Nubeluz
Nubeluz is a bar from Chef José Andrés located on the 50th floor of The Ritz-Carlton in Nomad with the intent to show visitors the NYC skyline. He has another recently opened restaurant, Zaytinya, on the first floor of this hotel. We were able to make reservations for 4:00 PM on a Sunday a few weeks in advanced. When you walk into the hotel, check in with the concierge who will swipe you up to the floor. When you arrive, you are greeted with the Nubeluz restaurant sign. When you turn right, the hosts will take you to your seating area.
Ambiance & Service
The room has high ceilings with high windows, and it felt relaxed at first. There is a lot of green walls and velvet seats which give it a classic luxurious feel to it. In the center of the room, there is the bar which serves out to the rest of the room. The service is very fast since they are trying to turn tables around as fast as they can. Regardless, we took advantage of our allotted 1.5 hour time.
The view itself is pretty good for Nomad, but there are better views of the city in other places. And of course with this atmosphere, there are a lot of patrons who seem like interesting characters. Next to us sat an older gentleman with a ring with a woman who wasn’t wearing her ring, and to their other side was a very old gentleman with a very young woman. In the booths, you have the stereotypical social media aspirers who bring their lighting contraptions and do all types of poses for themselves and their groups. You also see many women come in very dressed up and taking poses in random spots of the room and exteriors.
It’s definitely a bit bougie, which will make sense once you see the food.
Food
The Taken for Granted ($22 - left) came with old forester bourbon, oloroso, orange, passion fruit, cinnamon, and citrus ashes. There was barely any taste of bourbon, and it was quite sugary of passion fruit sensations. My partner really enjoyed this because they couldn’t taste the bourbon.
The Salt Air Margarita ($22 - right) came with milagro blanco tequila, cambier orange, lime, and salt air. The white salted air was too salty, and it just didn’t work great with this drink as a whole. The margarita otherwise had not much special to it. My partner did not enjoy this as much as my bourbon drink.
The Aceituna Matrimonio ($7) came with Gordal olives, boquerones, and anchovies. This was basically fat olives stuffed with a thin piece of anchovy meat. It was ok.
The Tuna Roll ($18) came with avocado mousse, rocoto mayo, yuzu, furikake, and brioche bun. This was surprisingly pretty good. The yuzu was very prominent, and it actually gave it a very fresh sensation. The mayo had a little kick to it. Other than that, the food looks like how it tasted. It’s a very small appetizer at a premium price.
The Bikini Sandwich ($18) came with jamon cocido, manchego, and truffle butter. This was mediocre at best and had nothing really special to it. Essentially it was a pressed sandwich with cheese, ham, and light truffle flavored butter.
Final Verdict
If you really are looking for a rather expensive, posh setting to get a drink before dinner, you can check out Nubeluz. Everything is over priced, and the food itself is fairly mediocre. We saw a few people order the jamon iberico, and it’s just some small shaved jamon pieces over bread. It’s surprising how different compared to the restaurant on the first floor.
Yelp Jabs
Cocktails were refreshing with the perfect balance of liquor added enhancing all flavor notes of each unique drink. The floral cloud and oysters came with a special presentation.
This is a complete exaggeration. The cocktails had very little liquor and were a bit washed. The flavor notes tended to skew towards less alcohol and more sugar.
hesitate writing this as I already know how hard it is to get a reservation, and how amazing the experience was… Definitely a good idea to dress up, smart casual at a minimum
It’s not too bad to get a reservation a few weeks in advance. You can dress however you want. No one cares.
Revisions
- Mar 12, 2023 - Initial revision.