It actually pains me to write a terrible review for this place because I was so looking forward to this meal with my friend Vince but we both agreed that the experience was a miss. To be fair, the service was excellent but when the food doesn't match up and since this is a food blog, I have to lean more towards the food experience vs. the service.
But let's start with the overall vibe - it's very British clubhouse chic. It's located on the 2nd floor of the Edition Hotel and it just reeks of just old school executive stuffiness (I guess you kind of have to when the room rate is $500/night here) but on the plus side, it's fascinating people watching. Luckily, the waitstaff was super warm and friendly - unlike the reputation the Brits have (I kid, I kid!). The menu is mostly seafood and meat focused - which works for me. Vince and I started with the native lobster ($24), tuna tataki ($19) and dressed crab ($21) to start and then went totally baller and opted for the 40 day dry aged prime cote de boeuf 32 oz for 2 ($125).
They start you with an addictive bread and butter plate that might have been the best thing I ate all night. I've had good bread before, but this was out of control delicious and I could have easily eaten the entire thing myself if it wasn't 100% terrible for me. The seafood appetizers followed quickly and were impressive at first glance - the native lobster was served chilled with mainly the tail meat and mixed with fennel, mussel and apple salad. I personally don't mind mayo, but the apple salad part was covered in mayo and overwhelmed the fresh taste of the lobster. Maybe I was used to the simple seafood I was eating in Montenegro/Croatia, but something about this dish too heavily. We ordered the crab appetizer because it was described as having crispy uni on top. The thing is, once you fry up uni, you really lose the characteristics of what makes uni so great. To me, there's nothing better than the briny, creamy texture of uni but by deep frying it, lose that flavor and texture. As for the tuna tataki, we agreed that this was the best seafood dish of the night as it was served relatively cleanly with cucumber, radish, avocado and ponzu sauce.
But what I was most excited by was the main course. It came out in grand fanfare as it's served with a green bean foie gras salad and potato gratin. We had asked for the steak to be medium-rare, closer to rare and what came out was 100% well done - well done to the point that it was totally overcooked, dry and brown. The first couple of bites weren't so bad and I didn't want to say anything because I've always had this complex about sending food back but I'm really glad Vince said something because it was truly not cooked well at all and at $125 there is no reason for that. Luckily, the staff was extremely apologetic about it, didn't give us any trouble and immediately took it away with no questions asked. I appreciated that they took full ownership of it. While we waited, we nibbled on the salad and it was just way too greasy for me - mostly because of the foie gras but also it was served with a bone marrow jus. The combination of foie gras and bone marrow is just too much to handle - even for this gluttonous eater. The potatoes were excellent and the best part of that dish - which is kind of sad when you're paying $125 for it. They brought out another cote de boeuf and this time they went way on the extreme end - super super rare, to the point where I'm not even sure if parts of it were fully cooked. I actually didn't mind it and like my steaks this way, but you could tell that they were overcompensating for the well done-ness of the previous steak. If the steak had come out like this the first time, I would be writing a different review. We had to cleanse our palate and got the strawberries and cream dessert ($14) which I really enjoyed - it was a lovely vanilla custard and olive oil cake with tiny fresh strawberries on it.
When we asked for the bill, they continued to be apologetic about the steak and did an incredibly kind gesture of comping us for the steak. I wasn't sure if it was because of Vince's Food and Wine connection - although he mentioned that he had actually gotten this reservation without mentioning that he worked at F&W. If that's the case, I'm even more impressed by the service.
Although the meal was a bust, it was still a pleasant experience and the decor definitely transports to you a different time and place away from current New York standards. I would say that based on the fantastic customer service, I would possibly consider coming back here but it'll probably be a long time before I do.
Photo Credit: Yelp
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