Night Out: 230 Fifth Rooftop - Flatiron, NY - Saturday, 8/30/2014

His Take: 230 Fifth, a few years back was rated the most popular place in NYC ages 20-40 for men and women, according to Zagat.  How the mighty have fallen.  So this is the second celebration for Ariana’s birthday, Ariana and I grabbed a bunch of friends, maybe 15-18 people total and decided to go out for her birthday.  I had been to 20 Fifth multiple times, but this time here might be the last time I go.  Yes I was that disappointed in the place and the service.  First and foremost, I called to reserve a table with bottle service because I know it is hard in NYC for a group that large to all get into a place together, whether it be a club or a lounge.  230 Fifth, in my opinion, has the stupidest reservation policy.  I had to make my reservation and based off the number of people I told them were going, I had to purchase a minimum amount in bottle service.  This policy is pretty standard around NYC.  What shocked me was then I was told I needed to select my bottles right then and there over the phone and PAY for them in advance!  No thanks 230 Fifth, I mean what if less people show up or a change of plans? Then I am stuck with the bill? NO. 

 

So we arrive at 230 Fifth, I walk right up to the security at the door and tell them I am with 15 people and want a table upstairs.  No problem, they hook me up with the girl who does bottle service, Ariana, I and our guests walk right in, no reservation required.  We get a nice large table upstairs on the roof, a little disappointed it was all the way in the corner but hey, whatever.  The whole point of going to 230 Fifth is to be on the rooftop where you get a great view of NYC and the Empire State Building.  230 Fifth never fails in this, and again we were right in front of the Empire State Building and that was great.  That was about the only good thing about 230 Fifth.  Well that and our waitress who was a sweet heart.  After we picked our bottles and spent about $1,100 already, more people wanted to come meet us upstairs.  I told the other guests to tell the people at the door we had a table upstairs under my name.  Apparently 230 Fifth would not let them upstairs unless I brought down a signed receipt from a manager stating we had a table and more room at our table.  This is incredibily stupid, but again I obliged and asked the waitress to get it for me.  I went downstairs with my receipt and got our other 2 guests in.  Here is another problem, I tell the security downstairs who took my receipt from, so he knows I had already paid and spent money upstairs, and he made me and the other 2 guests wait on a 20 minute line for the elevator with the general public.  The table reservations upstairs have their own elevator.  So after 230 Fifth took $1,100 from my party, I had to wait downstairs like every one else who had not paid $1 to be there?  What was the point of spending money then? That really put me off to this place.  Lastly, our typical think at 230 Fifth was to enjoy outside, then head inside to the dance floor.  This time inside did not have a dance floor.  I do not know if it was a slow night and no one was dancing or what not, but inside I did not see a single person dancing.

 

Sorry 230 Fifth, but you lost an unhappy customer.  I had been to 230 Fifth a hand full of times, and now I cannot see myself going back.  Go at your own risk!

Her Take: My birthday celebration still continued. After our great dinner, family dinner and drinks, we still had to dance. So I decided on 230 fifth.
I had been here once for Nicky's birthday last year and I had a good time! It's a rooftop bar overlooking the city skyline and the Empire State Building is right there! If you go downstairs, there's a dance floor to, obviously, dance to the good music playing. That's what I expected this time around. I was excited and ready to shake my booty. We sat on the rooftop and the music was playing, but I couldn't wait to get a couple drinks in me and go down and dance.
There were 15 of us so we got 3 bottles. But then they gave Nicky a hard time because his uncle wanted to come up and join us and we only bought enough for 15 people so no. WTF? Nicky was gone for a half hour arguing with the waitress and the security's guard wouldn't let him back up when he only went to get his uncle. A big shpeel for no reason! But it disappointed us with their service. Finally we came up but had to buy another bottle. So stupid and the manager didn't even try to accommodate us or "make the customer happy." I wanted to dance, we went downstairs excited and when we got there we saw that there was no dance floor, it was just a lounge now and the music was louder outside! But there was no room to dance outside. It was disappointing. No dancing, no good music, no good service. 230 fifth changed a lot and not for the better.
We were all disappointed in the way we were treated and how the night turned it. Nevertheless I made the most of it because I wanted to have fun for my birthday. But I saw other didn't have a good time and really didnt want to be there, and one person even told me "this sucks", which annoyed me but you know what I wasn't gonna worry about them and let my mood go down because of them. To make a long story short, 230 Fifth, we will not be returning or giving you business anymore.

Date Night: La Boqueria - Flatiron District, NY - Thursday, 8/28/2014

Her Take: August 29th is my birthday, so Nicky said he wanted to surprise me with a place to take me out to dinner! :) :) :) He always does a good job at picking places so I was excited!
Thursday, I rush home from school, get ready and meet Nicky and then hop right back on the train to the mystery place. Turns out he had TWO options so he said left or right?? We decided to go left but sadly saw that the first place, La Bota, was closed down, so we walked to the other option, (thankfully they were near each other!) La Boqueria. Both places Nicky had in mind were Spanish Tapas bars/restaurants which, if you've never had tapas, means that its basically a whole menu of appetizer sized dishes, so you would order a bunch to pick on!  We got to La Boqueria and saw that there was a wait, we went in and the hostess told us there would be a 30-45 minute wait, we said "sure!" and waited outside on a bench. Luckily, we only waited about 20 minutes, which wasn't bad at all! We walked in, the restaurant is quite small, no wonder it gets packed so quickly and believe me when I say packed, I mean PACKED! We were lead to a cute two-top towards the back of the spot and I took the "booth" side (for once!)
What I liked about La Boqueria, right off the bat, was that there were allll types of people in there. It wasn't just a restaurant for a younger scene, or just hipsters, or just older people; the crowd was very diverse and I think that's what makes the place welcoming! There are people of all kinds, from all different places and couples ranging from first dates, to married dates- and there were we, right in the middle. :)
My only complaint about La Boqueria would be that the noise level is a BIT too loud, hey I'm no grumpy old man complaining about noise, believe me I like noise, but in a nice place like this that has a great "date" atmosphere, you want to be able to hear/speak to your date! I felt like Nicky and I didn't speak, we had to scream over the din and music just to have a conversation. If it was just a little less loud in there it would have been perfect!
We looked over the drinks first and I saw they had Sangria de Mora, Blackberry Sangria, and we were sold, we got a pitcher of it and not only was the pitcher was bigger than we expected, the sangria was delicious, probably one of the best we've had!! We had picked out 7 things that really caught our eyes, so we got them all! Remember, tapas are like appetizers, so we aren't just really fat and eating the whole menu! (but we probably could have done that anyway..) We ordered the Maiz Rustido, a special that night, which was roasted corn, lime segments, with smoked pimenton oil and manchego cheese melted on top! It was AMAZING! Nicky's favorite dish! We ordered chorizo and Idiazabal cheese which is made out of sheeps milk, is semi-hard, buttery and lightly smoked. The cheese was really, really good and the chorizo was cut thinly, like sopressata, I liked it but Nicky didn't "enjoy" it. I'm proud of him for trying it though! We also order Pan Tostado: which was basically toasted bread rubbed with tomato and garlic, Patatas Bravas: diced potatoes, fried and atop a spicy tomato sauce and drizzled with fresh cream, Bombas de Barceloneta: potato and beef croquettes that also came with that same "salsa brava" (spicy tomato sauce) and fresh cream, and last but not least we ordered the hanger steak which came with their version of chimichurri salsa! Everything was excellent, literally everything, I couldn't decide which dish was my favorite! They were all so tasty and full of different flavors, textures, spices! We loved it all, I loved it all, it was the perfect birthday dinner! After eating 7 dishes, that were pretty good portions, we decided NO dessert for us because we were full and satisfied! Our waitress was sweet and she didn't seem pushy, she didn't come over too frequently (which I like, especially if you're on a date and holding hands at the table) or rush us being there were people waiting for a table. The food came out perfectly timed - not all at once, it was two dishes at a time and when we finished on they brought the other a few minutes later; so it didn't seem like they were throwing food at us, it gave us time to digest a bit between dishes!
I really really enjoyed La Boqueria, it was a great place with great food, great service, a great atmosphere and I had a great date to take me ;) Really, Nicky, you did a great job!!
I highly recommend it to everyone! As I said, mixed crowd, so anyone fits in! I told my mom about it and she wants to go! I will definitely go back!!! And can't wait to!

His Take: Happy Birthday to my dearest Ariana!  Ariana’s birthday is here and I wanted to take her somewhere special, somewhere different, and most of all somewhere I knew (or hoped?) she would like.  I know Ariana loves Mexican, South American, and Latin food.  I did my homework and looked up places, trying to find the perfect one.  I stumbled across, La Boqueria, a tapas bar located on W. 19^th street, in the Flatiron district.  Boy am I glad I stumbled across this place, but well get to that in a second!  Tapas bars for those who do not know, are places that basically serve only small dishes, roughly the size of an appetizer.  The point is to share these dishes, and as you probably guessed it, Ariana and I ordered quite a things to share!

 

La Boqueria is a nice little place that the entrance starts narrow, and the place widens up in the back.  I called to make a reservation and was told that they only accept reservations for parties of 6 or more.  Ariana and I may eat for 6 people, but unfortunately we do not count as 6 people.  The lady over the phone told me every one else is first come first serve.  Ariana and I arrived to La Boqueria and walked in to see the hostess.  Great sign already was EVERY seat was full.  This included all the tables, as well as all the seats at the bar, La Boqueria was full to capacity of people eating and drinking.  The Hostess told us it was be about a half hour wait, so Ariana and I went outside and sat on the little bench right in front.  About 15-20 minutes later the Hostess came and got us.  Not bad of a wait at all!

 

La Boqueria’s menu was full of things Ariana and I wanted to try.  I think if we could have eaten everything, we would have ordered 1 of everything!  We decided to order a pitcher of Blackberry Sangria to start while we looked over the menu.  We finally settled on 7, yes SEVEN things to order.  We ordered the Idiazabal cheese (goat’s milk), a type of chorizo, bread with tomato paste and garlic oil, patatas bravas (fried potato pieces with crema fresca and a mildly spicey sauce), hangar steak over peppers, maiz rustido (corn with manchego cheese and lime), and bombas de barceloneta (meat and cheese croquettes with that same mild spicey sauce from before).  Sounds like a lot? Well it was, we had a tough time finishing everything because the portions were a very good size!  Let me tell you, everything we ordered was excellent.  Except for maybe the chorizo, I never had chorizo before, and I did not enjoy it, so that is just me personally.  La Boqueria’s food was delicious, and I could have eaten 50 plates of the maiz rustido, I absolutely loved it.  The service was great as well.

 

Ariana did not want me to tell the waitress that it was her birthday, BORING, so she got away with it.  La Boqueria you will be seeing me again, the tapas and the service were excellent.  Our waitress brought us a little of our food at a time so we got to eat and enjoy it.  We finished our pitcher of sangria and enjoyed an amazing dinner to celebrate Ariana’s birthday!  I hope you go to La Boqueria and enjoy it as much as I did!