Time and Tide

Time and Tide comes from the Kent Hospitality Group, which owns restaurants such as Saga and Crown Shy. The head chef, Top Chef winner Danny Garcia, overhauled the menu recently, and we got a chance to experience it. The restaurant was inspired to be a steakhouse modeled fish restaurant. I was easily able to make a reservation for 5:30 PM on a Friday night because the restaurant snipers have moved onto newer restaurants.

From their site:

Located at the corner of 26th Street and Park Avenue, Time and Tide is a New York City restaurant and bar from Kent Hospitality Group. Owned and operated by Chef Danny Garcia, whose menu draws inspiration from the exchange of cultures, bold flavors of his Dominican and Puerto Rican upbringing in Brooklyn, elevated by his experience in Michelin-starred kitchens like The NoMad and Crown Shy.

Guests can expect vibrant vegetable dishes, seafood-driven pastas, large format dishes such as a tuna collar and Dungenuss crab, and playful snacks — nori fries and an oversized cheddar goldfish.

Ambiance & Service

The interior had a lot of concrete breeze blocks along the wall, that give it a very latin influenced interior design. The seats are reasonably comfortable, and the noise level can get pretty loud. The tables are spaced apart well, and there was not a feeling of congestion.

The service was pretty good overall. Our server recommended a good balance of dishes, and the food came out pretty fast.

Food

The Vidiano ‘Young Vines’ ($21) came from Iliana Maliihin, Crete, Greece 2023. This was a very vibrant, soft, smooth, easy to drink Greek wine. It reminds me of the wines offered by the Greek seafood places in Manhattan. It has notable aromas of peach, lemon, citrus, and chamomile. My partner liked this a lot.

The Sea Spritz ($14 during happy hour, $19 regularly) came with sherry, pineapple, honeybush, tonic, and sea lettuce. This was very refreshing with some bubbles, not overly sweet, with some good balance of acidity.

The complimentary Giant Cheese Fish Cracker came with some scallion butter on the side. This was pretty good, and it crumbled more like a cookie than a cracker. Previously before they changed the menu, they had charged for this. I don’t think it’s worth paying because it’s just more fun than anything.

The Prawns a la Plancha ($22) came with mussel butter and miso. The prawns were cooked beautifully and easy to dissect and eat. The shell was mostly edible, including some parts of the head. The mussel butter was wonderfully flavored and complementary to the prawn. We thought this was a very delicious dish, albeit at $11 per prawn.

The Cacio e Pepe Squid ($28) came with talleggio and black pepper. The squid was cooked nicely, but this play on cheese and pepper was not the best. The cheese ended up cooling down, so it started having a thicker glue-like consistency. It was definitely more cheesy than peppery, and flavor wise was pretty one dimensional. It needed some sort of acidity or another flavor dimension to cut through the flavor and thickness of the cheese.

The Blistered Broccolini ($13) came with salsa macha and peanuts. This dish came out strange where more than 75% of the dish was empty. The broccolini was good, though the flavors were pretty straight forward.

The Rolle ‘Clarendon’ ($18) came from Gavoty, Cotes de Provence, France 2020. This was a crispy white wine with minerality and notable aromas of apple and citrus. This was a little harsher than the Vidiano as expected, which I preferred when pairing with some of the more bolder seafood flavors of the crab.

The Dungeness Crab ($88) came with curry, coconut, and vermicelli. This came with a whole crab, and it required you to manually break down parts of the legs. Fortunately, they crack some of the pieces, but they did not provide a shell cracker. If you’re like me and you want to savor all the meats of the crab, you will be left disappointed as the meat sometimes either stuck to the shell due to overcooking or was difficult to get out because it wasn’t cracked in the right places previously. We did end up collecting most of the crab meat. The best part of this was actually the curry coconut dip. Keep in mind that this will be a messy dish with your hands and fingers, so if you prefer not do that, then then this is a definite pass.

This was the Vermicelli portion of the Dungeness Crab dish. This was quite good, and I used this bowl as a catch for any scraps of crab meat. I spent the majority of the time scavenging for crab meat, and I devoured this vermicelli concoction within 5 minutes. The ratio of taste to time was definitely not good. If they served this vermicelli dish by itself, I think it’d be worth getting.

The Creme Caramel ($16 but complimentary from the restaurant) came with dates and pistachio. This was similar to a flan. Unfortunately the texture of the flan was a little hard, and the flavors weren’t quite there for us. The crispy donut on top tasted like a fried churro but felt more greasy than desired.

The Banana Split ($18) came with roasted peanuts and waffle cone. Albeit this was slightly on the expensive side, this was our favorite dessert for the night. The ice cream (chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla) were housemade, and the ingredients overall were pretty good.

Overall Impression

Time and Tide was actually a pretty decent seafood restaurant, and I can see why it falls under the Kent Hospitality Group. The food is exploratory and somewhat experimental, and the flavors do remind me a bit of Crown Shy. I think the Yelp reviews are pretty harsh because people say it’s expensive, but the price really is comparable to the rest of Manhattan upscale seafood prices.

Yelp Jabs

The main gripes: this is an expensive restaurant, so make sure you read the menu online beforehand (don’t accidentally read the lunch menu for dinner!) – I think some of the mains could’ve been $5-10 less expensive for what we got… Overall, we’d come back. Just be mindful of what you’re ordering and come prepared with $$$.

This restaurant’s pricing is comparable to other restaurants that offer similar items. This Yelper probably has a bit of a misconception. In addition, they ordered an espresso shot at a restaurant like this. It should not be a surprise that they are going to up-charge you. If you’re coming here to save money, then that’s probably not a wise decision.

I agreed with the other non-5 star reviews: Portions are very small but prices are high. Admittedly we had the restaurant week menu so we already lowered our expectations, but the portions were so tiny we had to order takeout after this dinner. So what about the taste and creativity? Mediocre at best. Services were attentive and quick

Depending on what you order, the portions can be small. I imagine the restaurant week options were just a lure for people to come and try a sample of things. The menu before we went was definitely very experimental, so they tweaked some things for the second go around. What is funny is that a lot of people that are complaining are upset over the price point. The restaurant is a bit of a ritzy place, and it’s seafood centric. If people are familiar with places like Crown Shy, the prices are not that much different.

Revisions

1. May 16, 2025 - Initial revision.