Riingo (CLOSED)

Who would think you could find anything this good and sophisticated in the nothing mid town 40's. We had the $35 Pre-Fixe Menu and it was really quite excellent and very good value. The appetizers offered were Chicken Dumplings, flavorfull moist little packages of minced chicken in a feather light dough, the other was the smoked salmon summer roll which came with a delicate little salad on top. Both fresh. terrific and excellent quality. Main course was either smoked chicken breast or sauteed Mahi-Mahi with vegetables. They forgot our order of Coconut Bok Choy,but didn't charge for it either. Mixed drinks were good, try the Pommegranite Margarita. Deserts just so-so.The ice cream flavors sounded yummy ,but were all sweetness, no flavor. Over all a surprisingly good meal. I would go back in a minute and recommend it highly. Very Nice Staff. Only draw back the crowd,since it is in the bottom of the Alex Hotel you are eating with a bunch of tourists.Well if you want Glam, go downtown! If you are stuck in the 40's this is a great option.

We live in the neighborhood, yet rarely like to dine in midtown because it's so boring, however, we decided to try Riingo last week and were pleasantly surprised. The dining room is small, cozy, dark & quite romantic. The service was a bit slow & they forgot to put our steak on, but we didn't really care, as we were enjoying our delicous sake (from the extensive list). They were so apologetic, that they comped our appetiser and dessert - which was a lovely thing to do. The food was excellent. The chicken dumplings were yummy. We enjoyed the sushi, which was fresh & delicous, if a bit pricey. The steak w/french toast & bacon was fun to try. The dessert was not as good as the food. The chocolate cake was a bit dry & the green tea jelly donuts were interesting, yet flavorless. Overall, it was a great place and we will definitely return.

I was taken to Riingo for an aniniversary, my boyfriend picked the place bc he thought it was large and had great food. Well it was far from large, the dining room was so small, and there was definitely no atmosphere. The food was excellent but our waiter had no clue and it took forever to wait on us even though we sat right at the waiters station. He did get our orders mixed up but they did solve it by giving us our original order and not charging us. But all in all i loved the food, but if you're going for atmosphere theres nothing. But since i had great company that didn't matter. i recommend this place for romantic dinners

So we think it's going to be great because it's the Aquavit guy... WRONGO! The sushi was .. well.. ok at best.. the atmosphere is ..dark and uninteresting.. although the bar was cool... and the bald bartender was great! The front of the place is very interesting but the dining area was disappointing.. The waiter screwed up the sushi order and the bill on several items and knew nothing about the food... the non-sushi dishes (ribs specifically), as I should have expected from the Aquavit guy, were portions fit for an anorexic ant.... Anyway.. this is probably a cool lunch spot for drinks or some quick sushi but don't get to excited for dinner with friends. It's not crazy expensive but you can probably get better sushi at your local sushi hotspot or supermarket. The place also looks unkept from the outside... and it takes forever to catch a cab outside at night... 30 mins..

We went in on a thursday for dinner, we decided to have a drink at the bar area... WOW! Drinks were great the DJ was great also (I found out that every thurs and fridays they have a DJ there... as well as happy hour) we were a little worried that the music might bother us during the meal... we were very very happy that when we were seated the music did not travel... everything tasted good but short ribs, lobster tempura, roasted chicken and the chocolate cake was to die for... after dinner we sat outside in the patio and enjoyed the music and another 3 rounds of swervedriver (mixed makers mark drink) Loved every moment of it... MUST TRY THE BAR if not anything else.

Avid fans of Aquavit, our family couldn't wait to try Riingo; but what a disappointment! The restaurant itself is not attractive and so poorly lit that one of our party used their pocket flashlight to read the menu. Our waitress was very sweet, but had to rush back to the kitchen every time we asked questions, including very basic ones like "What's tonight's special" and "what is included in the omakase dinner tonight?". We ordered omakase for the table as we are big sushi fans. We didn't receive some of the chef's specials (such as the fois gras or the lobster tempura roll) that we were told would be on our plates. In addition, the omakase was one plate.....not a variety of courses, which is traditional. The individual pieces of sushi and sashimi were very small and did not satisfy our appetites. We had to order more food for the table!!!! Moreover, although the quality was good, it wasn't exceptional. We have had more innovative and interesting meals at our local Japanese restaurant in Brooklyn. When the tab comes out to $150.00/per person (with no appetizers, only 1 drink per person and shared desert for the table), it's just not worth it.

We had a great dining experience at Riingo last night., The service was courteous and knowledgable. We enjoyed a wonderful, top-rate sushi dinner. The cocktails are also very good, with some unique and delicious concoctions. Definately worth a visit!