Bar Americain

Once again, terrible service brings down an otherwise serviceable New York City restaurant. It’s always a bad sign with you’re bonding with the table next to you about how many times the waiters have walked by and ignored your efforts to get their attention. I just expected more when paying $ 230 for dinner for two on Valentine’s Day.
A few low-​points: The table had about an inch of wobble when we sat down, but we had to wait for them to fix it while they tried to deal with the same problem for the table next to us. They couldn’t be bothered to deal with this during closing hours so instead we spent the beginning of the meal with the waiter on his knees under our table. By the time he finished, my date had gone to the bathroom and we hadn’t even order drinks so basically the first twenty minutes of the meal were just aggravation.
Then the waiters just ignored us repeatedly as they walked back and forth. The didn’t bring my date a steak knife and it took about ten minutes to get their attention while the meal grew cold, including two trips to the table next to me when I said «excuse me» loudly and they didn’t hear or look over to see me waving my hands. Ditto several tries to get the check at the end.
Otherwise just perfunctory service and the food was so-​so. My date said it was the low point of our night. Won’t be back.

Went here on Valentine’s Day with my honey. He really wanted to come here. We were Very disappointed. Highly annoyed would not come here ever again and wouldn’t recommend this place either.

Extremely disappointed with this experience. $ 95 per person prefix menu for Valentine’s Day…3 courses. I had the fried chicken (secret recipe) and biscuit. The problem with the secret recipe chicken is that they kept it a secret from the cook. Flavorless batter on the chicken and the biscuit, the size of a half-​dollar, was brick hard and flavorless. I feel robbed. It won’t happen again.

Bobby Flay would be ashamed and disappointed that a few select members of the staff, make this beautiful nyc restaurant look and feel like a 2-​star steak joint. To provide some context– Ashtia Jew was the rudest, most sarcastic server who instantly struck us as someone who should never have been hired here. Robert, the manager who came over after we put our complaint in to Ashtia, was unable to come up with any solution besides telling us that «you should have called me over earlier and I would have been happy to give you another server». Ashtia’s last remark as she handed us our check was really what made me want to write this review, as she laughed and said «I truly hope you chose to come back to Bar Americain and maybe make sure to not have me as your server next time».
While the food was amazing, I would never recommend such an up-​scale and expensive restaurant with such sub-​par service. I now understand how extremely important good service is to dining as a whole.

The crepes were amazing!!! I’m not an asparagus person but the tips were crispy and delicious. The homemade chips and blue cheese were good but a little rich — no surprise! Had the banana profiteroles for dessert. Wonderful!

Went there for dinner last week. If you have trained taste bud, please do not go to this place with high expectation. Food quality is average, but the price point has worsen the dinner experience. I would give it a three star if everything on the menu is five dollar cheaper.

This burger… damn.
The burger is off menu for dinner, but it’s still available. It’s huge (and delicious), probably 14oz cooked (perfectly medium rare), and topped with either gruyère, sharp aged cheddar or pimento cheese (go pimento)…plus some seriously pungent grilled onion, house made pickle slices, lettuce and tomato.
The burger also comes with fries, and 3 dipping sauces (ketchup-​I don’t know if its house made or heinz, mustard-​tasted like wasabi mustard-​it was good, and russian dressing).
At $ 22, the burger-​while expensive is worth the price.
They also put a basket of some stellar bread on the table before the meal — make sure to be the person to snatch the corn bread sticks.

Very impressive! I’m a fan!
I came here for lunch with a group and had a very enjoyable meal. The staff is very attentive and helpful in making selections. The menu has a good wide range of choices and has just about anything you’re in the mood for.
The appetizer portions are good sized and can be shared. The deviled eggs and steak tartare were very good. The entrée sizes tend to be small though. Everything we had was delicious. If you like food a little spicy then you will really like the selection here. Make sure to also get something with seafood — it’s very fresh!
Beautiful presentation too. I wish I took some photos!

The Lobster special on Wednesdays is absolutely incredible! The lemon butter sauce melts in your mouth. I’m only in the area for a week, and I’ll definitely be back to try something else.

I ate here with my mom and sister the other night and I was pretty happy with it. Our waiter was friendly, attentive and knowledgeable. He even asked if we were seeing a show in case we needed to eat quickly which we didn’t because we had already seen one.
Here’s the rundown on the food:
Appetizers:
Seafood cocktail sampler– my mom got this and said it was excellent especially the tomatillo sauce that came with the shrimp which was cooked perfectly.
Vidalia onion soup– a wonderful comfort dish that was tasty and hearty. Thick with onions and a nice coating of cheese on top.
Pizza with bacon and caramelized onions — this was fabulous. The crust was paper thin and crispy. Perfect for an appetizer and left plenty of room for the main course.
Entrées
Shrimp and grits– nice sized portion shrimp were medium sized which was perfect because the tails were removed which made for a clean eating experience. Had a bit of a kick to it which was nice. Grits were creamy.
Mushroom and butternut squash crepes– these were excellent. They came crispy and the filling was tastier than expected.
Duck with «dirty» spelt– duck was cooked perfectly. Spelt was flavorful and had a hint of mint in it which wasn’t to my taste but my sister loves and it was her dish so it made her happy.
Sides
Griddles Mushrooms– disappointing. Very salty and way too earthy tasting. Had virtually no flavor. The griddle aspect was not there.
Sweet potato gratin– heaven. The potatoes were sliced thin as paper and tasted like candy. They also had a little kick to them but it didn’t take away from the wonder of the dish.
Dessert
Chocolate soufflé– we were told it would take 15 minutes as this was a classic soufflé and it was well worth the wait. It was light and sugary and quite possibly the best thing we ate.
Banana ice cream profiteroles– bold banana flavor. Came with chocolate sauce that was warm and creamy and crunchy walnuts.
The only issue I had and it wasn’t even a real problem was that as we were done they were very quick to take the plates.
The ambiance was upscale but not too fancy. We were able to walk in after our show in jeans and nice sweaters. We had a reservation at 5:30 and they took us early at 5.
I really enjoyed the experience as a whole and would definitely go back again.

Dined here with a large group on a Saturday afternoon for brunch. We had the private room on the second level reserved. As soon as we arrived the waiters began to take drink orders. They then came out with bread for the tables, there was an assortment, a spicy cornbread, a sweet chocolate one, a cheesy garlic one and a plain bread roll. They were all really good! They also came accompanied with a homemade raspberry jam and a jalapeño butter. Yummy! For an appetizer I had the new manhattan clam chowder, it was NOT what I expected, it was a tomato based soup but… it was phenomenal! We couldn’t quite figure out what was the texture in the soup, whether it was minced clams or sausage but wow, it was so good! It also came with crispy okra, which stayed crispy the entire time in the soup, needless to say we were impressed!
For the main course I had the shrimp and grits, being from South Carolina my expectations were pretty high, annnnnd I was not disappointed! It was however, different then what we are used to here in the south. The grits had a soup consistency to them and a very tasso ham heavy flavor. There was also a good kick to the soup which I wasn’t expecting. My only complaint would be that were was too many scallions on my plate, which I assume were supposed to be more of a garnish? But there were so many that it took over many bites.
For dessert I got the bourbon crème brulee… you guys, this was probably the best crème brulee that I’ve ever had… it was amazing! It was so creamy, the top was crispy but perfectly browned, oh I could have eaten a tub of that stuff.
The service for our brunch was impeccable! The waiters were attentive and efficient. Constantly bringing out drinks and food. Everyone from my group loved this meal. I cannot wait to visit NYC again and trying something else! I have been a Bobby Flay fan for years, cannot wait to try another one of his restaurants!
Tracy, the event coordinator here was fabulous! She made sure everything was just perfect! The planning process was a breeze with her, thank you for such a great time!

This was my first Bobby Flay restaurant to try out so I was very excited… so it was too bad it all went down so badly. The Potato Chips w/​Blue Cheese Dip was great but it took the waiter/​anyone on the floor a long time (after the main dishes came) to even offer a second round of chips since there was so much dip left over.
3 out of the 4 of us ordered the Miami Pork Chops. One was fine, the other was pretty over done, and mine was Pork Chop Tataki. I ate a pretty big chunk before I realized the inside was completely raw. And I don’t mean that rosy pink color when it’s slightly undercooked, it was straight raw. We couldn’t find our waiter anywhere so the manager finally came over noticing that we were all not eating and looking around. She came back delayed with a brand new pork chop… but this time it was significantly overdone (dry) and the quail egg on top had several broken shells in it. Plus because the cook was rushed, the orange glaze was still very alcoholic.
I understand it’s a busy restaurant and there’s a lot of pressure to uphold Bobby Flay’s name, but it was such a bad dining experience I very much lost my appetite. Thankfully this was a company outing and it was expensed?

I had the Glazed Pork Chop w/​Quail Egg and Sweet Potatoes… AMAZING! This was the best pork chop I’ve ever tasted. The sweet potatoes were just right as well, not too sweet and with butter. I was also able to sample my wife’s Shrimp and Grits, another great dish. Highly recommended!!!

FOR $ 300! That was a saaaaaad meal :(
I don’t do «prie fix»… And that’s what I got screwed on at Bar American! I failed to realize when I made reservations, that you could NOT order from their normal menu… BIG MISTAKE!
My Thanksgiving meal was NOT so giving… I started with a $ 28 «trio» shellfish appetizer that was tasty… And after that, it went down hill for us.
The prie-​fix offers 3 courses at $ 89 p/​p… My appetizer from the prie-​fix menu was the Escargot/​Crawfish dish… It sounded promising… But, promises were broken — NO SEASONING! Saaaaad :(
My friend got the appetizer pizza — OVERLOADED with caramelized onions and she had to send a search party for the bacon! Saaaaaad :(
My friend ordered the prime rib as her main entrée choice… You could only get it two ways — Medium Rare or Well Done… My friend said it was just so-​so… The table next to me complained that the prime-​rib was a bad cut and tough… I had the Halibut — Evidently they ONLY prepared it WELL DONE TOO! The fish was so dry, that after the first bite I pushed my plate away! Saaaaaad :(
We ended our Thanks-​not-​so-​giving meal, with the prie-​fix dessert choices… I got the Profiteroles with Vanilla Bean IceCream and my friend got the Crepes… Finally, some form of satisfaction… But, let’s face it — it’s dessert and you can’t go too wrong with sugar!
All in all, the best thing about our «not so» Thanksgiving Dinner, was our wine, cocktails and the décor of Bar Americain…
I will NOT be giving Thanks or breaking bread again at this particular joint… Saaaaad :(

New York City, Mid-​Manhattan
Perhaps 3.5 stars… pretty good food but not 4-​star worthy.
We had several apps, deviled eggs, flatbread all were good.
I had the Shrimp & grits and my wife had the skate. Both were pretty good.
Very good service.

Very busy but kind of congested, tables are uncomfortably close together. Service was good, food was pretty average, I ordered the lamb loin, it was good but nothing to write home about.

It was our anniversary dinner. After one year of marriage we wanted to treat ourselves. The hostess that greeted us was wonderful. We were early so we decided to sit at the bar and have a cocktail. The bartenders were very nice and the drinks were delicious. We did notice some disagreements at the service bar between the staff and bartender. Honestly if the rest of the night was good it wouldn’t event be worth mentioning but keep that stuff in the back not in front of customers.
The crab claws were great, the grilled pizza was top notch, and our server was very nice (forced nice but nice). The main dishes were terrible. Fried chicken had no crisp and was doused in honey mustard. The shrimp and grits were like soup with gummy gross shrimp on top. We hated our dishes. The dessert was given to us for our anniversary. This was a very nice gesture and it was good. Not great … good. $ 250 later we felt unsatisfied and ended up at McDonalds. I feel I don’t have to say any more.

Ate here with the big group. Was very nice with good food and good wine. Menu was set so did not experience the full range of options but what we had was good quality and I will return here to try it as an individual dinner.

I really really wanted to like this meal. I took my wife, and 2 pre-​teen kids to eat on a recent trip to NYC. The waitstaff was very attentive, and the ambiance was very nice. My son’s filet was delicious; my wife’s bouillabaisse was very good also. My daughter’s pizza was a joke, and my NY Strip was disgusting. There were thick chunks of fat in the meat that made it largely unedible.
The part that really made me cringe though was when I went to the restroom, I was standing by the station where the food is prepped to go out to the tables. There were 3 – 4 guys moving dishes around, and making sure the food was properly plated. I saw a dude lick his finger then use it to wipe the perimeter of a late. There was some «sauce» on the plate that I guess he thought was unsightly. How disgusting is that?

Made reservations for our family of 4 here on a weekday night.
We were a few minutes late, but were seated quickly at a great table. Standard décor and a bit loud. Almost everyone here seemed to be on a business dinner. Server greeted us quickly and brought over sodas for the teens & a bottle of Cabernet for the parents.
Food?
STEAK! Everyone was in the mood for steak. Spice Rubbed New York Strip & Filet Mignon. Everyone approved. Very Good.
As for sides: I liked the Cauliflower Goat Cheese Gratin & Mashed Potatoes (but its hard to mess up mashed potatoes).
The family had a great time.