Just brought some friends from out of town (NY) and their only request was to sit outside to enjoy the weather before going back to the snow. Told the 1st host we had 7 people but forgot to mention "outside" but she had left to check out the table already so we followed up with the 2nd host (Asian girl) and asked if we could be sat outside and she said "We'll see what we can do". Ok. 1st host comes back and our table is ready and 2nd host (Asian girl) who we've been with the whole time walks us back to the table inside which prompts me to ask "So I take it this means we can't get a table outside?" To which she says "No". She didn't even try! We were with her the entire time!
I look out on the patio to find that there was indeed plenty of seating so I just asked the busser who was about to set down our drinks if we could sit outside and he took the initiative to go find if we could. Sure enough, it was no problem and 1st host made it happen (who was never informed of it in the first place).
So long story short, thank you to the busser and host #1 but Zinc Bistro, please tell Asian host lady that ignoring and blatantly lying about patron requests is no way to treat frequent diners.
All that said, after many times here, this was the first time we've ever experienced anything close to poor service. The rest of the meal with our friends was great. Don't let lazy Asian host lady ruin your rep.
I'm keeping a high rating because the food is great and the service is TYPICALLY good. It wouldn't be fair to let one lazy person ruin the overall experience.