Hi-Life Restaurant

Went for Sunday brunch, cute restaurant and good service! However, the food was underwhelming. We had the huevos rancheros and the turkey club and they were average. $ 2.95 for your first beverage tho! May go back to try it again maybe for dinner

3.5
Good food. Easy service. Serviceable brunch spot.

Amazing breakfast/​brunch! Delicious coffee with endless refills and fantastic service. The bread basket comes with toasty cinnamon bread and freshly baked blueberry muffins with strawberry butter. So delicious! Huge selection of breakfast/​brunch items with large portions. Service is fantastic and the restaurant is super hip and fun, laid back casual New York City diner. Love this place.

High five for Hi-​Life: there’s something for everyone here at this slightly upscale diner. We came for dinner on Saturday night. My friend made a reservation which was unnecessary as there were only 3 other parties that I could see. The menu has pretty much everything you could desire – I ordered the veggie sushi roll which tasted comparable to what you’d get at a sushi restaurant. The fries also looked and smelled delicious.
The ambience felt «very Miami» as we noted and the water bottle the waitress used to refill our glasses was a recycled Grey Goose bottle. Overall this is a safe choice to meet friends for dinner if you’re looking for something casual in the area.

My new lunch spot:) Warm relaxed environment, with a fantastic wait staff! Mariana was my server (awesome sauce!)

Really? I’m shocked that there’s a single positive review, if I’m being honest. I can’t decide which was worse, the food or the service.
My nanny, 2 kids and I stopped in here for what I hoped would be a quick lunch on a Friday. Our assigned waitress was too busy to bother, so another waitress served us, whilst constantly reminding us of the fact that she was not actually our server. Our assigned server appeared distracted and bored. Several times I watched the manager interrupt her mid-​conversation with her tables for an awkward exchange about which tables had been waiting longer to order.
Finally, the food arrived. My son’s pizza appeared to be on a matzoh crust. Totally unappetizing. I ordered the tuna melt, which was cold… And gross.
There’s an abundance of diners on the UES. I won’t ever waste my time at this one again.

Went there for lunch and ordered the Cobb salad with chicken. The chicken was raw in the middle so I let the waitress know not only for myself but also so the chef could be aware so no one got sick. The waitress let the manager know and the response from the waitress (the manager couldn’t be bothered to come over, there was literally only 4 other people in the whole place) was that she could take the chicken off of the bill 3 $ but still had to charge me 13 $ for the salad! Sad how downhill this place went, used to be one of my favorites! Never going back

Great portobello mushroom sandwich and sweet fries. Pleasant delivery. Excellent shrimp curry. A satisfying experience.

Friendly staff = happy customer. I’ve been here several times and always have a tough time deciding between the many options they offer. Food is always great — whether dine in or take out.
Ordered delivery last week and enjoyed their cheeseburger and salad for the first time. Though they forgot the salad at first, I called and it was promptly redelivery.
Thank you for making my long work day better!

A cute little diner, perfect for Sunday brunch!
Your first beverage (choice of OJ, mimosa, bloody mary, or bellini) is ~$ 3 with the purchase of an entrée, which is really great! I believe there is also the option of $ 16 bottomless mimosas. but I didn’t find that on the menu anywhere.
Brunch also comes with all-​you-​can-​eat baskets of blueberry muffins and cinnamon toast. Although I’m not 100% sure that this is actually a thing, by the time my friend and I arrived for brunch with our larger group, they had already devoured all of the muffins and toast, so we asked our waitress if we could get another basket and she was happy to bring us an additional basket (just for the two for us! :D). The muffins and toast are both delicious, and they come with some sort of berry flavored butter, which was delicious with the toast!
As for the entrees, I split the Westsider (with sausages) and the Country Benedict (with bacon) with my friend. I wasn’t a huge fan of the Hollandaise sauce on the Country Benedict, but otherwise, I thought the food was good. Nothing phenomenal, but definitely a solid brunch meal.
For larger parties, it would be wise to call in a reservation beforehand. It was bustling with the brunchtime crowd!

Great for happy hour, brunch, and happy hour! Service is awesome and there is specials everyday. If everyday was a summer Monday, I’d be here everyday

Wow, this place brings variety. I found myself in the mood for sushi, yet my friend was not, so this place ended up being perfect for both of us. The guacamole appetizer was very good and the chips were hot out of the frier. The quesadilla– good, average, hard to mess up. Both the California roll and King Kong roll were GREAT, I highly recommend the sushi here. We then had the brownie al a mode dessert with vanilla ice cream– smaller portion than expected, but good. To drink I had the pink flamingo, it’s basically your classic rum punch.
Overall this place does a host of things all well. I’m excited to come back and try the summer weekend lobster special, as well as more of the fabulous sushi.

I’d like to start by saying the service was great. Our hostess and waiter were both lovely.
Unfortunately the food didn’t follow suit. The chips were stale (like, chewy stale) and the sushi was meh /​overpriced for the portion. My mango mojito and my boyfriend’s bourbon and ginger were decent.
Basically, this would’ve been fine if the bill weren’t so high. Definitely not worth the price. I suggest going elsewhere.

I love the décor here. We sat in a circular booth where you could see shows on TV. I even saw someone I know on one of the sports channels. Food was good, staff wasn’t overly intrusive and the bathroom was fine. Good place to hang out.

Love this place post evening workout. I’ve been here twiceand the level of professionalism in the wait staff is without comparison for the area.
The ambiance is upscale diner. The food selection is large, I mean what’s better than a place where you can have sushi (fresh sushi bar), chicken parm, bottles of wine, and am Irish coffee all in the same meal? ???
Tina was our waitress both times and she’s a mix of quirky, sweetness and speed. She must haveexcelled at her slight of hand in a past life because she kept our cups flowing and was ever present even with a full section to wait on.
I’m going back really soon. I recommend the chicken parm. As a Brooklyn girl who knows the deal when it comes to Italian food this is quality.

This is the Rubiks Cube of upscale diners.
Turn it one way — sushi joint.
Twist it another — diner classics.
Shift it to the left — cocktail bar.
Rotate to the right — brunch items.
Pivot down — Thai and seafood.
Whirl it up — and I’m still not sure what the heck to think.
All I do know is that out of the times I have been here I was overall pleased with my meals. From 50% off Sushi on Mon/​Tues, to the burger combo early bird, to the $ 5 cocktail happy hours, to the very filling penne with chicken Big Bowls. They even have Big Plates of more like restaurant fare that come with two sides such as pork chops, yellowfin tuna, and lemon chicken which is a decent choice. Beer selection is the standard mix and nothing to rave about. A meal here won’t break the bank and will fill you up. Fair prices for what you get, and the service is pretty good here too.
Plenty of food and drink specials going on all week. Check out the menu in the window or website as there is always some sort of drink and food deals every day.
The even have an iPod DJ playing tunes on weekend nights. An iPod DJ?

The place to go for great food and superb service. They have yet to let me down. There are daily specials on drinks and food, who doesn’t like a special? The kids menu is perfect and the desserts are on point. I’d consider having a private party here for a child or a adult.
On the night is this review a young girl was having a birthday party and boy were the children rowdy. A few of us did grimace at the noise. The servers were not bothered. I’ll be back, it’s around the corner. I love it

The restaurant confuses me a bit. They specialize in a good brunch, burgers, sushi nights, and it’s also an old fashioned bar inside. Despite the identity crisis, I’ve never had a bad experience here. I’ve mostly come for brunch and everything has always been good. The cinnamon toast they give you to start with is my favorite.
It’s pretty good, but doesn’t blow my dress up.

This is a review for hanging out at the bar only.
I was playing in the St. Patrick’s Day parade and my band ducked in here at the end of the route. We thought it would be cool to play a couple tunes for the other customers and the manager agreed! It was a lot of fun.
There was a wealth of deals for the holiday. I also got a free shot just for checking in! Throw in a couple more drinks and you can imagine that I had a great time. I am very glad we came in here.

I am ashamed to say that I went by this place for years and always thought it looked too kitschy to go in. I was that too-​cool NYC guy who wasn’t going to be seen near a neon sign. Therefore, I groaned when a friend from Boston was in town and said we had to meet here for dinner, only to find out that I’ve missed out on this exceptional place for so long and I intend to make up for lost time.
First off — the staff. My first night here, I had the pleasure of being seated in Britt’s section. Engaging, funny, and with a spidey-​sense to know when our table’s drinks needed a refresh. The see-​through (made with either gin or vodka) is exceptional, although the vibe here is heavy 1950’s martini-​focussed, which is always a solid option. Earl, the owner, is seemingly also given to stopping by larger tables to ask how things are going, and that level of involvement is a good indicator of what the experience will be like.
Seeing as the menu is so diverse, we opted to have sushi as our starters before moving on to the interesting mains. Great dragon roll, and very solid Philadelphia and tuna rolls. So far, I’ve had both the Hi-​Life burger, which has bacon worked into the patty while being made, as well as the tuna steak, which is sushi-​grade and should be ordered quickly seared but otherwise uncooked. Both were exceptional, particularly paired with the fantastic sweet-​potato fries. I’ve also sampled the pad thai and Argentine skirt steak from the friends I was dining with, and found both to be top-​notch. As for dessert — while the cheesecake is good, the pecan pie (a la mode optional) is worth coming here for on its own.
The food is top-​notch, and shouldn’t be discounted simply because the menu is diverse — they can do it all very well. The staff make the experience, though. Friendly, attentive, and will do whatever is in their power to deliver a great meal and fun time.