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The Hot Spot

5.0 (2 reviews)

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9 months ago

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10 months ago

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Monkey Bar - Smoked Whitefish Caesar (~$28)

Monkey Bar

4.3(480 reviews)
3.9 mi•Midtown East

Getting a reservation here is very hard. One just popped up in my Resy app for lunch though, so I…read morewent for it. It was my first time here although, it has been around for ages. The front part where you first walk in is the bar area with some tables. This restaurant is on the darker side and brings you back in time. Once you walk in further that is where the main dinning room is. This is also on the darker side as you can maybe tell by my photos. The wall paper and art around the restaurant is cool and there are some monkey statues around the restaurant. I was seated in a corner table in a booth area that seemed to be for at least 2-3 people. I thought for sure they would seat me at the bar area. I had a wonderful waitress whose name I think was Taylor but I could be wrong. I ordered the Monkey bread to start off with. It's a very buttery bread with truffle and parm cheese on top. I have alot of allergies and I was searching online if I could even have truffles as I have a nut allergy. So, I asked the waitress and she said she had never heard this. But, she came back to me and told me that White truffle grows near or like over where Almonds grow from but that, they don't use white truffle so I was all good. Well, this was super nice of her to check for me. I had no idea she was going to do this. She said the restaurant has strict protocols when it comes to food allergies. I then got for my main dish the double cheese burger with onions and pickles. To drink I had the cucumber martini. WOW everything was pretty darn good!! I passed on dessert. If you get a chance or a reservation pops up in your resy to go, even if it is for lunch..I highly say go for it.

Made a plan to reserve a table 21 days previous to when we would be in the city - and was able to…read morespike one. There is currently construction and scaffolding in front of the place, but you'll see signage where to go at the opening of the scaffolding. We walked in, past the bar and checked in. We were seated within 5 minutes. I ordered a bourbon old-fashioned and we ordered crab rangoon as a starter. There were a lot of them and the sweet chili sauce was great. For my entree, I ordered the vodka rigatoni and a side of buttered broccoli. The vodka rigatoni was really good - liked the flavor and a decent size of pasta. The broccoli was really good for some reason to me. Also tried the truffle mac and cheese which was incredibly rich and tasted great. As a dessert, we had the chocolate pie which was dense, rich, and topped with a huge dollop of whipped topping. I really liked the atmosphere of the place, loud roaring 20s style with jazz playing. Plus I kept finding myself checking out the mural on the wall. Try it for yourself - but worth the fight to get a table.

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Monkey Bar - Spicy Shrimp scampi

Spicy Shrimp scampi

Monkey Bar - Truffle Monkey Bread

Truffle Monkey Bread

Monkey Bar - Truffle Monkey Bread (~$35)

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Truffle Monkey Bread (~$35)

Maison Pickle - 24 Layer Vanilla Confetti Cake

Maison Pickle

4.2(2.2k reviews)
5.6 mi•Upper West Side
•$$$

First time trying this restaurant and overall 10/10. We walked in with no reservations and were…read morepromptly greeted, as well as accommodated. Garlic Parmesan pull apart bread was awesome, buttery and fresh. My steak was cooked just right along with fresh frites. My date ordered the fried chicken Caesar salad and it was a hefty serving, good enough for two to split. Nice spot for a date night (also located across the street from AMC) and saw plenty of big groups of up to eight people.

Been eager to visit this place after seeing a video of their pull apart break. It is VERY busy and…read morea reservation IS necessary. We visited with a party of 7 at 9pm on a Friday which just so happened to be their first night doing a burlesque show. What a fun watch! I was, however, wondering the whole time if the people outside could see. Is that allowed?? Even though we did have a resy, it still took a hot minute to get our table (whole party does have to be present before you're seated, but even then it took a while). I will say it seems like the staff is overstretched. Service was slow and so by the time we got most of our food, it was unfortunately a little too cool. Additionally, one member of my party ordered their vodka pasta, which besides being almost flavorless and cold, there was also a random potato in there (?). I wasn't too impressed with their garlic & parm bread, there could've been more garlic and it would have benefitted from them cutting it in half and adding more butter in the middle. The honey butter was good though, but that's because they plop it on top so you can control how much or how little you'd like. I do think they have a pretty decent Caesar salad. The dressing didn't scream homemade (which I didn't like) but it was overall a respectable offering. The steak frites was perfectly cooked to medium rare for me and the fries were delicious and plentiful (I didn't finish them). Like I mentioned earlier, because everything took so long to come out, it was a little cooler than I would've preferred, but I was happy with my choice. I would've loved to try their chocolate cake, but I was pretty full and the speed of service had left a bad taste in my mouth. I wouldn't completely disqualify this place, but I would recommend trying to find a less busier time to visit.

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Maison Pickle - Entrance of restaurant

Entrance of restaurant

Maison Pickle - Bloody Mary w/pickled cauliflower

Bloody Mary w/pickled cauliflower

Maison Pickle - Pull Apart Honey and Butter Bread was the Beyoncé at the table.

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Pull Apart Honey and Butter Bread was the Beyoncé at the table.

Bird Dog

Bird Dog

4.4(330 reviews)
1.7 mi•West Village

Had SUCH an amazing experience at Bird Dog the other weekend - some of the best food and service…read moreI've had in the Village in a while! Our server (I think Brian?) was super attentive and charismatic, and walked us through the menu right away. The server had the whole floor and the place is VERY tiny, but I never felt like the service was fake. Wine and beer only (to alert my cocktail lovers), but luckily for us we were in the middle of dry January so although I very much appreciate a cocktail it wasn't too much of a problem. What really shines is the food - just WOW! We were a table of three so we each did the Three-Course meal and shared: Biscuits to start: AMAZING! First Course: Burrata, Pimento Cheese, and Collard Greens Second Course: Ravioli, Gnocchi, and Tagliatelle. Special shoutout to the Reuben-flavored ravioli and Chicken & Dumpling flavored Gnocchi Third Course: Nashville Fried Chicken, and Catfish Everything tasted so so so good and original - I've quite literally never had anything like any of the pastas we tried. The one tiny critique I have is that I don't think a slice of white bread under the fried chicken was necessary. I know it's tradition but I didn't need it with all of the other amazing amazing food we had. All of the desserts sounded absolutely amazing but unfortunately we were all so full and had a show to run to, but I will 100% be back hopefully multiple times and will know for the next time to save some room. Overall 10/10. Definitely recommend getting a reservation as the entire space is maybe 15 seats total!

Been wanting to try this southern pasta spot in WV for a while and finally had the chance to stop…read moreby for dinner. It's an interesting spot, split seating into two locations but single kitchen. Both seating spots are pretty small/intimate, so expect to get to know your neighbors! We did the pre fixe, so started with the sweet potatoes and hush puppies. The honey butter that comes with the hush puppies was the highlight, so delish but rich. Next the pastas: star of the night! We got the Miso Carbonara Tagliatelle and the Lamb Ragu Orecchiette. Miso carbonara was rich and scrumptious, umami bomb. I'm normally a cream sauce girlie over red, but the lamb ragu stole the show. Super tender chunks of lamb and the pasta was perfectly al dente. Incredible pastas! The mains were okay, pork chop was a bit too salty and the fried catfish was really underwhelming. Service is good, very friendly and efficient. Decor inside is cute too. I think I misordered, if i came back would def stick to the pastas and maybe try the fried chicken. They apparently have a pasta happy hour with half-off pastas, would come back for that.

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Bird Dog
Bird Dog - Home made doritos

Home made doritos

Bird Dog - Baby Back Ribs

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Baby Back Ribs

Melba's - Catfish with 2 sides

Melba's

3.7(33 reviews)
3.4 mi•Midtown East

Damn. Almost perfect…read more Stopped by with my daughter this morning. I wanted smothered chicken but it wasn't available. No problem. My hongry self had a Plan B, fried chicken. So, I ordered the fried chicken, greens, yams, extra side of 'tato salad, AND a sweet potato pie. The girl working there was great! Had a great time talking to her and was happy to tip. Ordering food or at a sit-down restaurant, of course I'ma tip. When it's just ordering at a counter... Sometimes, yes, but most of the time, nah. Then again, it depends on the service. But, this sister was great, helpful and an absolute pleasure to talk to. Two meals came to about $60 and I tipped $10. We got our orders to go cos my child had to catch a train to Connecticut. Weather was gorgeous so I walked around for a bit. Was thisclose to walking to Junior's for a b/w cookie but didn't because I'd gotten dessert with my order, the sweet potato pie. Or so I thought. Didn't even think to check my bag cos the sister even repeated our orders as she gave us our bags. I get home, started emptying my bag... No pie. I reached out to my daughter n' said, I hope you have two pies (she also ordered one), cos there's no pie in my bag! Nope, she only got one pie. Maaaan the disappointment that I am feeling...! So, the food... Fried chicken pieces were big and delicious. Greens... I'd had an acting job that was catered by Melba's, so I'd had and loved their greens before and it's the reason I wanted to pay them a visit. I LOVE Melba's greens!! And, today, they did not disappoint! I don't know how they season them. but *chef's kiss* Yams are good. Not what I'm used to. For years, I've been the designated maker of the candied yams for holiday meals. I use a very simple recipe. Keyshawn's Mom's Candied Yams. Flawless. Always come out delicious. These yams are...different. Delicious. Just...different. Large blocks of yams. 'Tato salad is good, too. Not my mama's which is my standard. But, still delicious. I will definitely go back. I'll just make sure everything I pay for is in the bag. So, yeah, this woulda/coulda/damn sure shoulda easily have been a 5-star visit. But the missing pie... DEDUCTION!!

Melba's must have received the memo: return the chicken sandwich to the original size. The chicken…read morebreast now out sizes the bun once again and everyone should be happy. I like it with everything: cole slaw and pickles, with hot sauce and chipotle mayo. For just under ten bucks, the chicken sandwich is the best thing you can buy in the basement of Grand Central. It's almost a complete meal in a sandwich and I often buy two at a time. 4.2 stars!

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Melba's
Melba's - My meal

My meal

Melba's - My meal - 1 piece of chicken with 2 sides

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My meal - 1 piece of chicken with 2 sides

The Hot Spot - comfortfood - Updated May 2026

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