B Smith’s

I came to B. Smith’s for brunch and had their steak, eggs, and potatoes. Oooooh it was so so so so so good! I also enjoyed their mimosas and had a great time. I will continue to dine here whenever I’m in NYC. Awesome staff.

Someone needs to tell me where to get legit food in the Theater District. I like to eat before a show, and never know what to do. The service is good, but the dishes are totally hit or miss. Meaning the duck breast is great, and everything else is up in the air.

Just like the Unilocal three stars indicates, B. Smith’s is A-​OK.
My sister and I came here before seeing a show. Service was fine; I don’t think you really need a reservation, as they had plenty of seating. The dining room is pretty. B. Smith is featured everywhere in pictures; even in the bathroom!
The food was good, but the portions are very big, and the food is heavy, so you don’t end up eating most of it. We each had a cocktail (a Ginger Mule), which was okay. My sister and I split a Caesar salad (they called it a ‘Southern’ Caesar salad, that, since we asked for no tomatoes, did not appear to be different from a Caesar salad from any other region), and then we both had the fried chicken dinner. It came with collard greens and macaroni and cheese. The mac and cheese was tasty, the greens were not to my personal liking (I had never tried collard greens before), and the chicken was wonderful. We tried the red velvet cake for dessert, but just because we had a lot of time to kill and we really wanted a taste; we were pretty full by that time. The cake is actually very good (sometimes red velvet is just disappointing).
I would say you could easily split an entrée with another person; that’s not being cheap at B. Smith’s; that’s being practical. If you’re on Restaurant Row and you don’t have a reservation, B. Smith’s is more than serviceable for your pre-​theatre dining needs.

THE BLANDEST CAJUN/​CREOLE FOOD I HAVE EVER HAD!!! Made a reservation for 2 since it was my mother’s bday. Let’s just say I’ve had wayyy better food in nyc. B. Smith’s has been around tOo long to have such mediocre food. Makes me wonder if they have an owner that is actively involved and tasting the menu. I ordered the Shrimp & Grits. The Grits were extremely lumpy and the sauce which had some creole seasoning had no flavor what so ever. The shrimp tasted like it was just boiled without any seasoning or salt. My whole plate was just bland. My mother ordered the lamb chops with mashed potatoes which were a part of a special Thanksgiving Holiday menu. Let me just say the mash potatoes were the worst I have ever tasted in any restaurant. My job’s cafeteria makes better mash potatoes. The broccoli was hard and tasted like frozen food. Almost nothing tasted fresh or organic. The drinks were also sub-​par. If it wasn’t my mother’s birthday I honestly would have sent everything back and demanded a refund that’s how bad tasting the food was. I didn’t want to cause a scene so i vowed to never come back here again. Its a shame because I really wanted to support a black-​owned restaurant. This whole place seems like its in DIRE need of a total menu re-​vamp. In my opinion don’t waste your time or money coming here. Its also extremely pricey for a meal for 2 with drinks and appetizers your looking at $ 130. Just go to SOCO where the food is MUCH better and you get more bang for your buck!
PS: Service was average nothing special

Great food great service.
Stopped here for a quick bite before going to the theater.
The made good suggestions. The wings was very good. I will come again soon.

Horrible service and horrible food. They refused to honor my giltcity voucher for the monetary value. My banana foster pancake was too dense and the syrup became hard candy. They did make me a new order, but by that time, my friend was already done eating. The only redeeming thing about this experience was that they at least had the courtesy to not charge me for the pancakes.
(Giltcity apologized and stated that the restaurant should have honored the voucher and refunded me.)

Wow! Just terrible! From the snarky waiter (who thought he was funny — but not) to the the bad food, do not go here. I had the steak and well the quality is the same as the Golden Corral and the price is much more. Low quality.
And even the drink was weak– vodka tonic– simple but you have to add vodka!
To summarize, bad waiter — bad food & bad drinks.
PS– hey waiter! When we say we have a show to go to and we need the bill– don’t make me ask for it repeatedly! The restaurant was only ¼ full! No excuse

No. Absolutely not. Never again. The food was edible, the restaurant was clean, and the servers were attentive. That being said, it still does not compensate for the food quality.
The garden salad was average with balsamic. The catfish I had was not seasoned well and they had all the sauces mixing with the sweet potatoes. Everything was so mediocre and lukewarm. Their famous bread pudding is firmer than usual and was decent. If this restaurant wasn’t in the city, it would get three stars, but c’mon, you’re in New York. Step your game up.
They threw around names of guests such as Aretha Franklin and Lupita Nyong’o. The answer is still no.

Very delicious food that will satisfy your cravings. I like it because it’s a fancier looking place but they also server southern style dishes.

Went here this past Sat. nite after the theatre. I asked my friends to choose where they wanted to go to eat after the show; uptown to Harlem or B. Smith’s? They chose B. Smiths and I’m so sorry now that I didn’t insist on going back uptown.
I should have known something was wrong when we stepped inside and it was practically empty. But we took a chance. We ordered drinks which tasted more like Kool-​Aide than anything else. The appetizers were really poor. One friend had the Cesar Salad which consisted of nothing more than lettuce and dressing. I had the Black Eyed Pea Chowder which was nothing more than a can of Black eyed peas heated up and chicken stock added. Very poor. The Swamp Thang had absolutely no flavor to it at all. My friends chose the prixe fixe menu and that was no better. No one finished their food.
I expected more of B. Smith’s. This place needs to give up and close. It serves no purpose.

Came here on Sunday in the evening. Was very empty. We were seated right away. I had the fried chicken with Mac n cheese and collards greens that was seasoned well. My mom had the catfish which was amazing! I really liked the music. They were playing R&B music. Great place do bring a group of ppl for a birthday or shower.

Me and a couple of friends were excited to come here for brunch this past weekend. When we arrived, we noticed that it was a nicely decorated space with old school R&B playing in the background. It was pretty empty for a Sunday brunch, so we were surprised that they sat us upstairs. All the same, we began to peruse the menu until our waiter informed us that the catfish menu item was not available. The restaurant had not been open for more than 1 hour, how were they out of one of their best meals ?! We had our share of questions for the waiter (what’s your favorite thing to eat? what’s the portion size, etc) He rudely breezed through our questions and told us that it would be an added charge to have chicken instead of the UNAVAILABLE catfish and that either all dark meat or all white meat would be another surcharge on top of that. Why is the customer being punished for the kitchen’s inadequacy? Needless to say I went with the chicken & waffles, while one of my girlfriends chose the crab croquette with a barely seasoned potato salad. :(
The worst part of it all was the mimosa service. Four young professionals ask for the unlimited mimosa/​Bellinis, yet you bring one glass at a time and then walk away for moments at a time? Requiring me to look for you to refill our glasses? Why not just bring a carafe of the beverage?
I would come back, maybe for a dinner when the staff is more lively and attentive and when they actually have catfish, maybe.

Never heard of B smith but my mom and sister had invited my family and friends to eat here for my birthday. The atmosphere is very basic… The restaurant wasn’t that memorable besides the pictures of celebrity that has eaten there. The waiter was okay… The hostess was more of a help… When my little cousin showed up she gave my family a baby chair to enjoy. We ordered our food which the Appetizer didn’t have the nicest selection but we got the crispy chicken as appetizer it was okay… It was warm though. Being half Jamaican and very hungry I didn’t mind to much, we eat gold food all the time. My families food came out next and then I realized no one asked us for our drink orders… I usually drink ginger ale. My family didn’t really enjoy the food, they said the food was to bland or salty… I had steak fried and collard greens… I enjoyed it very much. The dessert was even better, I had the red velvet cake thanks to you Unilocalers… Seen the review on it and I was happy with my pick.
THANKS UnilocalERS, you guys gave me the perfect birthday cake.

Came here for dinner before heading to a show. We got in to eat around 6:15 and were served our drinks and meals within 30 minutes. Service was definitely on point for a pre-​show meal. The A-​Ok rating is more because I had a higher expectation for the food. It was good, but i was expecting better, particularly from the entrees. I ordered catfish with collards and mashed sweet potatoes. The sweet potatoes were fine on their own, but the catfish and collards were well under seasoned. There was also a gravy on the bottom of the plate that was basically on all the food, but didn’t quite fit any particular item. I will say that their bread pudding was quite delicious though. Overall, it’s not a bad place to check out if you need a place to eat before a show, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to try it because you heard so much about it.

B. Smith’s is definitely A-​OK! There is nothing wrong with it, the food is good and the service is as well, but there is also nothing exceptional about it either. If you are going to see a show it is a perfectly adequate spot to have a pre-​theater dinner and the service is built for that — everything comes out quickly and there is no asking for the check, as soon as you decline dessert here is your check and you are good to go!
Having gone on a Friday night I can say reservations are not needed, there is plenty of seating and a lot of tables to accommodate large parties.

I stopped by B. Smiths on a rainy Saturday afternoon for lunch. It was not crowded. My waiter was Devin. I got the black eyed pea chowder as an appetizer and I got the lobster salad on a roll and sweet potato fries as a main course. It was very good. the only criticism I had that day was that my food took a while to get to me. Devin was aware of this and stopped by to let me know what was going on. He brought me a dessert menu at the end of the meal and told me that since i waited so long for my food, I would not be charged for my coffee. It was a pleasant experience, I would recommend and return. [southern cuisine]

This was my final stop during NYRW and it did not disappoint!
I know the reviews are average so I guess I didn’t hold high expectations. I was a little bit concerned given its health inspection grade is pending when I walked in but I decided to give it a chance.
This restaurant has a 15-​minute reservation hold policy. I arrived extra early just to make sure I have a spot here. It turned out that during my time here, there were only several tables that were occupied. The restaurant was not full at all. I did have an early dinner so I am not sure if that is the reason.
After reviewing its regular menu and NYRW menu, I decided to ditch the NYRW menu. My waiter called the decision a good one. He was extremely nice and accommodating.
Shortly after my order, corn bread was served. They were served warm and tasted okay. I am so happy that servers kept re-​filling my water glass because I was super thirsty on that day. My main entrée was the Swamp Thang and I absolutely loved it. The flavor was great. My friend had Jambalaya and it was kind of mediocre compared with my experience at Toulouse Petit in Seattle. I haven’t really tried Jambalaya elsewhere in new york so I cannot really offer an objective comparison.
I was really looking forward to dessert but I got so full for some reason. My waiter told me that he would look forward to see me the following week to try their dessert. I sure will stop by here again if I am in the area!

I liked it here! The food was great and the waiter was super cute! It has a great date night feel, like something really cool and intimate. The drinks were good and not that expensive at the bar. Only down fall was that the happy hour deals didn’t apply at the table, which sucked. The music that filled the restaurant was on point with the ambiance. If felt like they were picking songs right from my iPod. My sister called it old school r&b hour. Lol.
All in all the restaurant is cool and I would recommend it just as long as you’re willing to dish out some cash. Gratuity and the service charge for 5 people came out to be nearly 80 dollars. Ridiculous I know. But besides being pricey, the food was delicious and the music was great. Im sold!

I was in charge of making the reservations for my friend’s birthday dinner. I decided on B. Smith’s because my friend loves soul food and this was the best location for all of our friends to meet…
+Upscale décor
+Staff was very professional and accommodating
+Food was delicious (Honorable mention: Shrimp and grits)
+It was pretty calm, quiet, and empty for a Saturday night (felt like our group had the restaurant to ourselves)
+Seems like an excellent date night spot
–A bit pricey
–Mixed drinks were hit and miss
I would definitely return… if only for the shrimp and grits! Yum! :)

Decent food, extremely lackluster service.
It’s a good place to hit up if you’re looking for a place to eat before a show in the theater district. Yeah yeah, it’s B. Smith’s and it’s got the obligatory pictures of her with all the celebs she schmoozed with over the years. But does the food hold up? Thankfully yes. The prix fixe here is pretty decent. They give you some pretty decent offerings at a good price. The fried green tomatoes are okay, but personally I liked the salad better. Between the ribeye and fried chicken and waffles, I’m going to have to go with the latter only because they make it so perfectly good, even if the steak seems to be more bang for the buck on the menu. However, my friend did enjoy the steak more than I did, so you might not go wrong with that either. The bread pudding is out of this world. Extremely tasty and just all in all the best part of the meal.
So what’s not good? The service here is very weak. Slow, slow, slow. Also very confused wait staff. One time we ordered a drink and it never came. Another time we went and nobody actually came to take our order for nearly 30 minutes. Turned out the waiters were confused as to who was serving our table. A small argument actually ensued between the waitstaff and the manager had to jump in. He did comp us with drinks from the bar, which was very nice.
If they can fine tune the service here, I’m sure the overall experience would be better. The atmosphere is nice and the food is pretty decent.