Time sensitive question re: celebratory dinner tonight

[ManhattanLawyer]

Hi everyone,

I need to find a reservation for a celebration dinner tonight. A quick opentable search showed availability for the following restaurants at varying times. Do any of these jump out at you? I've been to some of them before and some would be new. Also, are there any restaurants not on menupages that I should check?

Thanks so much in advance for your thoughts!

aquavit
craftbar
craftsteak
cru
dylan prime
gilt
harrison
march
the modern
oceana
porter house
quality meats
scalini fedeli
strip house
tocqueville
wallse
wd-50

[MMRuth]

Haven't been to a lot of places on your list, but will put a plug in for Wallse, which I find manages to be cozy yet hip, with excellent food. I very much like Aquavit - like another poster have only eaten in the Cafe - but I do find the decor somewhat sterile.

[bobby06877]

I don't know if you can get a reservation this late but have you tried L'Impero? If you go the steak house route, The Strip House is the best of your choices.

[jdmetz]

Aquavit was great, but my only experience was with the cafe. I really liked it so I'm sure the main dining room is excellent as well (although I've heard it can be stuffy). Dylan Prime is one of my favorite steak places in NY and is very dark and cozy if you're looking for a intimate celebration. If you want something rowdier, Strip House is good, but I didn't like the steaks as much as some other places. WD-50 was fun, but it's a different kind of meal and a real experience if you haven't been.

[ManhattanLawyer]

WD-50 is one of the ones we have yet to try, even though it has been on my list for some time. The only availability they had was 10:30, so right now I need to decide whether we should go that late or wait until a different day when we can get a slightly earlier reservation.

[jdmetz]

Personally, I'd wait. The experience is pretty intense since it's so different from anywhere else I've eaten (unless you're really into the molecular gastronomy movement that wd-50 kind of keeps company with). I think I'd be too woozy to enjoy the meal if I started it that late. Could be a trip though.

[chowcito]

Agreed. I was there about a month ago and found a 9pm reservation almost too late as we had the tasting menu and wine pairings and didn't exit the restaurant until nearly 1am. Great fun though if you don't mind eating that late - advantage is that you'll have the resto to yourself at that time.

Others on your list that I really enjoy are: The Modern and Cru. Enjoy and good luck!

[UESgal]

my husband and i love the harrison, but i'm not sure what your criteria are...

[ManhattanLawyer]

Main criteria are delicious food and somewhat-romantic-but-not-overly-stuffy atmosphere. Also, there will only be 2 of us, so I'm not sure if the Craft chain would be a good idea, since I usually enjoy Craft best when I'm with a group so we can maximize the sharing options, but I haven't been to either of the latest Crafts.

[Nehna]

Cru fits the bill nicely.

[ManhattanLawyer]

I meant opentable. Apologies.

Plus we ate at Eleven Madison very recently (we are big fans of it, as well), so we're looking for somewhere else.

[Sean Dell]

Eleven Madison is very good, but the Modern is really a fantastic room, with wonderful food. The view out onto the sculpture garden is uniquely New York. Modern is it!

- Sean

[RGR]

Menupages does not show availability. Is it OpenTable that you checked? Looking there, I see Eleven Madison Park has a table for 2 at 6:30 and 10 p.m. Definitely my first pick these days for a celebration dinner.

http://www.elevenmadisonpark.com

[chow_gal]

do you mean opentable? You can check reservation availability on opentable.com. Surpirsing that on a friday night all these places have tables open still.