Some are here too, but most like the place..but the naysayers have a lot of things to say about ineptitude here
It is funny, one customer complains about the waiter spilling food on him-- it brought back to me my days living on the Lower East side where many people spoke Yiddish and someone explaining to me the difference between a shlemiel and and a shlimozzle-- well, never mind
On to the reviews
SD26
19 E 26th St
(between Broadway & 5th Ave)
New York, NY 10010
Neighborhood: Flatiron
(212) 265-5959
(between Broadway & 5th Ave)
New York, NY 10010
Neighborhood: Flatiron
(212) 265-5959
- Nearest Transit Station:
- 28 St. (4, 6, 6X)23 St. (N, R)28 St. (N, R)
- Hours:
- Mon-Fri 11:30 am - 11 pmSat-Sun 4 pm - 2 am
- Attire:
- Dressy
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Price Range:
- $$$
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take-out:
- No
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Trendy, Upscale
- Has TV:
- No
- Caters:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
Funglin W. said: "Amazing places like this should NOT be so far up north, but maybe closer to where I live!! I had a small high school reunion and one of our friend who lived up near 115th recommended it. After some complaints about the hike up North,…" read more »
219 reviews for SD26
Review Highlights What's this?
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"The uovo raviolo was absolutely sublime." In 22 reviews -
"My order consisted of the uovo, wild bass, and panna cotta." In 15 reviews -
"Light, creamy deliciousness in one big ravioli." In 50 reviews
Rating Distribution | Trend
219 reviews in English
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Review from Lu H.
SD26 appears bouncer-worthy, and ready to pop into a full blown dance lounge any given weeknight. This led me to dismiss any expectations for the food, which meant I was unprepared for the delicious assault on my tastebuds to follow.
The way to do it is not plan out a long dinner in the dining room proper, but find a table in the bar area, share several dishes, and let the drinks do the talking.
The uovo ravioli is as memorable as people say it is. It is incredibly rich, with a dense ricotta filling with egg yolk that makes you want to do crazy things after seeing it steep into rest of the dish. It becomes irresistible. Eat at your own risk. Who knows, you may grow a pair after. Or sink into the corner with your fork to your chest, smiling contently to yourself.
Bresaola, a cured beef, was served with a deliciously simple and refreshing mix of oil and lemon, a bright flavor that cut the salty meat nicely.
Being me, I had to order the baby octopus. It was incredibly tender, and retained a smokey grilled flavor without tasting charred (even my favorite Kefi is guilty of charring the octopus at times). It comes resting in a generous amount of puree involving sun-dried tomatoes and herbs. A must-order for octopus lovers, and a substantial dish to share.
And the sea urchin pasta was addicting. I now have something to compare to Basta Pasta's version whenever I get around to trying it.
It's a good night when your preconceived notions are proven wrong. I welcome such experiences, and SD26 was the pleasant deliverer. -
Review from Lori L.
It's possible that I've been spoiled by all the good Italian restaurants in NYC; after all, it's a cuisine I did my best to avoid until one fateful day, I had a simple bowl of spaghetti pomodoro and all pretenses were shattered. When a group of us opted to go to SD26, I saw no reason not to; the reviews were mostly positive and the Restaurant Week menu appeared pretty solid. Thus, I found myself in the Flatiron District after work one evening, and stumbled first and foremost into an attractive happy hour held in their lounge area, which was bustling with plenty of smartly dressed people. We had to do a bit of sidestepping to reach the hostess and after the rest our party arrived, we were seated in the main dining area.
I'll skim over the environment: the dining area is pretty spacious, bustling, and for some reason, I recall it being almost glaringly red. It's not the most welcoming ambiance, more suitable, perhaps, for corporate lunches and dinners as well as meals with a large group of friends. Nonetheless, we were promptly given menus (although I had to ask specifically for the RW Menu) and had waters poured out for us. The options at SD26 are fairly standard: three courses, with a fair number of options in each category to choose from. I had already skimmed through the menu online, so I came already knowing what I wanted that night.
The start of the meal was probably the highlight: The Uovo Ravioli is one of the signature dishes here and was the one thing I knew I had to order. It's essentially one huge ravioli comprised of a ricotta and spinach filling and a barely cooked egg yolk. Cutting into the ravioli is a momentous event, as the egg yolk spills out across the bowl, melding perfectly with the truffle butter lining the bottom of the plate. This dish is decadent, savory, and aromatic and the sprinkling of Parmigiano Reggiano over the top completes it seamlessly. It's a dish that has been well conceived and executed, and is a must-order should you ever find yourself here.
Unfortunately, things took a turn for the opposite direction immediately afterwards. My Beef Cheeks were, quite possibly, one of the most unsatisfactory preparations of meat I can recall ever having. The meat was not, by any means, tender; an indication that it had not been braised for long enough. The light Barolo Wine sauce coating the meat did absolutely nothing for the flavor, and I had to ask our waiter several times for more black pepper to be sprinkled on the dish. The polenta on the side was forgettable and underseasoned as well, and I was sorely tempted to send the dish back to the kitchen, but eventually decided against creating an unnecessary scene.
Dessert was fairly average as well. I recall a typical selection of sorbet and gelato, an attempt at a fruit salad, and a panna cotta paired with strawberries drizzled with balsamic vinegar. The latter was probably the best of the trio (which isn't saying much, but...), pairing together a creamy texture, the natural sweetness from the strawberries, and a hint of acidity from the balsamic. It wasn't enough, however, to save the entire meal from the recent disappointment.
So, SD26, I'm not impressed. Perhaps for the area, it's one of the better options for dining and drinking, but given the caliber of Italian restaurants in NYC, I'd be hard-pressed to recommend this place to anyone, much less return here.-
Uovo Ravioli -
Uovo Ravioli -
Beef Cheeks
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Review from Jennifer H.
West New York, NJSurprisingly, the food here did not wow me whatsoever. I shared a full chicken with two sides. It seemed very average like something i could have ordered from Boston Market.
The decor and customer service is fantastic though! -
Review from Bobby B.
Los Angeles, CASD26 is one of the most enjoyable dining experiences in NYC. It all starts with the atmosphere, which feels like a high class yet simple and elegant interior; minimalistic, almost. The bar is huge, and well placed so that it is far enough away from the dining as to not disturb those there to eat.
I held a small business meeting there a few weeks ago, and I will be doing so again next month. The service was incredible, our waiter was knowledgeable about the menu (which is very helpful for those that don't know what some dishes are, exactly), and the staff didn't miss a single step. We had a reservation for 8pm on a Saturday night, and we were seated promptly at 8, followed by the bread guy (he deserves a mention, as our bread basket was never empty)!
I started out with a grilled baby octopus over cicerchie puree, and it was absolutely fantastic, but took a backseat compared to my dessert: a Baba au Rhym with orange sauce and whipped cream--easily the highlight of my meal. For my main course, I had a butter poached halibut with mashed potatoes, sea beans and paramount caviar. Although a seemingly simple entree, it was flavorful. The Portions were quite large, and the desserts were INCREDIBLE.
My only minor complaint was that the music was a little too loud, but after mentioning it to the waiter, it was turned down to a more appropriate level.
Also on a positive note, although I'm not a wine guy myself (sorry, I prefer craft beers), they had a rather extensive wine list, which the waiter was also apparently well versed in, according to some of my business partners whom were also impressed. -
Review from Louise W.
Hello Winos!
So they have a wine fountain. It's like a soda fountain except with wine. Genius! The server gives you a card. You put the card in the Machine, Grab a cup and put the glass under the bottle of your choice. Push a button for how many ounces you want and it squirts it in. Amaze! The card racks up your tab, then you pay at the end. -
Review from Chef S.
Falmouth, MAHaving had the quail egg raviolo with truffle oil offsite and having dined at Tony May and his daughter Marisa's prior establishments, San Domenico and Palio, I was greatly looking forward to tonight's dinner. I was not disappointed, Chef Matteo Bergamini's dishes were innovative, delicious and beautifully presented. The wines were reasonably priced and the service was friendly, efficient and professional. The ambiance is quite striking and Marisa and Tony are wonderful hosts. Do go and have a fine dining experience. -
Review from Dennis L.
Summer Restaurant Week 2013. I'll admit I was blown away by the interior design after having judged SD26 by its unspectacular exterior.
This descriptions accurately describes the food too. What may look plain and ordinary came to surprise me with complex and interesting flavors. The uovo in raviolo looks like a plain old 1 piece ravioli out of the freezer. But cutting into it releases the runny egg yolk to complete the pairing of truffle butter. One word - delicious.
The sea scallops dish was a large portion, seared nicely and laid to rest on purple potatoes. As off putting as the purple was, it tasted great with the scallops.
The spaghetti vongole I didn't care too much for.
Initially there was some confusion when we were trying to order. Our waiter insisted that either both of us has to do RW or neither of us could. Seeing as how we wouldn't have even ordered the same thing, this made little sense. Later, the floor manager "let it go this time just for us." -
Review from Terry F.
South Orange, NJI went here recently for a corporate dinner and wasn't impressed.
The salad was pedestrian, kind of a cress/frisee mix (or maybe just one of the two, I'm not sure which), but it was just a bowl of that (and nothing else) with vinaigrette.
The steak wasn't bad but a bit gristly/fatty. The guy next to me was a bit sensitive to that apparently as I noticed he picked/cut through it and put about half to the side. Fingerling potatoes were standard issue.
The dessert was the highlight, it was some kind of terracotta thing that was very delicious. But then it went wrong again and the coffee was only warm, not hot.
Aside from the mediocre meal, the "private" room was separated from the main bar/restaurant area by only a thin sliding plastic door, so it was loud and didn't feel private.
Overall more sizzle than steak. I would not be keen on returning. -
Review from Clara D.
Montclair, NJI was excited to try SD26 during Restaurant Week, very impressed while dining, and left extremely satisfied and full!
The service was impeccable. My group of 3 had a 7:30 reservation on Friday night and when we arrived right on the dot, we were seated immediately. Our waiter was polite and super attentive, the kitchen sent out our food at a perfect pace, and the bread servers stopped by our table with their baskets several times throughout the meal.
The huge restaurant is very sophisticated. Upon entrance, there's a long, dark corridor with an elegant, back-lit bar on one side and a row of minimally-decorated two-person tables on the other. Following the corridor is the open dining area - the main level has a ton of mixed-size tables and the upper level has two-person tables only. This space is beautiful and minimally decorated as well.
The food - generous portions and yummy, but only a few dishes we ordered were special. I had the prosciutto and burrata first. The prosciutto was plentiful and tasty, but I wasn't thrilled with the burrata. It tasted good, but it wasn't soft and creamy like I was expecting. Instead it was very cold and had the solid texture of a mozzarella ball one might find at the grocery store. My next course was my favorite - the uovo raviolo. It was superb, with such a rich flavor inside. I loved the burst of runny egg yolk. Lastly, the dessert - pannacotta with strawberries and balsamic vinegar - was on point. I preferred the flavorful, unique taste of the baba' al rhum dessert though. The meal finished with a complimentary plate of tiny treats, including a few pieces of chocolate, biscotti, and cream puffs. Yum.
My only real complaint about this restaurant is the wine/cocktail list, which is presented to each table on one iPad. This seems very cool at first, but it's actually quite awkward to pass around and it takes too long to flip through the options. We would have preferred to look at regular drink menus. Other than this minimal qualm, our experience with SD26 was fabulous. Come get a table here and you will experience a perfectly smooth meal! -
Review from Bruno W.
Mount Kisco, NYI really want to give 3 1/2 stars. My laundry list: The service was excellent the food pretty good and the decor very striking. The wines by the glass were decent. The cleanliness and attention to the ladies room was unacceptable. We enjoyed our salads and my son and I split a rib eye for two the was tasty and cooked perfectly. My wife had a fish special, dorado, which was fresh but a bit bland. We did not have dessert just coffee and it was nearly $300 which included two glasses of wine and a club soda so it is pricey. The real complaint was that the ladies room was a pigsty and twice through the evening my wife went in to find a mess with no one having attended to it. The second trip in she found the toilet paper had run out. It was a weeknight with no major bar scene just the dining room which was 90% full. A little more flavor to the fish and better attention to the bathrooms and you might squeak a weak 4 stars. Despite other reviews we were very happy with the service and would recommend it to those of you not on a budget. -
Review from Cynthia M.
Manhattan, NYAnother lovely meal for my second visit to the restaurant. They are participating in Restaurant Week and since my sole reason for coming here is the Uovo Raviolo which is on the RW menu, I was sold.
The raviolo was just as good as I remembered and even though I shared it with my three companions, that one bite I had was rich enough for me to be satisfied. My brother had the burrata and prosciutto which was also amazing. My cousin and friend had the frog leg gnocchi and the lobster tagliatelle and though both were decent, neither were as great as the raviolo and the burrata.
For our entrees we had the beef cheeks and the veal loin entrees. The beef cheeks were underseasoned but were helped with a bit of salt. The veal loin though was quite good and definitely the better options.
For our desserts we had the ice cream, sorbet, panna cotta and the baba au rhum. The baba was a complete letdown and the panna cotta was nice, but I would have preferred the balsamic on the side. The ice cream and sorbets were both super yummy though and even though they are super simple, sometimes simple can be spectacular.
Service was attentive and quick and prices were good for what we got. Ambiance was great and I would definitely recommend for an exceptional Restaurant Week menu.1 Previous Review: Show all »
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5/1/2012
My first cheat meal in 10 days was an absolute success! Oh my, what a great meal. After living off… Read more »
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5/1/2012
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Review from Jonathan F.
Jersey City, NJI was excited to try SD26 for a business lunch a couple of weeks ago. Perhaps my expectations were to high. The service was poor- the waiter continued to lean over the front of me to serve and clear dishes, and came close to dropping food on me. I've had better service at a Jersey diner.
The food was below par - My fish was perfectly seasoned but served at room temperature. -
Review from Mary P.
Manhattan, NYDecent food, bad service.
I'm not really going to comment on the food too much, since to be honest it was all very lackluster. The food was all okay and was missing some elements to make the dish's flavor complete. Plus I really don't like balsamic vinegar with my panna cotta. Chef's palate is a little off.
The service though was terrible. Not that they were rude. They were very kind, but they were immensely slow. My waitress was waiting probably upwards to 15 tables at the same time, and for some reason was the least attentive to my table. The tables beside us were seated after us, and they ate, paid, and left before we even finished our first course. I also have a feeling that the staff isn't well trained. The other waiter kind of threw the bread on our bread plates because he had no dexterity in doing it. Our bread always fell off with him not realizing what was going on. He didn't apologize or try to reach for the bread to be properly placed on our plates. On top of that, he was cleaning up one of the tables next to us, and while he was making the table, he placed the centerpieces on our table as we were eating to fix the table cloth.
It was a very weird experience. Probably will not come back again.
Also drinks aren't very good here either, although they have that cute little iPad to help us select the drinks. -
Review from Chris E.
Queens, NYI went here sometime in 2010 and had a pretty good dining experience. The food is categorized according to its star ingredients. Their menu features eight categories: Salumeria, Super Starters, Pasta, Grains and Legumes, Meat, Poultry and Game, Formageria, Vegetables and Salad, Fish and Shellfish and Dessert, each of which includes a number of options. The food here is not as groundbreaking as the décor, but it's not something to shrug off either. Out of the menu items, the following are what I found most worthy of my time, money and taste buds:
Salumeria
The better choice here is the Culatello, which is a center cut of prosciutto that's been aged 18 months. It's soft and flavorful, but doesn't have the saltiness a prosciutto typically has. It isn't served with cheese but it's wise to pair the two.
Super Starters
Zeppela di baccala made me a fan. The burst of flavors is pleasant, and the crispy apples and scallions counteract the saltiness of the fish.
Meat, Poultry and Game
I highly recommend the Pan-seared Venison Saddle. It will give you the comfort that you want from a meat. It's served with braised cabbage, hazelnuts, red beets and Granny Smith apples.-
Great wine and cocktail selection! -
Fantastic prosciutto! -
I loved the octopus!
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Review from Jazmin A.
New York, NYNever again! First of all, we had to wait 25 minutes just to receive water after asking 7 times. I'm not even exaggerating. Eventually my friend went to the bar and got her own water. The waiter was very difficult to find and there were only 3 tables that he needed to attend to. None of us were served. We constantly had to get up to ask the hostess to have the waiter come and take our orders. We just wanted some apertivo and bubby one lazy afternoon. The place was pretty empty so not sure why the service was so slow/non-existent.
To top it off, the waiter charge the wrong amounts on our credit cards, not once, but TWICE! We literally told him the total to place on each and he still managed to get that incorrect and by A Lot! We complained to the manager about it and were very polite but all he said was that he was sorry. How about comping one of our drinks maybe? He said, next time we come it will be a better experience, but there will be no next time. There are just way too many great options in NYC to return to place with crappy service.
Beware!! -
Review from Thomas A.
Lyndhurst, NJOne reason I love America: it really is a melting pot. Only in NYC you can hit a top-notch Italian restaurant where the sommelier (yes, my first time at a place that actually has a wine expert/snob) is South American, another server is Asian, a few others Italian and each time one came over with a new vino to try or dish to eat - I had zero clue what they were saying.
But I smiled, thanked them and enjoyed the entire feast. (Well that last drunken dessert was just a touch insane with the amount of rum they gave us and I made sure to eat/drink every last once.)
Definitely recommended. (Thankfully I wasn't the one driving home that night.) -
Review from Adrienne N.
Marlborough, MABartender was unsure of what a mimosa was and he couldn't find the liquor my boyfriend requested. We were there pretty early in the afternoon so maybe the A-team wasn't behind the bar - ?
Two staff members ordered and received food before our appetizers came out. We waited more than 20 minutes for the apps which weren't anything spectacular. -
Review from JC A.
New York, NYThis place is just OK. Considering all the great restaurants in NY, it tries but doesn't stand out. The one highlight is the "uovo" in raviolo which is great and worth trying, but the other dishes we had were not at the level that a restaurant of that categorie should be. The octopus was not well seasoned, the urchin ravioli did not enhanche such a delicate flavor and the pasta was beyond "al dente", and the rabbit was really dry. -
Review from Alioune F.
New York, NYThe service is excellent, the place is a masterpiece of design, and the food ...
The food is delicious, from start to finish. full stop.
The stuffed egg is a experience that should not be missed, one of the best dish I ever had, and certainly the best in NYC, by far. -
Review from Annette F.
New York, NYConsiderate of and knowledgeable of unusual food allergies! Lots on the menu I can eat and of course the food is amazing!1 Previous Review: Show all »
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6/15/2011
My new favorite restaurant for a special night out. Great food, great atmosphere and great service! Read more »
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6/15/2011
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Review from Lacey B.
New York, NYWe had a great dinner at SD26. We started with the buratta and tomato salad. I had the daily risotto (parmsan and ramps) which was outstanding. Clearly made fresh - not par cooked then reheated.
The boyfriend had the egg raviolo finished with truffle butter. I stole a bite and can confirm it was decadent.
The service was fine, well taken care of without being intrusive.
The layout of the restaurant seemed a bit strange, but nothing that would trun me off from going back.
I will definitely go again.
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