Metropolis Review - Financial District - New York - The Infatuation

"When your home is the that is the Perelman Performing Arts Center, you can’t just phone it in. The facade of glowing marble brings certain expectations. Metropolis, with its vast open floor plan and hodgepodge of a menu, attempts to live up to its monumental setting, but winds up trying a little too hard. This restaurant—whose full name includes "by Marcus Samuelsson'"—sits in the lobby of its FiDi venue, under a display of lights that dart across the ceiling like a futuristic race track. Allegedly inspired by New York City (similar to ), the menu offers everything from parsnip agnolotti and pigs in a blanket to “Flushing style” oysters, and curry with a mound of coconut rice. The food isn’t bad, but most dishes have one, two, or three too many elements running smack into each other. A slab of short rib that looks and tastes like a fancy McRib arrives with a spindly potato churro tossed on the side, and a piece of arctic char drowns in uni beurre blanc while pucks of raw cucumber watch from a safe distance. Somewhat appropriately, the dishes are as busy as the city itself. If you’re fine with that, and don’t mind a space that suggests a high-end condo, Metropolis works for an upscale group dinner, especially when you’re seeing a show in the building. The tables are well-spaced, reservations aren’t hard to come by, and the scattered floral arrangements help keep the room from feeling too antiseptic. You may have to politely pretend to be wowed by the food, but the view from the street really is magnificent. " - Bryan Kim