10 Year Anniversary Dinner in NYC
 

My husband and I are visiting family on the island and than coming to NY for a few days in honor of our 10 year anniversary. We're staying in the Murray Hill/Flatiron district during our stay. Can anyone recommend a nice restaurant for dinner? I was thinking Mailaino originally, but it kind of has mixed reviews. Other thought was the Grammercy Tavern. We're not picky as far as food choice, we just like good food. We'd like to get dressed up a bit and we're okay with spending up to $250. We don't necessarily have to stay within the neighborhood, but it would be nice if it were close by.

Gramercy Tavern was just recently reviewed in the NYT and got 3 stars. Review regarding food and service was very, very good.

I've been to Maialino a couple of times, once for brunch and once for dinner. It was just OK to me. I wouldn't go there for a special occasion. My husband didn't really care for it either and our friends that went with us to brunch weren't wowed at all.

Tocqueville is wonderful. Take a peek at menu and reviews.

I'm also open to lunch as an alternative if it helps with the price issue. Is Jean Georges at Trump worth it if we did lunch vs. dinner?

I second Tocqueville:
https://tocquevillerestaurant.com

We celebrated an anniversary there with a wonderful lunch a number of years ago.

Our first anniversary at Gramercy Tavern was wonderful. We took our own "special meaning" wine and the sommelier treated us like gold, insisting on decanting it as she knew it was unfiltered. They brought a special small dessert with our names. And of course the food and service were both superlative.

Says the old curmugion that told me GT wasn't special enuff. I find GT special for lunch and wonderful for dinner. If it calls you, do have them make note of your special occasion and the staff and kitchen will make note.

I love their practice of no doggie bags on the table or bar. Instead it is held for you at coat check.

Of course there are many fine options. An elegant leisurely lunch at the best places will often reduce the price of admission.

"Says the old curmugion that told me GT wasn't special enuff."

What the hell are you talking about? I love Gramercy Tavern. I do recall talking about the difficulty of getting a Weekend reservation! Are you looking in a mirror when you mention curmudgeon? Or are you referring to when I might have mentioned trying to eat in the bar without a reservation wasn't "special enough"?

Thank you for the recommendations. GT has no open availability. Tocqueville is sounding like a good option.

I have called the morning of at GT at 10am with success, as they confirm all reservations. Just in case it calls you.

Neo, you were clearly not talking about lunch. Go find your thread.

Take a look at The Clocktower if you cannot get in to GT:

http://theclocktowernyc.com/

Jean Georges is most worthy if you want to spend the money for that.

"Neo, you were clearly not talking about lunch. Go find your thread."

Ummm. No. I was talking about dinner as the OP requested in the original question. Yes, there was a later mention of lunch being an alternative, but I didn't realize (as you did) that such a mention clearly meant "NO MORE TALK ABOUT DINNERS". DUH. You certainly have strange ways of attempting to interpret things.


And yes, I did find the thread when I mentioned Gramercy Tavern -- totally as a GREAT POSSIBILITY and talked about the difficulty of getting a weekend dinner reservation (from personal experience). I did even mention "the more casual Gramercy Tavern" as compared to some of the very formal and elegant restaurants we were then discussing. You went ballistic and seemed to think that "more casual" meant that it wouldn't be "good enuff" for me -- a total misinterpretation of what I said. I realize that English may not be your native language, but please don't try to tell people what they mean and hold it in your craw for months at a time to try to bring it up again as if you were right, when you were totally off base to begin with. I LOVE Gramercy Tavern -- get a life, and get off my back!

Gramercy Tavern is excellent, but the total cost will likely be above your budget of $250.

I'm a big fan of Maialino, but the food itself isn't so fancy or special, just hearty and good. And it has a very laidback, less formal atmosphere. You are more likely to see folks wearing jeans and polo shirts than dressed up.

For something fun and nice, the Modern Bar Room, while more casual than the dining room, still has great food and is well within your budget.

And Annisa remains a wonderful restaurant. Prices look really expensive at first glance, but they are all-inclusive (there's no tipping), so are not as bad as you might expect. The five-course tasting menu at $115 really does cost you $115 (albeit before tax).

Kindly top that thread neo, so I can see how I went ballistic and don't speak English.

if I have an hour or so tomorrow, I'll do just that. Meanwhile, trust me, it was exactly as I described it.

OK, here it is.
This is the full thread

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...ner-in-nyc.cfm

Here are the parts where I mentioned Gramercy Tavern:

"We've never done dinner in the dining room at Gramercy Tavern -- but it seems not so formal. In fact, I kind of think on a weekend we might feel overdressed?" (This is because I originally asked for a very formal restaurant and mentioned we'd be very dressed up for an opera). We were talking about more formal restaurants (if you don't know what "formal" means, I really can't help you).

And I later said "now I'm thinking we could do that on Saturday and also do the more casual Gramercy Tavern on Friday night (if we can possibly get a reservation on that 10 AM call exactly 28 days before)"

But those two comments -- neither of which could be interpreted by anyone with a clear grasp of the English language as "not good enough for us" was met by YOU with this comment:

"More casual Gramercy Tavern Dining Room??? I see nothing casual about the dining room which you must be referring to as the Tavern does not take reservations. In fact last time I was there for a formal dinner, we had 5 gifts from the kitchen, an amuse, a palate cleanser, a celebratory cookie plate, chocolates and a muffin for the morning."

Now, please explain how you turned my mention that it is less formal than some places we were talking about was twisted to be "not good enough for me?" And while we're at it, what on earth do things like the gifts have to do with how casual the dress is at a restaurant.

There. Are you satisfied yet, or do you want to grouse and twist more words again?

Oh, but perhaps my "going ballistic" comment should have referred to THIS thread where out of the blue, you jumped back to the above quoted thread which was nearly a year ago by again totally misinterpreting my remarks and stating "Says the old curmugion that told me GT wasn't special enuff."

Now I'll ask you once more -- why on earth would you interpret my comments about Gramercy Tavern as "not special enuff" (unless indeed you have a poor grasp of the English language particularly the word "formal")? And why on earth did you find it necessary to call me an old curmugion (you might learn some spelling by the way) -- name calling is supposed to be forbidden here?

oh and natinwpb, I'm sorry someone found it necessary to derail your thread by trying to find fault with something he misinterpreted a year ago and felt it necessary to bring up again. It would have been nice if he had simply offered suggestions rather than use your thread to pick up an old battle axe. I apologize that I did not let it go, but found it worth clarifying THIS time, since I let his silly misinterpretations go last year without comment when he said them. Ignoring his silliness the first time was easier, but since he's been holding on to those thoughts for a full year, I felt it was worth explaining how wrong he was then AND now.

In any case, hope you have a wonderful celebration.

Thank you for posting the thread that proves I never went ballistic, nor did I misinterpret you. I never suggested that you thought, GT was not good enough for you. You argue, but have given the proof that you are blowing smoke. 4 back to back posts and then you apologize that I hijacked the thread. And the fact that you continue to say English must be my second language puts you in position to be Trumps running mate.

Tell me, when you went to GT did you feel overdressed? Or did you feel like you co diners were underdressed? Or not dressed to your standards?

Good riddance

" I never suggested that you thought, GT was not good enough for you."

What you said was:
"Says the old curmugion (sic) that told me GT wasn't special enuff".

Are we playing some sort of semantics game? Special enuff? Good enuff?

But to answer your question, we didn't feel overdressed, but that's probably because like most men we wore dress shirts and nice slacks -- not more formal business suits. Originally I was asking about restaurants where coats and ties are required or at least expected. Don't worry -- I won't expect you to understand the difference. It's obviously too complicated a concept for you.

I was giving you the benefit of the doubt that English might be a second language. It seemed nicer than saying " you really don't comprehend English do you?" since clearly you thought "more casual" means "not special enuff". Get it?

Now I'll repeat -- get off my back! I loved Gramercy Tavern. I always have. Your comments were totally out of line. But please note -- no matter how rude I'm fnding your comments, I'm still not stooping to your level of name calling.