Monterey

This restaurant is a fairly close walk east of Rockafeller Center. I stumbled onto this restaurant as I was looking for something new and solo-friendly for a Saturday. It turns out that this restaurant has a Friday/Saturday prime rib prix-fixe menu, which has my attention. For $65 per person, you get 3 courses: a caesar salad, prime rib with french fries, and a choice of dessert. That doesn’t seem like a bad deal to me. We were able to make a reservation for 5 PM on a Friday night with no hassle.

Ambiance & Service

The restaurant has a very bougie atmosphere, kind of bringing you back a little bit to the glamours of the 60s. We were seated in a corner table, and there was plenty of space to place our belongings on the seat. There was one annoyance where they hired a photographer, and the flash from their camera was irking my eyes. Fortunately, this was short lived and did not disrupt the actual dinner when food started arriving.

The service was nice because we did not feel rushed at all, and the wait staff gave us that feedback as well. We had a theater reservation for 8 PM, so they had our food and things all ready and done by 6:45.

Food

The glass of Bordeaux ($22) came from Chateau Noaillac, Médoc, France 2015. This was a dry, very full medium body red wine with much more tannic and acidity than the Oregon pinot noir that I was initially desiring. For some reason tonight, I was desiring something with more body to go with my prime rib. I felt it paired with my prime rib pretty well.

The Caesar Salad was the first course and came with little gem lettuce, white anchovies, and croutons. The caesar dressing was surprisingly pretty good in that it was not your typical caesar creamy dressing but more akin to the caesar vinaigrette. It had nice sharp vinegar notes to it, and the shredded parmesan on top was a very nice touch. We were pleasantly surprised by both the taste of the salad and the quantity they give you.

The French Fries came on the side while they were carving the prime rib. For condiments, they give you both ketchup and some type of aioli to dip. It was perfectly crispy, just like how I preferred. If there was one thing I wished they had done better, it was to not oversalt the fries because they were actually on the saltier side.

We both asked for the Prime Rib to come medium rare. They roll the prime rib cart, and they freshly cut it for you and show you the center cook of the prime rib. They place it on a hot plate, pour a ladle of au jus, and season it lightly with some sea salt. On the side, they give you some cream horseradish, which really just tasted like sour cream and horseradish mixed together. The steak was actually very tender and delicious. It was surprisingly a pretty solid cut of meat because I was actually worried I’d be too full to finish. Fortunately, I was able to take my time, and I did end up finishing it. We did have to box the french fries though.

My partner ordered the Cloud Cake, which was a slice of cake with lime syrup, strawberries, and whipped cream. The cake was pretty good for what it was. We joked that we thought it was a cake from some market, but it was no where as sweet as what that would have tasted like.

I ordered the Dark Chocolate Tart, which came with milk chocolate sauce, sea salt, whipped cream, and some type of blueberry compote on the side. My partner didn’t enjoy this as much as I did. I thought this was very balanced and tasted great.

Final Verdict

Because we came here for the prime rib, we thought this restaurant’s prix fixe was a great deal for what it offers. Each course was pretty good, and the staff was very friendly. This could be a restaurant to bring a party of folks on Fridays and Saturdays, but I think we wouldn’t hesitate to come back on a different day to try other things as well.

Yelp Jabs

My dad asked for a simple adjustment to a menu item and they refused to accommodate him. He wanted a Western Omelette and they said “no,” so he asked for a simple Bacon Omelette and they said that the chef only makes items as listed on the menu. They make omelettes to order there and have both bacon and eggs, but refused to make a simple bacon omelette. In the end, they gave him plain eggs with bacon on the side. Why did they have to give him a hard time?

Usually it’s because the restaurant has to ration all their inventory correctly. They cannot necessarily accommodate an adhoc request because it may screw up their purchases for supplies. Unless the restaurant mass orders excessive supplies, they generally do not accommodate special requests like this. This Yelper should run a restaurant to understand the logistics more.

Meanwhile, if they bothered to contact people who were late to a reservation, which is pretty standard practice, I would’ve been able to tell her over the phone we attempted to push our reservation back.

Here is another Yelper who doesn’t understand the NYC dining culture. The restaurant really has no obligation to check if the party was coming on time, and if there is a delay with other guests waiting, they’d be more than happy to accommodate the waiting party. In this day and age, diners like this Yelper need to understand that restaurants are running on thin margins, and they will go with where the money’s at.

Revisions

1. Mar 8, 2024 - Initial revision.