were seated, the music and drinks created a great atmosphere.
The Wallace Lounge has a rare downtown vibe for its Upper West Side location, thanks in large part to the music and expertly crafted cocktails. The design is elegant and cozy, with plush seating, soft lighting, and a working fireplace.
We walked in without reservations and got lucky but I recommend you reserve in advance if you can.
We went to go listen to some live music. It was fine / nice, but there are much better places to go if you'd like to go to a lounge for a good drink and some jazz. The lounge is right next to the front door so there's a constant stream of guests going in and out. It detracts from the ambiance. The lounge is split up into two sections with a half wall down the middle lengthwise, a bar section and a lounge section. But the half wall makes it so that you can easily hear all of the noise coming from the bar area, but it's also high enough to obscure the view of the musicians from some areas in the lounge. Our server was kind of rude, but he may have been having a bad day. When I asked for the Wallace Martini dirty, he said there was no modifying the cocktails. My partner thought to ask, is it okay if she just has a dirty martini? Then the server said yeah. I just thought that was a bit of a weird interaction. We also asked for water with our cocktails + he forgot to bring it and then when we reminded him (gently!), he seemed annoyed. There were very few vegetarian options on the lounge menu, and what we had was fine but nothing special. For us, this was a bit of a miss and we won't be going back, but if I were staying in the hotel, I would probably pop down!
Pretty odd experience that left a sour taste.
We were seated in two comfortable lounge chairs facing the piano, however had a pillar in the middle of the room blocking 90% of the view. No big deal, but a bit odd to face a pillar.
We ordered drinks (which were great) and some food. The charcuterie board was good, though kind of small and piled all over itself and then ordered some wagyu sliders. Those were delivered and had an extra plate of what I thought were some arancini, potentially as part of the sliders or as a nice gesture from the kitchen.
After having one, the manager/host came over and in a "gotcha" tone says "you knew you didn't order the truffle croquettes right?" as if to imply I was trying to pull one over on the place because they mis-delivered a dish. I just kind of apologized and said "oh put it on my tab I guess".
Look dude, I don't know your menu, I don't know whether you normally have a simple snack from the kitchen or even whether your sliders come with this on the side. Your croquettes with some truffle oil were fine and not worth the $18 you charged me. You've saved your place $4 in ingredients and lost a local who would come back a few times a year.
For a place trying to be classy, the accusatory tone and charging me for your mistake is just tacky. The drinks were great, the food was pretty good, the venue was nice (though nicer without a huge column), and even the service was excellent, but the host/manager acting like I was trying to steal food from them when they mis-deliver a plate to my table? I'm good. I'll head to the owl's tail nearby for better drinks
Wallace delivered on everything that all the reviews mentioned. Music, vibe and food were all amazing. Definitely recommend and we will Def need to rerun since they were out of the pistachio cheese cake that everyone seems to rave about.
The Wallace Lounge is a nice place to grab a drink with a friend or a date. They have a food menu (slightly limited, more like snacks to share) as well as a decent cocktail and other alcoholic beverages menu. The 5-7 happy hour (daily, every day) includes reduced price cocktails as well as free french fries (which I describe as "upscale McDonalds" - and I mean that in a good way). It's in a hotel lobby, they have live music, and the staff is very friendly and willing to joke around with you. Pretty decent spot.
My new favorite hotel lobby bar? Definitely on the list and I’m 100% going back. Intimate seating for two throughout and a couple couches for larger groups. Happy hour from 5-7 and live music starting at 7p on that beautiful piano (Th-Sun). Always say yes to the free fries during happy hour and please remember to tip your server well!
Perfect. The service was amazing. I did not expect everyone to be so friendly, helpful and polite. The food was exquisite, try their pistachio cheesecake. And it's in the name, but the fact that it's a piano bar is what makes this place special. Great music, not overwhelming to a conversation, is the right combination for a great evening.
Perfect for ending the day with a cocktail.
The service was excellent
If you are looking for a bar with jazz music and have a nice drink, this is it.
Even though the bar is elegant, there is no dress code required, you can go with jeans, boots and even jackets
Arrived at 8:55 for a 9 reservation. Finally seated at 9:25. Took 5 minutes to get order in and 10 more minutes to get to drinks. The drinks were good. Host was professional and nice. They need more servers. Nicely decorated rooms with plenty of space. Maybe not the best for conversation since it's a little loud. Music was super. We'll go back and try it again eventually. Great addition for the UWS.
This place is truly a gem. You can enjoy a cocktail in a very polished atmosphere with lovely live music for no cover charge. The amateur google review folks quibbling over service are kind of missing the point…you get to walk right in and enjoy an elevated experience. This isn’t a cocktail bar. It’s a lounge. The value is the ambience, and this place has a great ambience. Service and actual quality of drinks (which were excellent, btw) is secondary to the fact that the hotel has opened up its space to the public.
Such a sophisticated place for a drink, a date and to have a great time. Love the live music, so pleasant, at the same time that allows you to have a conversation without screaming lol. The environment is chic, the staff is super friendly. I had the UWS Sparks and it was light and refreshing. Can we talk about the food? OMG.. My favorites were the Prawns, truffle potato croquetes and the sliders - and please order the Pistachio cheesecake, so unique, not so sweet. Love it love love it!
I want to preface this review by stating that the Wallace Lounge has only been open for ~10 days at the time of my writing of this review.
With that said, I (as an Upper West Side resident) was very excited to see a new upscale piano lounge opening on the UWS. I'm a huge fan of cocktail bars of all types and I was hoping that this could end up being a fun new local place. Unfortunately, I would categorize their opening as "rocky at best".
Ambiance:
Arguably one of the areas where Wallace performed best. The ambiance was quite nice (as can be seen in the pictures), dark wood accented with gold as one might generally expect from an upscale piano lounge. The pianoist and singer were talented and set a relaxed tone for the entire experience.
Service:
While everyone was perfectly kind, it was felt obvious that the place was new. At a few points, servers forgot which liquors were offered by the bar as well as the price of various liquors. If you only offer ~5 signature cocktails on the menu, I expect you to be able to offer any and all classic cocktails. Additionally, I expect a cocktail/libations-focused piano lounge to offer a wider variety of spirits that what is available here.
Drinks/Food:
We all only got 1 drink each and didn't end up ordering food so I can't speak to the food. I can say that they offered free rice chips which were absolutely drowned in oil (I felt bloated after eating only 1). I got the Martinez signature cocktail and my wife got a dirty martini. The upside here is that both drinks were excellently made and well-balanced. The dirty martini was exactly what my wife wanted and the Martinez was a fun cherry-tinged twist on a classic gin martini.
Pricing:
The food is certainly a bit on the pricier side. In terms of drinks, ~$20 for what was effectively a modified gin martini is a little bit ridiculous. That's normally what I would expect to pay for a very interesting and unique craft cocktail. However, if you're the only upscale piano lounge in the area, I guess you can get away with charging those prices.
Overall, it was an okay experience, as evidenced by my 3-star review. It certainly wasn't bad enough to warrant a 2-star experience (especially considering how new the place is) but is not anywhere near impressive enough to warrant a 4-star experience. As a starting point, I'd recommend building out the spirit selection and craft cocktail selection, espcially if they want to be competitive with the vibrant cocktail scene offered by NYC.
We had a great time here during one of the soft opening nights! The drinks are fantastic. Caviar wasn’t yet available so can’t comment on that, but I can tell you the portions of the apps are LARGE - so order wisely! We ordered all the cheese and charcuterie and we had way too much (but it was so good — and we ate it all!!!) Love the Wallace Martini!!! Crisp and perfect.
It is definitely a nice vibe for an area that could use one. It seems perfect to meet someone for a drink before or after dinner.
The drinks were OK. I ordered a cocktail on the rocks and they brought it with soda. I told the waitress and she was nice about it and came back with a rocks glass but it was clear the bartender just poured the previous drink into the rocks glass. There was only one bartender and it was busy - so I’ll chalk it up to still working out the kinks. The drink prices are on the higher side. We did not order any food.
This said - I will try this place again.
Very intimate and relaxing piano lounge- a true treasure for the Upper West Side! Delicious cocktails served with a curated small bites menu. The staff was very warm and inviting while the live piano man added the extra touch of hospitality
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