Midtown West on Gourmand Syndrome

Cuerno

Sat, 30 May 2026 18:02:51 -0400

Cuerno has been on our list for quite a while. We ended up seeing an early afternoon show, so I was able to book this restaurant for 5 PM for 2 the day of. Cuerno is an authentic Mexican steakhouse known for fire-grilled prime steaks, bold Northern Mexican flavors, and refined dining. Outside of the restaurant, the whole area smells like grill and charcoal. When we entered, we checked in, but we had to stand around for a few minutes.

Txula Steak

Fri, 01 May 2026 20:59:59 -0400

Located at Mercado Little Spain, Txula Steak is chef Jose Andres love letter to Spain. He’s one of the chefs that has opened a bunch of restaurants, including Nubeluz, Zaytinya, and Oyamel to name a few. The Mercado Little Spain sits at ground level of mall next to the Vessel. You can enter thru the mall via Little Spain to get here, or enter at ground level off 30th St outside. We easily made reservations for 5:30 PM same day on Friday.

Bar Primi

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 12:52:52 -0400

Bar Primi is a casual Italian eatery from the NOHO Hospitality Group and Chef Andrew Carmellini. We’ve been to several of his restaurants already (e.g., Locanda Verde, Carne Mare to name a few), and we’ve found the food pretty consistent. This one is less posh and more casual, located near Penn Station and across the street from the Moynihan train station. It was easy to make a reservation just a few days in advance for 2 for 5:30 PM.

Miss Nellie's

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 21:47:09 -0400

Miss Nellie’s was one of those restaurants near the theaters that always appeared to have an interesting menu. I had this restaurant saved for a few years, so I figured we’d check this out before watching a show. We walked in without reservations for 2 around 5:30 PM without any issues. As I sat down and looked at the menu again, I noticed some of the things I was interested in, such as smoked French Dip, had mushrooms in it. This really narrowed what I would get, so I had some skepticism.

Double Knot

Thu, 19 Mar 2026 22:40:01 -0400

At a whim, we’re around near the Bryant Park area. We didn’t make any reservations, and we wanted to try something new. I offered the option of yakitori (or skewers) because I knew about Double Knot being part of this movement of Philly restaurants expanding to NYC. We were able to walk in to this restaurant at around 6:00 PM, when it was prime time for the Midtown after work crowd.

Yingtao

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 13:14:41 -0500

For a pre-Valentine’s day dinner, this was one of the few restaurants where it was incredibly easy to make a reservation just a few days in advance. Ying Tao was on my list for a while, and the menu always looked mildly interesting to me. I remember when it first opened, it was one of the few individual Chinese “tasting” in Manhattan that was prepared in a gourmand style way. I was easily able to make a reservation for 2 for 5:30 PM on the Friday before Valentine’s.

Lillie's Victorian Establishment

Sun, 25 Jan 2026 23:05:26 -0500

We’ve heard of Lillie’s Victorian Establishment, and it’s been on a list for a while because it’s a very festive restaurant. It’s always difficult to get last minute reservations, but fortunately as we won theater lottery on a cold single-digit weather, there was not a lot of tourist or foot traffic at all in the Times Square area. I was able to make a reservation for 2 for 5:30 PM very easily just a few hours in advance. As you can tell from the picture, there was a lot of snow, and the exterior was already decorated with a lot of winter ornaments.

Elephant Ear

Sun, 02 Nov 2025 22:08:26 -0500

Elephant Ear, an interesting name for a Thai restaurant, has been on my list for quite a while. In this area near the theaters, there is an ongoing rotation of Thai restaurants. We happened to catch a Broadway show, so I made a reservation for two people at 6 PM. When we went to the restaurant after our show, they mentioned that there’s a 1.5 hour limit for dining.

Limusina

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 13:41:19 -0400

From the Quality Branded restaurateurs comes another restaurant in a similar vein to popular hits like Bad Roman, Don Angie, and Zou Zous. The cuisine for this restaurant is Mexican-inspired and has all the snazzy colors to indicate this could be fun. This restaurant is near the Hudson Yards area, and it was very easy to make a reservation for 2 for 6 PM on a Friday night. This restaurant is about 1 block away from the E-train exit off 34th.

Brasserie Cognac

Sat, 11 Oct 2025 17:09:20 -0400

Brasserie Cognac recently opened a restaurant branch right next to Central Park South. At first glance of the menu, it seemed rather basic, but I figured if a restaurant opened in this area, it should be pretty decent. On a Saturday evening, we were able to walk in without reservations and were seated immediately. My first thought looking around was that there are a decent amount of tourists. This restaurant is part of the Serafina family.

Toloache

Sat, 27 Sep 2025 13:14:58 -0400

We finished watching “Punch”, a Broadway play that we won through the lottery. Because we’ve tried an abundant amount of restaurants already, it’s starting to get slim. I was finally able to start trying out some Mexican restaurants, since my partner rarely picks this. Toloache was one that was nearby, and we were able to walk in without reservations at around 5:00 PM on a Saturday evening. We were seated in the second floor near the stairs.

Oncheon

Fri, 29 Aug 2025 16:23:19 -0400

Oncheon is all about hot pot, Korean style. What I was curious about was how different was Japanese hot pot from Korean. It’s not that different. Both use high end quality meat, and their broths resemble their cultures. For example, Japanese hot pot tends to be light with miso or seaweed type flavors. The Korean hot pot seems to be similar to what you might find in Korean restaurants. I made a reservation for 2 for 5:30 PM on a Friday night without any issues.

Baires Grill

Sat, 23 Aug 2025 21:45:08 -0400

We saw an early afternoon theater show, and right after, we decided to check out Argentine food. Baires Grill was appealing because it is a Miami chain, and this is their only non-Miami location. We are planning on visiting Miami in the near future, so I was curious to see how this food differs than other Argentine restaurants we’ve been to. We walked in around 4 PM on a Saturday without reservations, and they seated us immediately without issues.

Kochi

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 19:48:30 -0400

Kochi has been on my list for a while now. I’ve been to several of the Chef’s other restaurants, and they’re all delightful. This is his first solo project, after working in kitchens like Le Bernardin, Per Se, and Morimoto. What’s also great about this restaurant is that it’s very easy to get a reservation if you just book a few days out. We were able to get one at 5:30 PM on a Friday without any issues.

BKK New York

Sun, 17 Aug 2025 18:26:25 -0400

Many Thai restaurants are located around the Midtown area. This one is a modern Thai restaurant inspired by the flavors of Bangkok street food. Unlike other Thai restaurants, the menu here has some interesting options that lured us in. The name comes from the airport code for Bangkok in Thailand. Since we were around the area, I made a reservation for 2 just a few hours before very easily.

The Dynamo Room

Fri, 15 Aug 2025 20:30:04 -0400

The Dynamo Room is a relatively new steakhouse located in the Penn District, right next to Madison Square Garden and in the heart of the area. The whole area feels like Times Square, considering how there are a lot of police presence with a lot of crowds. The restaurant seats 200 people, and I was easily able to make a reservation at 5:30 PM for 4 people without any issues. What initially attracted me to this restaurant was the summer restaurant week menu. For $45, it seemed like a good deal, especially given that the items seem to represent their normal menu.

Papa San

Sun, 27 Jul 2025 23:30:11 -0400

Papa San was on my list for a while, especially from the folks that did Llama Inn. It’s an izakaya (think of Japanese tapas), made with a Peruano-Japanese influence. It’s an interesting blend of cuisines, and it’s not uncommon. In Peru, they do have a lot of Asian influences, such as lomo saltado, where they use soy sauce in the dish. We made a reservation for 2 for 5:00 PM on a Sunday evening very easily. This is located very close to Hudson Yards.

Rosevale Kitchen

Sat, 31 May 2025 22:45:41 -0400

Today was another Broadway showing that we had to attend. Our theater district restaurant pool is thinning a bit, so this one was somewhat difficult to locate. It reminds me of a Midtown staple type of restaurant that is very friendly to the theater crowd, and it’s not hard to get in. We were able to walk in on a Saturday evening around 5 PM without any issues.

Becco

Fri, 09 May 2025 23:05:01 -0400

Becco was on our list for a while. This restaurant in the Theater District was always full around theater times, so of course, that’s naturally alluring. It was first opened in 1993 by Lidia Bastianich and her son, Joe, who you might recognize from the U.S. version of the MasterChef series. The Yelp ratings of the food seem surprisingly low compared to the Google counterpart, so that increase our curiosity. We were able to easily make a reservation the earlier in the day for 5:15 PM on a Friday night.

Locanda Verde

Fri, 02 May 2025 19:55:06 -0400

Chef Andrew Carmellini has some pretty good restaurants (NoHo Hospitality) that we’ve been to. Some recent ones that we really enjoyed include Cafe Carmellini and Carne Mare. Locanda Verde opened a second location in the Hudson Yards area. This is his ode to urban Italian cuisine, and we wanted to try this out because the exterior seemed very nice. I made a reservation for 2 for 5:15 on a Friday evening without any issues.

Il Divino

Fri, 18 Apr 2025 16:36:48 -0400

We went into the city to watch a broadway show, and I had to look for a restaurant in the area without worrying about reservations. I stumbled onto this Hell’s Kitchen Italian restaurant that seemed to have pretty decent menu items. We were able to walk in around 5:00 PM on a Friday evening pretty easily, and there wasn’t much foot traffic at all. We were seated next to the window and had a very casual, quick dinner.

Sozai

Sat, 05 Apr 2025 17:43:35 -0400

We finished watching a matinee of a Broadway show, and we’re running out of desirable early dinner options in the Midtown area. This one was on my list for quite some time as it looked like a restaurant that was a no frills izakaya type restaurant. This restaurant is about 2 doors down from Valerie, a pretty popular Midtown restaurant. We were able to walk in around 4:30 PM on a Saturday without any issues.

Gui

Fri, 21 Mar 2025 21:31:33 -0400

Gui caught my attention because it offered a baked Alaska and prime rib. What I did not realize was that this restaurant had some folks with a track record of good Korean foods. Chef Sung Chul Shim comes from Kochi and Mari. Pastry chef, Sarah Smith, comes from many fine kitchens including Le Bernardin and Le Rock. The reservation was very easy to reserve for a 5:15 PM dinner on a Friday night. The restaurant is located on the second floor, but you check in on the first floor.

Kausa

Sun, 16 Feb 2025 13:41:45 -0500

We had won another theater tickets for this Sunday, so we looked for a place nearby. My partner desired Peruvian food again, specifically lomo saltado. The best lomo saltado place we’ve ever had was actually Mario’s in Los Angeles, and we’ve been struggling to find a comparable place, especially in New York City. We walked in on a late Sunday afternoon without issues, and we were seated promptly. Looking over the menu, they had your typical Peruvian options.

Xie Bao

Sat, 08 Feb 2025 12:58:14 -0500

We had a show this evening, and this “crab house” just recently opened in Manhattan. This originated from a Flushing stall, and their specialty is crab roe over rice or noodle. We were able to walk in on a Saturday evening without reservations. The social media circuit really raved about this dish by showing off the roe, so we decided to try it. I figured there was no need to make reservations since Manhattan Midtown Chinese restaurants are usually pretty easy to get into.

Danji

Fri, 07 Feb 2025 16:18:40 -0500

Danji is Chef Hooni Kim’s first restaurant that opened 15 years ago. It earned a Michelin Star back in 2012 and closed in April 2023 due to a fire. We’ve been to the Chef’s other Michelin Star restaurant, Meju, which was phenomenal for what it was. We decided to check out this to see how it was, so I made a reservation pretty easily a week prior for 5:30 PM for a Friday.

Mitr Thai

Thu, 05 Dec 2024 18:25:37 -0500

Mitr Thai is a Midtown Thai restaurant that is located very close to Bryant Park. It can be a great option for Thai if you prefer to stay east of the Theater District. When we walked in around 5:30 PM on a Thursday night, we actually had to wait about 30-40 minutes. The restaurant was very full both downstairs and upstairs. We were seated upstairs in a 2-seater.

Five Acres

Sun, 01 Dec 2024 14:17:02 -0500

The one appeal that attracted me to try out Five Acres was that they offered a Chicago beef sandwich. For some reason, there are very few places that serve this sandwich that I know of. There used to be Hank’s Juicy Beef, but that closed down. The other Chicago beef place that I know of is in deep Brooklyn. Since we were around this Midtown area, I figured now is the right time to give this a shot. We were able to walk into this restaurant at 4:30 PM on a Sunday without reservations. It’s located in the downstairs promenade of Rockafeller Plaza, where all the sit-down restaurants reside near the skating rink.

SaiTong Thai

Sat, 23 Nov 2024 11:11:23 -0500

SaiTong Thai was a relatively new Thai restaurant that opened near the Theater District. One of its allures is that it appears to be an upscale Thai restaurant. The menu when I glanced at it seemed pretty decent although the prices were on the higher side. Since we had a theater date, we decided to check this restaurant out. We easily made a reservation for a Saturday at 5:30 PM.

SEA

Fri, 22 Nov 2024 14:58:29 -0500

SEA is a casual South East Asian restaurant from Chef Jungsik Yim of two Michelin Star restaurant, Jungsik. The restaurant offers a raw bar, small plates, and shareable plates with creativity. We were able to make a reservation pretty last minute for 5:15 PM on a Friday evening fairly easy. We arrived a little early, and they were able to seat us without issue. We had some high expectations that this restaurant will have great flavors.

Twin Tails

Fri, 15 Nov 2024 16:17:56 -0500

This new Southeast Asian restaurant is located on the third floor of the Columbus Circle mall. The restaurant is part of the “Quality Branded” restaurant group, which also included Quality Italian, Don Angie, and Zou Zou’s to name a few. What was exciting about the menu here was that it was leaning into higher end Vietnamese and Thai flavors. We were able to make a reservation a few days in advance for two people at 5:15 PM on a Friday evening.

Bourbon Steak

Fri, 08 Nov 2024 21:58:49 -0500

Michael Mina is an award winning chef and restaurateur that currently runs and operates over 40 restaurants worldwide. He opened this restaurant in the JW Marriott Essex House, right across from Central Park south and near Columbus Circle. This is his love letter to the classic American steakhouse. Bourbon Steak has multiple locations in the United States, so it’s not an entirely new restaurant. I picked this restaurant particularly because of their prix fixe menu that seems to give a pretty good spread of what this restaurant has to offer.

Pure Thai Cookhouse

Sat, 12 Oct 2024 17:10:06 -0400

We won yet another lottery for one of the theater shows, so we were hoping to walk into Wondee Thai. As expected, there was a line outside and a wait inside, so we didn’t want to gamble missing the show if we had waited. We instead opted to walk a block south to this restaurant which had no patrons. We were able to walk in for 2 at 5:30 PM on a Saturday night without reservations. There seemed to be 2 sections to this restaurant, a left and a right. We were seated on the left on a small table with stools.

Azalea

Wed, 25 Sep 2024 19:52:29 -0400

We won the theater lottery to watch another play in the Theater district. This was on my list for some reason, and it was conveniently very close to the theater. The menu seemed quintessential Italian American type food, and as a bonus, they also have a 3-course theater menu prix fixe for $55 per person. I was able to make a reservation pretty easily for 2 for 5:30 PM on a Wednesday night.

The Kitchen Table at The Modern

Sat, 14 Sep 2024 12:57:55 -0400

We had previously been to The Bar at The Modern, where the value to taste ratio was quite good. In an effort to knock another off our list, we booked The Kitchen experience. On the other side of the bar, there was a dining room with a lot of natural light of the garden of the Museum of Modern Arts. This area served a more extensive tasting menu with wine pairing options. The kitchen is the same, except if you book during lunch, you have access to the dinner tasting menu as well, i.e. the full experience. We made a reservation for 12:00 PM on a Saturday without much difficulties as long as you make the reservation when it opens up.

Mari

Fri, 13 Sep 2024 23:47:44 -0400

Mari is yet another seaweed hand-roll type restaurant in a very crowded space in New York City. The difference from many others though is that this is Korean-centric, and it has earned 1 Michelin Star in both 2022 and 2023. This restaurant is the same team as Kochi, which is also near the area in the Theater District. Since my partner was attending another event, I was looking at this restaurant because perhaps it’d be very solo friendly, and it was quite easy to make a 1-seat reservation the night prior.

Kajiken

Tue, 10 Sep 2024 21:14:56 -0400

Kajiken is located a few streets south of Bryant Park. I originally was trying to do a walk into Tonchin, but they told me there was a 1-hour wait for a single bar seat solo. Irked, I walked towards Bryant Park, and I found that there’s this ramen place that was on my list to try. Interestingly enough, they have both soup-based ramen and dry ramen. Their dry ramen is like most other dry-noodle things where there is some oils and mixtures at the bottom of the bowl, and you simply can mix everything. I was able to walk in about 30 minutes before closing time and was seated without issue.

Frena

Fri, 30 Aug 2024 22:45:43 -0400

Israeli Chef Efi Naon opened a relatively new Moroccan-Israeli and Middle Eastern inspired restaurant in the Hell’s Kitchen area. I saw this on Yelp a few months ago, and the menu items look reasonably interesting. I was able to book a reservation very easily on a Friday for 5:15 PM without any issues. This restaurant is close to the 50th E train station and relatively near some of the outer edges of the Theater District.

Churrascaria Plataforma

Fri, 12 Jul 2024 18:56:12 -0500

In 2018, I wrote that I liked this place more than Fogo De Chão, which is a global AYCE Brazilian BBQ chain. After our recent trip to Brazil, particularly Sal e Brasa, I wanted to visit this NYC restaurant again to do a comparison. This restaurant is the only location that exists. We had a reservation for 5 PM on a Friday, and there was hardly anyone in the restaurant.

Jasmine's Caribbean Cuisine

Wed, 22 May 2024 16:45:45 -0400

We had another Broadway show to catch, and this restaurant is located at a convenient “restaurant row” area. This area reminds me a little of St. Marks in East Village, where there is just a street full of restaurants that are also conveniently near theaters. My partner wanted to try this, so they were able to make a reservation for 2 for 5:45 PM on a Wednesday evening. When we walked through the door, it felt like we walked into a shack.

Cafe Un Deux Trois

Wed, 15 May 2024 16:16:20 -0400

We’ve walked past this restaurant several times eating at various restaurants prior to watching a theater show. Tonight, we had to eat something before our 7 PM show. We made a reservation for this restaurant for 5 PM without any trouble. When you walk in, it seemed like a very bustling restaurant. Looking at the menu prior, I didn’t find it all that interesting, but we thought this was a good day to try it since we had to eat fast.

Sicily Osteria

Fri, 10 May 2024 12:23:06 -0400

We had another Friday outing to watch the Mary Jane broadway show starring Rachel McAdams. Because this was very last minute, my partner was able to book this restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen. As we explore more of this area, it’s turning out that there are a good amount of restaurant options especially for Italian food. We made reservations easily for 5:30 PM on a Friday evening. It was noticeable there was a large amount of theater crowds since tables cleared right before 7 and 8 PM.

Smith & Mills

Fri, 26 Apr 2024 15:09:45 -0400

This Smith & Mills location is in the small inner plaza where the Rockafeller rink is. It caught my attention because the Tribeca location apparently had received some high regard, so I thought it’d be worth a shot to check out this location. Although the food options are small, some of it looked pretty tasty. This restaurant is fairly close to Naro. We had a reservation for 3 for 5 PM, and the place was not full at all. I thought this was to be a restaurant, but it seems like the atmosphere is definitely more of a bar.

Class on 38th

Thu, 25 Apr 2024 18:21:02 -0400

Class on 38th was something that seemed interesting at first glance when I was browsing the “Hot and New” sections of Yelp. The menu looked like tapas with a price point that wasn’t too expensive. I went here with a business partner, who was in town and looking for something to try. I made a reservation a few weeks back without any issues for 6 PM on a Thursday. When I walked in, they allowed me to sit early to wait for my guest to arrive.

Steak Frites Bistro

Sun, 21 Apr 2024 16:03:05 -0400

This restaurant has been on my radar for years, and we finally got a chance to try this. What was appealing to me was the price and options that they had. Not only was it steak frites, but you had the opportunity to try different types of steaks if you really wanted. We had an early afternoon theater showing, and this location was within minutes. We were able to walk in around 5:00 PM on a Sunday without reservations, though they told us that we had to finish our food within 2.5 hours.

Amarone Scarlatto

Fri, 05 Apr 2024 14:37:34 -0400

My partner had another theater show to go to, so I was tasked for looking something near the Theater District. We were watching some random TV show, and they showed lasagna. I don’t remember the context, but my partner wanted that. As we’re still exploring the Hell’s Kitchen area, I ended up finding this restaurant that we were able to walk in since the reservation system doesn’t work at all.

Bad Roman

Fri, 09 Feb 2024 14:48:41 -0500

Bad Roman is located in the Columbus Circle mall on the third floor. The team that created this restaurant also helped create Don Angie, Quality Eats, Quality Italian, other “Quality Branded” restaurants, Zou Zou’s, and more. There was a lot of social media firepower with this restaurant because of how retro it looked in vibe and style. We were able to book a seating pretty easily for 2 at 5:30 PM.

Ambiance & Service

The restaurant is very bustling, with lots of noise and all types of clientele. You will find many on their date nights, and you will find big parties celebrating something as if they were celebrities. The noise level is pretty loud, and you are seated pretty close to other tables. The music is also on the louder side too, but it wasn’t uncomfortably loud. At times it was hard to hear our server.

Heno Heno

Sat, 09 Dec 2023 13:42:31 -0500

My partner had won some tickets to watch Appropriate on Broadway starring Sarah Paulson. The show starts at 8, but we had to pick up the will-call tickets by 7:30. I saw this Japanese small eatery was nearby the theater on 46th St, and I thought this would be a decent restaurant to try out since there’s a lot of little things we can order. We were able to walk in on a Saturday evening at around 5:30 PM before it got busy.

Havana Central

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 15:05:15 -0500

It was raining on this gloomy Friday, and we wanted to eat somewhere close to Rockafeller. I recalled we had tried to walk into this restaurant on prior days with no success. I looked them up on OpenTable and saw that they had openings throughout the night. We figured it was worth a shot to try to walk in, and we found success. We were seated next to the door inside a glass section of the restaurant towards the front at around 6:30 PM. There was a live trio band playing Cuban style music, and some people dancing near the entrance.

Marea

Thu, 23 Nov 2023 18:56:06 -0500

Normally during every Thanksgiving Thursday, I cook for my partner some poultry thing whether it be quail or turkey breast. This year we decided to relieve me the duties of frantically looking for materials and cooking for 6 hours for the 2 of us. Marea was closed for a few months, and we’ve always had this on our list. Because it just reopened in October, I decided to pursue the Thanksgiving tasting menu.

Three Roosters

Sun, 19 Nov 2023 13:11:26 -0500

We’ve been just demolishing a ton of restaurants around the Theater District since we’ve been going to a lot of Broadway shows. This restaurant was on our eyes to go to, but they always take a small break between 4 to 5 PM, so it can put a little time crunch if you have a show around 6:30 to 7 PM. However despite the restaurant being small with probably 5 or 6 tables, we were able to walk in on a Sunday evening around 5:30 PM without reservations. The food here is less about your normal Thai food, and more about chicken set meals.

Hunt & Fish Club

Fri, 10 Nov 2023 17:02:29 -0500

My partner was able to secure another show lottery near Times Square. Because I work near here and the fact that they have been able to win so many lottery shows, we’re running out of choices for restaurants. We were walking along 44th, and we stumbled onto this restaurant. After looking at the menu and the ability to walk in without reservations, we decided to try out this restaurant, Hunt & Fish Club. We were able to walk in at around 5:30 PM on a Friday without reservations easily.

Mari.ne Handroll

Mon, 06 Nov 2023 16:57:31 -0500

Mari.ne (MariNe) Hand-Roll Bar is similar to KazuNori where it’s simply a “hand roll” bar. The hand rolls are fairly small, but quite delightful and fresh. You can order them in different flavors, and it’s sure to satisfy anyone that enjoys sushi in hand roll format. We were able to walk in at around 5:45 PM on a Monday evening, but we were told that we had to be done by 6:30 PM due to an upcoming reservation. More on this in a bit.

Avra Estiatorio

Fri, 29 Sep 2023 16:32:55 -0400

Avra Estiatorio was a restaurant that we wanted to check out for a while now. Because we were going to watch Gutenberg Musical at 8 PM, this fit perfectly for the opportunity. Avra has several locations spread throughout the United States: 3 in Manhattan, 1 in Miami, and 1 in Beverly Hills. It’s a rather posh Greek seafood restaurant, and it’s very similar to all the other upper end ones, such as Limani and Milos. We were able to walk in at around 6 PM without reservations, and we were seated at the upper floor. When we met the hostess, they asked if we were seeing a show, and we acknowledged that we were.

Trattoria Dell'arte

Sun, 13 Aug 2023 16:15:35 -0400

We were near this area because we stopped by Nordstroms for some shopping. This area is pretty close to the southern side of Central Park, and we’ve almost tapped out all the restaurants here (or so I thought). Luckily my partner has continued to show interest in Italian foods because I love it. I found this restaurant that wasn’t that far from where we were, and it was also offering a 3 course prix fixe restaurant week menu for $45. We were able to walk in around 4:30 PM on a Sunday without any reservations.

The Bar Room at the Modern

Fri, 11 Aug 2023 14:04:33 -0400

The Modern is a well known 2 star Michelin restaurant that has an appealing tasting menu. Its sibling restaurant, the Bar Room", is located in the same area as the Modern restaurant, but literally is divided by tall gigantic glass panes. The Bar Room has a more casual feel, where there’s music pumping through the speakers, and it feels more bustling like the general NYC city culture. On the other side of the pane is the extravagant tasting menu, which we also visited. Go to the Kitchen Table review for more of how that experience was like.

Four Four South Village

Mon, 31 Jul 2023 12:53:30 -0400

Taiwanese food is one of the types of cuisines that is seldomly found in Manhattan and just simply cannot compare to the San Gabriel Valley in the greater Los Angeles area in California. I asked my partner before a show if they wanted to check this out, and to my surprise they said yes! Normally they are not fond of this type of food, especially when noodles are around. This is not too far from Broadway theaters. We were able to walk in around 5:30 PM on a Monday without any issues.

Giardino 54

Sat, 22 Jul 2023 18:03:04 -0400

We were near Broadway and 50th to watch the Back to the Future musical, which was actually surprisingly good. After, we had wanted Thai food, but the restaurant was closed briefly. My partner didn’t use the restrooms at the theater, so I scrambled for another option that had a restroom and found this restaurant off of 54th. We were able to walk in without reservations for 2 at around 5:30 PM on a Saturday night. The host said that the “garden” was saved for just reservations, which we were fine with.

Chalong

Fri, 07 Jul 2023 19:25:12 -0400

We had a show to go to around 43rd and 9th Ave, so we decided to look around the Hell’s Kitchen area. In this area from my research, there seems to be some pretty good Thai restaurants that have been here for a bit or are opening up. We had recently gone to LumLum, which focused on more Northern Thai cuisine. Here in Chalong which is on 9th Ave between 51st and 52nd, they are focused on more Southern Thai. This restaurant is a few months old, and we were able to get a reservation for 2 for 5:30 PM the night prior to our arrival.

Cucina 8 1/2

Fri, 30 Jun 2023 20:25:28 -0400

We were running errands around 5th Avenue, and this restaurant was on my partner’s list. I learned that my partner picked this restaurant because it was on Sex & The City, so I had very low expectations. We stopped by around 5:30 PM on a Friday night, and we were able to walk in without reservations. The restaurant itself is at the bottom of the staircase as you walk in. We were seated in one of the private booths, which was quite comfortable and serene.

Oceana

Fri, 23 Jun 2023 13:13:16 -0400

One of the nice parts of living and working in Manhattan is that there is so much you can do and improvise after work. We had a show at 8 PM from winning a lottery, so it was easy to meet up after work and look for something to eat. Pre-theater prix fixe menus are a nice thing. They are basically a small tasting menu that won’t fill your belly too much, and the price is reasonable. We ended up at Oceana here since we realized we were within its small pre-theater hours of 5-6 PM on Friday.

Pizzarte

Fri, 16 Jun 2023 12:06:59 -0400

PizzArte is one of those casual Italian pizza-esque restaurants in the Midtown area. Their goal is to deliver the spirit of Naples with affordable costs. We ended up here after looking for a cheaper Italian restaurant in the area that also had lasagna since we had more expensive plans the next day. We were able to walk in without reservations on a Friday evening around 7:30 PM and were seated upstairs.

Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare

Thu, 15 Jun 2023 15:12:02 -0400

Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare is a renown three Michelin Star restaurant by Chef Cesar Ramirez. It’s inspired by Japanese cuisine with French technique, and the 13 course tasting menu tonight is focused on fish & shellfish with 1 meat course and 4 dessert courses. I was quite excited to come here since moving to NYC. This restaurant was always very difficult to get reservations, so it was great that we were able to when we wanted. This restaurant is currently rated number 61 out of 100 on the The World’s Best 50.

Charlie Palmer

Wed, 10 May 2023 19:14:28 -0400

We had yet another show to catch, so we decided to look around the Bryant Park area. I stumbled onto Charlie Palmer, and it had been on my list of steak places to try. What was nice about this place specifically is they offered a 2-course pre-theatre menu for $49 which included a starter and entree. If you wanted dessert, you would have to pay an additional $10. Lucky for us, we weren’t that hungry, so a 2-course meal sounded fine for us. The waiter mentioned that the portion size for either course was the same as if you ordered in peak hours.

Sake Bar Hagi

Sat, 06 May 2023 16:52:29 -0400

Now that we’re back from Hawaii, we went to go see Sweeney Todd, a musical that was one of my favorites. Nearby, we decided to eat something quick and light, so we opted for izakaya. Sake Bar Hagi, according to their website, says it’s New York’s first authentic izakaya since 1985. I’m not sure what that really means, but we’ll find out. We arrived around 5:30 PM on a Saturday evening, and we were seated immediately.

Prime Meat Rokko

Sun, 09 Apr 2023 23:01:20 -0400

We were around the Hell’s Kitchen area catching up on a Broadway musical called “MJ: The Musical” based on Michael Jackson. This area we have rarely explored much, considering early post-pandemic, this area was quite dangerous with the drug users and harassers. Nevertheless, this katsu restaurant has been on my list for years, and I’ve been meaning to check this out. We were able to walk in on a Sunday at around 5:30 PM without any issue.

Zou Zou's

Sun, 26 Feb 2023 23:02:18 -0500

Located near the Vessel and Hudson Yards, Zou Zou’s was on my partner’s list for quite some time. They simply love Mediterranean small plates and dips. We actually had to make a reservation a few weeks out to nab our reservation at 5 PM on a Sunday night. The restaurant lies in this little courtyard where it leads into one of the Peloton offices. When we arrived, we were able to check in a few minutes early. The hosts asked us to wait at the bar, and when they were ready for dinner service, they will come get you and bring you to your table.

Le Rock

Fri, 24 Feb 2023 21:30:43 -0500

Le Rock is one of those new hot and busy restaurants around the Rockafeller area because it comes from the team of Frenchette. The majority of the menu is in French, and it had been receiving pretty stellar reviews for the most part. We walked in at 5:45 PM, and we were very fortunate that they were able to seat us due to a prior cancellation. We were told that we would have to be done with dinner within 90 minutes. Despite my partner normally eating slower than most, I thought it was worth a gamble.

Duomo 51

Mon, 20 Feb 2023 20:06:13 -0500

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.

La Masseria

Wed, 08 Feb 2023 16:35:12 -0500

We had tickets to watch Phantom of the Opera before it closes in April, and my partner was scouring for some type of restaurant week menu to eat. They landed on this restaurant which is pretty close by as it had last minute vacancy. I already had very low expectations on some of these Italian restaurants that are close to theaters especially ones that are restaurant week driven. The restaurant week menu had some overlap with the normal dishes, but the ingredients to me did not really stand out.

Felice

Sun, 29 Jan 2023 16:35:12 -0500

Felice appears to be an Italian premium chain restaurant with locations around New York and Florida. We were around the area shopping and walking around for errands of course, and my partner fortunately has been on an Italian binge recently. They really love lasagna, and this restaurant nearby had it on its menu. We were able to walk in on a Sunday without reservation at around 5:30 PM. When you walk in, it appears to be a coffee shop with a barista. The restaurant is actually located on the bottom floor.

Cha Pa's Noodles and Grill

Wed, 25 Jan 2023 15:46:02 -0500

I work around the Rockafeller area, and I had to walk towards the Midtown West for an errand during lunch. Near the area that I was in, I noticed this Vietnamese pho restaurant that didn’t have many people. Since it was cold outside and before I head back, I decided to check this out for lunch, considering it had some basic pho options. When I walked in, there were some solo diners who were scarfing their noodles fast, so I felt at ease that this was would be a quick lunch spot.

Gordon Ramsay Fish and Chips

Sat, 17 Dec 2022 23:09:06 -0500

We were around the Times Square area, and this new fast food fish and chips restaurant just opened from Gordon Ramsay. The restaurant also has locations in Las Vegas, Orlando, DC, and now New York City. Gordon Ramsay used to have restaurants opened in NYC, but they have all been closed for quite some time. This is the only restaurant that he now has in NYC. So how was it?

Naro

Wed, 23 Nov 2022 15:28:11 -0500

Naro is a new Korean restaurant that opened right next to the Rockafeller ice skating rink. According to the menu, the Naro name was inspired by South Korea’s first ever space vehicle to successfully achieve Earth’s orbit and also from the Korean phrase nah-ro (which means “through me”). Naro focuses on Korean cuisine, drawing inspiration from classic dishes from different moments in Korean history. Lastly, this is the third restaurant from the Atomix and Attaboy founders, so there is definitely some expectations. We actually were able to book a reservation on a Wednesday evening for 5:30 PM without much issue.

Serafina

Sat, 29 Oct 2022 15:18:29 -0400

We were near the Columbus Circle area just shopping and walking around. Generally, this area doesn’t have too many great places to eat, and we couldn’t decide what we were in the mood for. I had proposed the thought of Serafina since I’ve never been there and my partner had a fantastic experience back in their home country. We were able to walk in without reservations during the core hours of dinner.

Ai Ki Ya

Sat, 01 Oct 2022 14:42:26 -0400

We had to run errands around Macy’s, so this was a good chance to check out some restaurant that was fairly light and also didn’t have strong smells. We were able to walk in on a Saturday at 5:30 PM with no reservations. We noticed the menus had both skewers and hot pot as options. I saw that many people ordered hot pot with cotton candy on top, and we contemplated briefly but decided not to.

Refinery Rooftop Bar

Sun, 11 Sep 2022 14:43:58 -0400

On this very cloudy Sunday, we originally were planning to go to a “rooftop” outdoor film viewing on top of a hotel. Unfortunately, it got cloudy fast, and it rained throughout most of the day. The hosts cancelled the event, but we still desired to meet up with some friends. We ended up at Refinery Rooftop, which is just around the corner from the cancelled event. Fortunately, they were able to accept walk-ins around 4:30 PM.

Silky Kitchen

Thu, 08 Sep 2022 14:41:33 -0400

Occasionally, I can grab food for myself after work, and I tend to look for noodles. My partner is not a fan at all of noodles, so I took this liberty to look for something that they would not enjoy. Despite the hot and humid weather in NYC, I rarely mind eating hot soups with noodles. Silky Kitchen has a location near where I live in Astoria, so I thought I’d try out its location out in Midtown near Times Square.

Black Iron Burger

Fri, 08 Jul 2022 10:47:34 -0400

In the rare occasion nowadays, I am able to sometimes grab dinner solo somewhere. I often debate about the cuisine, and I rarely want to eat something super posh right after work. I noticed a new location of a burger chain opened up. I often confuse the Black Iron Burger with the Blacktap Burger places but not this time. I walked in with no reservations at this 54th and 7th ave location and sat at the bar.

Per Se

Wed, 15 Jun 2022 19:37:58 -0400

Per Se is Thomas Keller’s acclaimed interpretation of the French Laundry restaurant in New York City and has 3 Michelin Stars. I don’t think it’s a replacement for the French Laundry, but it might be indicative of what to expect if we did ever go to Napa Valley to try it out. This restaurant is located in Columbus Circle at the top floor inside the mall. When we walked in, we were astounded by the huge ceiling and the vast feeling of space.

Limani

Fri, 06 May 2022 18:19:40 -0400

Normally we have Friday plans in the evening for a dinner restaurant after work. We didn’t plan for anything, so this restaurant was a decision at the whim. My partner always prefers either Latin based restaurants or Mediterranean because there they love hummus. This restaurant was on 51st right next to Rockafeller, so it was easy to access even on a rainy day. When we arrived at 6 PM on a Friday night, we were able to walk in without reservations as the restaurant was pretty empty.

Yama Ramen

Wed, 27 Apr 2022 17:09:27 -0400

This ramen place is pretty close to where I work. It’s located on 48th and 6th ave and is very close to Rockafeller. There is no way you would know of this restaurant unless you were either intentionally looking for it, or if you saw the ground floor sign that indicated this was upstairs. I had some time during my lunch, and decided to take a quick spin to see how this was compared to other ramen spots.

Skirt Steak

Fri, 01 Apr 2022 23:36:40 -0400

I’ve always enjoyed simple menus of steak frites. We visited L’entrecote, and it was a pretty good restaurant for a similar value as this one. When I arrived at 5:20 PM and because this restaurant doesn’t take reservations for small parties, there was already a line out of the door. Fortunately the total wait time for us was about 15 minutes in line because we volunteered for bar seats if they were available. We were hoping this restaurant would be another spot of equivalent, if not better, caliber steak frites. So how did it fare?

Bacall's Family Steakhouse

Fri, 25 Feb 2022 15:28:47 -0500

One of our traditions that will be coming back soon is eating out on Fridays after work. We’ve been exploring the heart of midtown area and trying to walk into restaurants without reservations. We tried to go to one of the Cuban restaurants, but unfortunately they required a 40 minute wait. This restaurant wasn’t too far away, but they did have prime rib on the menu. When we arrived, it seems there was some show going on, but we were able to sit at a small table in the bar area.

La Grande Boucherie

Fri, 18 Feb 2022 18:02:12 -0500

We’ve been to Boucherie before on 6th Ave near the West Village. We expected the food here to be similar but not the same as that location.

For my first visit, I was craving for prime rib, and disappointingly, all the other places in the city were pretty expensive at $70 and up. For subsequent visits, it was decided out of convenience because the food was pretty consistent, and they have a decent pre-theater menu for the value.

Valerie

Sat, 12 Feb 2022 16:28:38 -0500

Valentine’s Day … it’s yet another day of the year to spend more money on your partner! Valerie is a restaurant located in Midtown about 3 streets up from Bryant Park. My partner was craving crab cakes and aside from ordering from Jimmy’s Famous Seafood, I was having a lot of trouble finding something. They gave me a list, and I noticed that there was crab cake on this menu. I had no idea what to expect on an early Saturday evening when we arrived.

Quality Italian

Sat, 01 Jan 2022 19:31:32 -0500

We were around the Bloomingdales area running some errands back and forth around the Midtown East area and decided to take the risk of looking for a restaurant without making reservations since we normally eat dinner fairly early. This Quality Italian seems to be from the same owners of Quality Meats and Quality Bistro which are on my list. Quality Italian is a modern take on the Italian American steakhouse tradition, and the prices are probably on the mid to high range.

Amor Loco

Sat, 30 Oct 2021 16:01:13 -0400

We got some new Mexican restaurant coupons for a margarita/beer. This location is quite convenient near Times Square, just a few steps from the heart of it. We made a reservation for a 4:15 PM on a Saturday late afternoon, and the crowd traffic was fairly light outside and inside. The reservation was probably not needed, but you never know. When we arrived at the restaurant, they did ask for proof of vaccination.

The Harrow

Sat, 18 Sep 2021 21:40:29 -0400

Nearby, we had gotten free tickets to the Intrepid museum which sat on the water along 46th. The museum closed at 5 PM sharp, and we picked this restaurant since it was not too far of a walk. This had been on my list for a few years already, but we’re rarely in the Hell’s Kitchen area. What’s nice about Hell’s Kitchen restaurants is that the restaurant prices are not usually that expensive and the food is pretty good.

Soba Noodle Azuma

Fri, 30 Jul 2021 11:44:08 -0400

I’ve been deprived of noodles in the city for a number of months now. Sure, there are sometimes where I get some Taiwanese noodles, but I also love soba noodles too. I was around the Columbus Circle area, and I was scouring for some alternative ramen places. This one peaked my interest because their specialty was not ramen but soba also known as buckwheat noodles. Buckwheat noodles are supposed to be pretty healthy for you, and on a summer NYC day like today, it seems like a win when opting for cold buckwheat noodles with a cold dip.

The Palm Court

Sat, 17 Jul 2021 23:46:53 -0400

I have always heard of tea rooms, but I never thought much of it. We had heard from friends that they had gone to the Plaza Hotel, across the street from Central Park and had a pleasant experience eating sandwiches and drinking tea. I had looked at reservations before COVID, and it was usually pretty difficult to secure reservations. I did a quick glance and made reservations easily since the city is still slowly, albeit surely, opening up.

Estiatorio Milos

Mon, 05 Jul 2021 16:35:42 -0400

My partner saw on their social media that some of their people had raved about this place for lunch. I took a look at the dinner menu here, and it seemed unjustly expensive for what it was. Usually a good indicator of prices starts with oysters. If a restaurant charges $4 for east coast oysters (average price should be around $3), you would expect the restaurant to have higher than usual menu prices. It turns out that the lunch menu prices were way more grounded, and it was a 3 course prix fixe on weekdays.

Le Bernardin

Tue, 15 Jun 2021 17:46:29 -0400

Le Bernardin is a three Michelin Star restaurant in New York City that primarily deals with seafood. The head chef is Eric Ripert, who is very well known in the higher end spectrum of the culinary world. We actually saw him on the floor with a mask on talking to some of the wait staff. This particular occasion was for a birthday celebration. Our reservation was at 5 PM, and it had to be reserved a month in advance. The spinning doors don’t actually open till 5 PM sharp, so there wasn’t too much of a benefit to arrive before.

Keens Steakhouse

Sat, 29 May 2021 20:05:37 -0400

For this memorial weekend, we wanted to go somewhere out of town, but we had to cancel plans including non refundable bus passes. I’ve been watching the Cooking Channel as my background noise, and they had an episode of steak. My partner hadn’t been to Keen’s, and I thought this would be a great time to introduce them to it. I had been here back in 2018 for the first time, and it had a very delicious, if not the best, prime rib. Dinner reservations were difficult to make, so we opted for a lunch reservation instead which was quite easy.

Spanish Diner

Sun, 06 Sep 2020 16:40:19 -0400

Summary

We were visiting the Edge, which is a touristy spot where you can see the NYC area from 100 floors above, and in this COVID environment, it’s been hard to find some decent outdoor restaurants. We had passed by this place, which is a Jose Andres restaurant, and it seemed interesting. It’s a quasi-indoor place in that you’re eating in the building, but the area feels like you’re in a garage. The garage doors open facing outside, and there are plenty of fans to circulate air. We saw that they spaced out all the tables distantly from each other, so it seemed fine to sit down and eat. This is the Spanish Diner at Mercado Little Spain in the Hudson Yards block.

Tony's Di Napoli

Sun, 02 Feb 2020 22:35:01 -0500

Tony’s Di Napoli is a NYC Italian American restaurant that has been around for a number of decades. It’s probably comparable to Buca Di Beppo or Maggiano, but it is less of a domestic chain than a NYC chain. They serve family style portions, and they have both half and full sizes of many of their pastas. This particular location is located in Times Square, and normally I shy away from this. So how did it go?

Torishin

Sun, 29 Dec 2019 14:29:14 -0500

Summary

For this special outing, Yakitori Torishin has been on my list ever since I moved to New York City. I finally had a chance to try this for the girlfriend’s birthday.

We wanted the regular yakitori experience as opposed to the select counter experience. The reason is that I just couldn’t imagine the value from yakitori at literally double the cost of a regular omakase. They brought us into the back room, and we were still seated in front of the chefs.

Brazil Brazil

Sun, 08 Dec 2019 06:53:57 -0500

Summary

We actually have eaten here before, but we totally forgot to take pictures and document. From the best recollection, we remembered this place as being one of our favorite Brazilian restaurants in NYC. So we decided to visit this again to document.

The maracuja caipirinha we recalled being really good our first time doing. Ordered it again, and it was nothing but a disappointment. The tartness of the passion fruit tasted sour and borderlinen rotten. There was no sweetness, and it tasted very watered down and unflavored. We asked the waitress to bring it back to the bartender because of this. The bartender created another one, and it was slightly better but still didn’t taste fresh.

Buena Vista

Wed, 20 Nov 2019 11:58:27 -0500

Summary

A friend was in town around the Hudson Yards area, and we wanted to look for something around the area. The menu here looked pretty decent, and it was on my bookmarks for quite a while.

The bread came with some type of tomato olive oil medley. It reminded me of bruschetta toppings but more akin to diced tomatoes out of a jar. The sauce itself was alright.

Wolf

Sat, 16 Nov 2019 17:37:51 -0500

Summary

If you’re around the Rockafeller area and are looking for pretty decent Italian food at a not overly expensive price, this restaurant might be a good candidate. It is located on the 2nd floor of the Nordstrom NYC flagship store near the watches section. We walked in without reservations around 5:30 PM, and we were seated at the bar fairly quickly.

Because Nordstrom doesn’t have the drinks menu online, I’m hoping my memory serves me well. The left is a mai thai, and the right is a mezcal cocktail. The mai thai was doused with passion fruit liqueur which is why I got it in the first place. It wasn’t too strong, and everything tasted very tropically and subtle. The mezcal cocktail had a slight smokey flavor to it. I don’t remember what else was in this though, but it definitely was sweet.

Red Peony Chinese Cuisine

Sat, 02 Nov 2019 14:45:20 -0500

Summary

We were around Central Park near the southern side, and this was on my list of restaurants to try. This new-ish Chinese (Shanghainese) restaurant is located where Joe’s Shanghai used to be in Midtown. It’s not too far from the Apple flagship store.

The stir fry snow pea leaf was mighty tasty. You can taste the subtleness of that wine, and the vegetable itself was tender and delicious.

Souvlaki GR

Sat, 12 Oct 2019 22:48:16 -0400

Summary

If you’re just shy of Central Park to the south and it’s in the middle of the day, this might be a good option.

On the bottom is the mixed grilled meat platter for two people (psita tis oras poikilia). It’s a combination of lambchops, traditional Greek sauce, pork/beef skewers, and pita and tzatziki. All of this was pretty good. The lambchops were ordered medium rare, and it was tender and delicious. I like the char on this.

Gabriel Kreuther

Sat, 14 Sep 2019 18:03:04 -0400

Summary

This post is going to be a big one. For our first anniversary, we treated ourselves to a nice French place that I think is generally underrated and under the radar. Gabriel Kreuthers has been something that I’ve always wanted to try, and it’s rated 2 Michelin Stars in 2019. We went bold with the Chef’s Carte Blanche Tasting Menu. There are a total of at least 28 dishes spread through of what they say is 9 courses.

Cho Dang Gol

Sun, 18 Aug 2019 22:04:20 -0400

Summary

We were visiting the Morgan Library on a late Sunday afternoon, and this restaurant was close by and on my list. I’ve always been into old school Korean places where the food was centered around non BBQ items such as bossam and kimchi jigae.

The egg soup was served as part of the meal. It’s simply tasted of steamed egg with some scallions on top. Pretty straight forward and pretty good.

K-Bap

Mon, 22 Jul 2019 20:20:51 -0400

Summary

This is easily walkable from the 5th Ave flagship Apple store for some decent casual Korean food.

The banchan comes with the bulgogi bento box below. It’s basically that white pickled daikon, kimchi radish, and kimchi. Just a note that their kimchi here is super sour compared to other places I’ve been to.

The bulgogi bento box was ok. It came with japchae (Korean sweet potato noodles), bulgogi, fish cake, kimchi daikon, and what tasted similar to tempura potato of some sort. The bulgogi was a little on the greasy side and very sweet. The japchae was pretty decent. The fish cake was pretty good, and so was the daikon. I didn’t care much for the tempura. I think the bulgogi bento box was just OK, and I’d recommend to get something else instead unless you’re hungry and don’t care.

Carlo's Bakery

Sun, 30 Jun 2019 23:58:31 -0400

Summary

This place is known for the dessert chef featured on Cake Boss. To be quite honest, I’ve never watched it, so I don’t know what to expect.

We got chocolate cannoli, plain cannoli, some red velvet cake thing, and lobster tail. To be honest, the lobster tail was actually quite good and was my favorite of everything. The lobster tail’s pastry thin crust was flaky but not brittle. It tasted like a delicate thin but sturdy crust of a pastel I had at Aldea. The filling was good and not too sweet. The cannolis, to be honest, I could do without. They were actually quite sweet, so I don’t really recommend that as much as the lobster tail if you had to pick one. Lastly, the red velvet cake looking thing was not very good. There wasn’t much cake in it. And if there was, it was blended with all the cream inside.

The Polynesian

Sun, 30 Jun 2019 15:32:05 -0400

Summary

This place is located near 42nd Street and 9 ave in the POD hotel. The restaurant decor is kind of interesting as it does give out a tropical-ish vibe to it. There is an outdoor area that has a lot of those basket woven seats with a cushion on them. From where we sat outdoors, we can see views of the H&M building and the Empire State Building in plain sight.

Kāwi

Sat, 29 Jun 2019 17:15:23 -0400

Summary

We stopped by for lunch for David Chang’s newest Momofuku restaurant and is located in the mall across the street from The Vessel. It’s on the 5th floor near the Bouchon Bakery. Surprisingly, it wasn’t too filled, but then again it’s terribly hot and humid outside.

The trading card cocktail consists of plantation pineapple, cruzan blackstrap, smith & cross rums, trader vic’s macadamia liqueur, curry, and yogurt. I did not like this at all as it was very sweet.

Katsu Hama

Tue, 11 Jun 2019 00:16:35 -0400

Katsu is some of my favorite Japanese food. It’s basically crispy, fried pork cutlets served with a savory sauce. We decided to try this restaurant because it was close to where we were in Midtown. This type of food generally is not overly expensive like other Japanese foods, and it’s pretty filling too. And for whatever reason, the pork cutlets are always really good and hearty too. I’ve also been able to come back to this restaurant several times solo and was able to be seated without much issues.

Tonchin

Tue, 28 May 2019 16:46:29 -0400

Summary

This place has a pretty decent ambiance.

The yuzu margarita was surprisingly pretty good. If you haven’t had yuzu before and like citrus, I recommend you get this if it’s available. I just checked their website’s drink menu, and it’s not on there. This drink wasn’t strong at all, and had a really really good before and after taste. I would drink this over any regular margarita any day.

Victor's Cafe

Sun, 05 May 2019 17:55:03 -0400

Victor’s Cafe is fairly close to Times Square, but not quite in the Theater District. It’s located on 52nd St near 7th ave, and it has had a steady stream of patrons over the last couple years. What is interesting about this restaurant is that the menu is fairly straight forward, and most of the visitors are people referred by past patrons, including myself. I’m not a fan of Cuban food in general, but this restaurant’s food was surprisingly pleasant.

Thai Noodle House

Sun, 24 Mar 2019 21:54:06 -0400

Summary

I was looking for Wondee Siam but somehow ended up here.

Like most Thai places, there are very few that are bad.

The kanom jeeb is pretty decent. It’s like fried shrimp shiu mai balls.

The country style curry was ordered with Chicken. Despite it having 2 pepper signs on the menu, it’s actually not that spicy. The curry was watery, but it’s easy to consume once you mix the rice with the sauce. The sauce has a ton of salty flavor in it though, so I find it a good match with a thai iced tea.

The Wayfarer

Sun, 17 Mar 2019 15:15:11 -0400

Summary

Stumbled onto this while trying to go to Bobby Vans steak. That place was closed unfortunately. The service here was pretty subpar by New York City standards.

The filet mignon was ordered medium rare, but in my opinion it came out medium. The temperature on the steak as a whole came out cold as if it was sitting there for a tad bit too long. The blue cheese sauce was really salty, but perhaps it was there to hide the lack of taste on the steak.

Emporium Brasil

Sat, 16 Feb 2019 23:13:28 -0500

I wrote back in 2019 that this is one of my favorite Brazilian spots because the food and drinks were pretty good. I revisited this with some coworkers to introduce them to Brazilian food again. Keep in mind that this visit is post COVID, so the menu has changed a bit. Gone are the batidas, but fortunately they had other standard Brazilian dishes to order. It is located in “Little Brazil” in Midtown which is literally very few restaurants situated on half the block.

Rice N Beans

Fri, 15 Feb 2019 23:06:11 -0500

Summary

The caipirinhas were decent.

As usual I dislike the coconut flavored ones but appreciate the passion fruit ones.

The feijoada was the actual star here. It’s much better than some of the other Brazilian places I’ve been to. The meat was plentiful, and the flavor is very good.

The bife acebolado was ordered medium rare, and it was cooked medium to medium well. I don’t understand why Brazilian restaurants have problems cooking the meat less than butchering it again. I didn’t find anything great about this.

Ipanema

Sat, 08 Dec 2018 18:52:00 -0500

Back in 2018, I wrote, “The food was surprisingly good, and it’s not pricey at all. They give you free sides of rice and beans, so no worries about ordering that.” Now that I am working out of Midtown and fairly close to some of these Brazilian restaurants, I’ve been curious to try some of them again especially after the pandemic. I don’t recall the decor being as “fancy” before, but the menu looked more refined and sophisticated in a good way. We also did not take pictures the last time we were here, so we thought about trying this restaurant again even though we usually try to not repeat restaurants.

Chirp

Fri, 07 Dec 2018 19:24:07 -0500

The lomo saltado was ok. The sauces cost 60 cents extra.

Topaz Noodle Bar

Sun, 02 Dec 2018 19:26:05 -0500

This place was really good for Thai food. Would love to come back again for their Tom Yum noodle soup and their soft shell crab special. Price was not expensive at all either.

Lady M Cake Boutique

Sun, 02 Dec 2018 19:07:59 -0500

This was in a small mall, and it was pretty good. We got the eclairs and apple flan.

Yoon Haeundae Galbi

Wed, 17 Oct 2018 22:08:34 -0400

I remember visiting Yoon Haeundae Galbi a while back when they first opened. Galbi is basically beef short ribs, and normally in the U.S., these short ribs are rather small. I haven’t found any place in NYC that uses a large rib similar to the ones I had in Suwon, South Korea. When they take the meat off the rib, they also cook the tendons very thoroughly on the grill and it becomes crispy and edible. I’ve been to this restaurant enough times such that I always end up recommending it as a positive alternative to other KBBQ spots.

Berimbau Do Brasil

Sat, 29 Sep 2018 17:28:09 -0400

Berimbau do Brasil is a fairly well known West Village Brazilian restaurant. According to my first and last notes, I had tried the feijoada and the picanha, and both were excellent. My partner was craving a lot of this food recently, so we decided to try the new Midtown location of this restaurant. The menu has changed decently, but we were interested to see if the flavors were still consistent to their West Village location.

Gallagher's Steakhouse

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 22:05:59 -0400

Gallaghers is a steakhouse located in the Midtown area near the Theater District. Similar to other Midtown steak places, this has been around for a while, and it has a very old school feel. I had been here many years ago, but I never took pictures nor tried it with my partner. We were able to walk in for 2 at around 9:30 PM on a Thursday night, and we sat at the bar. Even though the bar area can get crowded, these classic steakhouses an accommodate small parties without much issue if there’s room.

Lobster Press

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 21:24:44 -0400

This is Marc Forgione’s fast food-ish restaurant near Penn Station. I got the chili lobster here, but it’s not as good as having it at the restaurant.

It’s also CLOSED.

Shinshi Ramen

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 20:47:51 -0400

Pretty good tsukemen. Get the spicy miso. Tsukemen seems fairly rare in NYC. Still looking for something similar to LA Tsujita.

Totto Ramen

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 20:38:59 -0400

I think this is still one of my top favorite ramen places in NYC. It’s cash only.

Mentoku Ramen

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 20:35:08 -0400

It seems I only wrote “pretty good” on my spreadsheet, and right now I am drawing a blank about this place.

Ippudo

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 20:28:33 -0400

I had visited Ippudo twice before this time throughout my whole life, once in London and once in the East Village. This original post just had a comment of “Overrated and pricey. I’d skip here any day of the week. Daikokuya in LA is way better”. Because I didn’t take pics of my dinner nearly 4 years ago, I thought about revisiting this Midtown location to try to remember why I was underwhelmed. Let’s just say I now remember why, and it makes perfect sense why I didn’t care for it before.

Ichiran

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 20:18:27 -0400

This is an updated review for the Midtown / Times Square (Theater District) location for Ichiran. I had been to the original Bushwick location years ago, and I didn’t take pictures nor remembered much about it. The only thing I wrote down was it was a much better version of Shinsengumi. Shinsengumi was a popular Torrance (California) restaurant that served hakata style ramen. They also allowed you to select your flavor profiles, and it was far less busy than Ichiran.

Riko Peruvian Cuisine

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 16:31:02 -0400

So bad. The lomo saltado is really dry. Can’t seem to find a decent lomo saltado in NYC.

Ootoya

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 14:26:01 -0400

Pretty good bento boxing place. A little pricey but no need to tip.

Kreuther Chocolate

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 23:21:46 -0400

Across from Bryant Park. Expensive AF chocolate ($3 pp), but the other desserts were amazing. Really good chocolate though.

Maison Kayser

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 23:15:43 -0400

The Christmas log is good. A lot of Frenchy desserts.

Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 22:29:28 -0400

Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao is one of those XLB restaurants that is not often brought up in the XLB fights because it’s not that accessible. The original location is in Flushing, so it’s a bit far from Manhattan. Many people do end up going to Joe’s Shanghai to get their fix, but fortunately now a Manhattan location of this restaurant has opened in Koreatown.

I had originally gone to the Flushing location and said the following:

Daisy May's Bbq

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 17:22:20 -0400

Terrible BBQ. Go here for cheap stale dry meats in tourist hell.

Oh apparently it’s permanently closed.

The Ragtrader and Bo Beep Cocktail

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 01:49:52 -0400

Interesting bar. Bar upstairs is cool. Piano bar downstairs is really KEWL.