Ellen’s was recommended by a friend with little information, well what a surprise, friendly staff, who burst into song at a drop of a hat and put on a good show while your eating, food is good. Service was initially slow but once our order had been taken it was fast and attentive. We arrive just at the crossover for the pre theatre crowd, so there was a bit of a rush on. If you want to enjoy the atmosphere come later, once the crowd went various singers entertained us. I would go again

Just got back from NYC yesterday. Went to Ellen's for breakfast on Monday. We both had the 'Brooklyn Bagel' which is supposed to be a bagel topped with scrambled eggs and american cheese. The eggs were quite nice but the bagel was rock hard and it was served with what looked like mashed up leftover potato wedges from the night before! Grim! However, we did go back and have pancakes the day after which were very nice... but way too big! Overall, good service, clean restaurant and friendly staff.

Normally, I would give this restaurant high ratings for a great NYC experience, but my visit there last Saturday was a nightmare. My family and I, a group of 9 including 3 small children, had a reservation there for lunch prior to the Broadway matinee performance of "Beauty and the Beast". Knowing we had a large crowd, we made reservations weeks in advance. It was quite a disappointment when we found out that our reservation meant nothing to management, who seated other large parties right before us, only to inform us that he had no tables for us to sit together. He also would not let us take a setup of 4 small tables which could easily have been pushed together for us (he said he was saving them for parties of two - meanwhile they don't even take reservations for parties of that size). When I CALMLY expressed my annoyance that he wouldn't let us sit there, I was yelled at "Why don't you just leave" "We don't need your business" "I'd have no problems filling the entire restaurant without you". Well, you can imagine that this put quite a damper on the excitement for my 68 year old disabled mother, and my 11, 8, and 6 year old niece and nephews. BEWARE! Don't let this nasty management ruin your trip to NYC!!!

We went here with a party of 8 on Sunday morning at 9:30. We had made reservations the night before, and our nice corner table was ready when we got there despite a pretty good crowd. That was where the good part ended.

It took quite a while for us to get drinks, and a bit longer to get our orders in. Two of our party had ordered healthy shakes, and those took forever because, according to the waitress, "I have to make those myself".

From there, things got worse. Our food took quite a while, and when it did come, everyone was served except the two littlest ones, ages 5 and 6, who had ordered bowls of Fruit Loops. We reminded the server who brought the food (who was not our waitress) that they needed their cereal. He nodded and left. After another 5 minutes, still with no Fruit Loops, we asked our waitress, who said that "I have to get those myself - sorry about that." She then returned to state thet they were out of Fruit Loops. Luckily, the girls were distracted by the singers and did not even notice that we substituted Frosted Flakes.

Everyone elses food was lukewarm to cold, and was decidedly unappealing in all ways. I had ordered three eggs with bacon and hash browns, which came out instead with sausage that had seen much better days. I asked for bacon - again from the person who delivered the food - and never received it. The hash browns were horrid.

All that said - and to be fair - it was obvious that the staff was overwhelmed. It was also apparent that there were serious communications problems between the kitchen and the floor staff. I believe that they expect too much of their wait staff to the detriment of the guests. The wait staff was under extreme pressure, and to top it off were expected to sing every 15 minutes or so.

As for the singing - which is what brought us in the door in the first place - I have to say that it was very good for the most part. The staff circled the floor while performing, taking time to interact with many of the guests. It was the only thing that saved my review from being a 1-star.

Still - we will not be back now that the novelty has worn off.

- Spike

We went on a Saturday afternoon for lunch, the place was packed but we got a table straight away, after a half an hour it started to clear up. Food was ok, nothing exceptional but good basic stuff. We had chicken and noodles soup, burgers and crab cakes, hot chocolate, pink lemonade and beer, and the total came to $53. Staff was very friendly and they sang well ;) entertaining, this was a nice experience even though the food doesn't really deserve a special mentioning..