Dojo Restaurant and Bar

Rodrigo Barreto is the most unhelpful person I have ever met. Was attempting to book an event for my Engagement Party and he pushed me aside with no help. I felt as if I was bothering him. Will not be at Yotel again.

The food was yummy! But service was a bit confusing… One of the waiters couldn’t really speak/​understand English very well. I could overhear another table, and their order was completely wrong. Our order came out and everything was fine, so my overall experience was a good one. The mushroom burger was especially yummy and the chicken wings — yummmm.

I came here for my birthday with a bunch of my friends for brunch and had a great time! The music was good, the entertainment was fun, and our waiter was on point. He just kept bringing out platter after platter and carafes of drinks until we couldn’t eat anymore. Its a really fun place to come to with a group, but make sure your friends are prompt or do like I did and tell them the reservation is earlier than it really is. Since the hotel is located in Midtown, parking is a nightmare. I told my friends that the reservation was at 1pm when it was actually at 2pm. And everyone came just before 2pm (late birds lol), which was perfect.

My friends and I came here for brunch on a Sunday morning. It’s about $ 45 plus tax and tip, which seemed pricy, but since there were unlimited drinks in the mix, we thought «why not!» We arrived a little bit before they were actually open and we were promptly ignored. Once they actually opened, we ended up getting to be about third in line to speak with the hostess. Once we got to the front of the line, we were told that they weren’t sure they would have room for us, since we didn’t have a reservation. I thought, okay, I guess this place is going to fill up fast, and we waited to see what was going to happen. Fast forward ten minutes… the place is still empty… the hostess couldn’t have been anymore disrespectful… selfies were being taken by the staff. At this point, I was just barely able to contain my rage. However, the lead hostess came back at this point to give us a table. Even though there were plenty of spots open in the main restaurant area, we we seated at some lame table essentially outside the restaurant right next to the hostess stand. Our waiter, who appeared about 10 – 15 min later finally got us drinks and asked us what we wanted to order (I think he was late to work.) the food as a whole was nothing special. The only thing that was actually palatable were the crab spring rolls and, the mimosas, of course. This place could not have been any more disappointing. The waitstaff all need training on what customer service and professionalism actually look like. If you want to pay big bucks to be disrespected repeatedly, come here, otherwise I am 100% sure you can find better food and service elsewhere.

My friends and I stayed at the hotel and woke up to craving a tasty brunch. After reading some mixed reviews and then hearing from a friend-​of-​a friend that this place was awesome, we wanted to give it a shot. And wow, so convenient with the location! For a $ 45 brunch, I had high expectations.
According to the website, brunch starts at 11am, but when we promptly showed up at 11am the wait staff were setting the tables and prepping for the morning. After being ignored by two people who just hustled past us as we waited outside of the door (and note, one of the people who ignored us was a manager or appeared to be), I finally stopped the manager lookalike to ask what time brunch started…11:30am. We contemplated leaving then but decided, what the heck, it looks cool in the restaurant. So, fast forward 30 minutes and get to the hostess stand where we say we need a table for 3. The hostess said, «Umm…I don’t think we have room for you, go stand over there». Weird, the place was EMPTY (and it stayed empty until about 1:30pm)! No lie, there were 2 parties that sat down before us but we had to wait. After a good 15 minutes, we finally sat down at one of the billion open tables. Oh, I forgot to mention, while we were waiting, one of the hostess’ went to go take a selfie with this modern looking reindeer… so glad you have so much time on your hands.
When we sat down, they kept repeating that the brunch is 2 hours and $ 45. Ok, I got it after the first time you told me… thank you. Maybe they’ve had some bad experiences with people complaining or maybe they should look at putting this tid-​bit on their menu, just a thought… or they thought we looked cheap.
Our second waiter was very soft spoken and I could barely hear him over the earsplitting club music. Tip: The waiter recommends you order 3 – 4 dishes at a time and are limited to one order /​15 minutes. We ended up ordering mostly everything on the menu which was a very odd mish-​mash of items (i.e. crab egg rolls, sushi, sliders, truffle fries, granola, eggs, salads, general tso’s chicken, etc.). The food was gross… I’m sorry, but it was all drenched in sugar, syrup and burnt compotes. I think Elf would love this place in the city… more syrup please! The only good thing about this place was the unlimited mimosas and blood Mary’s. The bar really stepped up their game.
A few more random things to mention:
— Wait staff and hostess staff are rude, unapologetic and unprofessional. At one point, there was a waiter screaming for the manager that was 2 feet away. My friend gave him the stank eye and he said, everything okay here? Umm, you tell me.
— There was a drag show as we were leaving and it looked awesome but my patience for this establishment was completely gone.
— I would suggest making a reservation for this place so they don’t treat you like a second class citizen.
Super bummed I was leaving this place with a terrible taste in my mouth (literally). I should have gone for the chicken and rice at the cart right outside of the hotel… would have saved me about $ 50.

*This review is from 7/​13* forgot to post but here it goes
Unlimited food… Of course because of the abundance to supply when it came to taste left a lot to be desired… I liked the candied bacon (bacon with syrup) scrambled eggs the best the rest wasn’t memorable at all!
Unlimited drinks… Oh yes! We started off light and polite with mimosas… that wasn’t kicking enough so white sangria it is! The wine used was ok no cheap tin tasting wine at this brunch! I love how they make pitchers and let you poor your own troubles rather then you exposing the «lush» and obnoxiously trying to flag down your waiter every 10 minutes because you have a brunch rule which clearly states in your head that anything under 3 drinks is uncivilized for unlimited!
Atmosphere… Amaze-​balls! Loved it! Drag queens standing on couches! Body painting! Ballon chicks making penis ballon hats with jizz included! Contortionist (same one I seen at the live Robin Byrd show) I know what your thinking but u don’t know my life! Lol great music and good vibes The atmosphere is the best thing about this place! I had sooooo much fun!

This place is lots of fun for brunch! I’m not sure why it’s getting such negative reviews recently. I came here for my birthday brunch last year, which was a full year ago at this point so maybe a lot has changed.
Unlimited drinks and food and it all comes family style, which I personally loved. We were here for about two hours and we’re definitely not ready to leave by the time we got cut off. No one seemed to have any complaints about the food and I thought they had an amazing variety for us.
The entertainment is lots of fun as well. Nothing crazy like the over the top party brunches but I enjoyed the singing and random balloon animals and contests etc. Came to around $ 50 a person. I enjoyed it a lot but probably wouldn’t come back other than to check out their outdoor patio brunch which seems like lots of fun.

Came here for a quick drink before starting the night last Saturday — ended up staying for almost 2 hours. Review on drinks and vibe only.
Vibe is trendy but comfortable. Drink prices were $$$ but well worth it — I had the White Swan drink — champagne and frozen grapes — it was awesome!
Sat outside and got a table — weird thing is, there are 2 bars — one in and one outside and you can get the specialty drinks at the outside bar, only inside. So I got them and brought them outside.
Staff was super friendly, drinks were wicked strong, atmosphere was super chill. I’d go back but I think there are other places I would like to try first.
TIP: Order off drink menu inside if you are sitting outside.

I attended one of their all-​you-​can-​eat/​drink brunches for a friend’s birthday. For food alone, they would have received two stars — maybe three if I still had some mimosa left in me. The all-​you-​can-​eat factor definitely helped to hide the fact that you were just being served an endless supply of mediocre food and cheap booze. I would be wasting your time telling you which dishes to try, because well, it’s all-​you-​can-​eat. Have at it! Enjoy the onslaught of western food trying to taste «Asian». They have hundred-​gallon barrels of sweet chili sauce at the ready for you and your hungry friends.
The service we have received was fine during the actual serving of the food, but became mind-​bogglingly awful when the check arrive. They charged an extra $ 45 for a friend who came late and didn’t eat a thing. After trying to make sense of the situation to the server, she diverted me to a manager who I thought would remedy the situation. Nope! After several minutes of nasty glares and points from the service team, the check came back with one less order and a cake cutting charge of $ 55! Was this some joke? Not only was our cake cut by what seemed like a toddler, but they’re charging us double the price of the cake to cut it? It’s a gross attempt by the server to try an up her tip and quite appalling service, if you can even call it that.
TL;DR — 1) Unimpressive food drenched in sweet and sour sauce. 2) Awful, almost antagonistic service. 3) Make absolutely sure your friends don’t show up at the last ten minutes of your birthday brunch to say hi — God forbid. 4) Don’t ask the restaurant to cut a birthday cake for you — you’re better off karate chopping it yourself.

The brunch was horrendous.
Everything about this adventure just straight sucked. We called a couple days ahead of time, and wanted a 1pm slot for brunch. They told us they were ‘just too busy’ and that we could only be seated at 1. I had a flight to catch, but we heard good things, so we dealt with it and booked it.
We were seated upstairs. The menu is not at all what you would expect for brunch. That could be a good of bad thing. Sushi rolls, mixed with french toast, some baked cauliflower, crab ragoons, and a bean salad to name a few. Odd. But we knew there were endless Mimosas and Bloody Mary’s, so we stayed.
Our waitress was very unaccommodating. We had someone in our party allergic to eggs. Both sushi rolls are served with a squirt of spicy mayo on top. We ate them up, but asked for some without mayo on it for him, and her response was ’ I don’t think that is possible, since they premade the dishes 5 – 10 minutes in advance.’ I asked her, couldn’t we just wait for a new batch? She just smiled and walked away.
There was no condiments on the table, and every time we asked for something, it took over 20 mins to bring each one. Soy sauce, which is automatic with sushi, took FOREVER. We had to ask multiple times. They made it seem like we were being a pain in the you know what, but come on guys. It’s an all you can eat brunch. GET IT TOGETHER.
Don’t plan on actually getting your buzz on unless you have 3+ hours to spend. Service was so slow that we managed to order 3 and then got tired of the endless wait for less than mediocre food.
***The kicker***
The website and menu they brought us, listed their buffet brunch at $ 40. When we got the bill, we were charged $ 45 per person. When we asked our service, she looked confused, but told us, ‘even though the menu does say that, and so does our website, the price is $ 45.
Thanks for the terrible service, food, wait time, and bait and switch in prices. NEVER AGAIN.

Did you just fly in from Indianapolis or Racine or someplace? Do you like to wear Under Armour? Are you planning to shriek to your friends about what a crazy time you had in New York City? This is just the place for you! Have fun.
Manhattanites: this is everything you feared would happen to HK. Bachelorette parties! «Trendy» ordering system that makes it very difficult to get anything to eat or drink! Snarky hosts and hostesses who call themselves «promoters» or something. All this in the same dull hyper-​sanitized setting that could be found utterly anywhere on this earth. Oh, super loud music from a DJ who runs a fashion show pulled straight out of your sister’s fashion doll collection.

This gem is on the 4^th floor of the Hotel Yotel. I’ve stayed here many times and only recently experienced the dinner/​bar menu of the Dojo. You’d never expect to find sushi rolls, ceviches or Peruvian tiradito in a hotel restaurant, but it’s there and they are fabulous!
Spicy tuna and tempura shrimp rolls are as good as any sushi bar I’ve been to. The killer choice for me are the Tiraditos; Seared Wagyu beef (vinegar and truffle oi) and/​or Hamachi (szechuan pepper). The Chinese style chicken wings are a must too.
Best of all, is the hospitality by Melanie, my favorite bartender! Better visit her soon. Melanie has a budding career as an actor!

Dojo is the Yotel restaurant on the fourth floor. True to the hotel’s style, it is modern, stylish, and has touches of Japanese influences in a pop art snark kind of way. Dojo is more notable for drinks and appetizers — the alcohol selection is more expansive than the food. The food is okay, where most dishes fail to wow or impress. The quality is good… The food just lacks pop. Service is also remarkably slow. The prices are fair for a hotel restaurant. Overall, not memorable, not worth going out of your way for.

Brunch can’t compare to unlimited sips and bites when you add a promoter and DJ’s! Get some sushi, sweet and spicy bacon, sliders, and sip on all u can drink bloodys, mimosas and sangria. Then hit the dance floor after u are ousted from your table after 2 hour limit.
The place… as well as the hotel… brings me back to NYC time after time.

This was an unsuspected surprise of fun and food. I really did think we were going to a new brunch with great food… but little did I know that was just the half of it.
Firstly, let me say… all you can eat and drink for $ 40 smackaroos is a dealyo in nyc!!! The food was really good – shout outs to chef clarence his team made my taste buds happy!!!
The waitress we has was good and she did keep the plates and carfats coming!!!
But the real gem to this brunch is the entertainment… yes pure’D fun, foolery and laughter. The queens put a show on like it was midnight and the varsity dance troop just tickled the pee out of me:)!!!
If your not ready to party and have fun with loud azz music and people then don’t show up!!!
I will be back and I will be ready for the PART-​TA!!!

An absolute 5 star!!! No doubt about it! The only thing that would make it better is if there were French bulldog puppies running around… And thats just because I love French bulldog puppies. Every thing about our experience at dohyo was amazing!!! From start to finish!
The location is amazing. Funky, fun, great music, wonderful shaded rooftop, cool furniture. The works. The service was great! We had a reservation and sat right down at an awesome rooftop table. We were served immediately by a wonderful server who was friendly, attentive, and all around impressive! The menu has about 14 small plates, and we tried all of them and they were all great! I appreciate an innovative and different menu from your typical brunch items. Standouts for me were the disco truffle fries, crab spring rolls, and the curry cauliflower. It truly is bottomless as long as you keep eating and drinking so try everything! You get soooooo much for only $ 40 dollars. The sangria was delicious as well– red and white!
We hung out way past our allotted reservation time and that was fine. The rooftop is so amazing– great photo ops. The all around vibe is just refreshing, relaxing, and really just a great way to spend a beautiful day. If your server is awesome he just might slide you some to-​go boxes!!! Sealed the deal! Can’t wait to return.

My bridal party and friends surprised me with a «Bachelorette Brunch» at this fabulous place. All I can say is OMG when can I go back…
The restaurant is located in the Yotel Hotel in the Times Square area. It is an open space with pastel colors that reminded me of South Beach. The first thing I noticed is that music was playing throughout the restaurant and what I mean by music is a live DJ with the latest music. I knew they found the right place for me…
I absolutely loved the atmosphere of this restaurant. For the most part the restaurant consists of sofas to sit on with small tables which gives it more of a lounge feel than an actual restaurant. There were waitresses on roller skates taking orders. You have a two hour limit from the time you sit down to enjoy unlimited drinks (mimosa, sangria) and food that flowed the entire time. We enjoyed plates such as french toast, sushi, sliders, fish tacos, fried rice, eggs, crab wontons just to name a few.
Unfortunately it was too cool to sit outside on the rooftop portion of the restaurant but I will definitely be back before the summer is over to enjoy it all over again.
The only downside I would say is that because the tables are so small if you have a large party it’s hard to have someplace to put you plate down while you eat. Also, waiting for the plates to come out can take a little time, but overall I LOVED this restaurant and can’t wait to go back.

This review is for the brunch, which is a great deal. For $ 20 you get all you can eat breakfast and share plates for 2 hours, and for another $ 20 you get all you can drink mimosa/​bloody mary/​sangria. The service is great, the food comes fast and the portions are very generous. Since we were 5 people we got to try almost the entire menu. Some callouts:
— Seriously, this is some of the best bacon I’ve had at a brunch. It is absolutely incredible and the only thing we re-​ordered more of.
— Meatballs are delectable, extremely tender and not dried out at all.
— The seaweed salad is fantastic and I am not a salad person
— Definitely try the chilaquiles
It is a very modern décor with a hip vibe and a DJ spinning some type of electronic music (I couldn’t identify the genre). I had only one complaint which was that they initially tried to seat us at a table that had small stools with no back, saying that the other regular tables were reserved. Who wants to sit and eat brunch on a stool with no back? It’s an absurd setup, this isn’t a lounge where you will be moving around a lot and not sitting long it’s a damn all you can eat brunch. Anyway, they moved us after much consternation which definitely saved the day.

This place is BORING and OVERPRICED. I would probably never come here by choice, it’s your typical midtown overpriced touristy crap. I only came here to meet some friends who were in town from California. It feels like you’re at an airport. The place itself is very nice, but it ends there.
You’re not allowed to sit on the couches if you are there for just drinks. You are confined to the bright bar which does not have many bar stools OR sit on some random chairs by windows. Mind you, there were over 10 large couches. They save those for people who want to have dinner, but I thought that’s what the restaurant section was for right behind the bar? It was 11pm on a Saturday night, who are you waiting on? Nobody was coming. It was completely dead. This place was lucky we even went there. Absolutely NO AMBIANCE. We were almost whispering and felt like we were at a library. Just us by the windows, a bunch of available couches, maybe 3 – 6 other people in another group. It has potential (the rooftop looked pretty) but we left as soon as we could.
Dont come here if you want to have a fun night out. Come here if you need sleep and happen to like sleeping at bars ZzzzzzZzzzzz…
P. S. I suggest treating your guest more kindly. If they want to sit on the empty couches to have their drinks, then let them. If 50 people magically come in then just kindly escort the people taking up the couches to the bar section. Plain and Simple. I understand if it’s busy but If im paying $ 14 for a very weak drink the least you can do is allow us to sit anywhere we would like, given you are not busy. Never coming here again. Midtown sucks. I’ll stick to the REAL New York.

Came here with a bunch of girls on a sunday, for their boozy Brunch deal on the Rooftop/​top floor
35 dollars (apparently it is now 40 dollars) for unlimited Small plates and Cocktails– probably one of my favorite and memorable brunch experience I have had thus far
the restaurant is asian and american fusion, which gave each dish an interesting twist.
We tasted many dishes, and these are my favorite in order
1) Crunchy shrimp– our whole table could not get enough of this, we kept coming ordering this dish. I think it the lemon sake Aioli sauce that makes this dish so irresistible.
2)French toast– crispy toast comes with pineapple reserve sauce
3) Bacon Fried rice– there is bacon in the rice– need I say more?
4) Falafel lettuce wrap — the falafel was crunchy with an added kick of chipotle roasted tomato
5) Spicy tuna Roll — sushi rolls for brunch– yes please!
The drinks that were served were amazing– Lychee belini, sake sangria, mango mimosa!
Lastly our waiter was amazing, not only was he attentive and kept getting us drinks, he was also entertaining and kept making us laugh. This place deserves the 5 stars not only due to the food and drinks, but the impeccable service.