Anniversary Dinner - Mas or Eleven Madison Park?

[tanktop]

I have reservations at both and I CANNOT DECIDE! I am driving myself crazy with my see-sawing. So please decide for me. I worry that EMP might be too stuffy, but then I worry that the food at Mas just won't live up to EMP's (I have never been to either). Help me!

[scrittrice]

Our meal at Mas was actively terrible and outrageously overpriced. EMP has always delivered. For me, it's no contest.

[kathryn]

If you think EMP will be too stuffy, stop by on a Friday night or so and have a drink at the bar -- it's a lot less chilly than you'd think when it's lit up with warm lighting, and full of people.

[ellenost]

While I haven't been to Mas, I do like EMP and don't find it stuffy at all. Danny Meyer's staff is always very warm and welcoming.

[tanktop]

I'm delighted to hear that because in the pictures the food looks so austere and the space seems almost chilly.

[ellenost]

I think the space used to be a bank. Don't let it put you off. EMP is one of my favorites.

[rrems]

It was not a bank, it was part of the vast lobby of the Met Life building. It's a spectacular space, not cozy but I don't find it chilly either.

[rrems]

I haven't been to Mas, but I don't think of EMP as stuffy, and my impression of Mas is that the food probably will not compare at all, though it is less expensive and may be very good in its own right.

[tanktop]

Oddly, Mas is really not that much less expensive.

[MMRuth]

I agree - haven't been to Mas for a couple of years now, I think, really liked it, but it was awfully expensive. I'd do EMP for this - I wouldn't call the decor austere, per se, though it's by no means cozy. Beautiful room.