A big and unscary disappointment (The Jekyll and Hyde Club, New York)

Member Name: aylawarner

Product:	The Jekyll and Hyde Club, New York
Date:	17/03/09 (87 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good exterior and interior decorations and entertainment

Disadvantages: Could have done a lot more with theme, pricey

After reading the first review here on The Jekyll and Hyde Club I thought how great it sounded and decided we had to go on our upcoming trip to New York. However, it was nowhere near as good as we thought it would be and we were very disappointed as we were looking forward to being spooked out and having a bit of a different and entertaining evening.

From the outside the restaurant does look great, with skeletons hanging over the door and huge statue faces and monsters. The small and very unscary looking guy on the door was dressed in a tux with a top hat on and we was laughing and chatting with a friend of his that had just walked past which was our first disappointment as we were looking forward to being greeted by a weird guy as the previous review had said. We were able to see a menu outside and there was a good range of food, if a little pricy, but we thought well it's a different experience so we'll give it a go. The doorman told us to go in a wait just in the entrance where we ended up waiting for about 5 minutes before they came to seat us.

Inside it was quite dark and the place was decked out in weird and wacky decorations, such as pictures that had moving eyes, a statue of Zeus that revolved in the middle of the room, a skeleton laying in a coffin and a werewolf's head hanging above the fireplace. These statues and decorations would begin talking at random times which was quite funny to listen to. There was a butler who was wandering around talking to the customers while they were drinking or eating and he was very good as he had to keep a straight face while people sat there and laughed at him (probably because they felt a bit awkward with this strange man talking to them). The butler didn't come up and talk to us until our food had arrived and the first thing he said was "I'm just going to stand here and watch you eat your food. Carry on with your conversation, don't mind me" and he stood dead still right next to our table watching us which was obviously very off putting! Eventually he left but he came back a few times and spoke to us and asked us to take him back to England with us, seeing as he was an English butler!

There was also a small stage with curtains closed across it and a barrier around it. We thought some type of entertainment was going to happen here but unfortunately nothing did.

The staff were fairly friendly although maybe a bit too friendly to the large groups who they sat with and pretended they were part of their group. It was quite funny to watch but seeing as they were understaffed and it took about 10 minutes just for our drinks to arrive, this was a bit annoying.

Our food came very quickly though and it looked and tasted great. I had a chicken burger and the fries it came with were waffle shaped chips which were delicious. My husband had spaghetti which looked great but personally I think the portion was quite small.

When we asked for our bill at the end we were shocked to find that it came to over $50 for just one drink and a main course each. A small Magners was just $11 by itself which is ridiculous (drink prices aren't on the menu - this is obviously why)! They then told us that you can only pay by American Express or cash. We said we didn't have any cash, thinking that we're in the 21st century and we thought everywhere accepted debit/credit cards. They told us they had an ATM at the front of the restaurant which we used and, surprise surprise, this charged us an extra $2.99. So make sure you take cash if you go!

You can do a tour around the club which I thought sounded exciting hoping to see some more scary bits, but it turned out that this was just going up the 2 or 3 other floors which is just more seating areas and a small arcade with a skeleton hanging here and there.

So we went to The Jekyll and Hyde Club expecting a lot and not getting much. Maybe it's better at the weekend, I don't know, but this is New York, surely it should be great every night of the week??

Summary: Nothing worth getting excited about - wouldn't go again