Iguana Studios, New York Reviews

One of my favorite weekends locations even as a non-spanish speaking person

As soon as we arrived it was unpleasant. I go to the bar with my cousins and the bartender (man with glasses) greeted us ok. But one of my cousins didn t want to drink and made a rude comment and said oh are you going to be the boring one all night? . Mind you, you can tell when someone isn t being sarcastic...he wasn t. Whatever... we let it slide but then when my sister arrived, which we came for because it was her BIRTHDAY DINNER, we got seated but immediately a waiter came over and said if the rest of your party doesn t come within the next 5 min we re taking this table (we had 3 in total). He didn t even say it nicely, he rudely came over and said it. Before we know it, 30 seconds later and someone is coming over to take the table....didn t even give us the 5 min. After that, our actual waiter came and never introduced himself...just said do you have any questions and then walked away. Alright, so time passes, we eat and it s time to pay. We were a group of 12 and before making the reservation we asked if we could split the check in parts so everyone could pay separately. They said yes of course. On top of that, before we started eating, we told the waiter that we wanted separate checks. He gave us an attitude about it but he said ok that s fine. When it came down to finally paying, they said sorry we can t do split checks. Unbelievable. My sister talked to whoever she had to talk to and what ended up happening is that she had to pay and put it all on her card. What was the end result? My sister getting really upset & crying because of the whole situation. I don t know if they treated us like this because we looked like a young crowd, and they though maybe we couldn t pay for it but this was by far the most horrible experience I have ever had at any restaurant. They completely judged us from the beginning and for no reason either. I m sure I would be treated better at a McDonalds taking my order. I wouldn t recommend this place to anyone. Something needs to be done with the staff there. Completely HORRIBLE experience.

Good bar, and excellent service !! Solo .. Only the SSHH are very uncomfortable, but the experience is unique!

The music was exceptional. Food was good. Music by Vince Giordano's Nighthawks was reason enough to go!

The food is really good!!! And they also have 2 night club's, one in the basement and the other one in the second floor.

I want to put negative stars!!

Tried to have a good time celebrating my friends birthday. Bouncers were incredibly rude to my brother telling us he was wasted. He was our SOBER driver.. please explain to me how that makes any sense???
The place is run by rude people who think they have the power to do whatever they want. We had 10 people with us. You lost a lot of money tonight.. for not letting a SOBER person in!!!!!

Large restaurant, food delicious, prices are good, atmosphere is wonderful. Enjoyed salsa party on Thursday, great vibes!

Loved every moment of it! The food is lovely and service is excellent, shout out to the lovely Jamaican lady who served us, i will be back just because of your excellent service ....

Very good ambiance, good drinks. Recommendable to go with friends, co-workers and or for a date when you have free latin dance classes.

It a very nice place and i can see myself going back there again.

The bartender charged me 76 dollars for 4 margaritas with 10 oz plastic cup & house tequila, I was like for real? I understand it s the city but I can get better drinks & service for that price.. ladies & gentleman think twice before you go there, besides the food it s okay nothing special.

Nice place to celebrate any event, the food is great and the greatest thing is that they have 2 diferentes floors to dance.

Top 2 Mexican places I have eaten at. Table side guacamole and a live mariachi band inside the building. Love it!!

Fabulous! 40th birthday celebrations & made us feel so welcome! Thank you, will definitely go back!! Xxx

Came here for a birthday party . Friendly staff drinks is good would definitely go back

I went to see Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks. There's nothing else like this great band anywhere else. Iguana's second floor is the perfect place to see this band. Food and service at the Iguana is really good and prices are reasonable for Midtown. Great night of 1930's style jazz.

Food had very little flavor! We felt it was very overpriced for what we received.

DON'T DO IT. NOPE. STAY AWAY. MISERABLE MANAGEMENT AND WAITERS. RUINED BY COUSINS BIRTHDAY. I came here to celebrate my cousin's birthday and I should have known it was going to end poorly from the start. The start: while waiting for the rest of our group to arrive we sat at the bar but the bartender was rude af just because I mentioned I was the designated driver! "So. You're just going to be boring all night?". And when I tried to laugh it off I got "Guess that's a yes". THANK GOD a nice lady started her shift and actually sparked good conversation. I thought that was the end of it but NOPE. The manager was a nightmare. We were a group of 13 so we required three tables but the manager decided to come up to us an say he was taking the last table away in 5 min. if the last two people did not show. By 5 minutes he meant 30 seconds because the waiter IMMEDIATELY (not even an exaggeration) made us get up so he could remove the last table. When I called the manager over and asked why he didn't wait even a minute he said "I didn't remove the table, that waiter did it so idk what to tell you" LIKE WHAT?! WHAT TYPE OF LAME EXCUSE WAS THAT! but there's MORE! so the remaining two people show up and when we ask for two more chairs OR the table THE MANAGER INITIALLY SAID NO! We ended up just taking them and squeezing into the two tables. Now lets redirect our attention to the waiter. Let me start with, if he wasn't wearing a red uniform, NO ONE would have known he was a waiter. This man shows up after we sat there for about 15-20 minutes and instead of introducing himself says "DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY QUESTIONS? ANYONE? NO?" and walked away. We all just stared at him because ARE YOU OUR WAITER? WHO ARE YOU? He comes back after 20 - 25 more minutes AND DOES THE SAME THING. At this point I'm annoyed and say HI, WHATS YOUR NAME? he does not respond so I say GUYS THIS IS OUR WAITER, LETS START WITH DRINK ORDERS. To think he would get the hint right? NOPE. HE WALKS AWAYYYYYYYYY!!!! People. He took our orders AFTER AN HOUR. There's more but I'm sure that summed up the waiter. As for the manager? BEFORE we sat AND BEFORE WE EVEN MADE THE RESERVATION, my cousin confirmed that we would be able to split the check into groups (answer was yes but max 6 checks) LONG BEHOLD when it came time to pay, they tell my cousin, "we'll do it but you have to organize the bill" so she goes around separating the orders into six checks. BUT OF COURSEEEE the manager decided to CHANGE HIS MIND and said 'no. no separate checks anymore. we're only going to allow you to pay on one card'. She ended up putting it all on her card because he was getting rude with her! In trying to understand how someone could be such a ?!#@jldfao89 my cousin starting tearing out of frustration. Held it together until we left (we were supposed to party upstairs but NOPE, NOT AFTER ALL OF THIS) and then cried her eyes out. Between the waiter and the manager they made the entire dinner a nightmare. My sister actually wanted to have her birthday dinner here as well and then party upstairs HAH! you better BE-LIEEEVVEEEE that thought left her mind quickly. THE END: This place will never see another PENNY of my money. P.S. all of this was over the course of THREE HOURS. P.S.S. the waiter tried to sneak a couple of extra drinks on the bill and thought we wouldn't notice and then got defensive when we called him outttttt!!! PLEASE PEOPLE. DO NOT COME HERE.

Made a reservation through the Google listing with Open Table. Arrived at said time and the host looked at me like he had no idea what I was talking about. Waited in the bar for only five mins before being seated though. Drink orders where taken but forgotten. The manager stopped by to ask about our drinks and brought them immediatley. Drinks were large and strong. Food arrived quickly thereafter. The Guacamole was made fresh at our table. The stacked steak enchiladas were fantastic as were the beef burritos. Half way through the meal the manager came back with two more drinks on the house. Needless to say, we were stuffed. Great lively atmosphere with a Mariachi band. Pricing is $$ to $$$.

I am a very big fan of the decor. The artwork on the walls is very nice, and the ambiance is magnificent. Personally I found the lighting a bit dark; then again, I'm very used to much brighter lighting at work and home. The drinks are also delicious, especially their Whiskey Sours (which is one of my preferred drinks of choice). I didn't have a chance to sample their food, but I can't imagine anyone could go there and not be dissatisfied, especially if they're in the mood for Mexican. I'm also a big fan of the location; it's close to several subways, as well as Times Square. I can meet a few friends for dinner and drinks here, then head downtown to take in the sights.

Nice optional music choice
2 floors of music 1 floor restaurant

The service was terrible! I LOVE margaritas but couldn t even drink these 11.00 monstrosities. Basically I paid 95.00 for a horrible experience! I paid and left without even getting my dessert. This place is also very biased, some customers who came in after us were treated way better and also got their food quicker then ours. Don t come here, it s over priced, has bad service, and is biased to people.

Great food and great service!! I Would definitely come back and have the fish taco and queso again.

Recently visited. No social distance. Absolutely stay away from the filet mignon. It's horrible and the potatoes are worse.

One of my favorite spots in the city if your into Spanish music and also a little hood. They have 2 dance floors. Upstairs for the Latin lovers and downstairs for the hip hop fanatics. The main floor is the restaurant which I ve also been too and have had great food. Can t go wrong with this Mexican spot!

Salsa Bachatas, Merengues etc that good music, I recommend it !!!!

It's okay.... nothing to write home about. The cover charge (free all night) is really what packs the place.

Paid like 12$ for literally half a shot. Horrible venue..

Really delicious and authentic Mexican food in town.

This is my third restaurant in NY. This is the second time in a row coming to this restaurant. First for a late night icecream. Then I ordered the filet mignon. It was cooked to perfection. The side contained a great vegetable selection! I would definitely recommend this restaurant!

Waitress is too rude and racist ..we all had to walk out of the bar and management Is not supportive and

I m highly disappointed with the service that this restaurant provides. It feels as if they re rushing you to eat and don t allow you to take your time. The staff members are rude as well. They insinuate that you re going to pay the service fee along with paying the bill.. The waitress I had came back with my bill in her hand and said you re not going to pay the service fee? The food is great but the service is trash.

Not so good food and not so good environment at the restaurant. The Clubs are better

DJ likes the sound of his voice. Plays too much reggaeton not enough salsa

Restaurant:
Great fresh guacamole.
Great happy hour margaritas specials before 7pm.
If you order an entree, you can show the receipt for the upstairs club for free entrance if you re a guy.
You can spend $100 on drinks at the bar/restaurant and they still won t let you in for free upstairs if there isn t an entree on the bill. This totally sucks and they can get pretty stinky about it. Terrible policy.

Upstairs club:
Friendly bartenders.
Great mixed music.
Definitely a great place to come and dance.
You can order bar food but the happy hour only applies downstairs at the restaurant/bar.
Mixed crowd and you get some tourist in because of the area.
Party ends at 3am but the first floor bar and lower lever club closes at 4am.

Lower lever club:
If you re just looking for hip hop music, this is for you.
Totally different crowd than upstairs. More of a younger but ghetto crowd.
I ve heard of girls getting harassed and having to come upstairs to feel safer.

Love this place for lunch. Anyways quick and the staff is very attentive. Food is great.

Came here with some friends for their birthday. Pretty fun!

They don't close at 4. They actually kick you out at 2

Great service,good food. Reasonably priced for NYC. Gotta try the guac! They make it infringe of you at the table

Great place to dance to a good variety of music. A bit small, mixed age groups which is nice. There is coat check Fri/Sat's. Latin music on 2fl, Mix of English music on Lower level floor. Fun place to visit and ladies are free all night.

My colleagues and I had a really good time there. The atmosphere is really nice. The Spanish music floor is really good if that's your thing. It does get crowded though. Drinks are OK, and cheap. Maybe next time I'll try the restaurant side to see how the menu goes.

Had an amazing experience. First floor had a nice hip hop/ reggae music as to the second floor had latino music.

See Vince Giordano's big band upstairs on Monday and Tuesday. Amazing show!

Interesting experience at this place. I am still surprised that places with such unprofessional and hostile staff still exist. Not to mention the number of security checkpoints to get to the upper or lower facility. Then you have the several untrained security pat downs that even TSA would be raising their eyebrows. As for the drinks...indigestible. Overall, the place is very trashy no matter the occasion. Spend a little time on research and you bound to find something/anything better.

Got there at 11pm on a Saturday . After 10mins of trying to get the bartenders attention(witch was not busy) was told they were not serving Alcohol.When I asked the reason for he didn t seem to know.later downstairs to the 2nd bar and the bartender never looked my way.

Thought this place was going to be great ... I love margaritas ... it was terrible .. $11 for a margarita that was too sweet and had no liquor... total waste.. it took me 1 hour to drink 5 sips.. blah wont go back

Chill vibe and good drinks. Had to send food back because it was overcooked, but they replaced the item with no problem at all.

The food was delicious and reasonably priced and we were treated well.

Good music for dancing. Overpriced drinks served in plastic cups. Hordes of security

It is close to that hotel Garden Inn Hilton and the service is amazing please ask for Florentino has the best bartender in the eye area

Had a great time with my coworkers! Food was okay but the drinks were delicious!

Decent Tex-Mex joint on 54th. Convenient to many hotels and had great service. I ordered their steak fajitas, which were a little bland, but okay otherwise.

The drinks are extremely over priced the staff and security are rude, terrible Dj not to mention I was with my girl friend and they kicked us out with out letting her use the rest room at 4:00am. Never experienced anything like this in any lounge before I would give this spot a negative star if I could.

Service is pretty awful. Food is ok. If you live in NYC, you can do much much better. If you're from out of town, you'll probably like the NYC/Latin vibe.

Service was subpar. Waiters were rude and unaccommodating. The food was just ok. The only thing I liked was guacamole and chips.

From the outside I was not expecting to find a room so beautiful.
He was curious about the huge iguana hanging on the wall that I could see from my hotel window.
Wonderful soft atmosphere, furnished with exceptional attention to detail.
Upstairs a small but sensational live orchestra with a lot of dancers who wore dresses in 30s style.
On the lower floor a dance floor.
The food and really good service, all in a Mexican style.
I liked it so much that I went back twice in one week.
Highly recommended!

Excellent for groups who want Mexican food and a fun environment.

This very quiet place and good food and they take good care of you.

Really disappointing. Told everything was frozen and not made fresh, by server, and prices don't reflect that.

Delicious food, great ambiance, even better service, & strong drinks!

The security guard was very aggressive saying I couldn't come in because I didn't have money in cash, which brings me another issue where they don't accept payment on credit card for entrance.

To dance all night long. Para bailar toda la noche!!! In my beloved Manhattan.

The Iguana is a fun spot right in Manhattan with great food and a lively ambiance. I attended an event upstairs that was fun and the service, food & drinks were great! I would definitely return and do recommend!

Have to pay to get inside the lunge are,but drinks are cheap and huge. And yeah you can dance here.