J. Lawrence N.
Yelp
Sardi's is iconic. I remember my first time for the cast party of A Lie Of The Mind when I was a freshman at NYU. My mom came here as a girl back in the 40's on show days.
Over the years, I've been back from time to time.
But as of late, the restaurant has definitely dimmed its Broadway lights and chosen to rest on its name being the attraction, not the food, service, ambience or joy (which there seemed to be little of, especially among the employees.)
It started out great. We got seated early, which was a plus. A server came by to say that someone would be by in a moment with water and to get our drink order. Then ... (tick, tock) FIFTEEN MINUTES went by before anyone came by with water or for anything other than to pass us on the way to wherever. And, the sad part was that they weren't particularly busy. There were several empty tables near us and no line at the door.
Service lacked severely. For instance, when they brought the main entrees. My husband had to flag someone down (twice) to get a knife for his shrimp cakes. And then they gave him a steak knife for something that should have been served with a regular dinner knife.
There were a lot of long waits all about, such as to order coffee and dessert (which by that time half the downstairs dinner room was empty and they were moving around tables or something. But not a lot of dinner guests or any justifiable reason that we needed to be flagging someone down for coffee, dessert, the check ... )
The food gets a B-. After 100+ years, it's inexcusable that the filet mignon medallions come out at two completely different temps, one was a perfect med rare, the other was borderline medium well.)
As for the ambience. If you didn't know you were in an iconic place, famous for its once hustling and bustling A-list stars and the glitz and glamour of Broadway, you'd think you'd have stumbled in to some average, old and not particularly inviting any-restaurant. If not for the caricatures that adorned the walls, you might not know it was famous for anything or a place that is so celebrated, despite Naomi Watts sitting at the table over from us or an actress from the heyday of 20th Century theater royalty across the room.
Even the staff seemed sad to be there and trudging through.
What they did get right, they really got right. The med rare filet mignon medallion was mouthwatering. (Not sure where the hint of horseradish in the potatoes was ...) The prosciutto melon was delish, as was the salmon asparagus.
Was disappointed. Fortunately for them, my husband was not as disappointed, otherwise, I might not have gone as quietly into the night.