Saturday, September 7, 2013

resto

Another little place that may or may not be as charming as it seems from the outside...

Let us see what Yelpers say--Good reviews, but some people do not think it is as good as it should be (well, that is nothing new for Yelp reviews)


Resto

3.5 star rating
451 reviews Rating Details
111 E 29th St
(between S Park Ave & Lexington Ave)
New York, NY 10016
Neighborhoods: Midtown East, Flatiron
(212) 685-5585
Make a Reservation
Nearest Transit Station:
28 St. (4, 6, 6X)
33 St. (4, 6, 6X)
23 St. (4, 6, 6X)
Hours:
Mon-Fri 12 pm - 4 pm
Mon-Sat 5 pm - 11:30 pm
Sat-Sun 10 am - 4 pm
Sun 5 pm - 10:30 pm
Parking:
Street
Accepts Credit Cards:
Yes
Price Range:
$$$
Attire:
Casual
Good for Groups:
Yes
Good for Kids:
No
Takes Reservations:
Yes
Delivery:
No
Take-out:
Yes
Waiter Service:
Yes
Outdoor Seating:
Yes
Wi-Fi:
No
Good For:
Dinner
Alcohol:
Full Bar
Noise Level:
Average
Ambience:
Casual
Has TV:
No
Caters:
Yes
Wheelchair Accessible:
No

Review Highlights   What's this?

  • "Deviled eggs were great but not your standard eggs." In 45 reviews
  • "The hangover pasta is a modern twist on the spaghetti cabonara." In 48 reviews
  • "Recently did the large format feast with a goat at Resto." In 28 reviews
Show more review highlights
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451 reviews in English

  • Review from

    • 32 friends
    • 46 reviews
    New York, NY
    7/21/2013
    Had brunch here today for a party of 11. Loved the vibe and ambience of the place. Great service. Thoroughly enjoyed my Belgian Hangover Pasta and mimosas :)

    I will be back!
  • Review from

    • 2 friends
    • 2 reviews
    New York, NY
    7/30/2013
    Resto's RW menu looked interesting and based on a friend's recommendation, it was worth a try. Here's the breakdown:

    The food - Pig's head terrine and hanger steak frites were very good, the scallion cream was a nice touch.  The spicy watermelon gazpacho was a tad too spicy, but interesting.  The fluke was overcooked and a bit salty.

    The service - I waited for more than half an hour between my first course and second course to be served. The food took so long that by the time dessert was ready to be served, they ran out of the basil panna cotta I ordered at the beginning of the meal! Poor service and not impressed enough by the food to be returning.
  • Review from

    • 0 friends
    • 4 reviews
    Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, NY
    7/17/2013 1 check-in here
    Delicious discovery! I went here with a large group of 14 people so our menu was a Pris Fixe and the goodies kept coming! We definitely over ordered, there was a lot to take home but I ate my left overs for the next 5 meals. It was even better!

    Red wine selection is great. All the drink menus are in old books which is fun. The service was slow but probably because we had such a large group. I will def go back!

    We had the chicken, pork shoulder, flank steak, calamari salad, starter salad, and individual ice creams to finish. Great place! Good date spot.
  • Review from

    • 17 friends
    • 37 reviews
    New York, NY
    9/7/2013
    When you live in "Bro-ry Hill" you have fewer options to avoid the bros and eat well. So luckily there is Resto. A little bit of the good part of Brooklyn eats in the neighborhood. I've only been there for brunch but it was tasty. Enjoy!
  • Review from

    • 0 friends
    • 8 reviews
    New York, NY
    9/5/2013
    I loooove this place. Since the first day they open. They never disappoint me.
    You must love rich flavor and if you don't order something 'meaty' don't even bother.
    But if you dream in stake and color... This is the place to go. It also serve dinner until late which is a plus!
  • Review from

    • 11 friends
    • 10 reviews
    Scottsdale, AZ
    8/28/2013
    Good cocktails, apps were ok, deviled eggs supposed to be good nope, mussels had no flavor, tartar not good very chewy.  Tomato salad was very good. Ordered the pork schnitzel, first off it was not pounded thin it was just a pork steak and kind of thick, second the ENTIRE piece of meat was gristle.  I kept cutting the end off trying to get to the meat but just kept getting fat until I got to the other end of the piece.  Green beans also supposed to be special they have sugar and salt on them, first bite a little interesting but not something you would want to eat a lot of.  The little bar next door has like 1000 beers and looked like a better spot to eat too.  My two friends eat there a lot and say its great but I had a bad experience.
  • Review from

    • 9 friends
    • 8 reviews
    New York, NY
    6/13/2013
    So I had been to Resto once before about 5  years ago, but was in the area so I thought I'd give it another shot.  So myself, and my good friend who is a high end small production farmer on Long Island went over for a bite. I understand how people love this place, as well as people thinking this place is just alright.  Our experience fell somewhere in the middle.

    Let's get the burger discussion out of the way:  Lots of hype on this burger which is comprised of beef cheek, hangar, and pork fat back.  Strangely, its not listed on the menu.  Why?  part of the hype? maybe...  Anyway, due to the presence of fat back they cook it all the way through.  And not that it was dry, but it was just so very standard tasting w/ average juiciness.  And SMALL.  I'd say, how about leaving out the fat back and cook a nice juicy bloody med or med rare burger - our estimation would be that would be a better route to go.  In a city-wide competition, this burger wouldn't sniff the top 50.

    Special happy hour dry-aged sliders - I was told about this at 6:35 by a server...at 6:47, since happy hour had ended 2 minutes before, we weren't permitted to order them, despite the server telling us they had the patties formed and ready to go in the kitchen.  So this made me and my friend feel like we were red-headed stepchildren being punished for handing our homework in late or getting a smack in the tush for staying up past our bedtime.

    Deviled Eggs -- F&^$*&ing awesome how they are served on fried...well -- .  Although when the server who brought it over explained what they were, he said "its like a chicken nugget, but its not... its fried yolk" -- turned out to be fried HEAD CHEESE, which was awesome...they're just lucky neither one of us were vegetarians otherwise  there would have been a shit storm on their heads.

    Beers are awesome, although when they take your glass away they should ask if you want another... for my sake, and theirs.

    The Good -- head cheese deviled eggs.. big kudos, ramp pasta w/ an egg...garlicky, solid.  Char tartare w/ cucumber & watermelon, also nicely prepared - bright, with just the right amount of acid.

    So, in conclusion.  This place could be great.  Clean up the rough around the edge service, list the food that is actually available on  your menu, bend the rules, ask to refill my empty beer glass, and gimme a damn red burger - this is america... and we'll return.
  • Review from

    Astoria, NY
    5/22/2013
    Large Format Feast Review

    Came here in a group of 16 for a post wedding party and absolutely annihilated two milk fed goats.  The meal started with goat loin and risotto. Although my loin and another person's were on the tougher side, almost everyone else seemed to agree that theirs were tender (err.. that sounds funny but you know what I mean!).

    3 dishes came out after that:  the GLT sandwich (goat, lettuce tomato), goat meat loaf and merguez.  All 3 were excellent dishes with the merguez getting my vote as the winner. I loved that it was smokier and spicier than most lamb merguez I've had. Also, the crunch on the GLT sandwich was music to my ears.

    Next up, the heads and necks. If you are a skittish eater, it's time to look away. Cheeks, neck, tongue, eyeballs, brains - nothing was left out. I had them all and they were delicious. If are okay with eating brains, you have to ask them to split open the heads. I realize that sounds gruesome... kinda like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Resto Edition. However, because they were fresh they tasted great.

    The rest of the goat came soon after that. The leg looked like it was the granddaddy of all goat shanks. The meat was very succulent. The ribs were a bit too sweet for my taste but other people in our table loved it.  I wasn't sure how they prepared the shoulders - it tasted like sausage but chunkier in texture. Both the shoulders and the side of sliced potatoes were excellent but I think at that time most of us were at the point of regurgitating.

    Lastly for desert, they gave us Belgian waffles with chocolate and vanilla syrup. The syrup was beaten by hand so it was airy which apparently gives it more flavor. The waffles were one of the crunchiest waffles I have had.

    Overall, we had a very good experience. The service never let us down and the beer selection was awesome. Some of us did the wine pairing, which while good, wasn't necessary. There were 4 rounds of wine with the pairing and only one of them was red.  Had I known before I would have stayed away from the wine pairing and just gotten my own wine. I would definitely recommend this for any large group of people who might be looking to get adventurous with their food.
  • Review from

    Summit, NJ
    Updated - 6/6/2013
    Wow whatever happened here.  I used to love coming here with their unique menu items like the pig ear salad etc.  came for lunch today... Quite disappointed by the menu options.  I mean the food was ok, but noting like I remembered it to be.  The avocado salad was ok, not mind blowing.  The broccoli rabe was so hard to eat - struggling to finish.
    The good thing is that no wait for lunch.

    1 Previous Review: Show all »

    • 11/2/2009
      I went to Resto twice during the past month - so here is a summary of both experience.  As you can… Read more »
  • Review from

    • 0 friends
    • 83 reviews
    New York, NY
    5/12/2013
    We really like Resto, though it's changed a bit since it first opened some years ago.  The wine/cocktail list is delivered pasted into a book on various subjects.  The menu is brief (4-5 entree's, maybe 8-12 small plates, and 3-4 large format options).  The service is amazing - servers cover for one another without hesitation, making sure you have whatever you need.

    The quality of the food is quite good.  The burger is good, the deviled eggs excellent, the crispy chicken and veal schnitzlel dishes both very good.

    The belgian beer list is really nice, though smaller than it once was.

    Worth a visit.
  • Review from

    Moodus, CT
    5/10/2013 Seated via OpenTable
    Resto hardly needs another review at this point, but add my voice to the those who express their approbation.  Upscale pub, solid service and an excellent, eclectic array  of offerings.  The deviled eggs rival the infamous version from the Spotted Pig, though I expect they would bristle at the comparison.

    A poorly-kept secret is that the burger is always available.  A superb pork/beef grind, and not to be missed.
  • Review from

    • 55 friends
    • 139 reviews
    Yonkers, NY
    8/16/2013 1 check-in here
    Resto was a qaint place off the beaten path in curry hill.  The place was cute, the beer and wine selection was pretty awesome.  The food was a little hit or miss.  I had the spicy watermelon gazpacho - delicious.  Then I split my entree with my friend and she with me...so we both had a helping of the hanger steak (cooked to perfection - rare) but under seasoned.  The blue cheese dressing was a bit overpowering.  We also shared the fluke...which was overcooked and a bit dry.  It too was underseasoned...and laying on top of 6 small circles of squash.  I was still hungry, so I ordered the deviled egg.  The taste was amazing...it was on "pork toast" think shirmp toast, but it was SUPER GREASY.  It  sat with me for quite some time. For dessert, I had the lemon tart.  Delicious.  My friend had gotten the pig head terrine for a starter and said it was very underseasoned and the mustard overwhelmed the dish.  I think with a few tweaks, this place could be amazing.
  • Review from

    Somerville, MA
    4/9/2013 1 check-in here
    For some reason, we made a reservation to come in on Sunday at 10 am.  We were literally the only people in the restaurant.  Food and service were good though.  I got the salmon which came on pieces of rye toast with creme friache, greens and capers.  Pretty upscale and a rather small portion size, but very good.  The coffee was also great.

    My husband got the Eggs Benedict which looked bigger and more filling.  Overall, pretty good.
  • Review from

    • 25 friends
    • 52 reviews
    Manhattan, NY
    7/9/2013 Seated via OpenTable
    Hands down hangover pasta. The best comforting food ever. Pasta, sausage grilled into the right temperature, with eggs on top. When you are hangover, this is the pasta you would want.
  • Review from

    • 0 friends
    • 6 reviews
    Astoria, Queens, NY
    4/20/2013
    The service here is really good, everyone is attentive and they actually have a sense of humor, which isn't so common at comparable places in this area. I work a couple blocks down and I've never had a problem waiting for a table which is awesome.

    The food is good, but nothing that really blows my mind. I loved that my wine list was like, taped into a book about seagulls. Nice touch.

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