Nobody likes to have the wool pulled over his or her eyes–especially when it’s really, really obvious. The fact that the owners of Big City expect us to believe this is anything but a slightly altered version of The Carnegie Hill Brewing Company is absurd. Yes, they took out the big vats that supposedly brewed their beer (thank god, the stuff sucked), and we think they added a couple more tables, but everything else but the name is the same. The same bunch of non-descript, heteroscary white folks in their khakis sit around listlessly watching the Yanks batter some cash-poor, small market team on one the many TVs scattered around the joint. The food service is still slow and inattentive, and the place is still no fun. Seriously. We’ve never really had a good time at this joint, be it Big City or anything else. It’s just too blah. The music is blah. The people are blah. The decor is blah. Is it an okay place to grab a Philly cheesesteak at 6:00 on a Saturday evening before heading out somewhere? Yes, if you don’t mind the somewhat dank smell and the wait. Is it somewhere you’d go to have a memorable time? Of course not. [MF]
1600 3rd Ave.