Ocean Prime

Please don’t tell your customers it will be 10 minutes for a table and wait an hour plus. Not even an apology or a free amenity for the inconvenience. The food was delicious but the service not so much.

I love this place. I went yesterday for restaurant week, and the food and service were both impeccable. I can’t even tell you how many people stopped by our table to ask questions, see if we were enjoying ourselves, etc. Some restaurants will skimp on the menu during restaurant week, and Ocean Prime definitely did not. They even gave us bonus cocktails after our first class of wine! The food is delicious, the restaurant is beautiful, and I can’t say enough about the service. Will definitely be back. Well worth the splurge.

Ah, Ocean Prime. The newest addition to that soulless corridor on 6^th between 42^nd and 52^nd that forms the natural habitat of lawyers, bankers and the thieves that love them. Another expense-​account kitchen that attracts the platinum-​carded debris that’s exhaled from office buildings at 6:30, everything about this place just groans with indifference. As my friend and I walked in last night, I honestly had the impression that I had been there before, though I eventually realized that my deja-​vu was just the sad realization that almost every element of this establishment had been recycled from bits and pieces of other, better restaurants.
Sigh. I often wonder what it is about midtown that acts as imagination-​repellent. I understand the rents are high, but do literally all of the restaurants have to be insipid clones of the same steakhouse? I have to go to these places a lot for business/​work drinks/​etc, and sometimes get the irrational impression that I’m stuck in one of those dystopian nightmare flicks where the protagonist keeps on descending into deeper and deeper layers of madness — like Inception except with steak. Every time I think I’ve escaped, there’s just more steak.
At any rate, I digress. On to the particular mediocrity of the actual food, wine, ambience, et al.
We ordered the usual assortment of wine and cocktails, followed by a sampling of appetizers — the traditional «booze-​as-​food-​group» supper for the finance set. I was confused by the lamb «lollipops», which seemed to resemble actual lollipops only because of (a) the bone sticking out, and (b) the fact that this was the worst appetizer in the same way that lollipops are the worst candy. The deviled eggs were actually pretty good, but their relative charm only served to highlight the drabness of the sliders and the utter despair of the crabcake. The whiskey cocktail appeared to contain only trace amounts of whiskey. The wine list wasn’t even trying. I swear it seemed bored with itself, offering no particular point of view on anything, just a few listlessly inoffensive mid-​range bottles. I drank anyway, of course. But with booze, sometimes it’s the destination that’s important, not the journey.
As for the ambience/​décor/​service, it was, if possible even more profoundly pedestrian than the food. Sat at the bar so my friend and I could chat and watched as our bartender moved seamlessly between one group of mildly harassing customers on the left side of the bar to another one on the right, a bit like a goldfish in a bowl, if the bowl was made of aging corporate d-​bags. She seemed serene as she went about her service and I tipped her extra, just for her ability to tolerate the crowd. The scene/​décor itself was suburban, as another reviewer put it, and as I drank my lazily selected Pinot I couldn’t help but wonder if the designer of the space took his imagination out back to shoot it before working on this project. Quite honestly, the brushed brass rings on the ceiling, the dark wood panelling, the dark-​on-​dark color palate, was all so banal and derivative I couldn’t even be bothered to actively hate it.
That, after all, would have been more effort than the proprietors of this place put into the entire restaurant.
To sum up in brief: The Banana Republic of expense-​account food, kind of a low-​rent Del Frisco’s with inexplicable sushi. One star for competent, if put-​upon service. The other for the truffled deviled eggs, which actually managed to taste like someone in the kitchen cared whether you lived or died. If you have to go somewhere in this stretch, go to Bar Americain.

Ocean Prime overall score: 88
I rolled through Ocean Prime for a quick NYC Restaurant Week meal one night after work with a friend of mine. They were booked solid, so we grabbed a seat in the lounge area near the bar to eat. While the menu was limited to a small filet for restaurant week (in terms of beef), I figured it was a good opportunity to test-​drive the steakhouse before going balls-​deep with a big rib eye. Here’s what I thought:
Flavor: 9
The filet was delicious, and was cooked to an absolutely perfect medium rare. It had a good seasoned outside, and the inside was juicy and flavorful. While the outside wasn’t super crisp, it still managed to hold in all the juices.
I’m looking forward to heading back for a proper rib eye. I have to say… for a place to score an 88 on a test run with a severely limited restaurant week menu… I’m impressed.
Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 7
Three filets, two strips and a rib eye are offered here. There is no beef porterhouse. I have to take a few points for that. The menu indicates that all steaks are prime quality, but nothing is noted about aging. Perhaps a few more bone-​in options would also beef up the selection here as well.
Portion Size & Plating: 8
Portions are slightly smaller than most places for the price range of midtown steak joints. The plating is elegant and clean, nothing too fancy.
Price: 8
This is an expensive joint, with a small 8oz filet coming in at almost $ 50, however their most expensive steak is $ 57, a 12oz «bone-​in filet,» so the range isn’t too wide. In any case, they do participate in NYC Restaurant Week, where they offer a three-​course meal for $ 38 that includes an app, an entrée, two sides and a dessert.
Bar: 10
This is a great bar for hanging out after work. The crowd is all suits from Bankville, USA, but the space is beautifully apportioned and you can watch the street from the well-​lit seating arrangement.
Specials and Other Meats: 8
There’s lamb, chicken, and a pork porterhouse in terms of other meats. That’s a nice showing, especially considering that this place is a bit lighter on the beef selections and a bit heavier on the seafood selections.
Apps, Sides & Desserts: 9
I had the Point Judith calamari, which was perfectly breaded and fried to a golden crisp, and drizzled with just the right amount of sweet chili sauce. It also comes with roasted cashews, which nails home the distinct Asian dimension to the dish.
My steak came with mashed potatoes and green beans for the restaurant week menu, so I got to taste a few items. Both were good, but nothing incredible.
The desserts, however, were a different story. I tried both the peanut butter mousse with chocolate ganache, and the carrot cake, which Ocean Prime is famous for at this point. Del Frisco’s has the lemon cake. Strip House has the chocolate cake. Ocean Prime has the carrot cake, which i shy far my favorite, and I DO love the lemon cake at Del’s. Typically, the cake is 10 layers high and a massive wedge. This restaurant week portion was just right for me, as I was already kind of full. The frosting had a great fall-​spice to it, and the cake was moist without being too dense.
The peanut butter and chocolate pie was good too, but too sweet for my liking. It was light due to the mousse element, though, which is nice. It was also beautiful to look at.
Seafood Selection: 10
There’s a shitload of great looking seafood here. The menu is too extensive to list them all. I was able to try some of the scallops that my buddy ordered, and so far I’m impressed.
When I return, I’ll definitely be trying more seafood. I like the idea of a steak joint that really raises the bar on the seafood. A lot of places just do lobster and salmon, shrimp and oysters. They don’t go outside the box. Here it is a totally different seafood experience. And it is perfect place for dates: the men can eat their red meat, and the women can watch their figure with some seafood, because sexism rules.
Service: 10
Even in the busy and crowded bar area, we had excellent service. The first course came out fast, and the waitress, Jenny, was really nice and attentive. The fun part about sitting in the bar area is that they give you a free bowl of popcorn, which is wonderfully seasoned. The bread, by the way, is delicious. You get piping hot pretzel bread logs and bread with a soft, whipped butter. Excellent.
Ambiance: 9
While the main dining room is a big cast and industrial looking, it still has a nice feel to it. It’s spacious, which is good, but it just lacks a little bit of character. One thing that’s cool is that you can view how the kitchen operates by peeking though the long glass window that is visible from the dining room.

I am a total fan of this place ! I was here when Holly Holms was eating dinner here after her Rousey fight but that is not why I like it :)
I always have a nice time when I come here. The service and drinks are great, they have a great bourbon cocktail.
We ordered a dozen oysters, the truffle deviled eggs, the rib eye and creamed spinach. The deviled eggs were awesome, they were delicious. The oysters were delicious, really fresh and different variety.
For dessert we split the baked Alaska, it was the best thing I ate all week.
Sitting at the bar is pretty good too, you can enjoy your meal and watch the game on a Football night. Def check it out.

Went with three friends for restaurant week. I expected the restaurant to skimp on everything, but the portions were large, and excellent. The peanut butter dessert was superb. Not sure why, but the clientele is very young — but quiet, and ‘well-​behaved’. Service was excellent. Would definitely go back and I recommend it.

Please try this restaurant/​cozy bar!!!
Their food is so luscious and made to order.
Delicious bread and popcorn both arrive for free while you wait for your order.
I’m hooked, walked by less then a month ago and I’ve been back a total of 6 times already.
Very good place all around, try it you won’t be disappointed.

Food, drinks, and service were fantastic! Highly recommend the Blackened Snapper, Calamari, and creamed spinach! Also, the Truffle Mac and Cheese was life changing, amazing! Our server, Joe, was great, we will be back very soon!

Came here last night for RW 2016. The venue is absolutely gorgeous — kind of has that steakhouse feel. It was also not too loud with no ridiculous music playing in the background.
The service was also very attentive and made sure we had what we wanted.
For apps, we ordered the lobster bisque and calamari. I got the lobster bisque and it was delicious. The portion was a little small but it was also thick and creamy so that’s fine. There was this corn fritter that was a little random. It would’ve been nice if it was some seafood fritter instead. Everyone who got the calamari said it was good but it was more of an Asian dish and the calamari itself wasn’t very crunchy. All of the crunchiness of the dish came with the abundance of veggies in that dish.
Entrees, we ordered the sea scallops, red snapper and the filet mignon. I got the sea scallop and it was delicious! The scallops were cooked to perfection and the risotto underneath had a nice crunch to it due to the veggies in it. This was also downsized from the main menu, I presume because the whole thing was the size of my palm. I heard the red snapper was great all around with a slight spicy kick to it. The filet was okay.
For desserts, half of us got the chocolate peanut butter pie and the rest got carrot cake. The chocolate peanut butter pie was delicious but it was not at all what I had expected. It wasn’t even pie shaped more like a tart. Plus, it was a mousse which wasn’t indicated. Since I’m not a huge fan of mousse, this was just okay to me. It was good and rich but the mousse texture didn’t do it for me. I heard the carrot cake was phenomenal but it’s so small compared to what they usually serve.
They definitely downsized the menu a LOT but the chocolate peanut butter pie was probably the only normal sized dish out of everything since it’s a tart-​like rather than pie-​like and therefore comes in its own size.
Overall, the food itself was delicious but the serving size was meh.

Came here for dinner during restaurant week with my sisters and we Had a wonderful meal. The selection for restaurant week was pretty good.
For appetizer I had the lobster bisque which was creamy and delicious with pieces of lobster in it. My sister had the French onion soup which was pretty good. We also had the calamari which was sweet with a bit of spice to it. And we also had the salad which my brother in law loved.
The pretzel bread and the sourdough were so good. The breads were nice warm and fresh. Loved it!
For the main course We had the seared scallops with risotto which was delicious! We also had the filet minion with the string beans and mash potato which was pretty good. Steak was cooked just the way we like it.
For dessert we had the carrot cake with the pineapple sauce and whip crème. I thought the carrot cake was a bit on the sweet side but the tartiness of the pineapple sauce helped balance out the flavor. We also had The blood orange sorbet which was pretty good.
Service was great. Our waitress was very attentive and accommodating throughout the meal.

this is a review based on their restaurant week menu. first warning: stay away from the desserts, they are very very very very sweet. the appetizers were boring, the main courses were plain. If this is an indication of their usual menu’s quality, i won’t be back.

Came here on a whim after being turned away at 2 club for ‘athletic looking clothing’ (leggings and boots with a jacket is athletic now?! whatever) anyway, walking away we were hungry, cold and looking for ANYTHING and literally walked across the street and into Ocean Prime. So glad we did!
We were seated right away and someone came and took drink orders. We were a group of three, and ended up with 2 soups and a salad as appetizer. The french onion soup was huge, enough to share, but a bit skimpy on the cheese for the $ 13 price tag. The house salad looked good, no complaints there.
The two men shared the 24oz porterhouse special and mashed potatoes and I got the grouper. It was a really generous serving of fish in a light lemon butter sauce with gnocchi (which was handmade) and pieces of lobster. I ate very small bites as I wanted to savor as long as possible! I got a bite of the porter and it was also very well cooked, tender and perfect temperature. The mashed potatoes were eh, nothing spectacular.
We only ordered vanilla ice cream for dessert, but it melted as we waited to be brought a spoon. It wasn’t anything great, not Haagen Daz (which for the price, I expected) but tasted more like Breyers. I get it, it’s vanilla ice cream what did we expect, but something creamier rather than icy. Oh well.
Overall, service was ok, our waitress didnt seem to listen to well (i asked to recommendations between the salmon and the grouper… she recommended the filet mignon. Someone else asked for recommendation between the french onion soup and the lobster bisque… she recommended the tuna tartar. that kinda thing.)
Overall it was a great meal. Worth the price tag? Probably not to be honest, I’ve had better for cheaper.

Big fan of Ocean prime. Eat at them all across the country. Love the fish and the steaks. So far have never had a bad meal. Very good wine selection. Staff very good. made a few suggestions on specials and recommendations.

Great new addition to midtown expense account restaurants. Real competition for Oceana and Del Frisco“s. Packed on a Thursday night at 6 pm and 3 deep at bar with suits. Great wine list, service and seafood entrees. Very pricey but hey if your company is paying who cares. I will try this for the next special occasion.

This place has tough competition as Mastro’s Steakhouse is on the other side of the street. I need to come back here for the steak but the seafood here was great!

Oh wow… coming to Ocean Prime is like stepping into the suburbs. It doesn’t feel like you’re in NYC, but instead you’re back at that restaurant which was the best place to go for special occasions in whatever suburb you grew up in. The food follows the same theme in that you’ll get exactly what you expect when ordering.
Within blocks of Ocean Prime is Michelin star restaurant Le Bernandin and Michelin star restaurant The Modern (added bonus that it’s inside the MoMA). In terms of direct competitors, there’s Oceana serving high quality seafood (and oddly awesome bar food). Plus, you have Del Friscos, Quality Meats, and Maloney & Porcelli to consider for steakhouses. Mastro’s is literally across the street. With these kind of options, I needed something to stand out in order to have a reason to return.

I will mention that I was here for a 1-​month anniversary social media influencer party, so it may not be 100% accurate as to a typical meal.
First thing I noticed was the level of professionalism of the staff. The front receptionists greeted us warmly and directed us to the coat check. The lady running the coat check was very friendly and we had a short chat. Then we walked into the glass room in the back where the Sips and Seafood event was being held. We enjoyed pretty much an open bar and the waiter Channing was one of the most knowledgeable servers I have ever met. I wasn’t drinking too much that night, but I listened to his descriptions and recommendations for all the whiskey drinkers at my table and poured them exactly what they were looking for. I ordered the Berries and Bubbles mostly because the dry ice and floating blueberries looked so cool.
The food was over-​the-​top phenomenal. Starting with some raw tuna bites, the evening transpired into a culinary, gourmet buffet as spicy tuna rolls, lobster rolls, crab cakes, beef sliders, fried calimari, and more rolled into the room. There was a sushi chef in the back who made pretty much an unlimited quantity of sushi and our servers kept our drinks full to the brim. The Lamb Chops Lollipops, without exaggeration, was the best lamb dish I have ever tried. It had absolutely zero gamey taste to the point that I thought it was beef at first. Very moist and juicy, the lollipops are full of flavor (I’d say maybe an Asian marinade?). Then came the gargantuan chilled seafood towers stuffed with crab meat, crab legs, shrimp, and lobster. They were seriously rolling out the red carpet here. The seafood was all very fresh and plentiful — two towers were enough for a room of 15+.
They also brought out some lobster mashed potatoes and savory truffle mac-​and-​cheese. One of the hostesses told us that the mac was crack. And it was. We were piling it onto our plates as though the world was ending. The mac-​and-​cheese definitely stole the show.
Make sure you save room for dessert because their spread is unbeatable. The delicious peanut butter pie, baked alaska, and 10-​layer carrot cake were no laughing matter. While all three were made to perfection, it was the carrot cake that made me fall in love. Normally I dislike carrot cake because of its dry, crumby taste, but Ocean Prime’s was excellent. The pineapple syrup poured over the top loosens up the cake and creates a wonderful, sweet experience.
The wonderful staff, beautiful ambiance, and perfect food are just some of the few reasons to check out Ocean Prime!

The thing about Ocean Prime is it is consistently very good no matter which location you are at. I have been to three Ocean Primes and I know exactly what I am getting. The food is delicious even if it is over priced. The wait staff is attentive and if a mistake happens in a meal they are quick to correct it and make amends to the diner. I have had leisurely meals there and never felt like someone was waiting to turn a table over.
If you don’t mind the prices it is a good place for a delicous meal.

It isn’t often you get to say that you had a restaurant experience that was perfect from beginning to end, but my experience at Ocean Prime was one of them. I was meeting a group for a birthday dinner but I arrived early. This allowed me to spend some time at the bar enjoying a couple drinks beforehand. The hostess was immediately welcoming and after a quick coat check I hung out at the bar to enjoy my cocktail. I had the Whiskey Clover, described on the menu as «Gentleman Jack Whiskey, Hennessy VS, Honey Water,
Hand-​Squeezed Lemon & Orange». You’d think with a description like that the drink would’ve been overly sweet, but instead it was just the right balance of citrus sweetness and whiskey flavor. I really enjoyed it.
As I sat at the bar I looked around the bar area which includes several comfortable, circular booths and tall tables. The bar area alone could accommodate a party. The décor manages the hat trick of looking sophisticated but not pretentious. The combination of dark wood, white counters, medium tone furniture and dim lighting creates a comfortable atmosphere that feels rich, but not in an off putting manner. The environment lends itself to everything from after work drinks with colleagues to a date.
Eventually my friends began to arrive and we all got to talking — so much so we didn’t realize that it was taking a rather long time to get to our table (we had a reservation — I highly recommend you make one). The manager came up to us and was very gracious, offering us the use of the private dining room near the bar area (dubbed the «Rockefeller Room») since they had made us wait so long. We of course accepted and happily sat down for a very different experience than we had expected!
The Rockefeller Room could easily accommodate a small office party of about 10 – 12 people. There is a large, round table with a huge lazy susan in the middle. There is a flat screen TV mounted on the wall and tasteful décor is the order of the day in the brightly lit room. Our waiter was absolutely professional and on point the entire night. It wasn’t just a matter of making sure our glasses were full of water. His manner and event he way he addressed us spoke volumes about the training the staff had gone through. We were all very impressed.
Okay, enough talk about the room and bar etc. What did I eat? Here’s a list of what I got to have:
FILET MIGNON
Not wanting to be a complete glutton, I went with the 8oz filet mignon, medium rare. The steak was cooked and seasoned perfectly. While you can order items on top of the steak such as black truffle butter, I wanted it straight to taste it in its most pure form. I’m really glad I did. When I cut the meat it was like butter and it was perfectly tender. There was just the right amount of seasoning to make your taste buds happy but not overwhelm them. It was also truly medium rare with pink in the middle.
JALAPENO AU GRATIN
A side dish, this comes in a rather large bowl and there was enough that all six people at the dinner were able to get a couple forkfuls of this spicy dish. Jalapenos generally can go two ways: either there is a kick or there isn’t. In this dish there definitely was along with some savory flavor.
PARMESAN TRUFFLE FRIES
Other restaurants have this and I’ve had it many times. Most of the time they are shoestring fries and there’s not a lot of substance to them. Not so here! These fries were *huge* and the cheese layer was obvious from several feet away. These were absolutely addicting. Be warned, you can’t just eat a couple!
CREAMED SPINACH
What could have been a typical creamed spinach is elevated by a smokey element inside the dish. Most of us agreed it was likely bacon, but there were no bacon bits to be found. Whatever the case may be, this was a very uncommon creamed spinach that was full of flavor.
BLACK TRUFFLE MAC N’ CHEESE
I only got to have one bite of this, but it was full of flavor. The cheese was creamy and salty and the truffle flavor was definitely assertive.
TEN LAYER CARROT CAKE
A signature dessert, this cake was *truly* 10 layers. It was a literal tower of goodness. The cake was so moist that you could push a fork through all ten layers and it didn’t tip over. It tasted delicious and surprisingly had no raisins in it.
CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER PIE
Peanut Butter Mousse and Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache come together to make one of the most delicious desserts I’ve had in ages. The mousse is perfectly delicate but full of flavor while the ganache gives just the right amount of sweetness to balance the savory mousse.
Special shout out to the coffee and bread basket — both of which could easily be overlooked in any restaurant, but here they were exceptional. The bread basket had amazing pretzel sticks (fresh baked!) and the coffee was french pressed!
I really enjoyed my experience at Ocean Prime and I can’t wait to go back!

Had the pleasure of attending the new Ocean Prime during their soft opening. Service and food was excellent as expected.
Was a date night for my husband and I so we started at the bar for a cocktail. John had a good Old Fashion and I had a whiskey rose drink. Forgot the name of it. A little sweeter than I was expecting, but still good. Cocktails aside, the reason you should sit in the bar is for the truffle popcorn. OMG, best popcorn you’ll ever have. We would have been happy eating just eating that.
We did end up having dinner in the main dining room, which was had a modern, but classic fine dining steak house feel and look. I liked the different private room areas and multi level. Even though walking upstairs to use the restroom is a little annoying.
Food was all good. My husband wasn’t a fan of the tuna tartar because the way it was constructed (meant to eat as one with spoon vs using chips/​crackers), but I thought the flavor combinations were excellent. Steak was perfectly cook and meals were really good portions. We had plenty to take home.
Ended with a classic cream brûlée. Yum.