El Jefe has been a Dyckman staple for a very long time. I seldom come here as they like to have cover charges, but today I decided to make en exception and came to have one drink and leave as I only had about an hour to spend and wanted to just enjoy a bit of music. I ate here once before and the food was okay, what you can expect at a bar. However, the service usually is okay and not terrible. Today, I had a terrible experience. We walked into a bar that was mostly empty. I have bartended for 10 years in hottest NYC night clubs like Tao, PHD, and 230 5th rooftop to name a few, and this place was dead. However, I just wanted one drink and to go on with my night. I was at the end of the bar with my cousin, she tried to get the bartender’s attention and failed. After 15 min, I decided to try. I ordered drinks with her twice, 2 don julio reposado with Red Bull. Something that takes less than a minute to do. I then watched for another 20 min how she took other people’s orders and did them instantly while we were still waiting. The men that were next to us told her that they wanted to pay for our drinks and she ignored them as well and walked off. I then went to the other male bartender, Jurgen, and order my drinks with him while explaining that the girl had been ignoring us for a while. I attempt to take a picture of her to give a complaint to the manager as I didn’t know her name, and she saw me and snatched my cell phone and told the security guard to kick us out. The male bartender said he was the manager and told the security guard to kick us out. I realized that this Indian guy seemed to be the manager and I stopped him and explained what was happening. He then allowed us to stay and gave us the drinks on the house. He was really nice and made my night better. To the El Jefe manager if you want to hire a REAL bartender with REAL NYC experience. That can make 10-15 mixed drinks in two minutes, and does not discriminate (because this is what it felt like, like she was just hating on how absolutely gorgeous we were and didn’t want to serve us) against gender, beauty, race, etc and will get you really good Google reviews, fire her and hire me part time. And also, two drinks here cost $63 which is insane for uptown. Jurgen made sure to add automatic 20% after the bad service he provided :) I added photos to show how slow it was and she still ignored us for 30 minutes when we were just trying to pay for drinks. UNREAL!!!

This place is just spectacular... Great service.. good vibes of bartenders... don't listen to persons that just try to take advantage of social media to get attention... people that likes to get free drinks of complaining the serivce.. live your own experience and you'll see it

Unfortunately, I had a very disappointing experience at this bar, largely because of the bartender's lack of customer service. Throughout the night, she appeared far more attentive and engaging with male customers while largely ignoring women at the bar. Good customer service means treating every guest equally, regardless of gender, and that was not my experience. My friend and I waited for service while watching her focus her attention elsewhere. Eventually, I walked to another bartender and was able to get our drinks almost immediately. In fact, I received the drinks before she ever came over to assist us. My friend didn't realize I had already ordered elsewhere, so when the bartender finally approached, she poured a shot for my friend. Once she realized we had already received our drinks, she threw away the drink my friend had ordered instead of simply presenting the check and allowing us to pay for it. What made the situation worse was her attitude afterward. When I questioned why she discarded the drink, she responded with, "Where is the money?" The drink was only $20 and we fully intended to pay for it. She never gave us a check or an opportunity to pay before assuming we weren't going to. Making assumptions about customers instead of communicating professionally is unacceptable. The entire interaction felt rude, dismissive, and unprofessional. A bartender represents the establishment, and customer service should be based on respect and attentiveness, not assumptions or selective treatment of guests. What should have been a pleasant night out turned into a frustrating experience. Get educated on customer service.

If I were to give El Jefe a rating on drinks only, it would be a five out of five. This place has the vibe, the service, and the goods that transport you right off of Dyckman to a chill Latino and R&B spot to soothe the soul. We arrived around 3PM and Happy Hour was in full effect. There weren’t many people there—us and an interesting man with a slick back do. This is significant because the guy, usually someone that most would have ignored, received exceptional attention from the bartender. When you show up and chill at the bar, let’s face it, the bartender is more than a sever, this is an underpaid therapist. Let it be noted, she served in this capacity for at least an hour with him and others for the evening. There—the culture is right. The drinks are a treat in this little corner on the block. I would have never guessed, but they were delicious and beautiful. I’m glad I wandered in this time but I will be intentional and see this spot next around!

I always come to this place and I believe it’s a nice place in the area. I do see a lot of things rude customers, good customers, fun people, boring people and narcissist people. How do you express yourself out? “I’ve been discriminated because I am beautiful and I am hot and I am perfect”. Who talks about themselves like that? That tells a lot about people writing reviews and trying to screw people. Get free drinks, This is the bad thing about social media. This place is nice. Come have fun. Enjoy love it but you also get people that wants to be treated like Primadonnas treated like their special because they’re beautiful they perfect or have 1k followers, BS.