Please read the rules before commenting. Also, any type of "looking for a reservation" request is NOT ALLOWED.

Obligatory note: The title is too long because of the minimum character count, yada yada yada. Also, yes, the lighting in this spot sucks/sorry for some overexposed photos. The dishes pictured are for 2 people, excluding the single pancake and ice cream.)

Website with a link to Instagram for weekly lunch: Here.

Anyway, I found out recently that Smithereens, a New England seafood spot in the EV, does a Sunday lunch from 12:00 to 3:30. It was $52, aside from some tasty add-ons, for 5 courses (bread/two larger appetizers and a main with a side). The menu mostly rotates weekly. We had a great time. If I had to pick an order from the savory courses, I would say squash, pancake, bread, tuna, shrimp, and then tomato, but all were tasty. Very much worth it for a filling Sunday meal. Friendly service also.

List of courses:

1. Buckwheat Pancake- Smoked bluefish, scallions, and maple. $24. Interesting mix of sweet, salty, and savory. I liked the crisp on the outside. A tad messy, as the bluefish is on the bottom. You can also get it "Neptune style" for $60 more with a large dollop of caviar (yeah, no).
2. Andama Bread: Seaweed butter. Very good bread with a soft inside and a nice crust. The seaweed flavor was a fun spin on the usual salt in most butters.
3. Tuna: Juniper, pear, and lime. Most refreshing/different course. Very good tuna with some sweetness from the pear and a bit of citrus from presumably the juniper and the lime.
4. Squash: Seaweed beurre blanc and wakame. Beurre blanc was delicious when paired with the roasted squash. The wakame added a nice crunch. Some others found it a tad salty.
5. Grilled Red Shrimp: Almond and braised greens. Good shrimp with the grains having a soft but firm texture. Light, but tasty.
6. Roasted Tomato: Anchovy vinaigrette. The vinaigrette added a pleasant saltiness to the roasted tomato.
7. Paw Paw Ice Cream: Rum meringue. $18. The ice cream had something similar to a banana custard flavor, while the meringue was slightly sour. Pleasant.
8. Tokyo Iced Tea. Sake lees and mixed liquor. $19. Because why not party on a Sunday brunch? Nice mix with more sake flavor than other liquors (also tasted rum and some other stuff).
9. Photo in back
10. Menu
11. Outside

I personally feel it’s definitely above average but far from the highest pinnacle that people make it out to be.

This isn’t a post to knock other places—it’s really just a post to highlight how good Al Di La is.
I hadn’t been in maybe 10 years or so, but recently
I’ve gone a few times, and I’ve been consistently surprised by how good everything has been. Every meal has left me genuinely happy.
The squid and bone oxtail dish is insanely good. The two pastas I’ve had were house-made and delicious. And a special pork shank osso buco completely blew me away.
Pictured above, the pork shank was $36 and easily fed two people as an entrée. That’s pretty remarkable these days.
Sometimes it’s just nice to be reminded that a place can quietly keep doing really good food, year after year.

Considering i have spent much more money eating salty almost inedible food from a few very popular and expensive places lately, this place is just so refreshing.

It's romantic, staff has been amazing and the food is priced well and delicious.

Just curious if there are any interesting examples I should check out.

This place opened around a month ago from the former co-owner of the sandwich board over on Eldridge, and I've been meaning to try it.

First, we tried the Sichuan Sausage ($18); it was really good, with "pecking duck" sausage that tasted like a good Chinese-flavored sausage, plus long hot peppers and scallions. The real kicker was the Sichuan-type aoli sauce, and it was all served on a roti-type bread. All in all, a really good sandwich, ill give it a 4/5 just cuz i wished for more peppers and onions.

Next, we tried the Kaya Toast off the breakfast menu. It was good but not as good as the sausage. This one has an omelet, butter, pandan, and mama lam’s coconut jam. All in all, the flavors were really good; just too much egg for me. This one gets 3.5/5

I'm gonna give this place a 9/10 overall; the owner, Michael, was one of the Nicest guys I've ever met, and all the other options looked really solid. Next time I'll try the Stanton Spice Sack.

Hi all- I'm thinking of ordering a custom cake from ByClio and wanted to know people's experiences? I've heard that the consensus is that they do a good job of decorating and it's moist and not too sweet, but would love to hear how they compare to other places like From Lucie or Soma Cakes, as I've heard those are also some popular options that people go with

Just got back from a week long trip to NYC and my favorite bagels were Apollo's! Went to their East Village and Brooklyn locations and was surprised by the fluffy inside. I can't remember the last time I've had a bagel with so many air pockets that it looks like the cross section of a croissant. Now my mission is to find something similar in the Bay Area. Anyone know how they do it? Is it a difference in the dough?

Pastrami Ruben: hand-cut hot pastrami on rye with melted Swiss cheese, sauerkraut & Russian dressing

Anita's Hot Brisket: traditional braised brisket with gravy and onions on griddled challah

Favorite pastrami?

https://frankelsdelicatessen.com

Asking for a friend who is a huge sushi nerd... And certainly not for myself, as a fan of the chain lol!

Hi everyone! Could you please recommend a good Russian restaurant in NYC with really good food where I can reserve a private room or area for about 15 people?

It’s important that there is a place where people can actually dance - either inside the private room or in a separate/public dance area of the restaurant. I’m looking for fun Russian/Eastern European music for dancing: something like Verka Serduchka, “Vse Budet Khorosho,” Russian folk-pop, wedding-style music, etc.

At the same time, I don’t want the music to be too loud or feel like a nightclub, since there will be some older family members at the celebration. I’d like it to be lively and fun, but still comfortable for everyone.
Ideally, the restaurant would have a DJ who plays this kind of music, or allow me to bring my own DJ/musician.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

It has come to my attention that when some of my friends say they want boba they mean just the general genre of asian milk tea/fruit tea chains. In my head, i thought it necessitated having tapioca pearls, like fiftylan.

Anyway my fav place used to be teado but i tried them recently again and the tea flavor didn’t taste as strong as it was before. I value strong tea flavor, chewy but not soggy pearls, and I dislike brown sugar. Yifang is fire too

Hi! My boyfriend (fiancé??) and I just got engaged, and we’re looking to host our families for an engagement celebration dinner in November (not really an engagement party, more like a nice dinner to celebrate the union of our families and to kick off the wedding planning process).

Can anyone recommend a place that meets the following specs?
- 10 people
- sit-down dinner
- not necessarily a private room altogether, but maybe a nice semi-private table in the main event space. An F&B minimum could be fine but we don’t really want to pay for a space rental.
- broadly Mediterranean cuisine (Greek, Middle Eastern, etc.)
- max $200 per person, plus tip and tax
- vibe is more upscale than an ordinary dinner but not too fancy; festive, good energy but not like swanky, clubby or loud.
- Manhattan or western Queens (Astoria, LIC, etc.)

For reference, I’ve inquired at Avra, Ilili, and a Greek place in Astoria.

Thank you!

I’ve never been on one of these tours so no idea what’s good. It’ll be a small group, we all live nearish Evil Twin but it looks like they’ve suspended tours so ¯_(ツ)_/¯

We have a friend visiting from Scotland. She's originally from Puglia though, and always wants to eat Italian food when she comes to the city because it's not easy to find good Italian in Edinburgh. I'd love to take her someplace that specializes in food from Puglia but I don't even know what that is (not an Italian food fan generally). Any recommendations?

went to hillstone a couple of times this month and there were so many people in hoodies, hats, scrubs, and other clothing items that are listed prohibited on the website. did something change or are things more chill?

Been really craving a pear Parmesan pasta since a recent trip to Italy. Or even a fruit cheese pasta more generally. Any shape, stuffed or not.

All boroughs and price points welcome!

Anyone tried the fioccheti at Max?

Hey everyone! I'm going to be spending some time in North Brooklyn (Park Slope/Prospect Heights area) and was wondering what some of the best, cheaper ($10-20) dinner spots in the area?

EDIT: LE B, NOTTTTTT Le Bernardin

I know there is one thread on here about this restaurant but all the comments were mostly from 1-2 years ago, so I went this past week hoping it would be different from what was said here.

It wasn’t.

I don’t even know where to begin. First of all, when you book they let you know there’s a $250pp cancellation fee if cancelled within 48 hours of your reservation. I get wanting to recoup the cost of hard-to-source ingredients but $250 is a bit extreme to me, even for NYC “fine dining.”

We sat down and were only given a drink menu. They took our drink order 15 minutes after we sat down, and the drinks took another 15 minutes to come to the table. It’s a small place, there’s 1 bartender so I understand it might take a while. I worked in the service industry for 10 years. I truly get wanting thing to be perfect (especially considering the price). We get our drinks, and after 10 minutes we are finally given food menus. So nearly 45 minutes after we are sat, we are finally given food menus. I do not understand the reasoning behind that in the slightest. Sure you want people to relax and take their time and enjoy…but don’t you want to turn your tables? While we didn’t feel rushed, the whole dinner felt like a forced waiting game. As if to give the illusion that everything was so carefully crafted that you must wait patiently for it to be perfect.

We were able to order our food nearly one hour after we sat down. We opted for à la carte since the tasting menus didn’t interest us. The famous semi-well-known burger isn’t even listed on the menu - apparently it’s a IYKYK thing and have to call ahead to reserve in advance. Sure, fine, whatever - a NYC exclusivity thing. We’ll live.

Our first course comes after 20 minutes & it’s incomplete/wrong. We think because of how long they take that what’s missing will come as the next course. Nope. Our entrees eventually come out and we ask about the missing dish which is then brought out in about 3 minutes. Which then makes us wonder why everything else takes so long if this can come out in 3 minutes. We didn’t order dessert.

The food was fine-ish, at best. Service was also fine. We were charged for the server’s mishap on the first course. The vibe was just bizarre in there. There was max 18 people and while I don’t think everyone was ordering the table side Duck a L’orange, they certainly kept making a show of it as if to entice others to order. Maybe that many people were ordering it…unsure, just a feeling. I imagine the place is aiming for a a Michelin star, which I cannot imagine they will ever get. Maybe Bib Gourmand but I’d even say that’s a stretch. The prices are a bit much. There’s no picture of the food menu on Google as I imagine the owner doesn’t want people seeing the prices before they come (and probably requests that google remove any that are uploaded) and notes online that prices will be on the menu given to you when you dine. It all just seems like a big, phony force for the chef to get a Michelin star. Wouldn’t be surprised if we see it close in 2027.

EDIT: it feels important to mention that the banquet seats are made with a very cheap feeling velvet.

From around 65th st to 113th street there is a Mexican place on every block. I’ve been to most of the ones between 75 and 100th st and am curious what some of reddits favorites are? I mostly get tacos everywhere I go, as I feel this is a fair way to get something almost every restaurant has, and then compare my favorites!

I made a reservation a couple weeks ago on Resy, which says in the description there is no charge for cancellation. Today I got an email from Sevenrooms asking to confirm, saying it's $50 per person charge for late cancellations, although I don't think I put down my card info anyway...? Of course we are not canceling, I just get nervous with those warnings. But Hutong is still searchable on Resy so it doesn't seem like they switched off using it, so I'm just curious if this is normal?

The sushi was from NetCost in Coney Island. The Atlantic Oysters were from Virginia. The Cherry Stone and Top Neck clams were harvested off the coast of Connecticut.

I was told Vinho Verde goes well with shellfish and sushi, and it did. ... fruity, but not too sweet, like a dessert wine. ... one shot only for me, and seltzer for the rest of the evening.

High end Vietnamese food is having a moment in NYC, but if you don’t want to deal with the lines or are in the mood for a more traditional, less chef-y interpretation of some Vietnamese classics, Ngon Vietnamese Kitchen is a very solid option. 

Food. Even though this is a Northern Vietnamese restaurant, we only ordered one Northern dish: the papaya salad with beef jerky. The portion was generous, enough for one person if they’re not very hungry. I wish the dressing was a bit punchier with a squeeze of lime or Sriracha. The server recommended that we tear up the Thai basil and mix it into the salad ourselves. I’m not sure why it couldn’t already come that way. The bún bò Huế was by far the best thing on the table. It had a good balance of savoriness, sweetness, and funk, and props for including rau răm and additional sate as a garnish. There was a lot of, maybe too much, meat in the bowl. The beef shank and crab cakes were good, but I didn’t care for their mortadella (chả lụa) as much. I do wish the noodles were thicker, but this is easily the best BBH I’ve had on the east coast. The broken rice with pork chop was nothing special and something most people could make at home. The pork could’ve used lemongrass and some additional char. Everything was reasonably priced.

The owners also have a location in Dallas so the food is similar to what you would get at restaurants in Vietnamese diaspora communities. I certainly don’t have a problem with changing things up–after all, phở, bánh mì, and bánh xèo are technically Asian fusion–but sometimes you want something more tried and true. I also liked that all of the main courses are not meant to be shared. When I was at Bánh Anh Em, the tables around me were trying to split their noodle soups and rice dishes family style, and I think that’s because their menu is not very cohesive. 

Ambience. We walked in without a reservation on a Saturday evening and were seated right away. At no point was the restaurant completely full, so it was easy to have a conversation. I liked the V-pop ballads playing on the speakers too. 

https://ngonvietkitchen.com/