I love the fact that Mariachi's basically follows Kitchenette everywhere. So either Kitchenette closing had nothing to do with rent, or Mariachi's pulls in a better lunch crowd. — mruptight on Seen & Heard: Inside the New Mariachi’s

FYI - The Odeon uses ChowNow "The Odeon AMERICAN 'Our favorite part of ChowNow is that it actually runs behind our own website, very efficiently, but our brand stays at the forefront.' Roya Shanks, Floor Manager" See video testimonial at: https://vimeo.com/101324962 "The Odeon restaurant testimonial presented by ChowNow. The Odeon explains how they increased sales and customer loyalty by using the ChowNow online ordering system" OR https://www.chownow.com/testimonials-reviews — James on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

We order from Odeon's webside frequently and it works fine. — SW on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

Went to the Barleycorn for the first time last week and was very pleasantly surprised. The place is huge but is set up in sections so it doesn't feel too big. There was music Friday night from 7-10. It was a guy with a guitar and he was very good. I highly recommend the sausage rolls. The pizza looked really good too so I want to go back and try that. I am not sure whether or not they deliver. — TribecaMom on Seen & Heard: “The Secret Lives of Edward Gorey”

Ahhh Renwick Street. My first night in NYC after moving here in 1986 I walked from Morton, south, and ended up at Spring and Renwick (at McGovern's). I quickly recognized that odd little NYC corner was one of the locations for Scorsese's "After Hours". I've always had a soft spot for that neighborhood, although it's radically changed from the mid-80s. — KC on Seen & Heard: The Spiritual Awakening of Seasonal Whispers

Erik, Poor old Renwick street... Take another look - it really has the true character indicative of the original narrow streets of Manhattan... Once construction finally ends the city should re-pave it nicely and give it the finishing touches it deserves.(and I don't mean Coup de Grace!) It is also the best shortcut by which to drive through from the area North of Spring down to the area below Canal ;) — Rohin on Seen & Heard: The Spiritual Awakening of Seasonal Whispers

Why can't I find Two Hands on Seamless or GrubHub? Why?! — Jim Smithers on New Kid on the Block: Two Hands Restaurant & Bar

Seamless barely makes a profit in spite of all the price gouging you describe. It costs a lot of money to run a business. And the writer doesn't seem to have any morals of his own - tipping in cash so that it remains "under the table" — Financial Analyst on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

Welcome to Tribeca, guys. Awesome flat whites! Crowded from day 1. — Paul on New Kid on the Block: Two Hands Restaurant & Bar

Again, I am no fan of Seamless, but they created a solution to solve a problem. They spend millions to develop a platform and millions to market it. They are a business that has found a niche in the food delivery space. This is similar to what google does with advertising. You practically can't launch a business these days without buying ads on google. If they don't provide consumers and businesses with value, they will go out of business. Restaurants can chose not to use them if the costs become prohibitive. I don't think people will abandon Seamless because their rates to restaurants are high. Restaurants can only rely on so much good will from customers, they will need to create better incentives for non Seamless orders. — cami on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

Great piece of writing. We finally get to hear what restaurants think about these gian marketplaces that are built to please consumers with little focus on the restaurant's success. Reminds me of the daily deal sites. We can only hope consumers start to realize how they are hurting their favorite local eateries by using these marketplace websites. ChowNow has been working hard in NYC and other cities across the country to educate consumers about ordering direct from their favorite restaurants to help them keep their hard earned money and maintain a great relationship with their customers. These restaurants need to work with restaurant minded partners like ChowNow to stand up against the big marketplaces. Hopefully they will phase out just like the daily deal sites did. Thanks for the post! — Drew on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

I recommend restaurant owners use a commission fee free system like ChowNow. I used to work for Two Boots pizza and they switched last year, but I've seen smaller restaurants that use them too. Whoever mentioned building a local restaurant coalition against seamless has a great idea - but your customers all want the convenience of ordering online. What about some sort of neighborhood website that features each restaurant and their own, direct ordering link and phone number, etc? — Alex on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

i closed my restaurant 4 years ago and i STILL Get emails and calls from Grub Hub/Seamless with orders for food occasionally ill get a call from seamless asking why i havent filled an order.. it's comical. worse than yelp. — CentralScrutinizer on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

19 Park Place is not only a joke, it is the worst example of faulty construction and poor management. They undermined the adjacent buildings during excavation right in front of the Building Department which has office nearby. The concrete was poured using faulty materials and had to be removed. The design for one bedroom, three bathroom apartments, must be meant for rich losers with toilet fixation. — Lewis Gross on Seen & Heard: Inside the New Mariachi’s

I agree. It only took one Seamless experience for me to stop using them. Now I always call the restaurant directly. I prefer to order online but will only do it when it's through the restaurant's site, and I don't know of any who still do that (Gigino is one example that had a very good online ordering system until they went Seamless). — K T Smith on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

How large will the first page have to be to accommodate everyone? This is simple economics — Kevin on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

Thank you for this article. I've been told on many occasions from the delivery person that we can order from Odeon's website for 10% off. We've never done it before because Seamless just seemed easier, but based on your article, we will start today (everywhere we order from). We should all support our favorite local restaurants - or see them disappear as so many good ones have lately. — Teri on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

I will totally admit that I prefer the ease, immediacy and clear communication of ordering via the web. However, I had no idea that Seamless was so aggressive or non-restaurant friendly. I've seen some companies, like Dig Inn, switch over to offering online ordering through their own website and I tend to use these website portals if they are available. I realize that this is an investment for a restaurant to set-up - but it would also give them greater control and synchronization with their other systems. — NR on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

Local restaurants are awesome, but regarding phone orders - one point not mentioned here is the quality of the people picking up the phone. There is one reasonably high quality restaurant on Greenwich Street whose order-taker literally cannot pronounce the items on the menu. Listening to this person sound out the names of pasta specials for the night would be high comedy if not for the fact that I actually want to understand what dish it is that I am ordering. To owners, hire the right staff for the job. Make it easy and convenient and friendly and I'll happily call in orders. Maybe try a CRM that stores phone numbers, addresses, credit card info, past orders - maybe even a little loyalty program. Imagine if your order taker said, "Hello, Mr. so-and-so, thanks for calling again. Would you like the usual?" It's a two-way street. If you want customers to value your business and not treat it as a transaction, pay it back! — LBK on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

Have to agree with Erik that the Calatrava hub is by far the most architecturally interesting structure in the watered down World Trade complex It's definitely a signature vision and I am sure that over time it will come to be appreciated Btw he also builds bridges and skyscrapers like Turning Torso... — Rohin on In the News: 70 Vestry Is Expected to Reap $700 Million in Sales

seamless is great but i also use munchado.com for certain restaurants in nyc which aren't on seamless. you can even earn $30 by using their referral offer: munchado.com/referral — Dennis White on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

Not exactly a rave architectural review in the Times: "The downtown hub is not Grand Central. Any really big or unusual object or immense hole in the ground triggers awe. Mr. Calatrava is a sometimes very inspired sculptor of structural engineering. His best projects are rail stations. I’ve long admired the modest one he designed for Zurich years ago, which accomplished a lot with relatively little. "But he has become a one-trick pony. The World Trade Center Hub resembles his station in Lyon, France, and his museum in Milwaukee. Aside from the obvious Pantheon allusion, I no longer know what the hub is supposed to mean, symbolically, with its now-thickened ribs, hunkered torso and angry snouts on either end, weirdly compressing the entrances from the street. It’s like a Pokémon. Think of Eero Saarinen’s skylights at Kennedy’s TWA terminal, which resolve so elegantly into big, playful porthole windows. The imagery is clear. That’s great architecture. "From those street entrances to the hub, the Oculus reveals itself all at once from awkward, tongue-shaped balconies. Mr. Calatrava gives the whole view away. The trip downstairs becomes a letdown. It’s better coming up from the PATH trains, where riders pass through a kind a vestibule (beneath the tracks for the No. 1 train) before stepping up to the nave of the Oculus, which appears suddenly, obliquely. It may put you in mind of entering the Guggenheim, with its sequence of compression and release, except there, space continues to unfold and surprise you along the ramp." http://nyti.ms/1QsD1p8 — James on In the News: 70 Vestry Is Expected to Reap $700 Million in Sales

wait, seamless isn't just like foodler? don't they pick up the food from the restaurants and deliver for you? where I live, we have foodler and its the best. I have over 50,000 foodler points which tells you how much i order there. — mike on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

Article says they plan to finish 70 vestry by 2018... yeah right! — Sean on In the News: 70 Vestry Is Expected to Reap $700 Million in Sales

I like Seamless for the clarity. I probably wouldn't be very likely to switch to direct phone ordering but I would absolutely use a different online method. I usually go to Seamless with a particular restaurant or cuisine in mind so the pagination is meaningless to me. — JD on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless