I know I just reviewed them recently, but I had to come back and give more love because when the…read moredecision was made for my friends and I to attend a Game 4 Knicks watch party at Cobblestones, I was excited to make a trip back here.
I got there early to snag a table, and the team was already hard at work with nearly the entire beergarden packed with fans. The hostess Jenna was an absolute rockstar all night - I don't think she stopped moving or smiling! Not only was she seating guests with poise and insane amounts of charm, but she was also running food and drinks to make sure guests weren't waiting for their orders - in fact, despite there being more than 250 people in the beergarden, we never waited more than 4 minutes for drinks and 12 minutes for food which is pretty impressive given how busy they were inside and outside.
We were served by Lana, who legit might have been the nicest, friendliest, most engaging server I have ever met in New York City, and I am not being overly dramatic here. She handled her insanely large section with aplomb, took the time to actually learn our names and address us by names when asking if we wanted to order anything, checked in on us every few minutes even if we did not need anything, and despite likely being tired from all of the guests, the running of food and drinks, and the hustling, she was cracking jokes all night through her radiant and starry smile, and making our group feel like the most important people there despite the fact that we were just three regular dudes enjoying a basketball game. Her attentiveness and personality alone are worth requesting to sit in her section at all times.
Food was solid on this trip - our table ordered a half-pound burger which was cooked and seasoned perfectly (came with fries and toppings), mozzarella sticks which were piping hot with a nice crunch on the exterior, waffle fries (had to get them again they were too good last trip), and honey BBQ wings, which although they weren't very meaty (not their fault since I am assuming they didn't butcher the wings in-house - could have just been a lean batch from the supplier), the sauce was addictive and delicious and I found myself dipping everything we ordered into it so it wouldn't go to waste - order the Honey BBQ! All beers came out cold and rapidly (Cobblestones uses plastic for half liter beers when the beergarden is saturated with guests, just be prepared for that - makes sense because of the volume).
The rest of the staff was incredible given the chaos. Beergarden manager Pete made it a point to check in on us a couple of times and was very appreciative of all of the guests coming for the game, and you can tell he steers the ship effectively because everyone in the beergarden was focused, attentive, and in the zone during what many bars would be challenged to handle.
One final thought - my two friends who came with me (who are NOT "let's go out drinking at night" type of guys) asked me when we are coming back for a Friday or Saturday night - they loved the atmosphere, loved the friendly service from Lana, and loved the food and drinks. The answer? very soon! Thank you Cobblestones!