478700 Sat Jan 12 14:00:52 -0800 2008 4 18 Manhattan 0 3288876 This place just opened up and I was wondering if anyone has been? Looks interesting, but every time I have walked by its been completely empty... Sat Jan 12 14:00:52 -0800 2008 72136 Snaps 1 3289781 I too was intrigued by this new spot. I tried it with my wife and it was terrible. I can always forgive poor service in a new spot but the food was so bad we were shocked. They spent a great deal on renovating the place and they put up a fancy web site (without the menu?) but they forgot to plan on a menu that made any sense. It seems to have been started by some people from Argentina and they claim everything is organic. We like that and we applaud the concept but the execution is a major flop. We hope they get it together and hire a chef, create a menu etc. Sat Jan 12 20:33:46 -0800 2008 3288876 156974 mattyrosen 1 3301266 Thanks! I just noticed this post: http://nymag.com/daily/food/2008/01/former_home_of_the_whopper_now.html Will definitely check it out soon. Wed Jan 16 10:25:02 -0800 2008 3295285 72136 Snaps 1 3315236 Well I gave it another shot with two friends. We are all involved in educating about organics and sustainable ag as well as extreme foodies. I have to say the service was better but the food was terrible. I will recount the horrors one by one. 1- The Beef filet pizza- The meat was very tender and the crust was thin. The cheese was greasy and tasteless and the meat was scattered blobs of gray (tender) nothing. ($16 or so) blah. 2- The organic salad- The greens were fine, nothing to write home about and the dressing was a tasteless soup. 3- The server sat down and chatted with us (too friendly) and would not stop talking about the great filtered water. Wow! they bought a reverse osmosis system. It was fine but he actually said that it was free "for now." Are they going to start charging for filtered tap water? Even Chez Panise gives it away for free. 4- The rolls were a joke. They were not good and so tiny in the giant basket that I thought they had to be kidding? Was this Candid camera or something? 5- The fruit salad- This was a new low. It reminded me of a fruit salad I had on the Amtrak Acela. It was swimming in some juice and consisted of some chopped up melons. It was really bad. By this point we were laughing. 6- The Cheese cake- I think it was a Ricotta lemon. It was bland and had nothing to make you even want to finish the slice. 7- The empanadas are so tiny and also not very good. All in all, I can't imagine going back a third time and I live within a block. I had such high hopes for this place. The good- Nice comfortable interior but it clearly has an identity crisis. It's attempting to do many things at once. Too dark, the sign over the counter is strange for a dinner spot and it's not really a take out spot. Clearly the owners are planning a chain in keeping with places like Chipotle, Rick Shaw etc. I wish they would focus on the first one. Sun Jan 20 17:22:29 -0800 2008 3295285 156974 mattyrosen 1 3315294 So what are the prices like? (There's no menu posted outside, which is not the best way to actually get people into your restaurant...) Sun Jan 20 17:55:07 -0800 2008 3288876 111178 sea97horse