Esca

Service was very good- but I was really unhappy with my entree. Pasta was undercooked. I sent back dinner to have an even worse replacement. I had always wanted to try this restaurant- having lived in Hells Kitchen for many years-I'll never go back

Had a family meal at Esca this week, and it was very disappointing. I love the Batali/Bastianich restaurants, and think that Babbo is the best place in NYC, but my first Esca experience was lacking. The waiter or the kitchen forgot multiple items of of our meal and took an unusually long time to deliver them when we finally asked about them. The menu is interesting and original, but relatively expensive, and of the 4 things i tasted, only two of them were particularly good. All in all, i was just expecting a better dinner/experience from a team that usually hits on all cylinders.

Our waiter forgot some of our food so my daughter had to wait 15 minutes longer than everyone else. I would not recommend it.

This place needs to be scrubbed down. The yellow facade is easily soiled so should be reconsidered, but the fact is the sloppy outside sets the tone inside. The bottles behind the bar are visibly dusty, the floor looks like an old dance floor from the seventies and the linens stained. The food is pretty good - not great - and very expensive. The service is high quality but at these prices the place should be impeccable, and it is far from it. No longer a destination restaurant. I didn't see a letter grade, which doesn't surprise me.

Visitors from NC. We went to Esca as it was highly recommended by a chef in NC. We enjoyed the atmosphere, because it's nothing like what we have at home. The food was good although the portions were small. Service was excellent, and we were out in time to make our show. We sat at a two-top next to the prep table which isn't ideal, but my mother enjoyed every moment of watching the meals prepared. Would recommend to anyone traveling.

I wish I could give a good report but I have eaten here five times with all foodies as companions and it was extremely disappointing. I really wanted to like it. It is so expensive which is fine if the food is good but it wasn't. There it is. It packs crowds in every night though!

I live in the neighborhood and hadn't been to Esca in about five years, but I’ve been hearing from friends and neighbors for a long time that it’s gone way downhill. It didn’t seem possible to me that a restaurant the caliber of Esca could fade that quickly so when my 10 year anniversary came around a couple weeks ago I decided it was the perfect excuse to check it out for ourselves. So we went and boy were we disappointed. All the rumors were absolutely true. Esca is running on the fumes of their old reputation, which was stellar, but that was then and this is now. When I drop $500 on dinner I expect the best, and that’s not anywhere near what we got. In the old days every morsel of seafood at Esca was delectable and we savored each new flavor hoping it would never end, but now my wife and I kept looking at each other and wondering how the chef could even think the food they are serving was decent. What a tragedy to go from arguably the best seafood restaurant in the city to the dregs. In regard to the atmosphere, it was never great to begin with but when the food was spectacular it wasn't a big deal. Now, however, the atmosphere stands out as a big negative. Trust someone who has been to Esca a dozen times over the years, you're better off going to McDonalds and ordering a fish fillet sandwich!