Kat & Theo

KenScale: 6.5÷10
I get somewhat suspicious nowadays when a restaurant touts its chef’s background working at the world’s acclaimed restaurants. Having worked at a place like elBulli doesn’t mean the chef gained all the experience and skills there and doesn’t necessarily reflect his or her culinary genius either. When Kat & Theo opened, it tried to really stress its chef Paras Shah’s background having worked at elBulli, Per Se and Momofuku Noodle Bar. It also emphasizes that the food at the restaurant resembles nothing like the gastronomic ingenuity of the renowned elBulli but is more accessible Mediterranean food. People would still notice, though, when you bring up magical names like elBulli. That doesn’t necessarily mean, of course, that the kitchen is delivering high-​quality food, and Kat and Theo was generally very underwhelming.
The menu consists of starters, main dishes and sides. They consist of pretty straightforward Mediterranean crowd-​pleasers that frankly you are not supposed to go wrong with. Well, charred octopus with gigante bean purée, orange and oregano was crisp on the outside but was surprisingly overcooked. Mackerel with black garlic, scallion and black lime was more successful, but it wasn’t particularly memorable either and was a bit too salty. Lobster with grapefruit and hearts of palm was simple disaster; I never had lobster as tasteless as the one from the kitchen here before. The mains were slightly better but really not by much. I remember nothing about trout that came with almond, crispy ham and sage brown butter. NY strip steak came with onion, foie butter and soubric turned out to be almost medium even though we specifically asked for medium rare. The most successful dish was the gigantic lamb shank that came with fig and roasted vegetables. I did like the tender texture of the meat and its seasoning was more consistent than other dishes; still, let’s just say I’ve had better lamb dishes elsewhere in the city. For desserts, I did like the maple and milk dessert that came with brown butter and fennel pollen, with a very refreshing taste that soothed by disappointment with earlier dishes somewhat. Carrot cake with candied pistachio, yogurt and espresso was also solid, but not particularly memorable.
Getting a reservation is relatively easy although the dining area was quite packed throughout the course of my meal. The restaurant has a full bar with surprisingly large wine selections. It seems the restaurant is perhaps more interested in drawing crowds than showcasing the kitchen’s brilliance, with the trendy décor that would naturally draw a lot of young, hip crowd looking for a meal before they hit up bars. Too bad the food just didn’t deliver…

The ambience and the service was great. The restaurant itself is really cute — it has a cave like cozy feel with a roaring fireplace. However I wasn’t impressed with the food. I found it quite bland and under seasoned. Our table ordered the octopus but it seemed to be slightly over cooked. The butternut squash agnolotti was probably my favorite but could have had more cheese or herbs. The trout was alright but definitely not as flavorful as trout almondine would be at a good French restaurant. On the other hand the cocktails were creative and delicious and the bartender himself served them to us.

Eclectic Food & Eclectic Staff.
Lamb Shank was the best thing on the menu.

The octopus was cold and hard as rock.
We were not offered bread though we asked for it.
They were out of 6 items on the menu.
The waitress did not describe the cocktails accurately whatsoever.
They did not discount the octopus from the bill though we had evidently not been able to eat it and also asked the waitress to take it back.

I ate here last night for a business dinner and was less than impressed. After eating in NYC most of the week at delicious and fun restaurants this was a big letdown.
First off, the décor and ambiance of the restaurant is well curated and beautiful. It’s nice and cozy, lots of cool dim lighting on beautiful steel curved beams, fireplaces, and wooden floors. If I could move in here to live just for the décor, I would in a second.
We were greeted by a friendly host, who seemed a little lost, but was nice. We were seated at a comfortable booth overlooking the kitchen. We promptly received menus and looked over what they had to offer. The menu is a mixed bag, Mediterranean with some dishes, classic American date with others, and then some random items thrown in. None of the waiters really described the dishes well when we asked what to get, nothing seemed super appetizing.
During the meal we were waited on by about three different people and it was very clear they didn’t communicate very well. They were each constantly coming back to our table asking us, have you been helped? Did someone take your drink orders? Did someone take your orders? Etc. They seemed stressed and it was a relaxed Sunday night with only a few people in the restaurant. The kitchen was out of four of the items listed on their menu, which was frustrating.
One of my colleagues asked for a drink at the beginning of the meal, had to ask someone else to check on it, and finally received it when she was finishing her main course. It also took forever to get our main course, we probably waited 45 – 50 minutes after we had received small plates, to get dinner.
The food. Meh. I can’t remember exactly what the name of the menu item was we had for small plates, but it had sardines and mushrooms on flatbread. It was okay. A little bit too salty, a little bit too mushy.
For my main course I had the duck. They recommended it served medium rare so that is how I got it. The skin was delicious, the duck itself was just okay. Also it was very chewy, being medium rare and at times I felt like I was cutting it forever, trying to get a piece. I needed a steak knife. The sauce and berries on the plate that accompanied the duck were not that great and didn’t really add to the flavor. My colleague got the snapper and she was not impressed. There wasn’t a whole lot of food on the plate. For $ 34 we expected a little bit more.
We also ordered dessert and it was less than impressive, only a few bites were taken of each dish. When desserts are good and tasty, the plate is usually empty. Once again the lack of food on the plate was a letdown for the prices.
A highlight of the dinner was when one of our waiters gave us a glass of wine for free.

Great ambiance in the bar area, however service was very weird. In the first 15 minutes 3 different waiters came to take our order. I still believe they have some things operationally that they need to take care of. Drinks were tasty but a little weak, apps were good (Foie Gras was excellent). Dinner was good as well. Steak was best but very small portion, lamb was good but too much sauce which covered the taste but great portion size (huge!). Desserts looked the best out of everything unfortunately we were too full.

I had never heard of this place before going for an early dinner, but was pleasantly surprised.
The décor is a dream. I want my dream house to look like the interior.
Food was delicious. My favorite was the octopus (cooked to perfection), but the lamb shank didn’t disappoint. I tried the Maple dessert, which was an interesting and unexpected from a typical dessert.
Service was very attentive. I didn’t get to mention it to my server, but I was enamored by her jewelry! Some sweet bling on those digits.
Highly recommend if you’re in the area, looking for something casual but sophisticated.

Disappointed. Our table was not held, even though we arrived 15 minutes early and made reservations more than 24 hours in advance. Owner explained she had a lot of juggling to do. The Mackerel app. was delicious, as was their bread, found the Monkfish dry. I will say the portion sizes are smaller so perfect for women, men may need to order a bit more than the usual appetizer, entrée combo. Another bummer, wait staff kept trying to take away plates, before we were through. Biggest disappointment, no decaf! Hurried in hurried out!
Stash

I give this restaurant 3.5 stars. The design of Kat & Theo is standout industrial chic. The customers are posh. The waitstaff is polished. The dishes are well manicured, and the portions are restrained. Unfortunately we had issues with service that will prevent us from running back.
My husband and I had the octopus, butternut squash, quail, and skate. The quail was my favorite dish. It was cooked medium-​rare, and had a pleasantly dense texture similar to duck. The flavor was rich and well-​balanced. It came with an oatmeal crumble, which didn’t bring anything to the dish, and a squash purée that disappeared too quickly.
My husband’s favorite dish was the octopus. Despite looking exactly like the octopus we had at another restaurant, it stood out here because it was lightly, almost imperceptibly fried, which oddly enough relieved it of the greasiness that usually comes with octopus. The texture also stood out: it was tender and pliant – the very opposite of rubberiness.
The skate was also lightly, but more perceptibly fried. The flavor and texture was good, but the dish came with an unpleasantly overwhelming garlic purée. Along with that was a tasty bunch of kale, and an unmemorable peppering of hazelnuts. Lastly, the butternut squash was wonderfully savory and perfectly cooked; I enjoyed it much more than I expected. It had red pepper flakes, which is something I’ll repeat at home, and a sprinkling of over-​roasted pumpkin seeds that should have been excluded.
Regarding service, our waitress was a trainee who seemed in her element at first. However, we waited 20 minutes for her to take our drink order. At that time I told her that I heard they had a good cheesecake. She responded that they didn’t have cheesecake. After the meal I figured out that the cheesecake I heard about was the ricotta cake on their prix fix menu. 20 more minutes go by, and we flagged down a server to get our waitress to come over and take our order.
There’s a parallel dining experience somewhere out there that would have been 5 stars. It involves dessert, and not waiting 40 minutes to place our order. Unfortunately, that isn’t what we got.

Came here for lunch, it was not very crowded but the inside was cool. I felt like I was in an underground dungeon of some sort that just happened to be a fancy restaurant.
For starters we got the squash and the cauliflower. Most people at our table got the lamb burger. I enjoyed the cauliflower but felt like the squash was very plain.
The lamb burger was good, I liked the sauce and the pepper.
When we paid with 5 credit cards for 5 people the hostess was a bit pissed and she said she’d do it this one time but then said that the gratuity was going to be added.
Overall meh experience, I would like to try the steak though.

The standout here are the statement arches as you walk in. It is industrial chic beauty that reminds me of the bronze on the Eiffel Tower or the Brooklyn bridge. Other décor features: a gorgeous chandelier by the front entrance and slinky chain metal like sconce lamps.
The food is amazing as well. I will say the portion sizes are smaller so perfect for women, men may need to order a bit more than the usual appetizer, entrée combo. Of what we had highly recommend:
— charred octopus: just get it, so good
— lobster: nice and chunky
— skate was excellent and inventive
— steak was a relatively large portion and excellent
Service was excellent, would definitely be back.

The food here is excellent. Very creative and flavorful. I had the lentil stew to start which was tomato based and was a large hearty portion. My girlfriend had the mussels as an appetizer which was incredibly fresh and delicious. As a main course my girlfriend had the flank steak which was the most tender I have had that I can recall (I tested). I had the Amish chicken which was delicious. This place is gorgeous. Make no mistake, check out the pedigree of this place. The talent here is an unstoppable force.

A plate half full or half empty? While the portion sizes at Kat & Theo left much more to be desired, each plate had mouthwatering morsels of innovative, flavorful bites that I was positively satisfied after my meal.
Located in the heart of New York’s Flatiron District, Kat & Theo specializes in New American cuisine with a Mediterranean twist. The restaurant boasts an all-​star lineup of culinary team, from the executive chef Paras Shah — who has worked in places like El Bulli, Per Se, and Momofuku Noodle Bar — to the pastry chef Serena Chow, formerly of Eleven Madison Park and Pearl & Ash.
Start the meal with the signature Charred Octopus ($ 18). On the plate are cut pieces of lightly fried octopus that are crispy on the outside, soft and moist on the inside. The plump octopus maintains its chewy texture. The creamy white bean purée, oregano, and the small orange cubes add interesting texture and flavor to complement the octopus.
Another highlight from the appetizer menu is the Quail ($ 18). Similar to the Octopus, the Quail dish contains four bite-​sized, lightly fried quail legs that are much more tender than other winged birds. I loved the sweet kabocha squash purée, butternut squash cubes, as well as the savory oats and red cardamom on the plate.
The portion sizes for the main entrees are more satisfying. The Guinea Hen ($ 34) includes two lean, tender chunks of white meat on top of juicier and slightly fattier dark meat and smoked skin. In addition to the meat, I loved the maitake mushroom and halved cippolini.
One of the most frequently ordered entrée, the Lamb Shank ($ 34) has a whole, bone-​in shank with braised meat that is so tender that it just falls right off the bone. The lamb shank is beautifully glazed in rich, balsamic-​like sauce. Underneat the shank is a savory hash of toasted farro, fig, smoked lamb belly, and roasted vegetables.
Kat & Theo features an outstanding selection of unique desserts. The Carrot ($ 14) is a beautiful, deconstructed carrot cake. Enjoy sweet bites of moist carrot cake with grinded pistachio and a scoop each of rich white chocolate and espresso ice cream. You will also find bright orange carrot purée and dried carrot chunks.
The Pumpkin ($ 14) is another dessert that is too pretty to eat. There are four pâté a choux filled with pumpkin-​flavored cream, which lie on top of the smooth pumpkin cream, crunchy pumpkin seeds, pomegranate, and sorrel. It’s like seeing — and then eating — a sweet pumpkin patch.

The atmosphere is beautiful, but the food can be a hit or miss. I came here with a few friends for Saturday brunch. We shared an eggs in purgatory for an appetizer, which was delicious! Warm, cheesy and savory all at once. As its name suggest, the dish came with more than one egg (so many restaurants limit their ingredients so this was refreshing). One friend had a steak, which was cooked well, served in a good portion and came with fries. My other friend’s and my duck confit was a little disappointing, on the other hand. The sweet sauce balanced the duck well. However, I guess I didn’t expect the duck to be mostly shredded, mixed, and served as a crispy round. It was aesthetically plain. Most duck confit dishes I’ve seen come with a duck leg. But this dish only came with a couple pieces of meat. It tasted not bad, but not amazing. I was eyeing my friend’s steak because that looked much better.
The staff is generally great. Most of the staff we encountered provided great service or were simply friendly. But I have one complaint about a happening that slightly ruined our nice Saturday brunch: when given our change, we were given 2 ripped one-​dollar bills. They were ripped more than in half that it seemed almost shredded (no joke). It just didn’t seem like good etiquette in such a quality restaurant. We politely asked if we could have that exchanged to a nicer bill. Our waiter hesitated for a moment but was nice about it. When he went over to his co-​worker, however, she scowled, gave us a rude look and walked off to change the bill.
Overall, generally good food, nice atmosphere and good staff.

Kat and Theo opened in September fairly quietly under the helm of Executive Chef Paras Shah. He had previously worked in the kitchens of El Bulli and Per Se, so obviously, my expectations were high.
The format here is small plates vs. large plates, and everything can be shared family style which is my favorite kind if dining style! We ordered the charred octopus (YUM), the seared foie gras (just ok), the fluke (light dish with citrusy flavors), and the lamk shank (meat was tender and fell off the bone). We also got a side of the cauliflower and I wish we got two because it was amazing.
We got the pumpkin dessert which was basically three or four little cream puffs, and a nice way to end the meal. Service was attentive and the décor was very sleek and modern so a great spot for a first date.

I am a bit reluctant to give five stars to a new restaurant. But have to stay honest with myself and give credits where it deserves. Kat & Theo deserve every single star.
I was blown away, literally. By the amazing food and service at Kat & Theo and the bottle of rose split between me and my best friend :)
Guys (some case, ladies) take notes, if you want to impress a first date without breaking bank, take s/​he here. The space is beautiful; it screams «romance» every where you look, reminding me of Paris. Service is friendly and warm, from the host to bar tenders; we got good recommendations on why to order.
Food is the best part of our night. Between me and my friend we split the charred octopus, fluke crudo (scallop is not currently in season) and lamb shank.
My fav is the lamb. The meat is so juicy and tender that you can poke it off the bone without a knife! The dressing seemed to be a mix of jus, cumin, fig and other spices, reminding me of #Moroccan cooking. It is fragrant and tempered well with the gamy taste from the lamb. Especially when the weather is cooling down, a hearty and homey dish like this one is much season-​perfect.
Another fav is the octopus. I ordered octopus at every Mediterranean restaurants and used it as a benchmark. I would list the one from Kat & Theo top three on my list. It is soft, not chewy at all. Most important, the timing is well controlled — it gets the smokey flavor without a singe burnt mark on the outer skin. Not like some other places I went where they left the octopus on the grill to long and part of it became inedible.
One slightly disappointment was the crudo which was a tad bland, compared to the other two more flavorful takes.
All in all, a great girls night out with my BFF and def a place to return while I am in the hood. Chef Paras Shah is El Bulli, Per Se and Momofuku alumn. It does live up to the expectation.
PS. Make reservation. The words already out.

Amazing fall time dishes. Romantic. Great staff. Beautiful but not pretentious atmosphere. Must visit!
Get the octopus, lamb shank and cauliflower.

First off, let me start by saying how excited I was about this place opening up in the neighborhood. The chef has quite an impressive background and the menu leans toward new American with a Mediterranean influence, which is right up my alley.
My plus one and I arrived on their 3^rd night in business. The space is gorgeous. I’ll give them credit for that. It was a little busy but there were plenty of open two tops in the front and the dimly lit back room was empty, so when I checked in for my reservation and was told that they had a little wait for my table, I was a bit annoyed. I get that you want us to spend a bit of money at the bar first, but you can’t pull off that full restaurant illusion if there’s multiple tables in front completely set and ready to go. After about waiting 15 – 20 min in the bar area, I went up to the hostess and pointed out there are plenty of tables, can we sit?!
Once we sat down, our waiter asked us about drinks. My plus one ordered a martini and I ordered an aperol spritz. I get that it’s not the most common of drinks but the waiter even had to come back from the bar to ask what’s in it. We then had to wait 20 min for our drinks, which is absurd considering it wasn’t packed. When we got our drinks, my aperol spritz had no champagne in it and it tasted like alcoholic kool aid. I sent it back and didn’t want to deal with that bartender anymore so I ordered a glass of wine. I was given a taste and it was completely warm. Our waiter apologized and said he would chill it for me for a bit. Long story short, I didn’t get a drink until half way through our entrees.
On to the food… The highlight of the meal was their homemade olive bread to start. It was delicious and dangerously addictive when dipped in olive oil. We asked our waiter for recommendations and he highly recommended the octopus but he then was like but were all out of it. Oh ok… Lol. We ended up starting with the shishito pepper flatbread and the frisée salad. The flatbread was excellent and packed quite a bit of flavor without needing any meat. It was a bit cold though and would of been ten times better if they had cooked it a bit longer. The frisée salad was probably one of the worst salads I’ve had. It was lightly dressed to the point that I thought I was eating dry bitter lettuce. It came with nothing in it besides a couple shaved radishes and bacon bit type pieces of lamb. For our entrees, I got the skate and my plus one got the steak. I saw pictures of these dishes in a Grubstreet article and was excited to see the beautiful plating. The steak didn’t come out as pictured — the plate looked like a mess. The steak was cut up and there was a big vein through the cut. It was cooked more to a medium rare than the requested medium. My skate was really good and have no complaints about the dish. I would recommend it if you have to go here. We also ordered a side of fried artichokes but our waiter failed to mention that those were out so we weren’t informed until after we asked where they were.
Our waiter was really friendly but almost to the point that it was awkward. Maybe I should of waited a bit for the restaurant to get settled in and work out all the kinks. Regardless, the whole experience was a bit of a shit show!

The food here is very good, and the atmosphere and impeccable service are even better.
The menu is probably a little too high class for my tastes, so if you like the format of $ 30 entrees and very few choices for small appetizers and sides, then you are likely to enjoy the food here a lot more than I did.
What they lacked in choices and intriguing dishes (maybe 3 out of 5 stars for the majority of the food), they made up for with some of the best service I’ve had at a restaurant of this type in recent memory (solid 5 stars). Service can be pretty snotty at restaurants of this caliber, but every single person in the staff, from the front of the house to the busboys, was super friendly and warm.
On to the food:
— Matrimonio a la Riojana ($ 10)
This was quite a different option then anything I’ve seen actually — it was like a scallion pancake almost, filled with charred shishito peppers and anchovies. The flatbread was excellent, but I wasn’t too big a fan of those fillings.
— Frisee Salad ($ 13)
The chunks of crispy lamb pancetta made this light salad worth a try if you want to kid yourself into eating something healthy.
— Skate ($ 27)
For our single entrée, the skate was a great choice. Swimming on top of some corn chowder and topped with a few pickled beets for a cool swirl effect, the fish was excellent.
— Fried Artichokes ($ 9)
It was either these or the braised greens from the small choice of sides, so we went with these. I always compare this dish to the incredible ones from Upland, so unfortunately these fell way short of those.
And then, we got the entire dessert menu:
— Mango (tapioca, basil, coconut) ($ 14)
This was the only one I wasn’t a huge fan of. The consistency with the tapioca wasn’t my thing, but the mango component did taste very good.
— Cheesecake (summer berries, maple, chestnut, graham) ($ 14)
Like all of the single named desserts here, the name used to describe them is used loosely, especially in this case. This was definitely a beautiful dessert, but don’t get it expecting anything resembling a traditional cheesecake. Topped mostly with fruit, the thin layer of graham and cream on the bottom was delicious along with the fresh berries.
— Carrot (pistachio, white chocolate, espresso) ($ 14)
This was the best dessert by far. Again a deconstructed, very abstract interpretation of a carrot cake, the soft, moist pieces of cake combined with the white chocolate and espresso ice cream made for perfect bites to finish the meal.
As evidenced by the Skate and the desserts, the prices are pretty high here. Not sure if I would return given the limited menu options, but I might be interested once they most likely start serving lunch and more casual options.

If you’re looking for a truly special and unique restaurant, look no further. Chef Paras’ menu is out of this world. Delicious combinations that are fun to eat and thought provoking. The ambiance is intimate and casual, with a modern NY feel to it. The service is super friendly and professional. Only just opening, I know that there are only more good things to come from this wonderful team!
Be sure to try the Mackerel, it’s one of my favorites! Bright flavors with tender and moist Mackerel complimented by bassy black garlic purée. Sure to be a signature dish!