Looking for some ideas for a small group birthday dinner (probably 6ppl) - Manhattan.
Ideally outdoors in a pretty garden (or a nice sidewalk/terrace setup though back gardens are nicer), not insanely expensive (<100 incl 1-2 drinks each), and central-ish to subways.
Cuisine flexible - Italian is easy, Asian of any sort usually works too. Not super excited about mediterranean / middle eastern or general american, but a pretty venue could change that.
Places that are t impossible reservations please! Doesn’t have to be new, just a nice setting, pleasant service, and tasty food!
I don’t normally answer NYC questions, because as only a fractional New Yorker, what do I know? But I’ve had several nice experiences sitting outside at Santina, nice enough that I once hosted a party for 16 there. (But I haven’t been since 2017.)
Goodness it’s been a while since I’ve been there and I had totally forgotten about it!
But last I was there I did have a very pleasant meal, and the place was certainly buzzing.
I remember the cecina being quite good (and a surprise for those of us familiar with the chickpea pancake format). I think there was also a tasty pasta. Don’t remember much else.
Pizza and salad. It was a special dinner of some kind. The pizza was just bad (and $21 for a 12" pie, which I will only put up with at Una Pizza Napoletana). And the salad was…salad.
Yes, I’ve enjoyed the cecina in the past, and preferred it to the differently-named (but, I think the same dish) socca at Nizza on 9th. I also liked the shrimp zingara, a couple of their pastas, and, particularly, their spicy potatoes side.
And one can walk the High Line after.
@small_h : there was no pizza on offer when I ate there between 2014ish and 2017.
It’s in Brooklyn, but…I had a lovely birthday celebration in the back patio of the Oaxacan Claro during the pandemic. We were only four, but if you like mezcal (I do!), I’d definitely consider it. I think the four of us shared one “flight” of mezcal taster and a glass or two of the ones we especially liked. The $75 four course menu (you choose each course) offered interesting choices that were all delicious to the four of us who were eating, and it was really fun and celebratory, at a time when not much was!
