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| Aquavit |
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13 West 54th Street
New York, New York 10019
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ph: 212.307.7311
fax: 212.265.848
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RESPOND TO VISITOR REVIEW
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3chowhounds - We dined at the restaurant in the late evening 2-20-05. The lounge/bar area between the cafe and restaurant is so 70s, and perfect. The food was delightfully unusual, and prepared militantly raw or rare. There is no option to choose how meat/poulty/fish is prepared and there is no note on the menu. You are reliant on the waitstaff to forewarn you. They don't. Raw fish, rare meat OK. Rare poultry?? A little texturally challenging (e.g., try cutting uncooked duck with a butter knife--there's a whole lotta rubbery sawing and not much cutting going on). A bit stomach turning. The lobster roll and herring appetizers were excellent, as was the salmon and venison entrees. Desserts are hit and miss; some more savory than sweet. The wine procedure is mystifying. Glasses are filled and the bottle is whisked away, as in gone toward the bus area. Is this a NY thing? All of the rigmarole around purchasing a bottle of wine (display, pre-pour, etc.) is to assure you this is actually the wine you ordered, and it's drinkable, then they take it away?! Alright, but the waiter had better refill glasses promptly, which isn't the case. I was tempted to wander the restaurant with my empty glass as a show of protest! The waiter was fine, but had to do all the backwaiter's jobs as well as his own. Courses were brought with plates still on the table. It was laughable to watch them trot out with our food, look at the table and go grumbling back to the kitchen. Perhaps a maitre d' would help with the lazy backwaiters? They were uniformly bad, bad, bad. The food was better than the rating I gave, but you're paying for the whole package and it's only half there. Despite that, try this place. The food is unusual enough to be worth the aggravation.
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