Masa Restaurant Review

Masa Dining
4.0 star rating
85 reviews Rating Details

Categories: Restaurants Sushi Bars Restaurants Japanese Sushi Bars, Japanese [Edit]
Time Warner Ctr
10 Columbus Cir
Ste 4F
New York, NY 10019
Neighborhoods: Hell's Kitchen, Midtown West
(212) 823-9800
www.masanyc.com

1. Masa is a meal that is pretty unforgettable, wait let me rephrase - completely unforgettable.

Definitely ask to sit at the bar when they confirm your reservation, so you can watch te masters prepare your food!

From the blowfish, to the very creative shabu shabu, to the sushi - everything is perfectly delicious.

I would highly suggest not getting any wine/sake, and just enjoy the meal with water and the tea that they will serve you.

Oh P.S. i have never had such delicious strawberries which are apparently fresh from Japan.

2. I must admit I've been on a sushi kick for the last week or so. I've been reading, possibly obsessing over the most authentic ways to prepare sushi. When I love a restaurant, or a specific dish, I tend to gather various recipes in hopes of recreating a lovely dinner for myself. So yes, I've been eating at New York's best Japanese restaurants this past week, attempting to understand the secret behind the perfect piece of sushi. To a fault, I've always assumed Sushi was an easy thing to recreate... Buy a slab of fish, cut it, lay it over a mound of rice, and you're done. But I was mistaken, especially upon walking into Masa. Yes, the reviews below me speak the truth: It's best to eat here with a completely clean and clear palette. Why? Because you're eating some of the most incredible, delectable, mouthwatering, luscious (shall I continue?) food you may ever put into your mouth.

While I didn't learn much about the secrets behind the preparation of the perfect piece of Sushi, I did come to understand that freshness is essential. However, this is why my rating dips a bit lower than the others. Masa has their fresh fish delivered to NYC from Japan daily. Yes, so that 20% service charge is not for their employees, it's to have their fish flown to New York. Not only does that leave a huge carbon footprint, it's also appalling that beyond the exorbitant prices you're already paying, the included service charge is NOT the tip. If Masa wasn't so tasty, my rating would've dipped much lower than three stars for this reason. Hmph.

3. How much does it cost to eat like royalty in New York City? In the case of Masa, about $400 per person, plus beverages (in our case booze), tip, and sales tax. You do the math. If this sounds enticing, then you must come to Masa.

I've been dying to try Masa, but knew I could never afford it on my own merit. When my boss told me to pick one of New York's finest restaurants to host our visiting London partners, I knew Masa was the place.

Masa seems simple, but the simplicity makes it beautiful. The wood from the counter is made from hinoki and was specially brought in from Japan, who knew would could be so pretty?

The menu changes daily, so each experience is truly unique and your own. Of all the items on the menu we tried, none were short of spectacular.

Fish is flown in daily from Japan and from certain parts of the US, so you'll never have to worry if you are eating yesterday's fish because you can simply taste freshness in every course.

The toro tartare with caviar is TO DIE FOR. The Unagi (eel) was prepared behind the sushi chef where there was a little grill; a sous chef helped grill the eel and presented it to the chef with such concentration that it felt like they were performing open heart surgery on it. The preparation hyped our anticipation and rightfully so. It was perfect.

The servers bring by bowls of warm lemon water so you can clean your hands because the chef wants you to eat the sushi with your fingers. An experience in itself.

Masa is like an outer body experience. You quickly forget you are in the midst of the busy Time Warner Center and apart of something you'd never imagine you'd ever know.

Once all the amazing courses are finished, after the warm towels are delivered to clean your hands- you're brought down to earth when you get a glimpse of the bill. 3 hours of amazing food ended up being half as much as my rent on my UWS apartment.

Luckily, this life changing food experience was on company's dime. Although my boss told me I'm never allowed to pick where we eat for work dinners again, Masa was definitely worth it.

Lali Restaurant Reviews

Lali Restaurant
4.5 star rating
24 reviews Rating Details

Category: Restaurants Latin American Latin American [Edit]
630 10th Ave
(between 44th St & 45th St)
New York, NY 10036
Neighborhoods: Hell's Kitchen, Midtown West

1. I've considered eating here everyday. A true gem. Just the rice and beans is enough. You can't get more authentic with the dishes.

2. Great homestyle Latin food. You can tell because I was the only person in the whole place speaking English.

Not a whole lot on the menu but everything looked good. I got the beef stew over rice with a sliced avocado on the side.

I'd definitely go again. Great lunch spot. Only open until 4:00 PM.

3. Seven dollar baked chicken over yellow rice and beans was delectable.
Not a lot to say here besides, if you're in the neighborhood and want a solid serving of simply nutritious and fulfilling food, Lali is the place.

Capizzi Reviews

Capizzi
4.5 star rating
53 reviews Rating Details

Category: Restaurants Pizza Pizza [Edit]
547 9 th ave
Manhattan, NY 10018
Neighborhoods: Hell's Kitchen, Theater District, Midtown West
(212) 695-6900

1. This place is PERFECT just exactly what you want from a New York Pizza place. Family owned and run, small and cozy, fantastic warm service and most important of all the food was AMAZING.

Everything we tried was better than I could hope. The Pizza Crust was perfect New York pizza. Thin crispy crust, and the crust on the edges was just perfectly blackened from the wood in the oven. The Crust easily cracks and pops when you bite it and the flavor is fantastic.

According to the waitress (who's father was behind the counter hand tossing our pizza) everything is fresh and either comes from local farmers or is imported directly from Italy.

The walls are all decorated with pictures of the family and they had a solid selection of wines on display.

If you are visiting from out of town it is just a couple blocks from Times Square and worth the walk.

2. Find it behind the port authority bus terminal. It's such a weird location that I almost didn't go in, but after dining there I'm glad I stuck with it.

I had the Pizza Bianca, made with simple but good quality olive oil and cheese. My husband had a pie with prosciutto and arugula. It had freshly grated Parmesan lovingly dusted on top. The pizza crust is nice. It's rustic with little burned spots from being in the brick oven. In general, I do like it a bit more chewy, but this crust is definitely good. We finished our meal with the tiramisu. It was light and lovely.

I drank the house Chianti, which was fine. There are plenty of wines by the bottle to choose from if you want something nice with your pie.

Service was attentive and sincere. There are really sweet guys working there.

The decor had some great, homey details. They use little paper doilies with embossed flowers as coasters. The bathroom is charming. I felt like I was using a bathroom in someone's home.

3. The pizza is good but definitely not the best. I never trust the review of someone that doesn't have a profile picture. And I rarely trust a review of someone that doesn't have a profile picture of themselves. If you scroll down all of the reviews, you'll notice that a lot of the reviewers are newbies or have signed on to Yelp just to give this place a 5-star review.

I get it. You're selling pizza in the heart of NYC's tourist district and you want to attract as much business as possible. But how about doing it on merit?

What separates you from 2 Bros Pizza? At least at 2 Bros. you know what you're getting...cheap pizza at a cheap price ($1). Most people could care less about Yelp. And most people think that 2 Bros. is a great example of NYC-style pizza (which it definitely IS NOT!).

Yelpers are a different breed of consumer. If you burn them, you burn yourself. Let your pizza speak for itself.

It's ok, not great. Stop telling friends/employees to pump your star rating up with bogus reviews. You're not in the upper echelon of the NYC pizza strata. Do you really think you're in the same class as say a Totonno's?

You're not even as good as some of the "Famous Ray's Pizza" places...

Guelaguetza Reviews

Guelaguetza
4.5 star rating
43 reviews Rating Details

Category: Restaurants Mexican Mexican [Edit]
526 W 47th St
(at 11th Ave)
New York, NY 10036
Neighborhoods: Hell's Kitchen, Midtown West

1. Most important: The picture with the red awning that says "La Rosita Gro.." is not this place. I thought that someone was trying to trick me when I saw the actual place. (See my picture.) The place actually looks like a tiny bodega / mini-mart.

The food was absolutely amazing. It all seems to be made by this one lady in this tiny little kitchen area. The tacos are soft tacos on corn tortillas, kind of in the same style as Chipotle, except that your food is made fresh when you order it instead of... When does Chipotle make the meat in the metal bins? La Rosita also puts a ton more meat in the tacos.

Their quesadillas were outstanding, too. I also loved the touch of authenticity in that even their bottles of Coca-Cola seemed to be imported from Mexico. They also had a "tamarindo" flavored soda, which I tried. I assume that tastes like tamarind, but I don't know what a tamarind is. It was pretty good, though.

Things you'll want to know: They have three tables that seat two people each. One of the tables will most likely be taken by one of the owners' kids. So either plan on getting take-out, or hope that a table opens up while you're waiting for the lady to make your food. They also don't appear to have a public restroom (although I didn't actually ask). Since soft tacos are a little messy, you'll want to remember that you can clean your hands with lime juice from the limes that come with the tacos.

I highly recommend La Rosita. If you don't come here, you're probably stupid and a terrible person. (Either that, or HK just isn't convenient to where you live / work. I'm not going to pretend to know all about your life.)

2. I just moved to New York from LA and Ive been experiencing some serious taco withdrawal. Tacos used to be a major staple of my diet, and have been thoroughly disappointed by what Ive found here on the east coast. NYC tacos are some of the worst messican eats Ive ever experienced. Theyre big, theyre disgusting, and theyre packed with lettuce (wtf?).

Enter La Rosita. Wow, shit isnt *the best*, but its the best Ive had in New York thus far. I had 1 chorizo taco and 1 spicy pork ($2.50 each), and my oh my were they delicious. The family that runs the joint is quite friendly, aside from their daughter who upon my arrival to their restaurant, walked straight up to me and punched me in the leg. Unfortunately beating on other people's children seems to be frowned upon by society, so I restrained myself from kicking her across the room.

I'll be back.

3. My friend introduced me to this hole in the wall Mexican place a few days ago, and I ended up thinking about tacos all night. The next morning, I had the craving for more tacos, and made the trek from Central Park South to Hell's Kitchen once again in order to satisfy my deepest taco urges.

Now, I've lived in the southwest for quite some time. I've had amazing tacos in my day, and these tacos are simply one of the best I've had in the city. At La Rosita, I haven't had anything else other than the chorizo and carnitas tacos and the breakfast burrito, but all I can say is that the tacos are absolutely fantastic. On top of the double layered corn tortilla they use for the tacos ($2.50 each), the chorizo is just super awesome. My friend ordered the tex-mex quesadilla ($5.00 each), and said it was amazing as well. The breakfast burrito is meh.

All the food is freshly made, and you can tell based on the texture and taste. I would come here every day if I could, but alas, the one hour round trip trek takes a toll on my weak legs.

Per Se Reviews

Category: French Restaurants
10 Columbus Cir
(between Broadway & W Central Park)
New York, NY 10019
Neighborhoods: Hell's Kitchen, Midtown West
(212) 823-9335
www.perseny.com

1. My second favorite meal, EVER! The Inn at little Washington is still my number 1. This place is truly fantastic and worth it. I was a little worried walking into the Time Warner center, kind of felt like we were dining in a shopping mall, I was a little concerned that our table might overlook the Armani store across the way, it did not. From the second the open up,m promptly at 11:30 (for lunch), not a minute sooner, you are welcomed into the inner circle, or so it seems. The space is clean, elegant and luxurious, everything about it makes you feel comfortable and relaxed. This is what fine dining should be, amazing, fresh and exciting food, prepared in a playful yet traditional style that makes you feel at home while experiencing something new. I noticed a lot of pleasant contradictions here, everything was perfect, the staff is so attentive and friendly, yet you feel like you are alone in the world while dining here. We indulged on the full tasting and although they don;t necessarily have a true "wine pairing" the sommelier and our server worked perfectly to provide us a wonderful cross section of wines that truly made our meal exceptional. A real nice touch is when the meal ends, not only do they give you a copy of your menu, but they include the wines you had as well. This is huge, I generally find that after oh 5 to 10 glasses of wine, that it is a little hard to remember my name, never mind the wine names.

2. I must preface my review by stating, it's not actually a two star experience. It is, almost undoubtedly, in my top fifteen restaurant experiences replete with very expected high class cuisine and service. But given what I believe to know about Yelp members and the quality of city/worldwide dining, the bang isn't worth the buck.

Sure, I'm a struggling college student who has her first job and who tries to expense her dinner every night at a price point of under $25. But lucky me, my father is not and thus, since I was a petite connoisseur, I've been introduced to dually rich and exotic flavors. Within the bracket of haute cuisine, Per Se misses the mark. It is delicious, but uses flavors that are anticipated to be delicious (butter, saffron, truffle) rather than those with challenge traditional culinary technique. Its wine list is broad, but the labels/vintages are not rare and can be found at many different restaurants at a pleasant fifteen percent off the markup. An automatic $295 for the anticipated tasting menu? It is absurdly priced from a standpoint of what the food evokes. Luxurious ingredients and atmosphere? Sure. But neither is composed in a breathtaking nor distinct manner. The average customer is either pretentiously loaded or so excited to be at the restaurant that every bite is punctuated by a camera flash. Plus TWC is always a depressing venue for its sterile and convoluted style.

In short, Thomas Keller is a magnificent chef and restauranteur, but his ego is bloated. Even if you don't think you care about the money, you will walk out fearing you wasted it--which for any wealthy man or woman, is almost worst than losing it. The food//service are very, very good but no better than EMP or Bernadin or Daniel. The latter three lack the supreme pretentiousness of Per Se and thus manage to provide a much better elite experience at a slightly lower cost point.

If someone wants to take me there for any reason, I won't say no. But as long as I'm buying, I want more for less. And that's not hard to find.

3. I wanted to give this place 3 stars, but I couldn't do it. Service was too good.

We took our friend here for her birthday. Caviar dish was the best dish of the night. I could've done without all the other dishes and I didn't think they were that good. Duck was not exciting. Fish was okay. Lamb was gamey (this really surprised me; I'd never expect it at a place like Per Se). Dessert was okay.

Company was great. Plus, we got a quick kitchen tour. Per Se's kitchen has a live feed into French Laundry, and vice versa. Pretty awesome. Also, all of us kind of wanted to marry our waiter.

But he had a ring.