81 Restaurant

04/22/09

My New Favorite UWS Restaurant

by christina2004nyc at Citysearch

The price fix option makes this restaurant a lot more affordable. When I go, we usually mix it up with some people ordering off the regular menu. The ingredients are fresh and so well prepared you never feel like "why did they have to go and add that to it?!".

My favorites are the steak, mushroom soup and spring salad (love love the seafood in it). The service is top notch and the greeters at the door are sweet and friendly with no attitude. This can be a bit too expensive for an every week type of place unless you only order off the special menu. But you can get away with under $50 a head if you order carefully.

• Pros: food, service
• Cons: can be expensive

03/29/09

Great dining experience

by pastrychef at Citysearch

Great dining experience and excellent service.

Check out the price frixe dinner. I had pumpkin risotto and

cod with black lentils - fabulous! Can't wait to go back.

• Pros: great service, ambience, food and wine

02/27/09

worth the trip to the UWS

by lane01 at Citysearch

a great experience. Overall extremely friendly staff, selection on menu decent although not expansive. great prix fixe, although we ate off the regular menu, we ordered from the "economy" wine list that was unbelievably priced. the chicken was great, the pork chop special was flavorful and tender, the peekytoe crab was good, but not great. While not a cheap experience, not over the top compared to similar restaurants of the caliber. The decor and atmosphere managed to be both fun and somewhat opulent. Will reccomend to friends.

• Pros: decor, wine, entrees
• Cons: no significant ones.

02/26/09

nothing wrong here!

by WestSideMaven at Citysearch

This restauarant really knows it's stuff! The chef has mucho experience and it all shows in his food - I've been a few times and each time I am not let down in the least. I haven't had everything on the menu yet, but what I have had: risotto, mushroom soup, tuna tartare, peekytoe crab salad, duck pate, giononne chicken, beef tenderloin, seared tuna, chatham cod and the salmon. The pastry chef is on his game too... the little extras that he sends out are always wonderful (i heart oatmeal raisin cookies!). I adore his ice creams and sorbets - great flavors!

The wine list is awesome - perfect selection of wines between 40 and 70 bucks. The decor is gorgeous and the most amazing (which is why I saved it for last)... the staff. Everyone is so nice. I don't think I've ever heard them say the word "no". I always feel welcome here and I cannot wait to go back!

• Pros: economy menu, the staff, the food
• Cons: my boyfriend wont let me eat here every night

01/04/09

Bland Food

by tomjet at Citysearch

The two of us, both decades-long Manhattan residents and experienced restaurant-goers, had dinner at Eighty-One last night. We loved the ambience, the service, the management. But the food was average at best. She had the peekytoe crab appetizer. She told me it had no taste at all. She has extremely sensitive taste and smell, so for her to say it had "no" taste surprised me. I said, "Really? But it's crab." I was loving the restaurant so much that I was highly skeptical. I took a bite. Omigod, she was right. It was like biting into nothing. She left half on her plate, saying it was pointless to eat it. I had the ravioli w/chicken liver appetizer and thought it was very good. For main courses, she had the lamb. She liked it. She said it had flavor. She also said it was very tender and tasted like it was from a "young lamb," so flavor, yes, but strong no, she said. She liked it; she's had much better elsewhere in NYC. I had the duck. This had no flavor. It was a very tender rectangle of meat. If someone had blindfolded me and asked me to guess what kind of meat it was, I would not have been certain. And I love duck and have had it hundreds of times in my life. I would have guessed veal, duck, beef. I would not have been sure. I would have said, "Wow, this is clearly meat, and it's nice and tender and juicy, but I cannot say for sure what it is." We then looked at each other, both of us hungry for dessert, and I said to her, "Should we give this place more of our business and order dessert?" As much as we really liked our table, the waiter, the room -- basically everything -- we were pretty ticked by the, at best, average food (average for a much less expensive restaurant doing business anywhere but New York). By the way, we were both in excellent moods before dinner and after. Just a case of chalk one up to experience. We decided that at some point, we'll have a drink and dessert at the lovely bar there.

• Pros: Ambience, service
• Cons: Food

12/20/08

Excellent dinner, fantastic food, experienced waitstaff

by thinkbh at Citysearch

Really amazing food, everything was cooked perfectly. Diverse wine list. Classy and elegant ambience. The staff is very experienced and professional. I told the maitre d' that we were there for my girlfriends birthday and they brought out a special birthday dessert platter. Dress code is listed as 'formal' but I saw guys wearing khaki pants with jackets. No jeans at this place, though. Suit and tie for me, dress for my girlfriend.

• Pros: food, staff, quiet, romantic, classy, good lighting, looks like it can accomodate large groups
• Cons: pricey but worth it

11/20/08

Simply Amazing!

by Tovah201 at Citysearch

I've been looking for this place for 35 years dining on the UWS!!! Thank you Chef Brown for finally coming to my neighborhood. Food is great, service is always fast, and the gentleman at the front was an absolute charmer!! I've eaten at the bar and in both beautiful dining rooms,. Don't change a thing! This place is here to stay!

• Pros: Food, Service, and Wine
• Cons: No lunch! But I hear the Sunday brunch is fantastic.

Luxe dining and top-flight service make a comeback in this Upper West Side fine-dining restaurant, with Ed Brown, formerly of Sea Grill, manning the stoves.

by Josh Ozersky at Citysearch

In Short
Despite all the talk about fine dining being ready to give up the ghost, recent years have brought a number of ambitious fine dining restaurants to town, of which Eighty One was the most opulent. The cream-and-crimson room is marked by oversize banquettes and little else by way of ornament. The focus is on the food, which tends toward the complex and multi-layered such as the duo of short rib and strip with a tarrragon marmalade and eggplant caviar, and poached duck breast. It's grown-up food for a clientele that is affluent, middle-aged and appreciative of fine dining in the traditional model.

09/08/08

YUM!

by LisaLeip at Citysearch

My friends and I had heard about this restaurant months ago, but only made the trip up from Brooklyn last night, and I'm so glad we did. The service was excellent, our server was knowledgeable and attentive, but not overly so- I tend to resent interuption while dining out and our server had it just right.

As for the food- wow! The potato gnocchi was AMAZING, I could write a whole review just on this dish. My husband's favorite was the zucchini ravioli, perfect for a late summer supper. Delicious and made fresh every day! Our friends had the tomato salad which looked amazing and they loved it, and the corn and lobster soup, which I tried and loved, again, perfect seasonal timing.

As for the entrees, I had the duck which was cooked perfectly! I loved the corn garnish too. My husband loved his grilled hamachi with tomato sofrito(?) light and bright, he says.

Our friends loved their entrees as well, baby lamb with crispy potato fabulousness and bass with a fantastic bean garnish. I really can't remember loving beans as much in my whole life!!

Dessert was wonderful too, I don't have much of a sweet tooth, but everyone said their's were wonderful.

All in all it was terrific. Why does it have to be so far away from Brooklyn? But maybe it's time uptown gets a truly tasty and elegant restaurant.

09/05/08

Wow! Thank you for coming to my neighborhood!!!

by TommyFoods at Citysearch

Our friends had been telling us to try this new addition to our neighborhood and I can tell you that we were just blown away. After a drink at the bar, we were seated in an elegant corner booth by a charming and warm young man. The food was wonderful but what impressed me the most was the service. Our lovely waiter went well beyond our already high expectations. My wife has a shellfish allergy (which didn't stop me from getting the AMAZING Foie Gras and Scallop Ravioli) and the server was very knowledgeable of all the dishes and able to answer all her questions. She had the tomato salad which she described as "eye-rolling good". For our main course, I had Striped Bass and my wife had Grilled Short Rib. We couldn't get over how good it was. Perfect from start to finish, we even got free cookies/chocolates with out check. Do not miss this new gem on the Upper West Side.

• Pros: Food, Service, Ambience
• Cons: Leaving. This place is great!