When we went to Thalia few years ago, it was for brunch as I saw that, at the time, they had a creme brûlée French toast that was really good but that they since ditched, replacing it with a Nutella one (not a bad replacement in fact). At that point, we thought it would be great to go back for dinner and it took us until this last Valentine’s Day...Not that we celebrate but we just wanted to go to a quiet place, far from the crowd and ended up there: good choice because it was not that crowded and I kind of understood why. This new American and sushi place has simply the atmosphere of a restaurant that would be in a hotel, not so surprising as it is in the theater district, but still. There are some standouts like the seafood, especially the oysters (Blue Point and Malpeque) or their whisky selection (I tried a Johnnie Walker Platinum that was pricy and that I did not like), as well as a good selection of vegetarian dishes. At least they make homemade pasta and they are good, but not the best you would have. Jodi has the duxelle mushrooms ravioli made topped sautéed spinach (not necessary), grana padano cheese and bathed in a truffle porcini sauce that was pretty good. On my side, I went for the squid ink capellini that had lots of seafood (clams, scallops, shrimp, mussels, calamari) cooked in a spicy marinara and tequila-cilantro sauce. Good also but a bit salty. But I admit that after trying the squid ink pasta frutti di mare at Esca, it is going to be difficult to manage my expectations, even if the two restaurants are really not at the same level. But still: you tend to compare after you tried an amazing fish.

Dessert was a bit of a let down: the dessert menu did not impress and it took 20 minutes for the raspberry meringue tart we ordered to come to our table (and after we inquired about it). I believe it sat there because the crust was soggy and the meringue too soft. It sat on a coulis that made the whole things way too sweet.

Raspberry meringue tart at Thalia in NYC, NY

So it was just ok, the wait at the end being a bit annoying (and the place was not crowded, so not sure what happened). This is not the kind of place I would recommend for dinner for sure. There are so much better choices in Hell’s Kitchen. But I am glad that at least I finally tried their dinner.

Enjoy (…)!

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Thalia - 828 8th Ave, New York, NY 10019

Dinner at Thalia

Jean-Philippe Gerbi