04/03/07

Really Good Spot On the Upper West Side

by chiap

As a resident of the Upper West Side I am always looking for a good place in the neighborhood and I had heard that Pair of 8's has a new chef. I decided to go back to the restaurant and see How the food was. I was glad to see that they have a good one now. My meal was tasty, interesting and very reasonable. I met my date at the bar and found out they have a cocktail hour special- two cocktails for 8 bucks! It was a great way to start the evening. We passed on more drinks and got a bottle of wine. They had really good bottle of grenache for $29. Much more reasonable then I remember there wine list being. As I said the food was really good. I had the Warm Goat cheese salad that was good as my adventures guest had the Duck Prosciutto. For entrees I had the Burger that was good but a great excuse to have the best onion rings I have ever had. My date had chicken. We both enjoyed a lot. We did not have dessert but I am confident that I will go back to try them out soon.

• Pros: The service was really good and the wine list was very inexpensive
• Cons: The lights were very low

08/16/06

Very good food

by iliketo_eat

I have eaten at this restaurant on several occasions and find Chef Michael

Clancy's food to be unique, fresh, and exciting in any part of NYC. The seafood

dishes are particularly interesting. The service in the dining rooms can be spotty

at times (definitely not on par with the food), but usually friendly. If there are

seats available at the bar, I highly recommend dining there. The bartender, Bill

(hope he doesn't mind writing his name), has taken exceptionally good care of

me and my friends making sure that we have an enjoyable dining experience.

• Pros: great food, eat at the bar
• Cons: no music, odd location

08/03/06

Great steak...everything else: not so great.

by kiki78

I ventured into this place as a single gal wondering around the upper west side; the menu looked promising and the atmosphere seemed inviting. I was not impressed by the bartender, who greeted me with "What can I get you?" No "Hello, how are you?" or "Good evening, how are you this evening?". As a waitress in New York, I understand how severs get tired of asking people how they are doing when you so rarely get any acknowlegdment. But, still...a little effort would have been nice, considering this is an "upscale" establishment. The main course was good. My warm goat cheese salad was not good. The cheese was great but spread on stale (?) bagette ..not really enjoying that..The salad was too heavily dressed with an overwhelming amount of balsamic. My skirt steak, however was perfectly cooked and the wilted greens and onions were very satisfying. The bartender did recommed a great glass of wine with my steak, a well balanced Nebbiolo. All in all, salad sucked, bartender was simi-attentive, steak was good. But one thing....it was totally silent! No music...at all. That was creepy, you could hear everyone's conversations..weird. Also, the decor was very minimal...boring in fact.

• Pros: Great Steak
• Cons: Silent dining??