Thor

I met some friends here for brunch on Sat morning. The place was pretty empty as in just us. That said the hostess was very attentive. We had the unlimited Mimosa and our hostess keep bring it as we finished. The food was standard fare… omelette was done well, the Burger was good and the eggs benadict good also.
So overall everything was good so why only 3 stars? It just was missing something. Menu, while decently exicuted lacked any excitement. Would I come back most definitely if I was in the neighborhood but it would be the first place on the list of many other establishment in LES.
Recently read they ‘revamped’ the whole restaurant with a new look and menu of Asian fusion. I guess the thought here is if you can’t figure something original Asian fusion/​sushi is always a good default. Meh.

This bar just screams desperate — kind of like a high school kid desperate to be part of the cool crowd who will do anything and step on anyone to be noticed. Obviously, someone missed the memo that pretentiousness was out. It’s almost a bit embarrassing to see a place try so hard to be cool, especially in LES.
We had reservations for a birthday party and was let in without much trouble. After walking into what appears to look like a giant lady part, the men in suits kept pushing us into a «mandatory» coat check line. Upon asking the coat check clerk if it was indeed mandatory, she said «no» and we proceeded to save our $ 5 and head over to our reserved table. A bit classless and tacky for a place that pretends it doesn’t need your money.
Aside from the pretentious club line, I had one major qualm about this establishment. Perhaps this was all in my head but I couldn’t help but feel that this place was a bit racist. I stood at the bar for nearly 25 minutes, and being a girl this was a bit unusual; the bartender served everyone to the immediate left and to the right of me through several rounds and blatantly avoided eye contact with me until finally another bartender spotted me and decided to serve me. Bad service and arrogance is one thing, but blatant discrimination is grounds for never returning.
Our other friends showed up about 10 minutes later and found themselves facing an obstacle course of fire, water and laser beams to be let in. Needless to say, we didn’t stay long.
Save your money (and dignity) and visit any of the other nearby bars in LES.

.

To whom it may concern:
If you decide to open a bar, restaurant or any service oriented business, YOU MUST HAVE GOOD SERVICE OR YOUR WILL CLOSE YOUR DOORS.
I have been in this place a couple of times. And c’mom you have two door employees trying to make people feel inferior. Pretending that your business didn’t need the money.
To be straight forward if the owner of this hotel and the employees didn’t need their clients’ money. They should stay in their 5^th ave penthouse or in the Hamptons.
Just closed and don’t serve anybody because you are so perfect and really you don’t really need the money.
You need the money so stop behaving like a super club. because when I pay for a great restaurant they have great service… Not a bunch of pretentious employees .
You can be pretentious when all your clients are happy and you are en envy of all the other clubs because of your service and atmosphere.
Before that you are just a bunch of amateurs with a bar in a great building with a great location.
My old man once told me «My sons the day you don’t want so serve your clients, please make everybody a favor don’t open the warehouse that day»
The same advise for the management of this place … if you are going to open have a five stars service to match your ten stars pricing.
thanks

Welcome to Swank-​ville!
I just don’t go to this kind of bar/​club/​lounge… perhaps you like the style, in which case the things that bothered me won’t bother you… I just was not a fan. Then again, I don’t see why anyone should have to wait in line to go to a bar.
First, the positive:
1. I was with many friends and had a good time.
2. The music was fun.
3. I loved the artwork.
4. Cool couch area.
That’s about it, though.
Here is what bothered me:
1. Tried to get all our money: We were told in line that we may not get in if we didn’t buy a bottle at a table.
2. Tried to get all our money: There was a «mandatory» coat check that cost $ 5 (then we saw people inside wearing their coats).
3. Tried to get all our money: Bottle service is around $ 500.
4. Tried to get all our money: A vodka tonic was $ 13. That’s dumb.
5. Tried to get all our money: The bartender told my friend that they did not have Corona, so she ordered a slightly more expensive Stella. Next person to the bar walked away with a Corona.
I know I belong on the Upper West Side, because this Lower East Side joint was about the farthest thing from «my scene.»

I really do not know why, but I just felt uncomfortable at Thor last week. I cannot pinpoint out why, but it was just slightly depressing.
It also did take us over 20 minutes to get a drink even though it was not busy. The waitress must have forgotten and when we reminded her, she blamed it on the bartender. Then, she delivers extra drinks to us, by accident I am assuming, and proceeds to charge us for them!
Boring drink list — go elsewhere in the LES.

2 things to know right off that bat:
1. Went for brunch only, so this is not a drinks/​club review
2. Horrible, horrible service!
Joonbug sent out an e-​mail blast to promote Thor’s weekend brunch. I received the e-​mail on a Thursday, made a reservation for 10 people on Friday and went to brunch on Saturday.
First off, let me say that I called on Friday night (8PMish) and no one answered the phone. I left a voice message with my reservation AND sent an e-​mail. I got a reply about an hour later saying that they couldn’t do my preferred brunch time of 1 PM, but they could do 2 PM. Fine.
My friends and I showed up at 2 PM. There was no hostess. My friend told the bartender that the party was here and she asked us to wait in the lounge area. Cut to 2:20… I go and stand at the head of the restaurant for about 5 minutes until I have to ask a bus boy if anyone else actually works there. Then, the guy who made my reservation (Mario) comes up and asks how he could help. I didn’t even know he worked there! I’m wondering why he watched me stand there for several minutes before saying anything… Anyway — I said that my friends and I had been waiting for a while and asked what the hold up was. He proceeded to stroke my arm and say «Just 5 minutes, sweetie. They’re setting up the table». Wow — no need to touch, Skeevo! I said fine and went back to wait with my friends.
13 minutes later, I go back up to Mario and ask why we’re still waiting. He says they are still setting up the table. I ask what is taking so long. They’re seriously putting table together and putting down napkins… In the end, we didn’t get seated until about 2:40 (40 mins after reservation time) and the place wasn’t even packed! There were 2 tables of 2 and then 3 large tables for some girl having a birthday brunch.
The service did not improve much once we were seated. We had to ask for everything… waiting 10 minutes… um — can we have menus… wait 10 minutes… um… can we get water? Bus boy — 1 water? Me — 10 waters!
This is supposed to be an unlimited drinks brunch and they couldn’t find their champagne so we had to start with screwdrivers. I then had to ask later if they found champagne and the girl said «yes». So I then had to ask for the mimosas again. Why can they do nothing on their own?
I must say that the atmosphere of the place was pretty cool. Food was good, drinks were ok (bellinis sucked though — go for mimosas or screwdrivers). If the service wasn’t ass, we would have definitely gone again.
We kept having to ask for refills on the drinks, which they were very slow in bringing. We felt bad for the «server» because she was really the bartender. Backtrack — no hostess and now no real server. Don’t know why they would e-​mail blast their brunch when they don’t even have the crew to serve it…
Since we felt bad for server lady, we still gave a good tip. We paid all in cash and included the tip at the same time. BIG MISTAKE! Once they had their money, the bus boy started to clear our plates (some people weren’t even done eating!) and asked us to leave or go to the lounge if we wanted to finish our drinks. It was about 4:15 and brunch ended at 4. So they made us wait for 40 minutes to sit… 10 minutes for menus… 20 minutes to take our order and then they want to kick us out? F that! I wish we could have gotten some our tip money back. They were so rude!
We finally gathered our things and sat in the lounge to finish the rest of our drinks. We were there for about 10 minutes and then they shut off the lights around the area. WTF? We stormed out and bought candy across the street.
As I said — decent food and drinks, but horrendous service and they kicked us out after making us wait for over an hour just to eat. Will never go back there. There are too many unlimited drinks brunches in the city.

We went here last night for two of my friends’ joint birthday party. We got there and it was kind of empty, nice looking atmosphere on the inside. The music was decent, the staff at first seemed really helpful and quickly set-​up our tables in the back and the party was started. We had about 20 people so we were pretty packed in and 20 mins later the place was absolutely mobbed, which was fine we were having fun.
We had gotten two free bottles and a discounted price because one of the birthday girls was good friends with the manager. At 3am we still have alcohol left in the new bottles, and they cleared them under their policy «if there is ¼ left» they clear the bottle. We complain to the manager and they shove the bill in our faces that says we owe them a 43% tip!!!
I have never heard of an automatic gratuity being added for so much money and to be told we should be grateful for the service we had? One of the birthday girls and two other people asked for the manager and the bouncers come in and escort them out. The other birthday girl pays the gratuity, and as we leave we are informed we’re all banned for life.
The night started out fun, but the way they treat people here and the rudeness of the staff is absolutely ridiculous. Save yourself the trouble and have fun somewhere else.

Want a cheap place to get drunk before the madness begins? Um THOR! They have amazingly strong $ 6 Happy Hour Specials from 5−9pm DAILY. Yes!
I wouldn’t come here after 9 on the weekends, because it gets a little crazy with the party kids. I like my peace and quiet, so you’ll see me here sneaking a couple glasses of wine and mixed drinks before returning home!

We came. We saw. We left.
Came to meet a friend of a friend. Could not find said friend of friend and there was nothing tempting enough to make us stay anyways. I’m not sure what the deal was with the 2^nd floor area accept it wasn’t worth even the $ 5 cover.
Only pro was we skipped the line.

Very upscale and relaxing lounge area with nicely decorated walls adorned with artwork. I tried their Three G’s signature cocktail and was most impressed. Props as well for being the first lounge I’ve ever seen that serves a Jack & Coke with Pop Rocks XD

I have always walked by this place on a Friday /​Saturday night and there is a line outside the door. I have always been greeted with pretentious remark from the doorman demanding bottle service. I was invited to a party there last night (Tuesday) and made use to having my name along with another guy and my gf’s name on the list. That still normally wouldnt allow admittance with being a group of 66% men.
1 Full Star for the DJ. She was incredible! Smooth sexy beats through the evening.
1 Full Star for the décor. Really cool comfortable space.
There were a lot of modelesque types here and surprising they were really friendly. I think we left with some new friends.
Stiff Drinks.
Stinky ass bathrooms were my major turn off for the night.
In conclusion, if this place didnt have its model and bottle policy it would have been a little higher rated. Pretty much its like any other hotel bar you’ll find in the city. Nothing too special, but still had a lot of fun.

Came here for drinks. The décor is simple and nice. The drinks (although pretty girly) tasted really good. They have clean and unique restrooms labeled «WC» down in the basement.

Ugg, really.
Love the penthouse, Thor is dirt under my shoe. Pretentious holier than though dirt under my shoe that thinks it belongs in a potted plant being fed daily on miracle grow, BUT… really just dirt that needs to be washed into the sewer.
Now let me tell you how I really feel. I do not like it.
Story Time:
Let me tell you why… one very basic reason. I wanted a specialty drink something interesting. I ordered a drink with Basil in it… now here comes the special part. apparently a place that charges ridiculous amounts of $$ for a drink can not tell the difference between BASIL and SAGE…
I hope you reading this realize how utterly ridiculous that is. After mashing up the sage and throwing it into my drink I pull out the fuzzy lil leaf and hold it up to the bartender and say this is sage, my drink calls for basil. No apparently it didn’t… so I had to show her the menu. Then it’s an oh I am sorry. No new drink made properly, it wasn’t taken off the bill. Pure class? No.
–1 star:
Pretentiousness
–1 star:
Price of Pretentiousness
–1 star:
The crowd of pretentious people who like pretentiousness
–1 star:
I think you get the point…
1 star for… drum roll please… cool bathrooms.

Certain circumstances led my group to the downstairs bar at the Rivington recently and I quickly learned why I only have been to the upstairs penthouse thus far. This restaurant slash late night club was filled with pretty girls all wearing the same uniform: jewel colored dress, high heel pumps, wavy hair and fake eyelashes. Unfortunately, all these poor girls were bored to tears.
Now, this is not my scene so perhaps I’m being harsh but it’s the truth. I don’t like old dudes trying to make me dance by grabbing both my hands and shaking them up and down. I don’t like wearing the same dress as the rest of the girls in my group. I don’t like Katie Perry. I don’t like when my bartender has had more plastic surgery than Pamela Anderson. And I don’t like L.A.
The food may be awesome but for a stop during an evening of revelry, don’t let THOR deflate your balloon.

Though I probably had an extremely biased and somewhat positive experience being invited to a private party upstairs, it was still mediocre nonetheless.
–Spectacular view practically 360 degrees all around the dance floor, but lacked the vibe the lounge downstairs had
–Crowd was a lil preten, but def a few good heads lost in the mix, very diverse, everyone was vibin and lots of dancing
–Only one bathroom for all
–DJ was mixing decent hiphop, and then mixed it up toward the end
–staff wasn’t necessarily rude nor out-​of-​their-​way kind
–pricey for nothing really qualitative
–crowd dissipates rather early
Skip this one if you’re picky or looking for something special, but feel free to indulge if you’re easy to please. I recommend to go with a good group of buddies if so. Nothing really worth coming back to though.

If I were a little younger (and straight!), I’d probably love this bar. But, I’m not and the drinks are ridiculously priced.
However, my friend and I tremendously enjoyed the music and the private bathrooms downstairs were nice & clean.

Catching the brunch overflow from mimosa-​cups-​runneth-​over Essex is wistful wannabe Thor: Burtonesque parlour room by day; faux-​chic hotel lounge/​club by night. I’ve been here twice; once to dance the dancey dance, and once, more recently, to eat an «egg ratatouille» that looked startlingly like the Meat Lover’s Skillet at Denny’s. Not that there’s anything wrong (at ALL) with that; just don’t sell me pretension when you’re feeding me pleb pub fare. Mmkay?
$ 18 a head for boring brunch food with fancy names, two licks o’ liquor, coffee/​tea and lip from the hostess.

I knew this once a while ago as the «Hotel» type lounge.
Eh, the bouncer here wasn’t too picky about letting us in, after waiting a few minutes for the line to dissipate inside.
The bar wasn’t too exciting. The décor is semi-​futuristic, curves and red floors, the seats tiny and the bar area crowded with people waiting on expensive drinks. A separate space upstairs offers more floor space for dancing or just chilling watching the people outside.

There is a certain segment of New York City that I rarely see. It’s the deep dark underbelly of debauchery called «the straight bar». And after the night I had… well I’m even more glad I’m gay.
I was part of a group of seven men, brought down the the Lower East Side of Manhattan because one of our group is doing the PR for a musical group that just had a CD release party. We attended the party and afterwords made our way to THOR to have a post party drink.
We arrived at the entrance and were stopped by the very large bouncer who stated the bar was at capacity and we would have to wait outside. Apparently in straight bars, women wearing very tight dresses are not of significant size and therefore allowed in over capacity bars. But I’m a smart ass and it was freaking freezing outside, so I pitched a fit. The bouncer answered that he did have space for us… but it would require that we have bottle service.
Did I mention it was only 15 degrees? I had no choice but to agree to the deal.
We were escorted through the round door and along the red carpet to a leather sofa were the 7 of us sat down. Our cocktail waitress, Celeste, brought over a bucket of ice, a scoop, and a menu of bottles we could purchase. Without looking, my friend asked for a bottle of vodka, and Celeste was happy to bring us a bottle with several mixers.
Now I’m the first to admit this, but I’m a practical person who doesn’t believe in waste. I cook and eat my leftovers, I try not to let produce go bad, and now that I’m laid off… I’m even less likely to do so. A bottle of vodka for 7 men is a lot of vodka… especially when two of those men are recovering alcoholics that are clean and sober.
750ml of vodka for 5 men is a bit excessive, so I settled myself back into my lounge sofa and surveyed the crowd that was all around us. Ironically, multiple hot women kept approaching us and striking up conversations. For a bunch of gay men… we were getting a lot of women around us. Was it the enormous bottle of vodka or our stunning good looks that brought those women over? I choose to believe it was my looks thank you very much.
The five of us had about one drink each and we were ready to leave, so we asked for our check. Celeste brought over the bill, and that’s when the bomb hit.
$ 480 (tip included) for a bottle of Grey Goose vodka. A bottle that would have cost us $ 40 in the store cost us over 10 times that? What the F*ck is the matter here? No vodka is worth that much, and if I was going to have to pay that money… I was taking my leftovers home.
But apparently that isn’t allowed. So I did what any other pragmatic pissed off homosexual would do. I sat my ass back down onto that sofa and insisted to my group that we were not leaving until we finished that damn bottle. Liver damage? Screw it. If I had to pour that stuff down the throats of my friends… we were going to finish it.
Now I know that some people would tell me that a bottle service is economical. Bull. A standard bottle of vodka holds 17 1.5 oz shots of vodka (which is the standard pour for a vodka cranberry). If the bar charges $ 10 for a vodka Cranberry, we could drink a whole bottle for $ 170!
My friends and I progressively getting drunker, were beginning to make a spectacle of ourselves. My shirt… was getting further and further unbuttoned (and I still have no clue why), and I was finding it more difficult to have a coherent conversation. My boyfriend having left for the bathroom and not returned, had me worried, so I set off to find him. No worries though. He was only making out with a very drunk woman with incredibly large breasts. Seriously… if I notice a woman’s breasts… they are large enough to have their own zip code… and this woman was happy to play «post office».
No worries about the boyfriend though… I just poured him a very large amount of vodka in his drink and handed it to him to finish just as soon as he took his tongue out of that floozy’s mouth. Alcohol kills germs… right?
Realizing that we were never going to finish this bottle by ourselves, we told our sober friends to hail us a cab. I’m lying… our sober friends couldn’t understand us because of our slurring and suggested we get cabs.
Today…I woke up… hungover, wearing lipstick (I have no clue why), indebted to our friends who paid for the drinks, and in my pants are the names and telephone numbers or two women.
Is this what you straight men go through??? How do you survive this? And do I have to call these women?
Take me back to the gay bars… where the drinks are cheaper!

Walk through velvet curtains into the rounded entrance of THOR (it’s seemingly shaped like a birth canal), and you’ll find a bar with a touch of class that’s slightly askew with a sort of «Clockwork Orange» type of feel. It’s unclear who exactly IS THOR’s audience. I’ve never been there and seen it extremely crowded, and during my most recent visit I realized that there’s some type of hotel connected to it, and a lot of those patrons were taking things «up to the room.»
They do have some cool speciality cocktails, but they are mucho mula. I got something that I didn’t like, but I could see someone else enjoying a concoction of champagne ale (sweet and beery) with amaretto and set off with a melting sugar cube. The melting sugar was fizzing up into the drink with the champagne bubbles, so it looked pretty.
I did think the bartendress was a little attitude-​y but it could have been because we were eating all the snack barbecue potato chips. I mean, since we were several drinks in, I don’t like taking full blame for that.
My suggestion, is go for one drink to at least soak in the unique and kind of cool atmosphere, but there’s no reason to stay a long time and throw money at them. Go be comfortable somewhere else.