As I stood in front of the restaurant, I looked at the window and saw the menu, which didn't impressed me. My husband assured me that he saw more dishes online and that he liked what he saw. We walked in and decided to stay after choosing a few dishes with the help of the usher. The usher was a young girl who seemed to be very well-aware of the restaurant menu and the taste of various dishes. She asked us if we were interested in dinner or Tapas and we said the latter. She ushered us to a high table in the back of the first section of the restaurant, which can be seen from outside.
As we sat down, an older gentleman who may have been the manager or owner, told us that he had a better table for us; which was a bit more cozy and romantic at the front of the restaurant. He made it sound so convincing that we decided to move at his request. I did notice that when we sat down our view toward the outside was blocked and no one from the outside could see us.
We ordered drinks, I ordered a recommended drink, the "Alma." The "Alma" was okay, I guess. The waitress described it as similar to a Cosmo, but it seemed too close to a Cosmo to me. We ordered our Tapas and waited a little while. While we waited, two older ladies in their fifties came in and were asked to sit at the bar, as they were waiting for company. That's when we overheard that the section where we were seated was actually for Tapas customers and the back section was actually for dinner customers. The ladies stayed at the bar, but did not want to stay there, there seemed to be some back and forth argument of where they should be sitting, but I guess the ladies won their battle.The ladies were seated next to us, although there were other seats available. It seemed quite cramped as if the manager purposely wanted us to go.
Our food came and we thought it was pretty good. We were confused by some of the menu and ordered cow glands, which actually tasted pretty good. As a matter of fact, they tasted like chicken. We also ordered a platter of different cheeses which came with a pretty good fruit sauce. Lastly, I had one Empanada which was also ok.
After a while, a gentleman who the owner/manager knew came in and sat with the nice ladies. The manager then changed his tune and started being a little nicer to them. I know the gentleman said something about Univision and how other people were also coming by. He asked the ladies why they didn't mention his name when they went in the restaurant. They were seated so close to us that we were privy to their conversation. They even said they liked what we ordered and were just contemplating our plates.
Anyway, after all the big hoopla, I wasn't enjoying the ambiance. I told my husband that I wanted to leave. And after a few minutes we did. The restaurant just reminded me of Apartheid how people were being separated. I'm still not understanding the criteria of seating arrangement at Alma 33. All I can say is that it didn't look good and it didn't seem good. This idea I had in my head was about this was confirmed when I heard the owner tell a story about Liza Minnelli and how the one time he met her, she didn't look very well. Also, if you took a look at the staff there you would also noticed that they seemed a little too perfect. They seemed to be taken right out of a magazine ad and placed in the restaurant. And this may be the unspoken fine and well type of discrimination that some of us are used to at clubs when were ultra young. I didn't think this could happen at a place in the center of a creative corner of NYC. And with said, I give Alma 33 only 2 stars for their food/service.
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