The Mulberry Project

Drinks only review.

Went here for drinks on a Wednesday. The bartenders here are sick!! There's no drink menu,  you just pick a few items off the wall and they put together your very own concoction.

There's a nice little backdoor patio area as well if you prefer to see your company, as the main bar is quite dark and loud.

Finally, the cocktails here are expensive and not worth it. I guess they are just a little pricier than other speakeasy/mixology spots, but I recommend trying those spots before here.

While looking for a place to eat in Little Italy, I vaguely remember a friend telling me about the awesome experience they had at The Mulberry Project and was excited to see it pop up on my Yelp app.

The location itself is practically hidden.  The entrance is located between a counterfeit handbag shop and a restaurant called Il Palazzo.  Walk downstairs and open the door to your left and you're in!  Hint: If you look at the bottom of the door in the front, it has the numbers 149.

The restaurant itself is dark and intimate which would make it perfect for a romantic date night or a first date.  However, we decided to sit outside, where it felt as if we were in someone's backyard.  There was a grill fired up, picnic tables, and patio style furniture with cool graffiti style wall art surrounding us.  There wasn't a set menu and the offerings that day were from the BBQ grill.  We ordered the goat cheese and watermelon salad, the beef brisket and pulled pork sandwiches, potato salad, and Mexican corn.  Everything was mediocre -- I did enjoy the goat cheese and watermelon salad, but I'm sure the food is better here on most other nights.

As for the drinks... OH MY GOODNESS.  What a great surprise and unique way to order!  Just like food, there isn't a set menu and everything is created from the bar when you request the type of liquor.  We opted for vodka and were delivered pitchers of the cucumber lime and watermelon refreshers which were both equally delicious and hit the spot.

This was the perfect place to end our weekend in NYC.  Hopefully I'll get the chance to try it again in the future!

I really wanted to like this place, but it was doomed from the start.

I called a few hours ahead to book a reservation for 2 in the outside section on a Tues night. Some guy answered the phone who apparently doesn't handle reservations, but he took my info and was allegedly going to tell the person who does take reservations my info and they would call me back to confirm.

Of course they didn't call back so I was expecting they didn't actually do anything. Sure enough when I got there, they didn't have my reservation and by then the outside was all taken. So they sat us in the tiny area next to the bathroom. I felt like I was in time-out.

The table we were sitting at was right next to the speakers as well, and the music was cranked. We were basically yelling at each other from across a 2 foot wide table to hear what each other was saying. Music is way too loud to put people in that section.

Apparently they are too cool for beer and have none. So I played their little game of invent your own cocktail. The drinks we ordered were extremely weak for the insane price tag of $16 each. I could barely taste any of the gin that was supposedly in my gin cucumber concoction. My date's drink was equally weak and tasted more like some tropical punch, also with little to no alcohol. What a scam.

We got the lobster roll & crab cake...which took 45 min to make...seriously? The waitress kept trying to push more scammy drinks on us, to which we declined.

It took me about 15 min to flag down the waitress to get our check and then another 10 for her to run my card. Total bill was $66 for 2 scammy drinks, lobster roll, crab cake (not including tip). Absolutely not worth it.

I presume this place will be out of business in the near future when people see how much of a gimmick it is.

The only redeeming factor of this place was the decor, which is the main reason why I wanted to sit outside. Definitely not worth your time or money. I had to apologize to my date for bringing her there. I would definitely take your business elsewhere...especially if you're on a date.