Very good for lunch
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Food
I had the mushroom pasta and the black miso cod. The Pasta was delicious, very rich and earthy like i expected (and the bread we were served was very handy in mopping up the sauce) and the pasta was well cooked. The Miso Black cod was extremely tasty, the fish was perfectly cooked as was the veggies and rice. My only regret was that i didn't order something more 'unique' to the restaurant as this seemes to be a common dish.
My wife ordered a warm mushroom salad and the free range chicken, She enjoyed the mushrooms and other stuff in the salad but was overwhelmed by the greenery on it (which was almost comical in how over the top it was stacked). As for the chicken it was perfectly cooked and she enjoyed it. personally I'm not a fan of chicken, esp chicken breast so i found the sample i had disappointing (but it's not something i would have ordered in the first place). The root veggies that came with the chicken were really well done.
About the only disappointment with the food was the lack of options at lunch, the menu was really heavy on seafood, it would have been nice to have more non seafood options as an appetizer or an entree. Also the soup selection was disappointing, Both of us really wanted soup but the one they had (celery and pear) just sounded blah.
We had the chocolate cake for desert and it was very good, it came with gingerbread ice cream which i didn't care for (but then I'm not a ginger fan) but she loved.
Service.
Service was friendly, we were early for our reservation but were seated immediately coat and bag check was very nice and the hostess was as friendly as you'll find in a place like this in NYC. Service was a bit stuffy but again that is to be expected in a place like this and it wasn't as bad as you'll find in other places. The lack of a dress code was also very nice
Overall
It was great for a 'special lunch' not sure if I'd come back for a dinner as I'm not sure if the same value would be there.
Pros: Good food, lack of dress code, not as stuffy as it may seem
Cons: Limited lunch menu, some dishes are rather generic