Savoy

Savoy is a very charming place and always full of interesting people & has a great bar and fireplace upstairs and I love that they source local foods.
I’ve had really good meals here in years past but I was here recently ⁶⁄₁₁
and found it quite disappointing. Everything sounds great on the menu but our strawberry salad was like 4 non-​wild strawberries with some cheese and little bits of mache— it was almost laughable and not delicious. Just felt like we’d emptied out the refrigerator kinda. The scallops were giant and nauseating. Maybe I don’t like scallops. Two giant, nauseating scallops. I couldn’t eat them. I wanted to take one home to clog my drain with it. That sounds really mean. The booze was good. The atmosphere was nice. I just found the food not very interesting and doesn’t live up to the menu that describes it. I’d go back for a drink but I won’t eat here again.

Had dinner here for M’s birthday last night. The waiter was nice but a little strange– upscale hipster– it doesn’t really work. We (warily) started with butter and «very good bread» which was, in fact, average bread, and the goat cheese plate which was yummy. But the former shouldn’t have cost $ 5– it was like 5 pieces of bread. C’mon guys.
Everyone else at the table ordered the flank steak special while I opted for the feta and blood orange salad. The steak seemed to be a hit– there were three empty plates and no complaints. My salad was good but only a few bites worth for $ 14 seemed a bit outrageous. I ended up ordering fries so I wouldn’t be hungry the second I got home and they were good– the homemade ketchup was a real standout.
At the end of the night, I was sated, but very happy we weren’t picking up the bill. I’d like to come back again so M can try the burger, but we very rarely shell out this type of cash on our own.
ps. I didn’t mention when we made the reservation that it was M’s birthday but someone must have overheard us talking about it because his sorbet came out with a candle– nice touch :)

I’d rate 70%
Good overall place for a burger and other eats.
***Short Review***
Came here for dinner on a busy Fri evening during Mar’11.
Slight hit & miss food.
Solid burger with grass-​fed short rib & shoulder meat.
Not the best execution with their cauliflower custard appetizer.
So-​so pear & olive oil cake dessert.
Chef is probably better at straightforward dishes.
Value about average.
Having to pay $ 5 for bread & butter (even if it includes honey) is petty.
Service not too great.
Ambiance is a tad cozy, but tasteful.
Upstairs dining room more pleasing than downstairs.
Reservations are probably recommended.
***Detailed Review***
Came here with my GF for dinner on a Friday evening around 7, but got reservations for 9 instead. May be best to plan ahead on busier nights. We did one appetizer, two main dishes, and one dessert. We also had one beer, hot coffee, and hot tea. Price came out to be a tad over $ 100.
‘Cauliflower Custard, Gruyère Broth, leek ash and trout roe’ to start. I think the chef had an interesting & novel concept here (or at least I’ve never heard of it before). However, the execution fell a little short. I felt the flavors and textures just didn’t work too well. The Gruyère (cheese) broth had the most overpowering effect, and carried a somewhat unsavory odor. At one point I was not sure if the diners around us had ‘bloating’. Also the custard’s temperature was very inconsistent, varying from cool to lukewarm. It gave the effect of maybe sitting for a bit longer than it should not. Not sure if was meant to be served this way, but it didn’t work too well. I think adding the leek ash and trout roe made the dish more complicated than needed be.
‘Burger’ ($ 17)
(Dish Rating, 77%)
was very good, surely one of the better burgers I’ve had in NY. I found it more enjoyable than my prior NY burger fav at ‘The Spotted Pig’ I requested the meat cooked rare, and that’s exactly the way it came. Patty is around 6−8oz, maybe 10. The meat is fairly lean, as there isn’t a whole lot of oil at the bottom. Beef is grass fed, which is a plus. According to our waitress, the meat used was short-​rib and shoulder, which I feel you cannot go wrong with, and added a lot to the flavor.
Cheese, a $ 2 added option, resembled a white cheddar, which complements the strong flavor of the patty well. Brioche bun is safe, if a tad unimaginative. Overall burger is a bit on the heavier side, even if not too fatty. It would make a decent meal in itself. For $ 15 with fries, the price is about the going rate for a gourmet burger. Cheese is another $ 2 and recommended. Great job here!
Fries are somewhat unremarkable, average cut. Perhaps a tad over-​seasoned. I could take it or leave it.
Be sure to ask for a good pairing for the burger, maybe a hoppier IPA or Pale Ale. A more full bodied red would work good. I had it with a not so memorable Amber, Six Point, if I recall. It was overwhelmed by our burger. Beer list is decent here, so I’m sure you’ll find something appropriate.
‘Razor Clams with Chimichurri Sauce’ was nice. Like the burger, this is a more straightforward hearty dish. There were plenty of razor clams, it had a nice char to it, and the flavors worked very well with their pleasantly prepared lighter Chimichurri. For those who haven’t had razor clams before, the flavor and texture resemble calamari more than regular clams. It would be nice if they offered this sauce as an option for a basic steak frites, or other, preferably grilled meat dishes. Good dish, and worked better with my Six Points Amber beer.
‘Pear and Walnut Olive Oil Cake’ was alright, satisfying but nothing remarkable. The flavors are more on the subtle side, not too sweet and thankfully not too heavy. Bravo to the chef for calling caramel ice cream, ‘caramel’, and NOT ‘dulce de leche’! Its a decent dish, but did not blow me away.
Décor is pretty nice upstairs, and resembles a cozy house. Views are pleasant. Space is a tad more cozy than I would like, but this is Manhattan. Acoustics are about average. There is going to be some interference with such a small space no matter what. Ours were festive.
Service is not attentive at all. Seldom did we get our water refilled, and things took longer than we would have liked. Most annoying was than our tea and coffee for dessert were missing for quite some time after our dessert was served. Had to flag down servers for almost everything. It was annoying.
Come here for their Burger if nothing else. It’s a solid redeeming grace.

Love this cozy, charming restaurant. The food is great, and there are real fireplaces! which I love. A fantastic place for a date or an intimate dinner with family and friends.
(It reminds me of my Grandma’s house– which is not a bad thing! My grandma is a very hip and classy lady. She’s also a great cook)

Savoy is like a cashmere sweater: cozy, expensive, but the quality shines through and makes you feel all warm inside.
I’m always struck by how MUCH the food tastes whenever I’m at Savoy. The pork? Tastes like PORK. The greens? Tastes GREEN, which is refreshing at a time of such heightened culinary sophistication (with its fancy sauces and cooking methods). We’re always reaching for that new flavor combination, that rare ingredient… sometimes it’s so comforting to have quality ingredients prepared simply for a change.
Service is friendly and not too uptight, and it never feels wrong to linger just a bit after your meal, and to just enjoy the fire.

This is a sweet restaurant. It’s like eating in someone’s home. The food is so fresh & thoughtful. I found the service to be really pleasant too.
I had oysters which were nice. Then a special app –perfectly cooked shrimp & chorizo. I was in the mood for red meat, so I tried the burger. It came out perfectly cooked & with a zippy, homemade ketchup for dipping the crispy, yummy fries.
All in all — great place.

Memorable. we were lucky enough to get a table at the bar without reservation on a saturday night. We knew this was a good place but had not idea how good.
Me and my wife shared the day’s special pork soup with pig skin noodles. wow! most memorable soup I’ve ever had. the broth was deeply flavored, with just the right amount of heat (the one that makes your mouth start hurting when you just finished the bowl). The «noodles» were silky soft and some scallion refreshed the spoonful. Incredible. Please bring this special back!!!
For mains, I had the burger, rare. It was again one of the best out of the dozens, if not hundreds of different burgers had over the years. delicious, but a safe choice
kudos to my wife who ordered the had the roasted vermont pheasant breast with beet and freekeh risotto and smokey broth. I had a few heavenly forkfuls of this subtly sweet and complex dish.
Kumquat caipirinha received my Brazilian purist caipirinha lover seal of approval, rarely given to any caipirinhas not made purely from lime and sugar.
dessert (olive oil cake) was good, but not as sublime as the rest.

Came here for a private party held upstairs. Food was pretty average in my book .The service was slow and the seating was either super tight or there was just too many of us upstairs haha. Would like to come here for a regular dinner and see how the full menu is.

We stumbled upon Savoy when looking for a snacks and a cocktail. The happy hour sign brought us in. We sat at the rather small bar. This place is small yet it seems very open. We had the bartenders choice red wine. It was Gode’ II Rosso di Toscana, and it was delicious. We also ordered a cheese plate, with goat and cow cheese. It was very good except for the bread having raisins in it. That is personal preference though, my boyfriend thought it was great. Also, I would have liked a MEAT and cheese happy hour option, but no such luck.
The bartender was super nice. However, he seemed super busy, taking case of both the bar and tables. I feel like the restaurant could use additional staffing.

Did a walk-​in to the bar… cause Balthazar (the next block) had a 1.5 hour wait… why not drink somewhere else first?
It is a cosy place, I think it would be a good date place. Quiet… low-​ish lighting. Decent menu.
I can only speak about the drinks… got myself a apple cider that cost me $ 16. If you like dry wine, not the sweet-cider…without bubbles or sparkles… this would be it. Bottled in North Carolina, it contains 6% alcohol. I liked it.
Sorry no food info… but I plan on coming back for dinner… for real.
Tip-​bits:
Bathroom on 1^st floor unisex
Additional bathrooms on the 2^nd floor.

Laid back, cozy restaurant in SOHO. Very small but nice. Service was really good. Server was very knowledgable.
They have some unusual beers and a nice wine list.
The menu is a little hard to foil low. Read carefully and ask a lot of questions.
There were four of us and we all liked our selections. You can order small plates or larger entrée portions. I would classify the chef as creative, perhaps a little to much in some areas but I respect creative.
The grilled shrimp dish was too small, but delicious. Burger was excellent as were the salads.

What a fantastic restaurant! Excellent meats, farm-​fresh veggies, lovely presentation, great service, good and fairly affordable wine list… clearly, I am smitten.
The only thing I did not like (let’s just get this out of they way) is the bizarre décor on the first floor (where we sat). A little too modern for the space, the colors were all wrong, and it was sort of weirdly set up. The bathroom was tiny and awkward (can’t get that door open while you’re inside unless you practically stand on the toilet). But none of this really mattered because the food was outstanding.
First course:
Chicken fried duck livers with buttermilk dressing — simply delicious! I love me some liver and they were well-​prepared. The dressing was a great complement.
Savoy dips — wow! I was especially fond of the potato/​almond one which was lemony and super garlicky… I’ll be recreating that at home.
Second course:
Burrata with purslane and cherry tomatoes — I love burrata so this was a no brainer. Paired nicely with the vegetables and had some good bread on the side.
Beets with yogurt and freekeh — Good. My boyfriend loved this dish and I liked it fine. The freekeh was nice and nutty and the yogurt was a good binder.
Third course:
Pork chop with brussels sprouts and currants — this was on special and it was amazing. If they have this on special when you go, get it! The currant sauce was sweet and tart and complemented the roasted pork chop and brussels sprouts perfectly. I let my boyfriend gnaw on the bone in the end, but only because it was his birthday. The meat was outstanding.
Italian sausage with rosti and pickled cabbage — Good, not outstanding. I liked the sides better than the sausage itself.
Dessert:
Plum cake — this tasted like it had a pound of butter in it, which is always a win. Yum yum yum!
All of this and a bottle of wine and a glass of calvados came out to under $ 200 after tax and tip. Which was a pretty good value as far as I was concerned, and I’ll definitely be back.

Fried green tomatoes (1 star): the cornmeal creates a thick, coarse, greasy crust that completely overshadows the tomato.
Squash fritters (3 stars): it won’t blow your mind, but the addition of the spicy vinegar cuts the otherwise greasy texture. This seems like more of a late-​night snack than nice dinner menu item.
Softshell crab (2 stars): salty, greasy and flavorless. The only redeeming aspect of this dish is the cucumber salad (which doesn’t say much).
Duck (5 stars): in a meal of mediocrity, this dish was a welcome surprise. The meat is moist, and the skin is perfectly crispy.
Cobbler for 2 (4 stars): a very indulgent dish, the quantity of butter almost detracts from the dish.
Service was helpful and attentive, but the space upstairs is cramped.

I had a straight up divine experience here. I was walking around the night before my birthday with one of my best girlfriends and the light was falling out of the windows.
We were just drawn in. The ambiance was soft and the artwork had nature scenes with a twist. Our waitresses were friendly and conversational.
We got the seasonal fruit crisp. HOLY CRAP. Ours had plums and apricots and with a buttery bread layer and crème fraîche ice cream on top. The fruit exploded in our mouths and all we could do was roll our eyes in our heads at each other. It was sweet savory and a very good late night experience.

Great selections of wines and good choices of small plates.
Didn’t get to try any of their entrees since P and I were just doing a pit stop for wine before our event.

Savoy is a great spot for an intimate dinner with your significant other or a quiet and cozy dinner with a small group of friends. The food is very well done with a solid variety for the vegetarian, carnivore and omnivores among you, and they have a reasonable wine and cocktail list too.
In my opinion, what bumps Savoy from just a solid restaurant to a memorable and fun spot is the décor/​atmosphere, especially upstairs in the wintertime. There is a large, crackling fire that is absolutely great to sit near in a toasty sweater when it’s cold outside. Even better, if someone orders the crème brûlée desert, they cook it in the fireplace with long tongs which gives the entire room a light, sweet, remarkably welcome scent that alone is worth the price of admission.
A really nice spot for a great, chill dinner with those you love.

No way in hell will I return.
I’ve lived in NYC for about 6 years and have seen the transformation of Soho from something that artists wax poetic about to the huge Times Square megaplex it is now. I’ve accepted it and for the most part don’t mind it.
But for the LOVE OF GOD, the attitude that our bartender had was so serious that I didn’t know what to do with myself. We sat at the bar with three other guests — one woman dining alone, and a couple having two drinks. There was one bartender. The woman ignored us for at least 10 minutes, showed us a menu and 20 minutes later asked us for our drink order. NARY A WORD WAS SPOKEN TO US… in six years of living in NYC and working in the fashion industry and seeing idiots and attitude, this by far was the worst.
On top of it, drinks were mediocre. But my main complaint is about the service.
Sorry if I just got a bad apple or came in on an off day, but that’s the risk you run in having one bartender.
Will not return. Enough places in Manhattan I haven’t tried to give that miserable bartender another try.

What was I looking for one chilly Tuesday afternoon? A nice little bar with excellent wine. What did I find? Savoy. It was just right.
Let me say up front that I didn’t eat anything while I was there (although I did see the menu, which looked worth a visit anyway). I was looking for a nice intimate spot where I could sit and drink a glass of wine alone and feel comfortable; you solo diners and imbibers out there know how difficult that can be sometimes! I just happened to walk by Savoy and was thankfully drawn in by the cozy vibe, the lovely bar, and the short but high-​quailty wine list. Jonathon the bartender was about as perfect as a bartender can be, and let me taste a couple of wines I’d either thought of trying or was just interested in. (I highly recommend the Pinot Noir along with his Port choice.) I got to sit for an hour with my book as well as some nice chatting with Jonathon and the hostess, and can’t think of a better way to spend a little bit of a cold Manhattan afternoon.
If you like wine, are out and about in the afternoon and frustrated (like me!) that none of the wine bars in and around the Village open until 5, then just go to Savoy instead. Even if the wine bars are open, you might rather go anyway if you’re looking for a comfortable space with a welcoming vibe and great wine.

— went for lunch with my father
— heard great things about their fireplace though I didn’t get a chance to experience it, would offer a nice setting for a date
— attentive staff
— both of us ordered their crispy duck confit, portions were smaller than we had hoped, I was happier with the accoutrements that came with the duck (polenta, chard, etc) more so than I was with the actual duck. It was a tad on the salty side

I went to Savoy wanting to love my experience there. I had read so much about their philosophy of sourcing local ingredients, keeping bee hives on the roof, making simple food taste great… In the end, I really liked my meal, but I didn’t love it and at first I was really disappointed about this.
I think my feelings about Savoy might be a result of all of the fabulous restaurants that Savoy has spawned over the years — it seems like many of the people who have worked here have gone on to open their own restaurant, mostly in Brooklyn, as luck would have it: Franny’s, The Grocery, Chestnut… the list goes on and on. So, I think I’ve had the Savoy experience before, but in Brooklyn, for a fraction of what I paid in Soho (not a surprise, I guess) and often, I hate to say it, but the food was better. I don’t think that anyone else has beehives on their roofs, however.
I started with the creamy, roasted garlic soup — I could have used more garlic flavor and less cream. The soup was almost too thick, although I loved the crispy sage floating, or rather, stagnating, on top. The roasted brussel sprouts and grilled apples, served with a lump of sweet chevre drizzled with golden raisin syrup was fantastic, however, as were the round balls of salt cod fritter that we ordered as a side to our main course. My rib pork chop was flavorful, but the texture of the meat was a little fatty and gristly. I loved the roasted seckel pears, though, and it’s the first time that I’ve ever concentrated more on the accompanying fruit/​vegetables than on the actual main.
Service was okay, but slightly detached. I got the feeling that everyone was pretty aware that they worked in an awesome restaurant. I’m going to back though, for sure, because I feel like it simply might have been an off night. I’ve only heard great things about this place, therefore I’m giving it four stars, and another shot. By the way, the wine list and cocktail and beer options were absolutely stellar!