Please offer restaurant review - NYC - East 50's
 

We are headed to NYC this week to visit my son who lives there....he has made reservations for us at Giambelli's and Fresco's by Scotto. We have never been to either restaurant...my son loves fine restaurants...can anyone offer an opinion of either. <BR>Thank you.

Don't you trust your son? (Just kidding!) <BR>Serious question: Why two Italian restaurants? <BR>Fresco's gets unanimous raves from Zagat's, while Giambelli's gets mixed reviews. <BR>There are a lot of very good to excellent restaurants in that area. Before recommending, one more question: How much do you want to spend? The two choices of your son will run you about $50 per person (including one drink and tip).

Giambelli's is a good place. I didn't think it was fantastic, but I did think it was quite good and the service is very attentive.

What would you suggest instead of the two recommended by my son? My husband my son love Italian....I prefer seafood but am not really opposed to Italian....Thanks for any recommendations.....

Le Bernardin for the best seafood

ET, my point was not anti-Italian food. It's my favorite. But, since there are so many great NY restaurants of every variety, why not have a variety. Le Bernardin, for example, is an excellent choice. Before passing along any more recommendations, I repeat my question about price. What price range? I ask because there are a lot of outstanding restaurants in the East 50s, but many of them are very pricey!

My sons tells me that all the good restaurants in NYC are very pricey. We need to stay in that particular area as my husband has several meetings to go between....Price range....we are expecting to pay between $50 and $75 per person...depending on choice of wine...Last time dinner for four was about $375....how does that sound? We live in Boston and the prices for an upscale restaurant are a bit less...again depending on the wine choice...Any suggestions....Thank you for any and all your suggestons...ET

If you both like seafood (unusual combinations and tastes) you could not beat Le Bernardin, which is a fix price at about $70 per person (maybe someone else has the exact current figure). It is a magical and memorable place.

While there is no way you could get out of Le Bernadin for $75 per person, even without wine (assume up to twice that), it's not really an issue in that there's no way you could secure a same-week reservation there.

Caitlin has made a very good point. I missed ET's comment about it being this week. However, being an optimist, I suggest the following superb possibilities in the low East 50s: <BR>Four Seasons <BR>Le Cirque 2000 <BR>Le Perigord <BR>Lutece <BR>Oceana (another good seafood choice on 54th Street) <BR>

Wow Caitlin, has it really gone up that much? I guess it's been two years since we ate at Le Bernadin but I was thinking the price then was about $70 per person. Has it actually doubled for the fixe price? And sorry, ET, I missed the line about THIS week. Those other posts above mine got me to thinking about that great meal we had at Le Bernadin.

We also love Le Bernardin, but have never manaaged to get much change from $400 (2 people). Excellent seafood, amazing sauces. The set muenu is about $85, but the wine, cheese etc mean that you will easily double that.

We had a dinner in Le Bernardin three weeks ago and our bill for two came to $216.00 including tips, tax. We do not drink though. However the experience was unforgetable

Thanks for all your comments....I do think the restaurants in NYC are a bit pricer than Boston...not sure if they are better but they are more expensive. I say ... assuming cost of wine for dinner is usually under $100 but more than $50...add that to the cost of dinner...here you go....easy $400 with tax and tip. This is a bit less in Boston....Any other suggestions or opinions re Giambelli's or Fresco's appreciated....ET

Consider Oceana (recommended above) or the Monkey Bar (across the street from Oceana. Both are excellent and not quite as high as Le Bernadin. Bon appetit!

It's probably clear now that I was referring to the all-in cost--including tax, tip, wine--since ET said she was interested in wine and keeping the per person total to around $75 max, it seemed to me that Le Bernadin would be a bit out of the ballpark, especially as they're known for a pricy wine list.

Felidias- great northern cuisine for about 60 per person