AOA Bar & Grill

We were in New York during Jonas and were staying close to this restaurant. Our plans for the night got cancelled due to the storm and we needed to find somewhere to eat and grab a drink. We had walked by this place so we called and the GM — Stacy — not only accommodated us but made us feel welcome even though they were short staffed and packed. The food was decent and they had a great selection of beers!

This place is OK. The food is sometimes hit or miss. I got the crab cake sandwich once and it was weird. Didn’t know you could make a bad crab cake sandwich but apparently i was wrong. The burger is solid which is good and the staff is friendly. This place always has room for lunch which is good.

Service was terrible it took forever to get our check. The waitress didn’t even pay attention. Once we got the bill they didn’t take into account happy hour prices and then we had to wait even longer. Average food for the price. Wouldn’t go back.

I’ve been to a lot of the restaurants in the area, including Pepolino, which is a solid 5 star italian restaurant located right across the street. However, we were craving something different and decided to try AOA Bar & Grill, plus the Ranger game just started so it made sense to hit a sports bar.
We came in and the hostess was on the phone and had us wait for a minute or two until she was done with her call. Not a big deal; she was apologetic about it, even if it did make us feel a bit neglected.
The service was good and accomodating, a good server (Raquel, I believe her name was) and good bus service ready to refill our water and take away finished dishes. My gripe really is with the portions.
We chose the BACON-​CHEESEBURGER SLIDERS for an appetizer, and when the sliders came, there was only two. Now, I know it says «sliders» and doesn’t specify the number, although «sliders» is plural, and AOA gives the bare minimum amount with two, for $ 12. That’s $ 6 a slider, which in my opinion is overpriced for a slider, even if it’s a big gourmet one. When I see sliders on a menu, I usually assume there will be a quantity of three, I mean even the plate the sliders came on was sized for three, but instead of a third slider there was 2 thin pickle slices.
We had the Buffalo Chicken and Gouda pie, which was very tasty, albeit small. It was a 10″-12″ pie, for $ 15. Really just a little bigger than a personal pie, which I was kind of expecting after the sliders.
All in all, the quality is good, but I was disappointed with the portions. This is a sports bar, not an upscale trattoria, there should be substance to the meals, especially since you’re paying for it.

Worst breakfast buffet ever and it cost 16.95 per person and they automatically added 20% tip. Lousy selection, terrible scrambled eggs. Totally not worth it.

Bar Only
I was in the area for an event and as soon as I got out of the train station I heard the sound of the Mets vs Royals game. I had some time to kill so why not see the first two innings of Game 3.
As soon as you walk you in you are welcomed by the bartender «what would you like to drink» and I saw that they had Stella on tap and got one. Fast service, the beer was the right temperature and the crowd was live.
I finished my beer and went to the event, came back for the last 3 innings of the game and the bartender remembered me and filled me with another pint glass of Stella, now that’s what I call great service. Loved the speedy serviced and that they had sound for the game.
The place was spacious and had more than enough bathroom stalls, AOA Bar was also connected to the hotel next door.
I will definitely be coming back if I am around the area.

It was my first time coming here with my co workers for happy hour. The drinks were good and affordable. The food was super delicious. The atmosphere was perfect. The waitress was very nice and professional. I will be coming back soon.

Two separate times they’ve been oddly two faced about two separate things. I order a pizza at 7 pm on a Saturday night and they say nope, we’re not serving pizza right now. Why? Because apparently it’s not busy enough.
I order the philly steak sandwich instead, and minutes later I see a pizza being made right in front of me. uhh, what? Their reason was that «the pizza guy isn’t here but we had to take this order» for the people on the other side of the bar. Another pizza order rolls in and now there’s a pizza in the oven, and a pizza being stretched. Can’t change my order though, they’re already making the Philly.
The Philly steak sandwich was not great at all and consisted mostly of cold bread — however the pizza looked delicious coming out of the oven.
Came here on a separate trip, grabbed a drink at the bar and was told it was last call 5 minutes later, at 10:45pm. The front desk and the posted hours are until midnight. I reluctantly oblige and close my tab, and while finishing up, people slowly trickle in and open tabs.
Yeah, I’m done with this spot.

Since this is not my cup of tea, I had a glass instead. OK, the glass was fine. We went here with a group of students to bid a farewell to a lovely woman who was in-​charge of processing our enrollment into a lovely business school. What else do you find at a bar and grill restaurant? Bar food! So we tried a few of them: creamy spinach/​artichoke dip, calamari and nachos. Everything was ok, not the best but ok for a quick happy hour thing. I thought calamari was actually better than the two. I’d like to try more from the menu but the bar food don’t serve my purpose, so I’m happy to have tried a few and able to talk about it.

Loved this place. Had a veggie burger, bf had a burger, split a kale salad. All in all very tasty, however they never took 10% off out bill.
However service and food were great for what it was.

Our food took over 40 minutes to come out. I ordered the St Louis Ribs with Korean BBQ sauce, I ended up with ribs with their AoA sauce. To avoid waiting 20+ minutes I kept the wrong order. The sauce was like school lunch BBQ, the ribs we unappealing and tasted sub par. The lemonade was amazing. The crab cake sandwich was also good.
The vibe is upscale sports bar. Loud music in the background and lot of professional types hang here. If you’re there late enough, it randomly becomes a club.

Meh
Beer list,
Fine for a
Sports bar but then
Unnecessarily becomes loud club.

My friend works nearby and she receieved a flyer to come in for a free beer and a list of the happy hour specials — sounded pretty good so we decided to give it a try. As were walking there, I remembered I had heard of this bar because of Bravo’s RHONY… even more reason to give it a whirl!
Because the bartenders were so friendly, this place earned three stars. I would like to come back in the future to try the pizza and some non-​happy hour wine.
The house wines were on special as well as oysters — both were meh. The Sauviginion Blanc was not properly chilled and the oysters were not the freshest but for the price, both were good enough. We also tried the sweet potato fries which were delicious.
If you happen to be in the area its worth checking out — very spacious, comfortable and clean. They did start playing loud music around 6pm, but it was a Friday so I’m not sure if they do this every night.

Stopped by here with a group of 6 for drinks a little over a week ago. We were sat instantly and our waitress kept up with our heavy drinking despite the other tables she had surrounding us.
Half way into our stay she introduced us to a waiter who would be taking over our table as she was leaving for the night. Now usually this is super annoying but he had my drink out quicker than I could finish saying «tonic». Seriously it was out in 30 seconds. In closing a great night, we left pleased and well on our way to a morning hangover for sure LOL
Typical sports bar/​pub food ambiance with a friendlier staff than others. Thanks staff (can’t remember names) I’m sure to be back!

Back again, it’s become one of my «go-​to» spots in TriBeCa. Got the AOA Burger, delicious. Sit at the bar, the bartenders are awesome.

This place is a lot out of the way for most people but part of the Hilton Garden Hotel so it’s fine if you are staying as a guest.
Nice space, bartender was professional. First time that I tried a Moscow Mule — the cocktail menu is not extensive. Did not try the food.
Background music was Taylor Swift and like that, not loud.
I was in the area for another event, so not likely I will stop by again.

Amazing food! I decided to try this place out with a friend, and I was amazed by their burgers and pizza. I normally don’t enjoy thin crust pizzas, but this was an exception. It was a bit pricey, (almost $ 20 for a burger, & $ 15 for a 12 inch pizza pie) but totally worth it…
Only downside? I wish the waiters/​waitresses were more attentive.
Btw, they have a separate kids menu, and crayons.

I stumbled upon this place on my way home and it’s convienent location next to the subway. I was dining alone so I chose a queit area of the bar. But perhaps I was too quiet because the it took the bartender about 10 mins to acknowledge me — after I requested that his colleague remind him. I mean really? There were only three other people at the bar. This would be grounds for me walking out but I was starving.
Okay flash forward to me with a glass of Sauvignon blanc and in a seemingly better mood. For my light dinner I contemplate truffle mac n cheese or steak tacos. Alas, I choose the tacos I wasn’t in the mood for subpar pasta doused in truffle oil (funny how I still stayed, having a feeling the food wouldn’t be good) But how can you screw up steak tacos? I’ll tell you how… Don’t add any seasoning, just finish with copius amounts of black pepper. Don’t add any veggies or anything to brighten the dish. Hell, don’t add any lettuce for that matter! If I closed my eyes, Mexico would be the last place this meal reminded me of. Moreso, some cheap college snack.
(And just to reiterate how the service was lacking, it took about two minutes after my food arrived for me to receive utensils or napkins. But I can only speak for the bartender who would much prefer to look at his phone or loudly roughhouse with his coworkers than to check up on me — don’t know how the servers are.)
Albeit, the salsa verde was pretty decent. And the guy sitting next to me (who also complained about service) bought me a glass of wine. So… Not a terrible night.
I’d only come back to check out their happy hour which seemed great.

I come here often for office happy hours and this place is fine enough considering the place is super close to my office. The happy hour prices are very reasonable (½ of all draft beers, wine, and well drinks) and the drinks are good.
Sometimes the service is below average. One time I came with a large group and we got there early to get a table. About 20 minutes later the waitress told us we needed to stand up for the remainder of our stay because she wanted to sit another group. Kind of rude considering we got there early and we’re still ordering drinks. They also don’t split checks.

Came here for brunch w/​the ladies. We bought this through Pulse.
The soccer game was on, so it was already pretty loud. We had made an rsvp and yet, it took them over 20 mins to seat us. And when they did, the table wasnt cleaned and was pretty sticky.
We were informed that they were short staffed that day. So, we decided not to judge. The mamosas werent too great. Seemed like it was made in a rush. I couldnt drink it. I just kept asking for water.
The food came out, and compared to our horrible experience prior, we were pleased! Friends ordered eggs benedict, steak and eggs and salmon and steak. I got eggs scrambled w cheese, bacon, hash browns and salad. We were all pretty happy with our meals and finished everything!
I hope, they have better service. I’d give it another try…