The Top of The Standard

I recently scheduled an after-work meeting with a contributing writer and BT's CEO to discuss story ideas. We decided on The Top of The Standard, a bar atop Meatpacking District hotel The Standard, since none of us had been there before, and we were curious to see what all the buzz was about. We met at 7 p.m. and were seated at a banquette, where we took in the striking views of Jersey City.

We ordered two rounds of drinks and three appetizers with little incident, aside from our waitress's extremely high hemline. (Although we weren't fazed by it, I could see how it could easily offend some people when she bent down to take our order). At 8:45 p.m. we wanted to order one last round, but she told us the bar had closed 15 minutes ago. When I told her how ridiculous I thought that was, she clarified that the bar would re-open at 10 p.m.

She also admitted that she should have alerted our table to the last call, but had somehow managed to miss us. In the end, we managed to get another round delivered to us at 8:55 p.m., after telling her that we were planning a review of the hotel. The conversation was just winding back up when another server visited us at 9 p.m. on the dot and told us that we needed to leave. I asked for three more minutes to finish our half-full drinks and conversation, and she nastily told us we had 30 seconds. We ignored her and finished our beverages, and when we walked out at 9:05 p.m., we didn't receive so much as, "Have a good night," from any of the staff.

We were all dumbfounded by this behavior, especially since we weren't exactly three kids looking to get drunk in a bar. We were obviously conducting a business meeting that was grossly derailed by the staff's rude treatment. Adding insult to injury was the fact that we'd spent nearly $500 for the experience.

Although the views were incredible, and I wanted to include images of them in this piece, when I contacted the hotel's PR agency, the rep I dealt with told me that she had no press materials to give out for the bar. So I'm afraid the only picture I have to present is this brief description of my night at The Top of The Standard, which occupies a position at the bottom of my list of Manhattan meeting spots. 

The Top of The Standard, 848 Washington St., New York, N.Y., tel. 212-645-4646; www.standardhotels.com/new-york-city.