I gave up on EMP when I went for the grid menu and as one bland and uninteresting dish followed another my mind couldn’t help dwelling on all the better meals I’d had which cost 1/5 the price.
Of the places mentioned above the only one I’ve been to is Jungsik which I adore.
It’s such a bad feeling. We once did a tasting menu along with wine pairings at Babbo. This was years ago. I remember laughing out loud at how bad the experience was.
Looked into a private event a few months ago, and they no longer do meat for private events
You’re a bit out of line here. If “mostly seafood” is what you and your friends didn’t like about the food, then that speaks against your review, not the restaurant. Maybe you should stick to steakhouses…
Chefs Table at Brooklyn Fare is the WORST meal I have had at a high end restaurant in my life. The seafood was tasteless. Is that clear or do I need to write it again?
A restaurant experience is personal and EVERYBODY is entitled to their opinion provided they have eaten there. I don’t usually post but it was memorably bad for the four of us. Others may disagree and they are entitled to their opinion which I respect.
Is your argument that NYC doesn’t have good tasting menu restaurants or good 3 star tasting menus? I generally agree that 3 star nyc food isn’t that exciting, but just below that are some great set menu options.
The latter—agree on there being good non-three-star tasting menus. Was really thinking of the global class of restaurant with 10-30 courses that is generally three-star or trying to be. I find the good tasting menus in the city are those in the 5-8 course one-/two-star category.
Ok, I think there is some confusion here over this sentence you wrote in your initial review of CTBF: “Menu was heavy on seafood and bland.”
Are you saying the meal was not good because it was mostly seafood and you don’t like seafood in general?
Or are you saying the meal was not good because the seafood dishes did not taste good and were not prepared well?
Most people responding to you think you are saying the former. I am assuming you are saying the latter, but even I’m not sure considering your review of CTBF does sound like you were faulting the restaurant for serving mainly seafood.
Thanks for highlighting my miscommunication. Let me clarify, the issue was the quality of seafood dishes prepared rather than it being seafood
Chef’s Table can be decidedly uncomfortable. Food can be great, but a meal where the chef is super intense to the degree that it stresses his staff to the point of panic can ruin a night. You can absolutely have a bad experience there and lots of people have. I’ve never had a great experience at a Major Food Group restaurant. The Grill always struck me as a tourist trap. Shion for me hits the highest highs, but the whole meal doesn’t stay at that level. Yoshino does. Noz is great when the chef is there, which is not on weekends last time I checked.
I remember back in the day one of the fondest memories was Del Posto before they changed chefs. I would go to the bar for a la carte and it would be fabulous. Gone are those days 
Jumping back in here, as I think this thread has lost some direction. I repeat my view on fine and other dining in New York City, based on living and dining here for 45 plus years in both top and many other restaurants here that don’t and aren’t interested in the buzz or hype and choose to remain far under the radar for the best of reasons. Akin to finest bottles of wine and vintages, there exists only great bottles no universally great vintages or full cases of the best wine and champagne. Same with food!
I’ve dined at most of the restaurants mentioned above and on multiple occasions including Brooklyn Fare, Aska, Noz, Joomak, Claud, ( headed there this upcoming Wednesday night ), Via Carota, The Grill, Carbone, The Modern, Kreuther, etc etc etc. etc. so I think I speak from the voice of both experience and knowledge. Robert Dentice though we’ve never met is well acquainted with many people I am and has creed as far as I’m concerned as to his restaurant choices etc. I’ve dined a dozen times at Brooklyn Fare and I’ve had off nights. It hasn’t stopped me from going back.
Let me please emphasize one more time; Like those memorable mind etching great bottles of wine, there are merely great dishes. And yes there are great and terrible dining experiences, it’s part of the game and experience of dining.
Greg K can chime in if he chooses on Blue Hill at Stonebarns for instance from last Spring, or as Alan has already on Via Carota. If one tempers your expectations, more often than not you’ll encounter a very pleasant experience plus and an excellent dish or extraordinary dish or two. Profound dishes can be found in so many NYC and other major food destination cities but don’t expect a home run for everything you order.
This past week I had 3 profound dishes in two restaurants no one is chasing to be at or has to go to or be seen at. And it wasn’t at Via Carota where I had the distinct pleasure to dine and reconnect with Alan and Denise Weinberg last Sunday but at my lunch last Friday both I and a friend enjoyed 2 dishes that are front and center on my list of my dishes of the year and I’m headed back there on the 27th or 23rd, ( been there twice now over about 9 months ), and last Wednesday two dishes one extraordinary and the other profound. Both so simple and delicious and it’s a place where I’ve dined at dozens of times over many years. And the food at Via Carota was yummy, and we had our table for the whole evening……
And yes, the company one dines with, the service received, and the table one may enjoy by being a “regular” is a variable but that being said I’ve experienced sub-par meals at all the places named above. It happens and for lots of reasons. It’s part of the gig.
NYC restaurants currently are beyond packed nightly and reservations are definitely tough but hardly impossible. That creates crazy unrelenting pressure on the whole dining system.
So please enjoy and don’t be afraid to look and seek outside the box in both dining and drinking.
So many great dishes, too little time.
So many great bottles too little time.
Cheers -
Chet - no love for Quality Italian?
Chet, which were the profound dishes, and where?
I understand they may not be profound the net time.
I always thought that one sign of a great restaurant is not perfection but the service recovery when there is an error.
I use to like drinking the Italian Selosse there Jon.
Check your email for an January champagne invite within the next day or so Re Cristal.
You know you can call me Barry but you are right Re recovery and handling missteps which often happen-
Hope you are well.
it would be confusing so I’ll stick with chet.
That was a night of some great champagne at Blue Hill Chet.
Robert, you and Chet were set to meet on the 11th, but it wasn’t to be! Maybe next November. 
Just finished and enjoyed a very comforting and delicious Japanese dinner in the East Village/Cooper Square area. The dishes I ordered were as they always are and have been were exceptional.
If you enjoy both warm or cold soba house made noodles that never disappoint, then this is a destination. All the other dishes are totally legit.
This restaurant is always packed, service totally professional, with a really extensive mid range high quality sake list.
On my pleasure and comfort scale of 1-10 this restaurant is a perfect 9 and is also open for lunch.
I’m flying in on a Sunday and I was thinking of trying to walk into Semma (I’m going to eat solo that night).
Any chance that is doable or is it so crowded I should look to walk into some other restaurant? (I’m thinking of trying to walk into I Sodi or Via Carota if Semma does not work out because they are are all in the West Village, which isn’t too far away from where I’m staying).
Thank you all for the recommendations/intel in this thread. It has been very helpful.