The Noortwyck
The Noortwyck is a casual restaurant that opened a few years ago by Eleven Madison alums, chef Andrew Quinn and sommelier Cedric Nicaise. What I enjoy a lot about restaurants like these is that the menu isn’t super complicated, and you can easily navigate around. The meal is all meant to be shared, and the portion sizes are very friendly. We booked a reservation for 2 for 5:30 PM on a Friday evening very easily.
Ambiance & Service
The restaurant faces the sun when it sets, so there’s a lot of sun light towards the end of the afternoon. The ambiance had music playing not too loudly, and the noise level from other patrons was OK. There is a bar room virtually separated from the dining room. As the night went on, the atmosphere was very “West Village”-like. There were several dates and several outings from small groups and post-work socials.
The service was very prompt and quick. We were in and out within 90 minutes.
Food
The Syrah ($22) was from Laurent Fayolle, Hauterives, Crozes-Hermitage, France 2024. This syrah had very nice aromas of dark cherries and black berries hence how dark this was. Despite it being dark, it tasted on the medium body side with balance, luscious flavors. I felt like you could sip this wine and really enjoy this too. I got this to pair with the duck later.
The Hamachi ($22) came with yellow curry and radish. This came with 6 slices of hamachi. The yellow curry was subtle with very bright acidity. The radish gave it an earthy flavor and texture. This contained the classic counterbalance to complement raw slices of hamachi.
The Seeded Parker House ($12) came with cultured butter. The bread was soft and very good. For the price, it probably was a bit expensive, but I am glad it wasn’t completely ridiculous. The cultured butter was very smooth and had some nice flavors. I couldn’t tell if it had sheep or goat milk in it, so that might be worth asking if you have any allergies to those.
The Agnolotti ($33) came with nettles, morels, and pistachio. Like the hamachi previously, this had some acid in it. The combination of all these ingredients reminded me of a super nutty and fragrant pesto. The agnolotti was cooked perfectly, and I really enjoyed this all together.
The BBQ Duck Breast ($52) came with smoked beets and grumolo. I was surprised at how large of a plate this was, and they gave you generous portions of duck breast compared to other restaurants. The duck was cooked rare, but it was tender and flavorful. The skin was very thin and delicately crispy. It’s not the best duck breast I’ve ever had in my life, but I was pleasantly surprised by how well they prepared it, and the flavors were all very harmonious. There was a beet-like sauce on the side, that was classically complementary to the duck breast.
The Rhubarb Choux Bun ($16) came with pernod ice cream. I thought this would be like a bun, but it reminded me of cream puff sandwich. Nonetheless, it was decent, though not the best I’ve had. The rhubarb was fairly faint and balanced the sweetness of this dessert.
Overall Impression
The Noortwyck was a surprisingly very commendable casual restaurant for a night out. Everything we ordered tonight tasted pretty good for the value. If you’re in the West Village looking for an outing and loathe finding reservations for a New American casual place, check this restaurant out.
Yelp & Google Jabs
The menu is limited And, beware of the price tag. This restaurant is pricey.
If this Elitist ate at more local West Village restaurants, the menus are all pretty similar. It can be covered by a single page, and they break it down to sections such as appetizers, salads, pastas, and mains. The restaurant pricing might be above average, but it really is no different than nearby places. I wonder if this Elitist went here expecting solo portions. Ideally, the courses here are best shared.
Service was fine but a bit disruptive. Like going through the motions but moving glasses around, interrupting conversations, unnecessarily cleaning the table and moving my stuff… there must be a way to do that in a more elegant way.
This is pretty common in NYC casual restaurants as they are trying to turn tables quicker. This Californian Elitist was probably not used to this behavior. You can always refuse them from cleaning the table if you’d like, but most NYers don’t have an issue with it.
Revisions
- Apr 10, 2026 - Initial revision.