Nick's Bar & Grill

My partner and I had dinner at Nick's last Saturday night. I told the hostess that it was my first visit, and she kindly offered up several recommendations while my date parked the car. That was where the friendly service stopped.

Atmosphere: dark wood paneling and cozy booths give the place a clubby ambiance, without making it appear snobbish.

Service: Our waitress seemed put out when we chose to start with a bottle of wine and an appetizer (artichoke dip w/ pita chips), which I found surprising. I am a former server and I would have been pleased of the prospect of serving a 'perfect ticket' (bottle of wine, app, entrée, dessert, after-dinner drink). Our waitress must have had better places to be, or maybe she just lacked personality, because the only word I can use to describe the service is utilitarian. The food came, the water glasses were occasionally refilled, the plates were cleared away, but that was it.

Food: The pita chips that came with our app were fried fresh, and they were hot but not greasy. The cheesy artichoke dip was very rich, but delicious. For dinner, I ordered the tilapia caroline and my date had the carbonara with scallops. Both dishes were ok, but not fantastic. Because of the lack of service, we choose to have dessert and coffee at another establishment.

Bottom line: next time we’ll just sit in the bar area and have drinks and appetizers.

We went to Nick's for lunch, and the service was extremely slow. The food was so-so. I had the chicken marsala and fries. The marsala wine sauce was bland and the mushrooms are probably out of a can.

The ambiance was very nice. I love the setup of the host stand. Wow the inside of the dining room is dark! The patio is nice but very loud from the traffic of 35th St. All in all, it was possibly just a bad experience or new server and I'll give it another try.

This place came highly recommended as a great lunch and dinner spot, so it was only a matter of time before I tried it. First off, I was skeptical of the name “bar & grill” this puts a picture of a low-cost, bland food, no flare joint, but Nick’s was far from that type of place. I was very pleased with the overall feel of the interior, very cozy, an enjoyable atmosphere.

The hostess greeted us promptly and was very friendly, but not annoyingly so. Our waitress was a different story I am afraid. Not only was she cold and borderline rude, she was so unhelpful. I explained this was our first time dining at Nicks and if she could recommend a dish. Her response was “They’re all good”. Well, thanks for the help. Are you telling me there are no favorites among regulars, the chef or yourself. You have no opinion. Another stellar moment for our waitress was serving both me and my dinner companion cocktails, after taking our drink order; serving us and half way through our salads she dashes over and asks us for our ID’s. Now, isn’t it too late at this point? I don’t mind being ID’d, but let’s do it at the appropriate time, before I am half way done consuming it. Now, all that plus she was so slow.

As for the food, I ordered: Baseball-Cut Sirloin, Montreal Seasoning with a side salad w/ the balsamic vinaigrette.

I was not a fan of the vinaigrette, nor was my dinner companion fond of the Creamy Italian. Our dinner arrived well past its prime, it came with no explanation or apology from the friendly waitress. I was so pleased at the portion size. It was not overwhelming large, it was perfect. My steak was cooked at Medium Well (which is what I asked for), however everything on both our plates were luke-warm at best, the vegetable side was ice cold. The overall taste of the steak seasoning/sauce and side potato was outstanding.

I believe most of the fault lies with the server with the rating I gave. Now I have a really bad first impression of Nicks. I don’t completely rule them out, I see a lot of potential and hopefully next time our food will be served hot and the service will be pleasant.

MMMMMM- this place is great. i've never had a bad experience there. there is a cool patio where you can chill with your sweety, a cold bottle of chardonay, and a crisp salad.