The Russian Tea Room

Years ago, while on our honeymoon, my husband and I had the best dining experience at the Russian Tea Room. Sadly, they closed the restaurant a few weeks later. Now, after all these years, they are open again! Exquisite, delightfully tasty, we had the loveliest meal. The Russian Tea Room in in a class of its' own. When other NYC places are hyped up, expensive, and over-rated, the Russian Tea Room never disappoints!

Dinner last night at The Russian Tea Room. The room is extremely well decorated, very traditional and nice. The red booths are extremely comfortable. The coat attendant received our coats and we were shown to our table within 1 minute of arrival. The waiter for our evening was extremely polite, well-trained. We started off with the 4 3/4 oz samples of vodkas for $22. All were very nice, served in an elegant shot glass that looks like minature champagne glass. The appetizers were rabbit pelmini $18 (which was extremely under portioned with 5 pieces / should at least service 8 pieces that size). And I had the beet and arugula salad, which was excellent $15. For main course, salmon "kulebiaka" $32 and I had the beef stroganoff $38. The salmon course was very large, well uted and the beef stroganoff was good, but a little undercooked as I requested medium. But it was still pretty good. Desserts are $16. We had the beggar's surprise, which was okay in my opinion. They were out of the chocoloate souffle, which should rarely occur at high end restaurant that was not that busy on a Sunday night. The cappucino was superb $8. Otherwise, you'll pay a wee bit more than you should, but then again, how many Russian Tea Room's are there and it's pretty good overall considering the service and the quality of the dishes surpassed my expectations. TheLizard

Having enjoyed eating at the RTR back in the 90's, I was quite interested to see what the new revamped restaurant would be like. My boyfriend and I were seeing a show at Radio City one evening and we decided on an early 5pm reservation. The service is impeccible from the start- from the fur-topped doorman to the Russian waitstaff. The new decor is opulent and lusterous, without being gaudy. We sat at one of the red velvet curved booths with lined the walls and had a great view for people watching- the crowd being mainly on the older side. We started off with specialty Russian vodka cocktails, which were amazingly yummy. We ordered from the regular menu BUT there is a pre-theater prix fix menu that is a steal. Appetizer, entree, dessert and tea or coffee for $55/pp. We ordered appetizers which were not on the pre-theater menu- the braised rabbit in consumee and the duck perogi. Wonderful taste and presentation, perfect portions. For entrees we both ordered one of the RTR's classic, well-known dishes, me the Chicken Kiev, my boyfriend the Beef A La Stroganoff. Both were just as good as I remembered. (And both are on the pre-theater menu should you chose that option, again, a steal for such a lovely meal). We then ordered a lovely bottle of Barolo off the extensive wine list. I opted not to get a dessert, but of course got a pot of Darjeeling tea- as it is a Tea Room after all. I highly recommend trying the Russian Tea Room (or retrying if that is the case) the next time you see a show at Carnegie Hall or Radio City OR for any occassion at all. It is truly a NYC landmark.

took son & family to r.t.r. for dinner. they were visiting n.y. as they are from new orleans. service was great,but the food was miniscule. three scallops served on a very large plate. this was an entree,not an appetiser. Drinks were very good. I was very embarssed to have taken my family to russian tea room.after we left we went back to my son's hotel and had something to eat because we were not satisfied.

Think of $200 by person!!

the food was great and the atmosphere was good, however, the service was poor. they were very slow with giving us our drinks, meals, and desserts.

My husband and I are on the younger side, but we like to go to nicer restaurants every once in awhile. Whenever we do, we are treated like second-class citizens. But not at The Russian Tea Room. Service was great and everyone treated us respectfully, which means so much to us. The food was AMAZING and the drinks were great. Drinks were fantastic. Sure, it was a bit expensive (we knew it would be), but we got more food and drinks (AND RESPECT!!) here than elsewhere. Definitely worth it. P.S. I loved one of the waiters. He didn't know a lot of English, but was the nicest guy ever! Thanks for helping out our experience!