THE WORST PLACE TO EAT IN ALL OF NEW YORK

E.A.T. BY ELI ZABAR

This sewer hole is a pox on the Zabar family name.

I would rather eat a dirty hotdog that fell in the gutter and got kicked by a rat than give these swindlers my money.

Foul attitude, foul food -- avoid this like the plague.

Left the MET starving. Was on the way to Pastrami Queen. Wasn't sure if there would be a wait, saw a nice outdoor table (because it was drizzling and chilly) so I sat down here, lured by the Zabar name.

Big, big, huge mistake.

Waiter was rude and nasty -- not like hard edge New York it's part of the experience...no, just jackass.

I order hot pastrami on rye, mustard on side, nothing else on it.

Quite possibly the simplest order in the history of Manhattan lunch requests.

Well, this overwhelmed them and screwed me over.

Pastrami please? Waiter: In think we're out.

It's not even 1 p.m., how can you be out?

Waiter: I'll see what I can do.

Me, Dr. Brown's Diet Dark Cherry....Waiter: interrupts, no Dr. Brown, no anything but coke.

Coke Zero please. Waiter: We might have a Diet Coke left.

Food comes. It's maybe 2 ounces of pastrami. Maybe.

Both sides of bread drowned in mustard. I love mustard. This was drowned.

And easily 2 or more ounces of sauerkraut.

I loathe sauerkraut. Just do. Thus, my polite but emphatic order of meat on bread, deli mustard on the side please.

Maybe they put the ton of mustard and kraut to try to pretend to make it look like 4 or 5 ounces of something was in between the stale bread.

I should have walked off. Left a few sawbucks for the ounce of Diet Coke I'd swigged.

I ask about the mess on my plate -- the abundance of meal-ruining kraut and the ounce-plus of pastrami.

The waiter goes off on me, acting like I should give him a 40% tip for getting me the last of the pastrami (I do remember him taking great delight in telling the table next to me that I got the last of the pastrami).

I scraped off the kraut, leaving me with barely one ounce of meat. Oh, and the sandwich was north of 30 bucks. I could have had 10 times the amount of pastrami, brought the way I like it without sauerkraut -- and at about 20 bucks -- if I had walked a few more blocks to Pastrami Queen.

I ask for a pickle, to try to fill my belly. No pickle comes with it, it's like a few bucks up charge.

I really don't want to give these rip-off artists another penny, so I decline the add-on.

I finish, quickly, considering I got about 1/20th of what I paid for, and went to use the restroom. The other moron rude waiter inside gave me hell, acting like I wasn't a customer. Glad he did. Any modicum of professionalism would have given me a heart attack.

I went around the corner and spent more of my money (and half blew my diet) getting wonderful gelato for a fair price at Anita La Mamma del Gelato.

Between food + tip at E.A.T. (highway robbery) and food + tip at Anita (good deal considering the great product). I was out more than $50 USD.

Avoid this place. It exists only to rip off tourists in the vicinity of Museum Mile and locals that are 100 years old and have lost all use of taste buds.

 

AFFINIA GARDENS IN NEW YORK -- OUTSTANDING ACCESS OR NO ATTENTION TO SPECIFIC WHEELCHAIR USERS' NEEDS?

MANHATTAN HOTEL THAT PRIDES ITSELF ON DISABILITY ACCESS FAILS TO MAKE REQUIRED ROLL-IN SHOWER BOOKING -- FIXING THIS MATTER WILL DETERMINE WHETHER AFFINIA GARDENS IS GREAT OR NOT ACCOMMODATING

Here is the email we sent today, trying to fix an egregious error that placed us in a room without the specified/required roll-in shower. We'll report on the results.

As a marketing and public relations executive with 30 years of experience, I am writing to you to help you head off a public relations disaster.

My wife, the Americans with Disabilities Act Coordinator for one of the largest counties in America, and I are traveling to New York.

The trip has a triple purpose -- my spouse is delivering a speech on wheelchair access, we are meeting with our literary agent and we are taking a respite in the City while writing a feature on accessible hotel rooms for the premier magazine of disability issues.

We have stayed with Affinia before and called Affinia first to stay at the Affinia Gardens property.

The first words out of my mouth to the reservationist were "I know this property has rooms with a roll-in shower. That is what I need and we will go no farther with this booking until we have a roll-in shower room."

I was told the room I was booking indeed had a roll-in shower. I then booked a room with 2 beds arriving Aug. 30th and departing Sept 8.

I asked that a confirmation be sent. I booked non-refundable air fare based on the assurance of a room with a roll-in shower.

My wife is a wheelchair user and requires this accommodation.

The confirmation arrived with all details except for the roll-in shower.

I replied to the confirmation email asking for confirmation of a roll-in shower, not a tub shower. I never received a reply.

I registered for the Affinia concierge program and emailed it for confirmation. Nothing.

I phoned reservations...and was put on hold so long, I gave up.

Less than an hour ago, I bypassed reservations and asked for a manager at the Affinia Gardens property.

I was told we have an "ADA room" with a tub with grab bars. Grab bars are lovely, but they do not help a person who cannot walk and relies on a bath bench in a roll-in shower. When you told me we are not getting a roll-in, I was crushed by this news.

You offered to look at other Affinia properties. This really won't do, because we were booking for this location because it has a large room, a kitchen and is located near a subway with a wheelchair lift, not to mention our literary agent's apartment, the park, etc.

The only possible way of accommodating my wife in a tub shower is by the use of a portable tub transfer bench. This is a special kind of bench which extends outside the tub: two legs of the bench are positioned in the tub, and two legs of the bench are positioned outside. The disabled person can be lifted from wheelchair to the bench outside, then be assisted while wiggling into place on the part of the bench inside the shower.

This type of tub transfer bench can be purchased for under $100 (I have seen it on the Home Depot website) and is portable for future use. In order to make up for its false promise, Affinia needs to purchase this type of transfer bench and have it available for my wife to use when we check in to the property. I can forward images of the type of bench we need.

I cannot stress how important it is to work with hotel managers to rectify this grave situation. I cannot cancel my reservation and come some other week. I cannot waste time spending two nights at one property, then a few at another Affinia, etc.

I spent the entire past weekend researching markets, restaurants, taverns, shopping and transportation based on the Affinia Gardens location. I printed dozens of google walking maps and other guides to access based on the promise that I had secured a roll-in shower at Affinia gardens.

This egregious error has turned a 2,500-word feature story, with Affinia Garden's access as the center piece, into a disaster story that will repeated in our frequent radio interviews and blog posts on accessible hospitality winners and sinners.

I trust that reasonable minds will prevail and some a combination of a tub transfer bench for the tub shower and other considerations for our troubles will ultimately turn this into a positive experience for my wife and I -- a couple who has published thousands of academic and professional article on hospitality accessibility.