Bridges — Restaurant in New York

I'd heard the hype around Bridges before I even knew what it was, which is always a curious thing. Personally, I'm not a restaurant trend chaser, especially in this day and age when the chase feels more manufactured than ever, but when my wife scored a reservation on a Friday night, it seemed too good to be true.

Overall, I'm not sure how to feel about my experience. Let me start with what most are here for: the Food.

We had the sardines, the comte tart, the eel dumplings, the salad with trout roe, the king crab legs, the turbot. The tart and dumplings were very talked up beforehand and while good, I honestly did not think either was hype-worthy. At the risk of being offensive, the first thing I thought when I bite into the comte tart was an Entenmann's coconut custard pie with some chanterelles. Tasty, but not hype (or price) worthy. The eel dumplings were also tasty but as I enjoyed them, all I could think was "Wow this taste like normal delicious dumplings". Again, not sure where the hype, price, or eel (!) is here and think had I been served these under a blander name, I would have balked at the cost for the taste.

Let's get to my biggest disappointment: The sardines. I'd also heard lots about these and generally quite like sardines, but all I could think as I bit my way through a 4-inch slab of sardine and basic cracker was: Shouldn't these be cut into smaller bites? Why is the sardine so fishy and without much of the savory unctuousness I like about them? I don't know if these just aren't for me or what, but as the dish I was most looking forward to, I was let down hard by how much these felt like someone cutting a piece of fish, putting it on a cracker, and calling it a day. That's fine for a picnic in Paris, but for $22 for two pieces? Nope.

But hey, it's not all bad news: The king crab legs were fantastic and even at $42, I'd wished we'd ordered two of them. Amazing leg meat and the "kani miso" / head meat was the best I've ever had. It's a crime there's sauce and garnishes because these are wonderful all by themselves. The turbot too was quite good, though a piece or two of bread to soak up the herby goodness at the bottom of the bowl would've elevated them from very good to great. Our trout roe + endive-y salad (I forget the greens there) was tasty too, but roe and salad is an odd combo for me; I'd prefer if the roe was just on the side to dash on the greens and add salinity as wanted. But still, it was good and worth ordering.

Oh, and we almost ordered the duck and then found out there was pork in it, which I don't believe was mentioned on the menu. Weird. I don't eat pork out of choice and I can imagine someone avoiding it for religious or health reasons would be a lot less pleased than I was. But whatever.

Drinks: Solid, for sure. Cocktails were good, wine was tasty, though as I say these days, I don't know how to assess wine prices anymore. But the crisp, mineral-ish white I had was excellent, and I'd easily have it again.

Atmosphere: Cute, modern, very gentrified Chinatown / Dimes Square. Think cherry wood and steel and repurposed glass block tiles. Table spacing was good, noise level was good, lighting amazing. Nice and cozy and worth popping into, even if just to grab a drink.

Service: This is where Bridges lost me. Service was... fine. But for $250+, you expect something a little more than fine, especially when the food isn't all 10/10 bangers. Specifically, I found it to be a little aloof (distant, unengaged), the busing service very rushed (taking plates as soon as they were empty), and the timing of plates to be herky-jerky (sardines came out in 90 seconds, dishes were brought out to crowd the table when we weren't even done with previous ones). It was a little weird to be done with our meal in an hour and I don't know if that was to turn over our table or just the service in general.

All in all, I'm not sure what brings me back to Bridges. Maybe a glass or two of wine + king crab legs at the bar, which is a nice snack but of questionable value at $65-85 with just...

This place could have been a delightful surprise or not worth the trek/price. Ultimately, it was the latter. We walked in expecting to leave hungry/wanting to go somewhere else after to actually eat a real portion of food and unfortunately we were correct in our anticipation.

The menu itself was not so interesting or cohesive in any sort of theme. Here's what we ended up getting: The sardines: I felt this to be too rich/buttery of a fish without the cracker/vegetable doing much to counterbalance it. Wish it had more going on than these 3 ingredients. Uni custard/shrimp: I didn't mind the uni as much as I normally would. But the shrimp portion is lacking and ultimately it's an uni custard dish mostly. King crab: This was a fun dish and was so well-seasoned. Should it be bigger? Absolutely. But I enjoyed the ease of eating this and the uniqueness in the flavoring. Only dish I would order again. Lamb w/ sweetbread: standard. I'm not sure what the artichoke was doing here and the sweetbread really also didn't make sense. None of the sauces did anything to add to the flavoring of the meats. The lamb was delicious but couldn't justify the dish altogether.

I recognize that a place like this is expected to have expensive dishes. But I truly could not justify the pricing of most of the dishes with nothing less than $24, limiting how much we were willing to order (and again, prompting our visit nearby for a cheap eat for dinner afterward).

Let's talk about the service. Our waitress could not have smiled more at us. But that's really all she did. At no point did she introduce herself, ask if we had been there before, provide suggestions, or ask how the meal was. She smiled when she provided us water, took our order, and provided the check. This was in line with the remainder of the time we spent there where no one seemed to have really any sort of investment in our time there. I think this fits the colder/quieter vibe nicely that the place is going for. I'm not sure what the theme of the restaurant is at the end of the day,...

To start, the service here is standout. I had a reservation via Resy about a month ago which I had to cancel within one hour of my reservation because my dog had a medical emergency which I explained to them via text. There was no issue cancelling and I wasn't charged for cancelling. Last week, I tried to make another reservation, but the restaurant was booked so I was on the waitlist. A reservationist actually texted me to tell me they had seats at the bar and would I like to make a reservation? - YES. Not to mention we went back and forth about exact time I would arrive as I was solidifying my schedule and she was so accommodating. Now THAT is good and personal service which is rare to find these days. The meal was great and I think everything on the menu is very thoughtful and interesting. Most of the things we ordered were truly memorable; one dish missed the mark in my opinion but I can appreciate the intended execution. Standout dishes were the comte tart (it is small for what you might expect for the price but truly delicious and is unlike anything on any menu I have seen recently), the sardine toast, the snapper and the granita for dessert. The drinks were good but didn't wow me - but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The bar is simple and next time I'd probably just order a classic cocktail or wine which would be perfect with the food. I would definitely...