Craftbar cocktails! Great but few.

I went to craftbar (tom colicchio's casual restaurant in flatiron) for drinks, and decided to try out some cocktails rather than usually going for wine.

The craftbar margarita was nice, with campari and grapefruit. Then I had a "fall spiced" old fashioned that was fantastic. So I had another. Both were classic cocktails with an unexpected twist. The bartender (who looked like Ed Norton) then suggested he make me a sidecar. I haven't had one in ages, usually because they are never made well, but went with his enthusiasm. It was the best sidecar I've ever had.

My only gripe is that there were so few cocktails on the list. Isn't it called craft "bar" after all? Nice wine selection, though.

I've been before, and I'll go back for sure to have more sidecars.

oenophile81 in Manhattan

Skip the Harrison... and the Red Cat. Terrible service.

Last year for my birthday I gathered a few of my favorite people for a celebratory dinner at the Harrison. The meal started off well, with helpful wine service and menu options. I'd dined there before and loved both the food and the style of the place. Unfortunately, as the night was ending, we were met with difficulty from the staff. We had three savory courses, and they hurried to put entrees down before we had finished our midcourse. Only at my urging did they return to the kitchen (we had only received our mids about four minutes before) I understand closing time was near, trust me, I've been in the service industry for over a decade, and the last seating was filtering out of the restaurant, but they should never put two courses down at once. I wasn't paying for diner style eating. The food suffered. The steak that I had decided to spend nearly 40 dollars on came out very overcooked. And no server or manager checked in once entrees were down. I didn't want to make a fuss, so I let it go.

Then, we wanted a cheese course before dessert. We were told no. We had to order them together. Unfortunate, because I wanted to order more wine for that course. At this time it wasn't yet midnight, and our bill was over a thousand dollars. And I was willing to spend much more.

Desserts were good, but when I ordered Armagnac, and my friend ordered a Cognac, they came out massively underpoured. I am a seasoned bartender, and a certified sommelier. The pour was one ounce. I sent them back and told the server to give me the proper pour. It was insulting. At this point, the remaining staff was standing around the bar, uniforms a mess, loudly conversing and putting together cashouts. The atmosphere was completely inhospitable and we were ignored, rushed, and meant to feel unwelcome. As we were leaving, my dinner guests all commented on this.

A dining experience which started out so promising was a mess at the end. And we had spent a very good amount of money on this special occasion.

I didn't dine at the Danny Abrams restaurants for a while after that. Until recently.

My partner and I decided to celebrate our first anniversary at the Red Cat. Again, nice environment and helpful wine service. Good menu options. I had the warm Crottin de Chavignol salad. When it came out I noticed the chef had served not crottin but Bucheron. A comparable replacement of course. But when I asked the waiter, he corrected me, saying it was a larger than average crottin that was split in half. Untrue. It was Bucheron. I didn't appreciate being wrongly corrected in a case where I was sure of myself. But it was delicious nonetheless. The main courses emerged and were very good as well, especially the pork tenderloin. The side dish we ordered did not come to the table, and the waiter said he'd fire it and it would be just a few minutes. Once entrees were cleared, we asked him to cancel that part of the order. Before dessert, I stole away to ask the server to do something special for us (other than a candle) since it was our first anniversary, and gave him the dessert order.

I never saw our server after that and nothing special was done. Desserts were great though, as were the after dinner drinks. We paid with a woman who I assume was the closing waiter at the time.

Again, I found myself less than happy with the service on a special occasion. Albeit not nearly as unhappy as I had been with my birthday at the Harrison.

For the record, I've been a waiter, bartender, sommelier, and barista and I understand each of the things that went wrong. There were alot, and on both occasions. Also, being in the industry, when I choose to spend $100-$200 a head on dinner for a special night, it really is special for me. I don't do it often.

Worst of all, I decided to email the management of the Red Cat to discuss this. I did like the restaurants other than my bad experiences after all. But nobody got back to me. They lost me.

If you're thinking about going to one of these restaurants, don't. Cookshop is of the same style and far better, with great service. Or check out Trestle on Tenth, or Hearth in the East Village. These are all far better choices with great hospitality.

oenophile81 in Manhattan

Gramercy Tavern or Gotham?

GRAMERCY TAVERN!!! They are far and away more current and a phenomenal dining experience. When I went to Gotham, it felt like a restaurant that peaked in the 90s and was still open and doing alright. The "tall food" thing, albeit a hallmark of the restaurant, is dated. Gramercy is at it's best and has been for a couple years in my book. And it's a great experience. The staff is warm and thoughtful (gotham is... satisfactory or less), the ambience is great with the open grill in the tavern, the flowers are beautiful, the wine list is excellent (gotham's is archaic). I would go to Gramercy in a heartbeat. And I probably won't go back to Gotham.

oenophile81 in Manhattan