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I asked a jet setting London friend if he wanted to go to dinner someplace good, or someplace gay? (Seems you can't ever get both.) He chose someplace gay, and had a fabulous time at Elmo. The food's not bad...they continue to do a decent job, just don't look for a noteworthy or memorable meal if you're a foodie. And price is reasonable. Yes, it's VERY loud (seems DJs in restaurants think people only go there to hear them spin), but it's definitely a scene. You'll run into everyone from the pretty gay world there... club promoters, fashionistas, Fire Island boys... Plus the downstairs private room seems to have become every gay NYC boy's living room ex-situ for having birthday parties! The one dessert I had there was poor, but that makes sense... the boys who go there save their calories for alcohol.

The food here was great. The mac-n-cheese was delicious and so were the mini burritos. Will go back again.

I have been patronizing Elmo for about 6 years. The food has always been tasty and it was a great place to have a casual business lunch. Unfortunately, it has changed...the last two times I went there for lunch I was appalled by the lack of service. On one occasion we were ignored by our waiter for 30 mins...on the second we were ignored by the host for 15. He was 'arranging' flatware on a table in the back and never came to seat us. The various servers all took note of us standing at the front of the restaurant, but never asked us if we would like a table....it is a shame because I enjoyed the place.

Food - I didn't think it was possible to screw up a grilled cheese. Today Elmo proved me wrong.... twice. Service - The mysterious missing waiter. Gave us a menu. Took our order. No-where to be found when our order was messed up. 25 mins to get the check. Don't think we'll be back there anytime soon.

Great atmosphere, music & bar. Still has pretty good food as well. The service is definitely starting to slip. A group had dinner last night and the waiter was negligent at best. Very poor level of attention, the saving grace was the bus boy who was left to tend to the tables in our section. Ordinarily I have no problem with automatic 20% gratuity being added to the check for groups of 6+. In this case though, I felt cheated and quite taken for granted. This was the third strike for inexcusably poor service at Elmo. I won't be going back.

Is Elmo experiencing a food shortage? The last handful of times I've returned to this restaurant, the portions seem to be getting smaller and smaller as the prices stay as high as they are for diner food. Stay away from the Grilled Atlantic Salmon dish (a 5" x 5" piece of what tasted like low quality Salmon over a couple spoonfuls of what seemed like canned corn) as well as the Asian Beef Salad (3 1/2 small pieces of thin steak over a fistful size greens for $17?...is the steak at least Kobe?) if you're hungry for more than appetizer sized dishes. Elmo is supposed to be "hip" diner/comfort food yet it seems to pretend it's a five star restaurant. And believe me, I've paid $50 for dishes before the size of a baseball and still believed it was worth the price because it was so exquisitely prepared and delicious. So what makes Elmo think they're better than their neighborhood competition that offers twice as much for the same prices? And if they're asking customers to pay for their prices, at least fix the tables. We shouldn't have to ask the waiters to stack a couple of matchbooks underneath one leg so we don't risk spilling our $12 drinks. Lastly, if you don't want to feel like you're eating at the Roxy, don't go to Elmo.

ok..here's the deal..if you're looking for a Chantarelle experience this is not the place...but the upscale american food is better than most, the staff is incredibly attractive and fun, the place looks gorgeous and the cocktails are big and strong.. Yes, its loud (mostly the weekend, more chill weeknights) but that's part of the vibe. Somehow you gotta love the fact that six years later the place still serves up a no attitude scene with reliable food and cool cocktails and the bill won't kill you.