Craft: User Reviews

Disappointed, but good
By tiny-foodie from gramercy, January 31, 2008

Overall rating:

I visited the restaurant during restaurant week and sat at the bar as a walk in. The waiter/bartender was fairly dismissive and not very attentive. Granted, it was lunch rush hour, and the bar was full of diners from restaurant week, but at somewhere as reknowned and expensive as Craft you expect impeccable service. The food was good, but not phenomenal. Many places have disappointing menus for restaurant week, but Craft's was just as impressive and druel-worthy as their normal menu, which is much of the reason I chose it in the first place. But the quail appetizer was uninspired and slightly overcooked. The monkfish cheeks (one of my favorite things is fish cheeks) had good flavor, but again were overcooked and not as tender as i expected. Craft's philosophy is that they get the best ingredients and use simple preparations to accentuate those natural flavors, so you really expect things NOT to be overcooked. If I was disappointed in the meats, Craft made up for it with the wine (I had an '89 Vouvray that was wonderful), side dish (melt in your mouth gnocchi in a butter sauce that totally made the meal), and dessert (an unassuming looking chocolate custard tart that blew me away with its rich dark chocolate flavor that wasn't too sweet and had a creamy consistency that made me finish the whole thing despite being stuffed). Overall, the meal was great, but I don't think that Craft wowed me enough to come back and pay the price of a regular meal at the restaurant. It wasn't THAT good.

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