Alta — Restaurant in New York

Alta is tucked away on W 10th Street and if you're not looking for it, it's easy to walk by this inconspicuous West Village restaurant. The interior of the restaurant is surprisingly large and has multiple floors. We were seated in an area of the restaurant next to the street-facing windows. To get there, our hostess us led us on a brisk walk up the stairs and through the kitchen - an experience that reminisces of "Goodfellas."

For our date night dinner, we ordered 5 plates after contemplating between several exciting dishes on the menu.

1- Fried Goat Cheese I'm not a huge fan of goat cheese, but this starter dish was more than fine by me. The goat cheese came on a skewer atop lavender honey. The sweetness of the honey and the sourness/saltiness of the fried goat cheese turned out to be a great combination!

2- Scallops This dish was on the pricier side at $18 for 2 scallops. The scallops were damn good though and plated beautifully. If I had to choose again, I would still have gotten this dish. The pureed olive in the middle of the plated complemented the scallops well. Unfortunately, to prevent the scallops from overcooking, the temperature of this dish was slightly compromised. It was a bit lukewarm when it arrive at our table.

3- Peking Duck Again, I applaud the chef for the presentation. The peking duck was tender and tasty, although again, a bit lukewarm. While the temperature of the duck wasn't as hot as I would've liked it to be, it was still a delicious dish.

4- Lamb Tagine I had hoped that I could order the short rib dish that my friends had talked about, but I was informed that it was a dish that was offered only during the fall/winter season. The lamb was melt-in-your-mouth tender and the flavor was excellent. The boyfriend wasn't too much of a fan of this dish (he said there was something missing that he couldn't quite pinpoint), but I didn't find anything wrong with this one.

5- Hanger Steak Oh god. What a disappointing end to an otherwise decent meal. I'm curious as to how long they left this one out for because it was borderline cold. Despite the beautiful presentation, there wasn't much to highlight about this dish. The steak was overcooked on some parts (medium to well) and only one of the cuts was medium-rare.

I always try to save room for dessert, but after the few dishes that failed to impress, we were more than happy to pick up the check and leave. The common theme of lukewarm dishes really takes away from the otherwise beautiful presentation and...

A group of girlfriends and I came to Alta on a Friday night at around 7 to celebrate one of the girls' birthdays. A few of us arrived early, so we decided to take advantage of their happy hour by the bar ($8 house red/white wine).

When we were seated, we started browsing the menu and a lot of things popped out at us. Here are some of the things we ordered:

Salmon tartare (truffle, black rice crisp, salmon roe) - this was probably the best one. The salmon tasted fresh and the black rice crisp complemented the fish well. However, none of us were expecting the portion to be so tiny. It was three bite-sized rice crackers with salmon. But it was so good that we ended up ordering seconds

PEI mussels (harissa broth, preserved lemon, cilantro) - nothing special. I feel like I can probably make this at home. Seems and tastes simple enough

Paella (crispy saffron rice, mussels, clams, shrimp, chorizo) - it didn't have as much flavor as I'd expect a paella to have. Also, the rice was a bit mushy

Lamb meatballs (charred red pepper sauce, labne) - this was on the dry side

Porcini braised short ribs (spelt pasta, beet puree, horseradish) - didn't try the short ribs but the pappardelle or whatever sheets of pasta it came with was pretty good

Foie gras terrine (smoked eel, plum mostarda) - this was my first time trying foie gras. I got it mixed up with pate so my taste buds were definitely surprised upon that first bite. I don't think I like foie gras - too fatty for me

Roasted pork belly (charmoula, lollipop kale, garnet yam) - had this weird leftover taste to it. You'd be better off grabbing some from Chinatown - half the price, double the flavor, triple the portion

If you're looking to have a full and satisfying meal, Alta is not it. But if you're looking to try a bit of everything (and you're in the mood to splurge, because these dishes add up QUICK) then maybe you'll like this place. Just expect the dishes to be hit or miss.

Tip - cash...

My husband and I used to LOVE going to Alta. everything USED to be top notch. from the atmosphere, the service and the amazing food. like many others, since COVID we abandoned our regular food outings routines. but recently we've decided to renew our traditions and went back to Alta. we were horrified to find an almost EMPTY restaurant (on an 8:30pm reservation on SATURDAY). there was NO music playing. we were seated and waited for menus for 20 minutes (to find out from the waiter who decided to "visit" our table that they are obtained only by scanning a bar code). the only other table with guests was one that appeared to be the stage for the comedy act given by the only waiter seen in sight, who amused the diners non-stop with his presence and jokes. He ended up being the MANAGER whom we asked to see for the lack of not seeing our waiter for long period of time and not having ordered our meal for 45 minutes. This stand-up comedy "manager" argued with my husband over our complaint that we need a waiter, want to order, and would like to be served at least our drinks. the place was empty, and lacking service. once the food arrived, we found some dishes to still be very good, and some to be remnants of what used to be good and now is clearly no fresh. our waiter or the "manager" did not apologize even once for the lack of service and we were truly contemplating leaving for the fear our food would be "contaminated". let's just leave it at that. at 9:45 the waiter notified us the kitchen was closing in 5 minutes if we wanted to get something else. or desert. when we asked for the bill there was NO ONE left at the restaurant to hand us the bill. the bus boy was the only person in sight. I've NEVER written a restaurant review before. but felt this one is important for the OWNERS to see and correct so that this doesn't happen again. shame on the manager for being so loud, blunt, rude and...