Craft

06/20/2008 Posted by minchkla

I have to say, I'm a little disappointed. I went to Craft with a friend this week for a going-away dinner- we both have big crushes on Tom from the show, and had been wanting to try the restaurant for quite some time. The first negative was that despite having an 8pm reservation, we didn't get seated until 8:45. Had a Seinfeld "then what's the point of the reservation" chat with my friend, but I understand that places get backed up. Between the two of us, we each had a glass of wine, and we shared two first courses (quail, artichoke salad), two mains (snapper, scallops) and two sides (swiss chard and garlic risotto.) Everything was.......fine. That's it. Certainly edible, and I'd eat it all again, but I guess I was expecting to be thrilled. I'm still new to the world of pricey NYC restaurants and I expected to be wowed - like I have been at Gramercy Tavern - when I'm spending that kind of money. It was expensive for such basic food, and they don't make up for that in portion size. I'd go back if someone else is paying, but I won't be making a point to do so.

Pros: Scallops and risotto were highlights

Cons: $$$$$$!!!!!

06/15/2008 Posted by foodie167

I've been to a lot of restaurants that have left me wanting to go back the very next day. This was not one of them. Craft was very talked up and I was looking forward to trying it out for myself, I was very disapointed. While the wait staff was genuinally lovely, the menu was incredibly expensive for just ok food. Most of the dishes were so oversalted I'm not sure I even tasted the actual food. Not to mention several people in my party went home from dinner ill. There are so many amazing restaurants in this city - skip Craft and check out one of those.

Pros: wait staff was lovely

Cons: very expensive, mediocre food

04/29/2008 Posted by mimirose

Spectacular in every way!! Food was the best I've had, service was impeccable, and setting was romantic. Our waiter was fabulous, friendly, and knowledgeable. He recommended a terrific wine for us based on our price range, and he also was great at reccomending dishes and educating us on foods we werent familiar with. Our glasses were never empty- servers were always there to refill them. I had a personal escort to the ladies room, and when I came back to my table my napkin was perfectly refolded on to my setting. We ordered Beef Carpaccio; Bacon & Apple; and French Mache Salad w/ Truffle Vinagrette for starters...fantastic! We were also given a complimentary Split Pea Panna Cotta..delish! Quail & 50 year Balslamic, and Braised Halibut for Main dishes...Quail was excellent, melted in my mouth! However, I've had better Halibut. After Main dishes, we were then given complimentary Lemon Spritzers..yummy & refreshing! For dessert we had their Doughnuts with Malted Milk Ice cream...to die for!!! And Lemon Beignets...yum again! And when we were leaving we were given more complimentary Crumb cakes to-go. Oh and to top it all off, the waiter remembered that we mentioned it was our wedding anniversary, and when dessert came "Happy Anniversary" was written on our plates. Lots of exclamation points for CRAFT! Loved absolutley everything.

Pros: Excellent food, Excellent service, great attention to detail

Cons: None

12/05/2007 Posted by tbrax

We had a satisfying, if not memorable, experience at Craft. The menu is a bit confusing--"first courses", "main courses" and "sides" all arrive simultaneously, with the only real difference between firsts and mains being portion size. Main dishes seem about 1.5 times larger than firsts, though they cost roughly 2x more. We ordered a total of 5 dishes (2 firsts, 2 mains and a side) plus dessert for 2 people and left satisfied but not stuffed. The food was consistently very good--well prepared and well seasoned all around, with the pork ravioli probably the highlight. For better or for worse, I don't think I would be able to tell the difference between the food at Craft and the food at other meccas of "New American" cuisine. For risk-averse diners in search of familiar, comfortable dishes, Craft does it as well as any of the other big boys in the genre for roughly the same price. But nothing we had or saw stood out as unique or exciting. I doubt that we'll be able to remember several months from now what we ate, not because it was bad but because it was familiar and easy to find in any number of different places.

Pros: Consistently good comfort food

Cons: Unexciting menu--standard dishes prepared in traditional ways

11/14/2007 Posted by redesdale

This was my second "Craft", first was CraftSteak in Vegas, which was forgettable, underwhelming (except for the bill). What i remember about that meal was they had an interesting sort of ice cube in my drink. Putting that aside, i did look forward to Craft NY and went in for the ride. Nice looking place to spend an evening, if the chairs didnt have flexible backs, requiring you to do a sort of pilates-ab crunch when you sit back. the guy at the table behind me was trying to relax too, we became impromptu bookends, leaning against each other's chair-backs to preserve balance. It felt like i was sitting in a 9 dollar Target plastic lawn chair. Then the menu confusion, the staring, trying to form a meal from this strange muddle before us, esoterically named vegetables and all. Perplexed faces. Asked for advice. The waiter: "It's family style, you share the plates. So, everyone order one thing from each course, they're small plates". What? we share, but we still order 6 of every course? do we each get one bean, one brussel sprout? The waiter walks away. Comes back, tells us everything is good. now order. whatever you ask about, it is good. Oh, thats very good. That too. We order. we end up with 9 starches (with duplicates), 3 greens, 5 white fishes (with duplicates), a mushroom. every dish is savory except for one, of beets. slab of foie gras for 6 with 1 half of a beet garnish and 3 dots of sauce to share. Big, interesting wine list, we want to order several wines and ask for the sommelier. He/She phones it in via the waiter, who returns the list and points at something, 'it's very good', says the invisible sommelier. The small dishes go cold during the pass-around. The theme seems to be 'salty'. Needed a good waiter to make this concept work for a group, It was unsatisfying, unfocused, not special or fun. My dessert: pumpkin crumble. The pumpkin was undercooked cubes, crunchy. eww. Bill: $1100. The 'craft' here seems to be hype, gimmick, and profit from confusion.

Pros: good shellfish, general food quality

Cons: overcooked, over-salted vegetables. substandard service. menu concept.

08/09/2007 Posted by amontybear

Wow. I eat out all the time in New York and was looking forward to my meal at Craft. Our service was unbelievably bad. Every question we asked about the menu was met with such attitude...it was shocking. At one point our waiter was so condescending that we almost closed the menus. When we asked for help with the wine list...which they are known for....we were told "Pick what you like" and he walked away. When he returned, he picked the most expensive wine on the list. We probably should have asked for another server but I am really not a complainer and we were there for a special occasion. The food was ok but the experience was terrible. I cannot recommend Craft for the price. There is better food and service out there.

07/03/2007 Posted by ballf

Chic restaurant,nice staff....the food is very good, we had a spectacular steak for two, was jucy and tasty, we eat all...(and was not a small portion).we ordered a bottle of spanish red wine and the dinner was complete. Is expensive but worth it, i recommend Craft, we enjoy the dinner!

07/01/2007 Posted by babelmermaid

Maybe the executive chef and the pastry chef were in the Hamptons for the summer... Octupus came out cold, pork and scallop overseasoned ,and the crispy chocolate cake not moist. We had much better experiences at other reknown chefs restaurants. Oh, and did I say that a woman put her feet up on the leather bench and started touching her feet even before she ordered? Good thing that we have finished our meal by that time.

Pros: Ambience; prompt seating

Cons: Appetizer, Entree, Dessert

06/08/2007 Posted by tikoes

4 Chicago girls celebrating 2 birthdays at Craft, an absolutely wonderful time. The food was amazing and delicious we made sure to order all different dishes (which fitted easily on the roomy tables) so we could sample. The service personable and perfect. The decor and ambience beautiful. A great experience.

04/26/2007 Posted by iragoldstein

Quite simply, the best dining experience I've had in NYC. Better than Grammercy Tavern (which is great), than the funky boutique lower east side places, than Nobu. I particularly like the fact that it's not noisy and not bright, so my ears and eyes were not assaulted with sensory input - that was all left for my tastebuds. And they were given a real treat. Quite a rarity to find such friendly, efficient, unobtrusive service in NYC. A beautiful place in every respect.