Lo bueno:
1) Warmth of service at the door: Maitre d’ projects relaxation and comfort. He’s happy to see you, but not desperately so, even if, or especially if, you’re not a regular.
2) Bar space up front: Bar stools and lounge seating are comfortable and sophisticated touches, especially in the gastro-desert around Asphalt Green.
3) Abbreviated wine list: This is not Veritas, nor does it purport to be. Ten reds and ten whites allow for a quick and easy selection, just what you want at a neighborhood non-destination dinner. Of course, one would think the list would be updated often enough that they wouldn’t be out of the Malbec on the menu.
4) Easy reservation, full house: No problem calling for a table at the last minute, but feels full when you get there. You’ll sense that you made a good choice.
5) Comforting cuisine: Easy, recognizable dishes generally well prepared. Menu leans towards chops and well sourced poultry. Good hearty sides are perfect for a restaurant that lives and thrives on regular local business.
Lo malo y lo feo:
1) Wine service: Bottles opened at room temperature, literally. Reds are straight off the bar rack and could easily stand to drop 15 degrees.
2) Wine markup: Far better restaurants across Manhattan offer less expensive options and a lower markup. If you’re going to serve Smoking Loon, Yellowtail with a different bird, then at least don’t mark it up 3 times, and serve it warm. And if you don’t have my selection, please offer a better wine at the same price. Better yet, reprint your wine list. It can’t cost that much to keep it up to date.
3) Unabbreviated specials list: Offering the same number of specials as regular menu items renders the term “special” meaningless and suggests an inability to make hard choices. This is not a Tasting Room or Cookshop style market driven menu, so please edit the menu down.
4) Waiter logorrhea: The servers spend way too much unprompted time explaining dishes. Elio’s does a similar soliloquy, but at least the heavy accents make for a vague form of cultural tourism. Here it’s a time warp to mid-50’s Continental restaurants. And please don’t pronounce four out of five dishes your favorites. It would be more efficient to tell me what you don’t like, which happened to be what I wanted to order.
5) Skirt steak isn’t your best chop:If it’s your house specialty (not to be confused with the house specials), it should taste special. Mine was electro-broiled and accompanied by bland potatoes. With flavorless cauliflower soup, this would have made for a perfect meal to grind up for an infant or infantile picky eater. I felt like I was eating with a badly congested nose.
Conclusion: Worth it for the neighborhood diners. Beats Sharz for quality, but at a price. Much that’s good, but too-high Zagat ratings reflect typical lowered standards applied to this area. Restaurants don’t live up to overly glowing reviews. They live down to them.
Gray and Grizzled Food Fan 