New York City Restaurant Tips by Gypsystravels

Restaurant Name: Fagiolini



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Theme: Italian
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Phone: (212) 883-9555
Address: 334 Lexington Avenue
Directions: At 39th Street. NW corner.

Restaurant Name: Slainte

Ferni and I enjoying coming here, whether on a weekday after work for some food and a few drinks, or for a Sunday game. The food is really good with excellent prices. The atmosphere is comfortable and energetic especially during any sports broadcasting.

The pub/restaurant is large and we always find a table towards the front. Our waitress Stephanie is so perky, always whizzing by and on point with all the drink orders. You never have to wait for a refill and rarely have to flag her down.

Service here is excellent and Patrick one of the owners is always wandering around making sure everything is good. If you get here early on a Sunday ask him which tv will be broadcasting the game of your favorite team, if no one else has requested a particular tv, he'll accommodate you with your request.

Favorite Dish: Almost all of their selections are good (except the nachos). We had he chicken tenders, fries, burger, potato skins, steak and eggs just to name a few.

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Theme: Pub/Brewery
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Phone: 212 253 7030
Address: 304 Bowery
Directions: Between Bleecker & Houston
Website: http://www.slaintenyc.com

Restaurant Name: Bourgeois Pig

We had originally made reservations to have dinner at "Honey" but when that fell through we decided to make our way here.

The Bourgeous Pis is more of a lounge than restaurant with very small tables, chairs and booth like settes. It's quite an interesting setting which begins with the "character" out front. He looked like a skinny version of Johnny Depp, hat and glasses included. He was a really friendly guy and approached us to ask how many were in our party. He said he had a table large enough for our party of 6 and would hold it until we were all there.

Upon entering the "Pig" we felt were we entering a scene from HELL!! There are small tables and chairs scattered throughout the lounge with only two areas large enough for a party of 6-8. The walls are dark, very dark, with a beautiful hand blown Murano chandelier as the centerpiece.

It was a nice experience with some really good friends, wine and fondue!!

Favorite Dish: There is a very large selection of drinks which are quite unique with every combination made with either wine, beer or champagne. The menu is small with 4-5 variations of fondue, cheese platters and appetizers!

We ordered three bottles of wine, two red, one white for the table which were quite nice. We were here for fondue and the waitress graciously made a few suggestions. The Blue Cheese Fondue with Honey was exceptional as well as the 5 Italian Cheese Fondue (not quite as good). The Fondues each came with a large selection of breads, fruits, olives, roasted peppers and some potatoes. We also ordered the Brie wrapped with filo dough which is a favorite cheese of mine!!

We skipped the dessert as we were all very much stuffed from all the cheese fondue!

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Theme: French
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$21-30  » Currency Converter
Phone: 212-475-2246
Address: 111 E. 7th Street
Website: http://www.thepigny.com/

Restaurant Name: The Smith

Andy and Rita (hopkid) were in town for a quick visit and decided to have a VT Sunday Brunch get together, and The Smith is where we met.

Ferni and I had passed the restaurant many times but had never ventured in because it was always so crowded, so when Andy asked for suggestions for places to have brunch, The Smith was top on my list of places I wanted to try out.

Andy made reservations for 5 of us (highly recommended) for 12:00 pm Sunday Brunch. We were seated quite promptly at a nice both.

The restaurant is nicely decorated with old black and white photos and paintings, with nice booths, tables and waitstaff.

The waitress brought to out table two bottles of water, one with gas and one without and promptly asked for our order. We placed our drink order and upon her return with the drinks we placed our meal order.

When all our meals arrived the waitress realized that Sara's meal hadn't and she quickly ran back to get it. We all started to enjoy our tasty dishes when a waiter comes over with a "complimentary" french toast (with yummy maple butter and caramelized bananas) for making her wait...what a nice touch. The brunch prices are very reasonable and include a choice of one drink.

We all enjoyed our meals, company and the conversation. I would definitely plan to come here again.

Favorite Dish: I ordered the "Croker" smoked ham, gruyere cheese, sourdough rye with a fried egg, yum, was a very nice portion and I couldn't eat it all. Rita ordered the chicken sausage + eggs
spicy corn bread, gravy, home fries (she was able to substitute poached eggs for egg white scrambled), Andy had the smoked salmon benedict home fries, Mark had the steak and eggs and Sara had the egg white omelette spinach, goat cheese, home fries.

Three of us ordered the Passion punch, a mojito with passion fruit, Sara had the orange juice and Mark ordered a mimosa.

We were all very satisfied and happy with our selections.

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Theme: Eclectic/International
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Phone: 212-420-9800
Address: 55 Third Avenue
Directions: Between 10th & 11th Streets
Website: http://www.ctrnyc.com/THESMITH/index.html

Restaurant Name: Cuba Cafe

At Tom's suggestion we had dinner and a few drinks here before venturing out to Cielo for a bit of dancing and more drinking :)

We arrived sometime around 9ish and the restaurant was a bit crowded but we were sitted immediately, there were 5 of us for dinner that night. The waiter came over, gave us our menu and asked if we wanted to start the night with a drink. We placed our drink order while we checked out the menu.

Everything on the menu looked good and the prices are very reasonable. We were all very happy with our choice of meal and drinks.

Favorite Dish: I ordered the arroz con pollo and red beans with a side of fried yuca, it was delicious but too much food for me. I washed that down with a very yummy Mojito.

The rest of the gang ordered a few diffierent appetizers like the empanadas, some rice, and a few other items I can't remember.

We did order some dessert. I had the most delicious flan de coco, which was served in a coconut!!

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Theme: Other
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Phone: (212) 633-1570
Address: 200 8th Ave between 20 and 21st
Directions: Chelsea
Website: http://www.chelseadining.com/cubacafe/index.php

Restaurant Name: Stanton Social

What an amazing restaurant/lounge. I would have to describe the food as nuovo french/asian/ecclectic as the choices were so varied!!

Ro choose this restaurant for her Birthday Bash Dinner and she couldn't have choosen a better location. The food was amazing and it seemed like it kept on coming. She choose a prix fix with an assortment of appettizers that were all so yummy!!

The service was impeccable and the meals even better, my only complain would be that we had a 9:30 pm dinner reservation and our table wasn't ready to well past 10:00, during this time we waited upstairs in their lounge/bar!!

Favorite Dish: Ro choose a prix fix menu which was printed out on a menu card...everything on the menu was served! Will be back with a full list :)

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Theme: Other
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$21-30  » Currency Converter
Phone: (212) 228-9955
Address: 47 Essex St

Restaurant Name: Arte

After hearing my ex-worker and fellow foodie - Stephanie - talk about the service and food at this little Italian restaurant I decided to take my girlfriend Miriam here for a special thank you for being a great friend and helping me out during some really hard times!!

The restaurant has a few seats out front, an decent size restaurant and a really nice patio out back. We arrived sometime around 6:30 pm and decided to enjoy the nice weather out in the patio. The restaurant has a cozy, casual ambiance. The patio was really cute, with trope l'oeil decorating the walls. The wait staff was very attentive, gracious, friendly and attentive. We lingered on having a wonderful conversation for hours and we weren't rushed out of the restaurant. The check was brought to us after I requested it and they didn't push more drinks on us when our glasses were practically empty. All and all a wonderful experience with excellent food selections.

Favorite Dish: As we were seated the waiter promptly brought our menus, discussed their specials for the day and took our drink order. Miriam and I both decide to have a nice Pinot Grigio with some sparkling water.

For appetizers we decided to share the mussels, yum..they were excellent. I decided to have the Sea Bass which was served with a side of vegetables. Miriam had the linguini with shrimp.

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Theme: Italian
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$21-30  » Currency Converter
Phone: 212-473-0077
Address: 21 East 9th Street
Directions: Between 5th Ave and University Ave

Restaurant Name: Zaitzeff

I had wanted to try the burger at Zaitzeff and recently discovered a take out version here in the financial district. The restaurant is pretty small, with two large communal tables as you enter the and the counter to place your order directly in front of the tables. There is another table along the window to your right as you enter.

They have a chalk board with the limited menu and prices. You place your order at the counter while your burger is made to order, be patient, as you usually have to wait at least 10 minutes for your burger. The basic "beef" burger comes with sauteed onions, lettuce and tomatoes, extra for cheese or any other topping. The fries are just as good and you can order either regular fries, sweet potato fries or what they call a "mixed" with a combination of both fries.

The burgers are very delicious especially on the Portuguese roll they are served on.

Favorite Dish: I've ordered the cheddar burger with sautéed onions, a side of sweet potato fries and a bottle of Pellegrino. The burger was quite juicy and the fries were excellent. The basic burger is $8.95 with extra toppings starting at $1.25. The fries are $5.00.

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Theme: Other
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Phone: 212-571-7272
Address: 72 Nassau
Directions: By Financial District
Website: www.zaitzeffnyc.com

Restaurant Name: Osteria del Circo

It was restaurant week and my girlfriend Miriam and I decided it would be the excellent opportunity to try out a new restuarant for us both while catching up with life.

Miriam did all the research and decided upon this Italian Restaurant. Decorated very tastfully with a circus theme with ribbons and arobatic robots resembling circus animals and acts made for a very interesting night.

We arrived 20 minutes earlier than our reservations and we were asked if we wanted to be seated or enjoy a drink at the bar. They also inquired if we were going to the theatre after dinner. We decided we wanted to be seated early and enjoy our drinks at the table. We did wait a about 15 minutes before order was taken even thought at this point the restaurant was not crowded. After ordering our drinks and our dinner selections we enjoyed our conversation to very low and smooth music which made our experience quite enjoyable.

Our appetizers were served prompty, and our meal about 15 minutes thereafter. The presentation was quite nice.

To top our wonderful experience, we weren't rushed or given the check right after our dishes were cleared...we were allowed to continue enjoying our drinks at out leisure even thought by this time the restuarant was quite crowded.

The restaurant is a great place for an intimate dinner, with friends or alone. I witnessed quite a few people dining alone.

If you fancy dining out doors, they do have outdoor seating.

Favorite Dish: For restaurant week the price fix menu was $35 including appetizer, main meal and dessert. While Miriam decided to stick to the price fix menu (there was an item she wanted to try), I decided to try their Sea Bass.

I had the Mesclun Salad with Shaved Pecorino Cheese and the Mediterranean Sea Bass Baked in a Salt Crust with Grilled Vegetables. For dessert I had this wonderful caffe latte ice cream with some sort of tort (sorry, can't remember the name). I had the Bellini with my meal which was quite delicious. I thoroughly enjoyed the Sea Bass and would say it is one of the best fish meals I have had.

Miriam's meal consisted of Tuna, Salmon and Sea Bass Carpaccio as an appetizer and her main mail was the Grilled Salmon Guazzetto and for dessert she had the Vanilla Panacotta with Strawberry Compote. He choice of drink was the Froze Cosmopolitan, yum!!

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Theme: Italian
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$31-40  » Currency Converter
Phone: 212-265-3636
Address: 120 West 55th Street
Website: www.osteriadelcirco.com

Restaurant Name: Yankee Clipper

Our usual Thursday night outings normally takes us to either a new place to eat or an old favorite. We were making this a movie night and we wanted a place that served good hearty food, where we wouldn't have to wait long, and where we would be able to place and enjoy our meal within an hour (we were trying to make the movie on time). I'd been wanting to try this restaurant since a few co-workers raved about the hearty and excellent burgers so we decided to take a chance and see how crowded it was.

We arrived sometime around 5:30 pm and the restaurant wasn't crowded at all. The dining area is quite large with large screen T.V.s throughtout the restaurant, cozy booths and tables and ticker banners with the usual stock market information. Some of the tables even have their own monitor to watch the races (apparently the majority of the patrons bet on the ponies!).

Upon being seated we were given the food and drink menu and the server disappeared returning shortly with glasses of water and prepared to take our order.

I decided I was going to order the burger, Ferni ordered his usual chicken strips. My burger was excellent and Ferni's chicken strips (he loves his chicken) where quite good as well. We definitely enjoyed our meal and plan to add this restaurant to our list of "best places for burgers", that's how good and juicy the burgers where!!

Favorite Dish: I ordered the cheddar burger medium with sauteed onions which came with a side of very good flavored fries. The burger was delicious, very juicy and meaty and was seasoned very well. Ferni had the chicken strips with a side of fries. The chicken strips were excellent!!

We were both pleased with our meals. The burger here is one of the best I have had in the city (and I've tried many great places for burgers), but I rather have a burger here than anywhere else.

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Theme: American
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Phone: (212) 344-5959
Address: 170 John St
Directions: South Street Seaport Area