Ai Fiori — Restaurant in New York

I was in NYC to visit friends and for an alumni function. I decided to go to dinner with a friend on Thursday, February 9 2023. We made our way to Ai Fiori for a 5:45pm reservation.

Ai Fiori is in The Langham Hotel on Fifth Avenue. We arrived right on time and were seated immediately. What a beautiful restaurant. Our waiter arrived almost immediately with menus and for our drink order. He was quite friendly and pleasant. After taking time to look at the incredible wine menu, that must have been at least 20 pages, we made a decision and ordered a couple of glasses of wine. In addition to the wine menu, there were also other drink options on the dinner menu that included beer, ciders, specialty cocktails and other wines.

From there, we began looking at the dinner menu. Ai Fiori serves Italian cuisine. They did in fact have a four course Prix Fixe option with a wine pairing, as well as a Chef’s Tasting Option with wine pairing. Beyond that was a good a la carte menu that included caviar, antipasti, pasta and risotto, entrees and contorni. Most looked quite tempting. I chose Anatra as my entrée—roasted duck breast with kumquat, beets and chestnuts with a side of red bliss potatoes with parmigiano and lemon. My dinner mate chose Fusilli with wild boar and pancetta ragu, sofrito, and fontina fonduta. Both had beautiful presentations.

I really enjoyed the roasted duck that was a good sized cut, cooked as I ordered, well-seasoned and tender. The red bliss potatoes were the perfect accompaniment. My dinner mate said that the fusilli was quite tasty too and was my second choice for dinner. We both opted to decline dessert because we had both been eating and drinking all afternoon, prior to dinner.

Ai Fiori is not an inexpensive place but it is a great place for dinner, especially if you are a foodie or trying to impress. I am a foodie. The least expensive antipasti was $17. The pastas and risottos are priced at $37 each. The least expensive entrée was the vegetarian entrée at $38. Was it worth it? It was pretty close. Would I eat there again? In a heartbeat. The service was great. The food was near perfect. The atmosphere was great. Expect to pay about $300 for a four course dinner for two with a glass of wine,...

Hi, firstly the service was not ideal quite disjointed , our waiter did not really stand still when talking to us he didn’t take the time with us so we decided to do the tasting menu and wine pairing and was asked if we were adventurous and with food and we said yes. The service itself the waiter kind of dropped the knives and forks in place and they were not straight which I know is not a big deal but in a Michelin star it is my other half even ended up with two forks and we had to ask for a knife. The sommelier was very very good and the wine was very good he was the best bit by far real nice guy.

The ambience was ok the setting was nice but the music why play r&b/garage/house in a Michelin star restaurant? I understand there is bar attached and it’s within a hotel but club music and fine dining don’t mix.

The waiters were good but I appreciate preference on wearing masks however when describing the dishes which is a lot detail we could not hear them we had to guess three of seven dishes possibly a visor could work as we had no menus due to having the tasting menu at chefs mercy basically and our mind reading skills.

The food was ok all in all but after advising we were adventurous we get two of the same meats with 4 white wines and 1 red which is too much white wine. My main duck dish was very under and the fat was not rendered and gooey so not edible and just weird dish with liver and starchy potatoes.

After this we were waiting for our bill for 20 minutes or so when a different waiter had to approach us as original one was no where to be seen once we had paid we then walked past him at the bar talking and joking with another customer he seemed he forgot about us or acknowledge us leaving so not really an end to end service.

After eating at other Michelin stars we trusted the star and have had much better experiences for less money. Go to chelsea market and blow 40 bucks on Takumi tacos better service and incredible tacos they were the highlight of the trip this was an 800 dollar...

I had called Ai Fiori to verify the 4 course tasting menu including a vegetarian or pescatarian option (I could not find the information I was looking for at the restaurant's website). The poor woman who answered the phone was clueless about the menu and couldn't answer the most basic questions. I was placed on hold for so long that it started ringing a second time. I finally gave up and booked a reservation at Blossom in Chelsea.

A day later I changed my mind and booked Ai Fiori, mostly because it's midtown and we could walk there from the Cambria. That turned out to be a good decision!

My wife and I each opted for the 4 course prix fixe option ($99) with wine pairing ($59). It was more than enough food and I must say that the quality was excellent! Our server was a master of her craft and gave thoughtful and enticing recommendations without hedging (a true professional). The meal was well coordinated and almost perfectly timed up until dessert. The sommelier had a nice demeanor and we enjoyed trying different wines we would never have picked for ourselves.

We were offered a dessert menu and the gentleman who brought it didn't know if it was one of the courses in the prix fixe menu (it was). When our wine glasses didn't come in advance (as they did for the previous 3 courses) we assumed the wine pairing was complete so we ordered a cappuccino and espresso. Then the sommelier showed up and the wine and coffee showed up simultaneously which was a bit awkward and could/should have been prevented, IMHO.

At the end of the meal I felt like we sat waiting for an opportunity to request the check for 10 or 15 minutes too long. Those are my only nitpicks. It was my first time dining at a Michelin star restaurant and overall I had a nice experience. We were celebrating my wife's doctorate degree and Ai Fiori made it special. Total cost including tip about $450.00, by far the most I have ever spent on dinner for two.

I would come back for a...