Butter Midtown
“I originally made a reservation because it is Alex Guarnaschelli's restaurant from Food Network.”
“Grilled sour dough with ricotta, mushrooms and brussel sprout leaves, VEAL BACON, pasta with spicy lamb sausage (I still remember this dish from years ago).”
“We also tried the homemade ricotta and hen-of-the-wood mushrooms on sourdough with charred Brussels sprouts leaves.”
Butter Midtown
Takes Reservations: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
8 reviews
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Came here during a sister weekend in NYC. I had wanted to come to this place for a very long time. We are huge fans of Chef!
We arrived early and we were seated promptly. The dining room is stunning! We chose to share the steak for two and added the grits and fava greens. Everything was perfectly seasoned and cooked. A dream meal! We ordered the beignets for dessert and to our surprise Chef Alex Guarnaschelli graced us with her presence. She was very sweet and allowed us to take a picture with her. We were speechless!!!! I highly recommend this beautiful restaurant and dining experience. Unforgettable!!!!
After watching chef Alex Guarnaschelli take matters into her own hands and step out from behind the judges table to Beat Bobby Flay in a cooking challenge on his own show "Beat Bobby Flay", I was determined to try out her restaurant Butter Midtown. I was not disappointed with my lunch there.
The restaurant is in a beautiful underground space. The staff is top notch, both the host and the wait staff. The meal starts with rolls served warm with whipped butter. I'll never understand why so many restaurants serve cold rolls or hard butter. But Butter pays attention to detail and the rolls were a great start. For an appetizer I had the poached baby gulf shrimp. It was served with some kind of oil on top. A unique take on the shrimp appetizer and it was delicious. For an entrée I had the butter burger. This was no ordinary burger. It was perfectly cooked medium rare and was served with a bacon jam and a Monterey jack cheese fondue on the side. You spread the jam on the roll and pour the cheese all over the burger. I've never had this type of jam or chees on a burger. It was awesome! The perfectly crisp fries were an excellent compliment.
Chef Alex is not just a TV chef trying to make money off of her fame while producing subpar restaurants (I'm looking at you Guy Fieri). Butter Midtown served me the best lunch I've had in NYC.
"Are you ready?"
Those were the magical words that started my dinner experience at Butter. After being led to our table, my buddy and I sat there for 12 minutes before anyone acknowledged us (other than the silent guy who poured our waters immediately). We didn't even know we had a waiter until he came up to us and asked "Are you ready?".
Maybe it's just me but if I'm paying $35 for a fried chicken breast and $17 for a mixed drink, maybe you say "hello" or "welcome to Butter" or something other than "Are you ready?" as the first words you say. If I'm in a diner and a waitress names Bertha comes over after I sit down and asks that, I'm okay with it. But not at a place that is supposed to be high end. It was just abrupt and weird and a poor service experience.
We placed orders for drinks and an appetizer and received the drinks 10 minutes later. The bread and butter that was served while we were waiting was good. The drinks were good (cosmo and margarita). We get our potato croquettes on a plate but they'd taken our bread plates so we had to eat off the big plate because our waiter wasn't anywhere to be found most of the night. As we were finishing he stopped by and asked if we wanted smaller plates to put the appetizer on. Astonishing that he only thinks of that after we were finished.
The entrees eventually came out. It took so long that a bus boy actually tried to clear our silverware thinking we had finished when we hadn't even been served. More drinks were ordered in the meantime. I had the fried chicken, my friend has steak. Both were fine. But after the service experience, I didn't think a chicken breast (with wing) and mashed potatoes were worthy of $35. We did order dessert, the raspberry beignets. They were absolutely delicious and came with a very tasty white sauce.
Oh and twice the lights went out and the emergency spotlights came on. Our waiter was serving our food the first time and said "they're testing something". No mention what they were doing the second time. But you really think 7:30 pm when the restaurant is full is the best time to test the emergency lighting?
Total before tip was almost $200. Listen, the place is lovely and the food is fine but they should really walk a block to the Chick Fil A on the corner of 46th and 6th to learn how to treat customers. If I'm dropping $100 for my meal & drinks, I do have a minimum expectation of a greeting from the waiter. There's no value here; I would not return.
This place was delicious! While visiting NYC to see Tribeca I had lunch here. The staff was very pleasant and appeared to be quite knowledgeable about the menu.
The rolls were served warm with whipped butter. The rolls were delicious. For an appetizer I tried the shrimp. The jumbo shrimp were served in a tasty light oil. The shrimp were large in size and very hearty.
For an entree I had the butter burger. The burger was cooked to perfection and was served with a jalapeño onion jam and cheese. The cheese was served warm in a small dish to be poured over the burger. The fries were crisp and perfect. The coleslaw was bold and flavorful.
The restaurant had an ecclectic and modern look. The ambiance was comfortable, yet rich. This place was great! This restaurant is a must visit when in NYC.
My coworkers took me here for my goodbye lunch. We work only about 2 blocks away. I had not really noticed this restaurant before. You enter and go downstairs and it's as if you have been transported to another place. Really didn't feel as if I was in middle of a busy street in midtown. Dimly lit restaurant, very nice ambiance. Since I went at lunch time there were a lot of business people there.
We all opted for the lunch prefix for $35 which came with app, entree and dessert. We let them know we were on our lunch break and to keep the courses flowing and they did. After we ordered they brought out bread for the table. This bread was sooo good. I really wanted more. The portions of all the courses were good, not too much but not too small. I felt satisfied not stuffed after I was done.
Food: no complaints. Everything was good, but I wouldn't say it was all that interesting. I had a filet mignon which was cooked to order so thank you for that. My buddy had the snapper which he enjoyed, but the portion was too small for him. I saw a pasta dish that looked awesome, but I didn't get the details on it. I was there with a huge group and we were all served garden salad to start. Just okay. Dessert consisted of a variety of pieces – chocolate covered banana, small cupcakes, etc.
Service: on point. Good people. Polite. Attentive
Atmosphere: I can't comment on the actual restaurant because I was there for an event, but our setup was great. We had drinks at their outdoor bar which was actually quite cool despite the fact that you're surrounded by apartments on all sides. The large room we ate in was very nice as well. Lots of Windows and great patio with beautiful roof deck.
What an experience! Everything was cooked to perfection. I highly recommend the steak. It's expensive but worth every penny. I suggest the watermelon cocktail over all else! Definitely give it a try! The Gnochi makes me want to die it's so good!
I love Alex, and I've been wanting to try out her restaurant for a while. So I was really excited to catch up with a friend at Butter last summer.
Maybe it was the Restaurant Week prix fixe menu, but I was disappointed. Don't get me wrong–the food was fine… just nothing stood out. Is it because my expectations were too high? I hope not. I would hope Alex would be able to go beyond my expectations and I do sincerely hope the mediocre food can be blamed on Restaurant Week. I would like to give Butter another try, but definitely not during any special deals.