Flex Mussels — Restaurant in New York

Came here with my work team on a business trip on the recommendation of a coworker. She described it as a seafood restaurant, and while there is other seafood to be had, this would be better described as mussels, mussels, mussels. Luckily, they're all delicious!

We walked here from 34th to build up an appetite, and build up an appetite we did. I was nervous thinking I wouldn't fill up on mussels, but I was wrong. Their portions are great. Let me step back though.

We saw the outside and though "wow... this is the place you suggested?". There was nothing fancy about it, especially if you're going to walk miles to get there. But we were very pleasantly surprised when we went inside. Not lavish, but very clean and trendy (in a beach-goer sort-of-way). Nautical photos on all the walls and dim lighting with candles in small metal buckets were a great touch. I arrived slightly before everyone else, so I took a seat at the bar for a quick happy hour drink while I waited (see pic). I got "The one with Bourbon" $8. It wasn't very strong and was very sweet with fruit. No description on the HH menu - I just assumed it'd be more "manly" so-to-speak, but it was a pretty fruity blueberry drink. I couldn't even really pick out the bourbon. The bar area was nice, but I wasn't impressed by the cocktail.

When my group arrived, we moved over to the dining room. "The one with Bourbon" was $14, so I passed on a 2nd (HH doesn't apply in the dining room). There, I got the Parma mussels with the calamari appetizer. OMG both were amazing. No complaints there at all. This is the major carrier of the review rating. The food was great, as was our service. Our waitresses were awesome (unfortunately I didn't catch their names otherwise I'd be giving them credit here - one kinda looked like the lab tech from NCIS, but younger. If she sees this, I hope that gets a laugh). When we sat, we realized fairly quickly that we were all feeling pretty warm. As soon as we mentioned it to each other, one of the waitresses (possibly the manager?) came by and asked if we just said it was hot - she was thinking the same thing and was on her way to turn down the temp. It was much nicer after that.

Food was great. Prices were on the higher side, but it was for nicer seafood, so it made sense. The drink prices could have had a few bucks chopped off though. They'd probably make up the revenue in increased sales.

Nonetheless, I was definitely a fan. If I was a local, I'd be back. I don't go to NYC often enough to revisit places quite yet though - gotta...

Walking into Flex Mussels and you can’t help but notice that this is a bustling neighborhood hotspot. We had a 6pm reservation on a rainy, cold Friday night and the downstairs was already completely full (outside seating included). The ambiance downstairs was chique and buzzing with lots of chatter and music playing. We were taken upstairs to our table where the two of us were accommodated in booth seating for a two person party (will never complain about extra leg room especially in NYC). The upstairs was far more quiet, modest and had more of a kitschy vibe to it- more catered to family diners (which tracked with the clientele largely being sat up there).

We ordered wine (of which they have a great selection by the glass and bottle) and ordered food for the table. Our meal consisted of: the burnt fingers, kale salad, far diavola mussel pot, dozen oysters (they have 8 locations to chose from), truffle fries, and housemade donuts.

The lows: our oyster ticket was lost somehow and ended up coming out last (more on this later). The kale salad was bright and citrusy, but lacking a bit of umami for me. Perhaps needing more Parmesan or a touch of sweetness to balance the acidity (my GF loved it however). I thought the mussel pot was good, but could have used more herbs and salt. The San Marzano tomatoes were sweet and acidic, but require salt to bring out their true flavor.

The highs: I first want to point out the service. Our server checked in on us consistently, especially keeping us updated on the oysters. Once they realized they had lost the ticket, the manager comped half of them and the server offered us wine on the house. Mistakes happen, but it’s about how you respond to them. They handled it perfectly. The donuts and truffle fries are worth the price of admission in their own, and I would go back just to sit and the bar and order them. The oyster variety was diverse and the 4 choices of sauce accented the different varieties well.

While not a perfect dining experience, there were things to love and definitely worth going back to. Extra points for the service...

This was my second time at a "Flex Mussels" and my first at this location. I have to say, I'm not sure I'll be back.

Service: Our waiter, Curtis, was the highlight of the meal - he was polite, knowledgeable, and as attentive as he could be. Unfortunately, he was also extremely busy, running from table to table to table - he didn't stop moving for one second. Perhaps this location is understaffed for its size right now or maybe some waitstaff called out - either way, Curtis did as well as he could. The hostess stand, on the other hand, was a little rude. I want to be understanding - it was an extremely busy - but between the time I arrived at the hostess stand and the time I provided my reservation information, the hostess took three phone calls and focused on two other people who rudely forced themselves in front of her. It was certainly busy and difficult to manage but all I wanted to do was check in for my reservation.

Food: Two notes: Portion sizes have definitely decreased and are no longer commensurate with the price (handful of fries for $9? come on now) and the mussels we ordered, with the Thai broth, were extremely - extremely! - salty. I love salt. I sprinkle it in my coffee. I keep packets nearby when I travel, just in case. I also know I was at a seafood restaurant where food comes from the ocean and is therefore salty. This salt level was actually unbearable. It honestly tasted like the broth was sitting on a burner all day and way, way, way over-reduced, concentrating the salt over the full day. The last time I went to Flex Mussels, it seemed that they were much more generous with the broth and that the broth was far less salty.

Look, I really like what Flex Mussels is trying to do and maybe this location is just ironing out some kinks. I'd be willing to give it another shot purely based on Curtis's service, so hopefully they fix some of the food quality issues and portions + hostess...