This Memorial Day weekend, we’ve been enjoying our free time just idling at home and doing chores. For Monday, my partner wanted to run some errands, and we were around the Rockafeller area. Because it was still a bit early around 4 PM, it was difficult to find restaurants that had already turned over to their dinner time. Eventually, my partner pointed out this restaurant, and we decided to give it a try. It’s located in the 7th floor of the Hilton DoubleTree hotel on 5th Ave and 51st.
Ambiance & Service
Upon entering the floor of the restaurant, you’re presented with a very bold logo of the restaurant. When you turn to the right, you face the host. The restaurant itself overlooks a balcony of Rockafeller. The restaurant has an outdoor patio section that has an enclosure that looks like it can be opened up during the summer. There are also powerful heat lamps over some of the tables as well.
The inside of the restaurant that is directly connected to this patio area is very spacious with distances set apart between tables. It has a romantic, sophisticated vibe to it.
The restaurant today was pretty much dead with very few patrons. Despite that, the wait staff was attentive, and the food did come out pretty fast.
Food
The glass of GL Chianti ($16 - left) red wine was a medium body typical chianti tasting wine. There was not much special about this.
The Lost in Rome ($20 - right) came with vodka, lime juice, simple syrup, blueberry puree, and ginger beer. It was all pretty smooth, albeit the ginger beer was pretty prominent. Surprisingly, my partner was not fazed by this despite them typically being irked by ginger beer.
The complimentary bread came with butter that had little specks of (I think) sun dried tomato.
The Scallopina di Pollo ($29) came with chicken escalope with butter and lemon, artichoke hearts, and capers. The sauce was quite good with the butter, lemon, and capers. There wasn’t really anything particularly exquisite about it, but it did taste balanced. The chicken was flattened and cooked thoroughly, and it only came with 1 piece. The artichoke hearts were laid on top and were a decent garnish and complement to the chicken. Make sure to ask the server for some bread, so that you can scoop the sauce after you’re done with the chicken. My only gripe was that this dish only came with 1 piece of flattened chicken. It’s not particularly filling, so the dish’s value is not great.
The Risotto Asparagi Zuchini Zafferano ($26) came with risotto, asparagus, zucchini, and zafferano. My partner thought some pieces of the rice was overdone, whereas I felt very confident it was undercooked. The rice had that nutty, slightly crispy inner texture, such that if it were just cooking for a bit longer, it could’ve been good. The asparagus and zucchini gave it a nice, cool and fresh sweetness to it.
The Vitello ai Funghi ($36) came with veal scaloppine, wild mushrooms, and brown sauce. As you all know, I’m not a fan of mushroom sauce at all, but the veal was tasty.
Final Verdict
Duomo 51 overall is a nice “hotel” restaurant in the Midtown area. It does have a nice view close to Rockafeller, so if it’s the spring or summer, it could be a decent venture to go to. Some of the dinner foods we got were pretty acceptable though the value could probably be better at other places.
Yelp Jabs
Overall, I highly recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for a truly authentic Italian dining experience
This restaurant is in a very competitive market, and I think the food is just ok at best. I am not sure if it was a truly authentic Italian dining experience. It seemed pretty comparable to many other Italian restaurants around this price range.
This place is new in NY and so we wanted to visit it while traveling from Seattle.
This probably won’t be the restaurant that will have lines out the door. But the fact that you can walk in without reservations will probably appeal to people from out of town or those staying in nearby hotels.
Revisions
- Feb 20, 2023 - Initial revision.