Craftbar

I wasn't expecting too much, never having been that impressed with Colicchio's other places. Nevertheless, they managed to disappoint me. Our server had a huge chip on his shoulder--at one point, I even heard him cry out to the next table: "It isn't MY fault!" I missed the context, but I'm not sure there is one to justify such behavior. The food was ok, though my appetizer was weirdly prepared--ice-cold soft-boiled eggs on warm toast? The red cabbage that came with my entree was doused in vinegar--like they were trying to take a short-cut to sauerkraut. There was also a huge chunk of ice in my sorbet. I know restaurant week puts a strain on the staff, but I expected better than that. I'm just glad I didn't pay full price.

I ate at the bar during Rest. Week, about 2pm, so I had good service. The fried sage stuffed with sausage appetizer was fabulous. The orrechiette entree was way too salty and spoiled it for me. I was desperately thirsty the rest of the afternoon. Had I known about the salty entree, I would never have ordered the Brown Sugar cake for dessert. It was good, especially the egg nog ice cream accompaniment, but too sugary (altho I realize it was a sugar cake).

I'm a fan of Tom Collichio...that's why I was so surprised to have such a lackluster experience at Craftbar this week.. It took 15 minutes for our cocktails to arrive - far too long for those of us who like to imbibe. Not sure who our waiter was -four different people "waited" on us through out the dinner..none of whom were attentive. The food was not that good - the octopus appetizer was so rubbery it was almost like it was a fake octopus toy - it was THAT tough. The pecorino "fondue" was simply one big hunk of melted cheese. The pasta with mushrooms was completely tasteless - scratch that - it tasted exactly like pasta cooked in chicken broth with a couple of mushrooms thrown in. The only really good thing was dessert. Oh- and the breadsticks on the table...they were delicious. But we ate all four of them waiting for our cocktails to arrive and they were never replenished. The only thing that saved this dinner was that insult was not added to injury when the check arrived. Very reasonably priced...and thank God for that because otherwise it would have been a hard bill to pay.

We had 9 pm reservations, and were seated to our table for two, without any wait. She took our order w/in minutes. Time went by, and we started to notice that all of the other tables surrounding ours, are getting their food, and we still haven't received our appetizer's. It seemed the waitress disappeared into the vast restaurant, and so did our dinner. At ten minutes past 10:00, now being here for over an hour, my boyfriend questioned what was going on. A unprofessional response of "The kitchen must have lost your order". Within minutes we had our salads, and then minutes after that, our entree. At this time we were past hungry, and way past annoyed. A good waitress would take note of the mistake, and offer a complementary round of drinks; needless to say, that did not happen. The restaurant has a lot of potential, but they need to hire more staff, in order for then to pay ample attention to their diners. Needless to say, we will not be spending another Saturday night at this downtown eatery... there are so many to choose from in the big apple, and we now know to choose another.

The food is ok, but the art is great! I love going to Craftbar to see the cool paintings of animals on the walls. I am not sure who the artist is, but, it definitely makes the space! The service was poor the last two times I was there, but I will continue to go just to see the cool animal paintings!!

My friend and I went here because we had heard so many great things. We had a fantastic experience. It's a shame that people only write about disappointments. We had a number of sides and split two entrees and a dessert. It was a lot of food and each dish was perfect. We kept commenting that it was amazing how perfectly each item was seasoned and how fresh they were. We could not have been more satisfied. The only complaint is that the atmosphere is a tad intimidating, as it was a vast and open space (not like the crowded NYC places we are used to- which I guess is actually a nice change of pace), yet the large tables made it feel homey. Once we settled in it was great. As we expected, this meal was great, one of my favorites in NYC (and I eat out a lot!).

Has the increase in the size of this restaurant contributed to the overall decline of Craftbar? We visited the original location next to Craft in 2004. The atmosphere, quality of food and service is not the same. The desserts are the only thing still with high marks. Otherwise, I would not recommend or go to this restaurant again. The mojito's were good in taste but the mint seemed minced and proved annoying. The veal ricotta meatballs, poached striped bass, sausage stuffed sage leaves,and salad w/ ricotta were very disappointing. Flavors were unbalanced. Wait staff were slow, but proved knowledgeable.Tom Colicchio should pay more attention to this restaurant.