Reviewed by Michael, WineTalk.Com 2006 winner of "Diner of the Year" Award.

Japanese Restaurant
Koi
Bryant Park Hotel
40 W 40th St, New York 10018
212-921-3330

Location: Btwn 5th & 6th Ave

Last night we went to Koi for dinner. While it has a great reputation for being a "hip" spot to be see and be seen this is what worried me. I also read some reviews talking about inconsistent quality in food. NYTimes in particular slammed them.

I am happy to report, the food was great. We let the waitress choose the dishes. The cocktails were great - they had some watermelon drinks with fresh watermelon - they went down very easy. Fish was fresh and excellent quality.

The only complaint was we were seated 30 minutes after our reservation time and it was a loud place. ( apprently some people are into this) I would recommend this restaurant. They are also on Open Table which makes things easy.

American Restaurant
Oyster Bar in Grand Central.
Avoid!

The 2nd day in NY we are there, the convention we were at was being held at the Hyatt next door.
The Oyster Bar stunk. We had 6 people with us, all from or having lived in New Orleans for years and it was pretty universal the food was poor. The quality was far from superior, and the preparation blech.
The only thing that was cool about the restaurant was the atmosphere - Grand Central Station was certainly different last time I was there. Of course with all the leftovers we had from not eating the food maybe it would have been nice to have bums to pass the food out to.

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