Limited selection of fresh seafood. The halibut was delicious and the wine was served at the appropriate temperature which is rare in nyc. The service was spot on and I look forward to going back
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Steve
Food was good. Not every dish was a homerun, but still pretty good. My only issue was the kitchen/bar seating is very cramped and uncomfortable, and the service was good but didn’t standout for the price point.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 4
Service: 4
Lisa R
You’ll see high marks from me for food/service/atmosphere but 2* total- why? Because we both got such horrible food poisoning, reached out to the management 3 different ways (via IG, restaurant response text number and email) and got zero response. Having worked in the food service space since a teen (very long ago) and sadly had it happen before, I know the importance of customer follow up and this really bothered me— we probably would have returned if management had responded to my simple messages to let them know we’d both been made ill. I told a friend, a longtime NYC chef/owner and he directed me to an earlier review where the customer said same as us— all was good until they were taken down by the food. I let Resy know today too.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 4
Ariana Cannonier
Echoing what a lot of other reviewers have said unfortunately smithereens has a serious problem with their culture and service. I took my sister for her birthday and our server was rude and aloof the second we sat down. The food itself was phenomenal, standouts in no particular order were - The buckwheat pancake with blue fish, The rice with clams, and The Halibut.
All in all I wouldn’t go back or recommend this spot to anyone looking for a joyful time. Service is so important to the whole experience and we felt like a nuisance to staff despite well curated food.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 2
Robin Blanchard
A wonderful dinner! Every dish was inventive and bursting with flavor. Can't wait to go back and try other dishes.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Mango DC
From the warm welcome when we arrived to the moment we left, this experience was not just about discovering a new restaurant – it was a true destination! Their specialty is fish, and even as someone who usually prefers meat, I completely changed my mind!
This restaurant comes close to excellence in every way — creativity, flavors, and presentation. Nothing is missing! The lentils with foie gras, for example, were absolutely delicious, the lobster roll possibly the best of my life and the donut dessert was simply divine.
Highly recommended — a must-try culinary gem!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Selma Marrakchi
One of the best tables in the city. Every dish is surprising and thoughtfully crafted and tastes as beautiful as it looks. Super fresh seafood. Our server was also very knowledgeable when it came to pairings and we loved the overall atmosphere of the space. Love that the menu rotates often as well. Can't wait to be back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
B F
Excellent food. Cool vibe inside. Deducting a point because despite a note in the res that my family was there to celebrate my wife’s birthday and the host acknowledging the same upon our arrival and chatting about it with my kids, there was no further mention. Not looking for a freebie - we ordered multiple desserts that I happily paid for. A customary and ever-common candle would have been a nice and normal touch.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 3
jam
a perfect meal <3
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Isabel Shen
The food was fine but the music was so loud we couldn’t hold a conversation. Would y go again.
so loud. irritating ambiance. food is overhyped and this is what’s wrong with nyc
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 2
Service: 1
Alex Bulanov
delicious uniquely prepared seafood - amberjack and whiting were highlights as well as, surprisingly, the corn ice cream with doughnut. very nice. it was a little loud, dark and cramped however.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 4
Victoria Chan
I was really excited to try Smithereens for the first time given all the excitement from the NYT. While the food was interesting and evidently technique driven, the dishes were unfortunately incredibly salty (coming from someone who normally loves salt). We had the tuna, the buckwheat pancake, the lobster roll, the clam chowder, the black cod with prawns and then the blueberry donut with corn ice cream for dessert.
The tuna dish seemed to have seasoning salt in addition to Maldon finishing salt on top of salted raspberries which altogether made the dish borderline inedible with how salty it was. We had the buckwheat pancake next which was very tasty but also quite salty. The pancake may have been a bit burnt as well but the whitefish salad was very nice on its own. We opted out of having the pancake “Neptune Style” which apparently included caviar which I’m glad for because it would’ve been even saltier. The lobster roll was good, and we understood the effort that went behind it based on the demo videos made but the effort didn’t quite live up to the flavor of the roll (it was a bit bland flavor wise but yet still very salty?). Also for a $38 roll, there wasn’t a ton of lobster and our bun was a bit burnt as well. The chowder and rice I really wanted to like, but I don’t think I liked the fact the chowder was aerated. It made the soup taste less rich and the rice kinda stodgy in comparison. The clams were also very chewy and a mix of undercooked/overcooked and again was really salty altogether. We then had the black cod and prawns which was probably my favorite dish of the night mainly because it wasn’t as salty as the others. The black cod was cooked well but was a bit bland by itself. The shrimp was cooked well too but maybe a tad salty by themselves. The flavor of the broth was quite nice and we really liked the tartness of the greens. Overall a good dish but a bit underwhelming for the high price point. We ended the night with the blueberry donut and corn ice cream. The corn ice cream was fantastic, super rich corn and butter flavor - honestly could stand on its own as a dessert. The blueberry donut was undercooked and a little stodgy. Flavor was okay, a little too tart and also unexplainably salty? The donut dough itself seemed salted so I’m not sure why it had to also have finishing salt on top. For drinks we had the seaweed martini (again extremely salty) and the green swizzle (fine, but a little underwhelming as well).
Overall I really wanted to like the dishes. It’s evident there was a lot of thought and technique put into the concepts, but I think the basic execution could have been better (i.e balance, seasoning, flavor, cook). I honestly expected a bit more as Smithereens seems very chef driven so you’d expect those elements to be perfect.
In terms of service, we sat at the bar and service was okay. Our server, who was also the bartender, didn’t really speak to us, nor explain the menu or dishes in depth. A lot of the food runners as well didn’t really explain the dishes as they placed them in front of us so we had a lot of questions as we ate. No one was rude though and the food came out decently fast. Not sure if we had an off night (last cover on a Tuesday) but I was left feeling underwhelmed given the reputation and especially since we almost spent $300 in total for the whole dinner.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 3
Victor Florintsev
Best lobster roll in the world just wish it was a bit fatter
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
R R
Great food and service I saw review in the times and had to go . I made reservation for 9 but since it was raining I went at 5:30 and it was no problem. I had the bread the mackerel the whiting and blueberry donut . All very tasty and priced nice .
Limited selection of fresh seafood. The halibut was delicious and the wine was served at the appropriate temperature which is rare in nyc. The service was spot on and I look forward to going back
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Food was good. Not every dish was a homerun, but still pretty good. My only issue was the kitchen/bar seating is very cramped and uncomfortable, and the service was good but didn’t standout for the price point.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 4
Service: 4
You’ll see high marks from me for food/service/atmosphere but 2* total- why? Because we both got such horrible food poisoning, reached out to the management 3 different ways (via IG, restaurant response text number and email) and got zero response. Having worked in the food service space since a teen (very long ago) and sadly had it happen before, I know the importance of customer follow up and this really bothered me— we probably would have returned if management had responded to my simple messages to let them know we’d both been made ill. I told a friend, a longtime NYC chef/owner and he directed me to an earlier review where the customer said same as us— all was good until they were taken down by the food. I let Resy know today too.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 4
Echoing what a lot of other reviewers have said unfortunately smithereens has a serious problem with their culture and service. I took my sister for her birthday and our server was rude and aloof the second we sat down. The food itself was phenomenal, standouts in no particular order were - The buckwheat pancake with blue fish, The rice with clams, and The Halibut.
All in all I wouldn’t go back or recommend this spot to anyone looking for a joyful time. Service is so important to the whole experience and we felt like a nuisance to staff despite well curated food.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 2
A wonderful dinner! Every dish was inventive and bursting with flavor. Can't wait to go back and try other dishes.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
From the warm welcome when we arrived to the moment we left, this experience was not just about discovering a new restaurant – it was a true destination! Their specialty is fish, and even as someone who usually prefers meat, I completely changed my mind!
This restaurant comes close to excellence in every way — creativity, flavors, and presentation. Nothing is missing! The lentils with foie gras, for example, were absolutely delicious, the lobster roll possibly the best of my life and the donut dessert was simply divine.
Highly recommended — a must-try culinary gem!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
One of the best tables in the city. Every dish is surprising and thoughtfully crafted and tastes as beautiful as it looks. Super fresh seafood. Our server was also very knowledgeable when it came to pairings and we loved the overall atmosphere of the space. Love that the menu rotates often as well. Can't wait to be back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Excellent food.
Cool vibe inside.
Deducting a point because despite a note in the res that my family was there to celebrate my wife’s birthday and the host acknowledging the same upon our arrival and chatting about it with my kids, there was no further mention. Not looking for a freebie - we ordered multiple desserts that I happily paid for. A customary and ever-common candle would have been a nice and normal touch.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 3
a perfect meal <3
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The food was fine but the music was so loud we couldn’t hold a conversation. Would y go again.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 2
Service: 1
Restaurantji Recommends
so loud. irritating ambiance. food is overhyped and this is what’s wrong with nyc
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 2
Service: 1
delicious uniquely prepared seafood - amberjack and whiting were highlights as well as, surprisingly, the corn ice cream with doughnut. very nice. it was a little loud, dark and cramped however.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 4
I was really excited to try Smithereens for the first time given all the excitement from the NYT. While the food was interesting and evidently technique driven, the dishes were unfortunately incredibly salty (coming from someone who normally loves salt). We had the tuna, the buckwheat pancake, the lobster roll, the clam chowder, the black cod with prawns and then the blueberry donut with corn ice cream for dessert.
The tuna dish seemed to have seasoning salt in addition to Maldon finishing salt on top of salted raspberries which altogether made the dish borderline inedible with how salty it was. We had the buckwheat pancake next which was very tasty but also quite salty. The pancake may have been a bit burnt as well but the whitefish salad was very nice on its own. We opted out of having the pancake “Neptune Style” which apparently included caviar which I’m glad for because it would’ve been even saltier. The lobster roll was good, and we understood the effort that went behind it based on the demo videos made but the effort didn’t quite live up to the flavor of the roll (it was a bit bland flavor wise but yet still very salty?). Also for a $38 roll, there wasn’t a ton of lobster and our bun was a bit burnt as well. The chowder and rice I really wanted to like, but I don’t think I liked the fact the chowder was aerated. It made the soup taste less rich and the rice kinda stodgy in comparison. The clams were also very chewy and a mix of undercooked/overcooked and again was really salty altogether. We then had the black cod and prawns which was probably my favorite dish of the night mainly because it wasn’t as salty as the others. The black cod was cooked well but was a bit bland by itself. The shrimp was cooked well too but maybe a tad salty by themselves. The flavor of the broth was quite nice and we really liked the tartness of the greens. Overall a good dish but a bit underwhelming for the high price point. We ended the night with the blueberry donut and corn ice cream. The corn ice cream was fantastic, super rich corn and butter flavor - honestly could stand on its own as a dessert. The blueberry donut was undercooked and a little stodgy. Flavor was okay, a little too tart and also unexplainably salty? The donut dough itself seemed salted so I’m not sure why it had to also have finishing salt on top. For drinks we had the seaweed martini (again extremely salty) and the green swizzle (fine, but a little underwhelming as well).
Overall I really wanted to like the dishes. It’s evident there was a lot of thought and technique put into the concepts, but I think the basic execution could have been better (i.e balance, seasoning, flavor, cook). I honestly expected a bit more as Smithereens seems very chef driven so you’d expect those elements to be perfect.
In terms of service, we sat at the bar and service was okay. Our server, who was also the bartender, didn’t really speak to us, nor explain the menu or dishes in depth. A lot of the food runners as well didn’t really explain the dishes as they placed them in front of us so we had a lot of questions as we ate. No one was rude though and the food came out decently fast. Not sure if we had an off night (last cover on a Tuesday) but I was left feeling underwhelmed given the reputation and especially since we almost spent $300 in total for the whole dinner.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 3
Best lobster roll in the world just wish it was a bit fatter
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Great food and service I saw review in the times and had to go . I made reservation for 9 but since it was raining I went at 5:30 and it was no problem. I had the bread the mackerel the whiting and blueberry donut . All very tasty and priced nice .
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Loading...