Forsythia NYC — Restaurant in New York

This is the first review of any kind I have ever written for a restaurant, and unfortunately the reason is extraordinarily negative. The food was not particularly noteworthy in either direction - the short rib agnolotti was cooked well (but the filling too salty); the veal cutlet was a skip (dry and confusing). Sadly, the service was not even worth being labeled disappointing - offensive would be a better description.

At the door, the hostess greeted us politely with a smile and led us to a table - standard. She showed us a wine list and a drink menu and happily spoke a bit about how a wine producer was in the restaurant that night - very cool! However, I am underage and my friend is allergic to alcohol, so understandably we do not order alcohol. Upon letting the hostess know that we would not be ordering any drinks, her mood changed immediately from friendly and enthusiastic to cold and rude. She collected our drink menus and proceeded to derisively explain to my friend "what a prix-fixe menu is" when asked how ordering said prix-fixe menu worked (it is not clear on initial read as the menu itself is a la carte and the prix fixe menu is a side note with no explanation - different from their online sample menu). She was extremely impatient, sarcastic and dismissive, despite being, just moments before, outwardly nice. Every word she spared us was meted out as if spoken with her last breath, and it was clear that we were no longer customers in her eyes.

Not much improvement in service was observed as the night went on - our waiter was short with us from the first interaction, did not check in on us even once more than necessary, and performed required service such as setting our plates much as one typically does unwanted chores. Ordering a mocktail did not provide any respite to this treatment, despite apparent regular polite treatment for every patron around us. At the end of the night, an electronic payment terminal was unceremoniously placed on our table and abandoned. After paying the bill (along with the required 22% service fee!), we waited around 10 minutes to see if there would be further assistance in furnishing a receipt - there was not, and we discovered the print receipt functionality on the terminal ourselves and left. Unfortunately, we had to return shortly to pick up our boxed leftovers, since these were also not returned to us during our 10 minute wait. Perhaps this 10 minute wait would have been tolerable had we not been subjected to similar wait times at every junction throughout the night.

As we left the restaurant (both the first and second time!), neither the hostess nor our waiter provided us a goodbye or pleasantry despite our path through the crowded restaurant taking us right by them. When we returned for our leftovers, we had our first (genuinely) positive interaction with a different server, who quickly located our boxes and waited for our waiter's return to verify that the correct boxes were being given to us. Of course, on our waiter's return he brusquely slung the bag of leftovers into my hand without any comment and departed.

It is not apparent to me that my friend and I deserved this treatment. Previously I had only experienced such unwilling service once, and at least in that instance we were seated at a bar and were treated at worst mildly poorly. It is not apparent to me that ordering an alcoholic beverage should be an expectation (particularly on a weeknight) and that service should cease when such a beverage is not ordered. I have abstained from ordering alcohol at more and less upscale restaurants than this one and not felt outward hostility from anybody. I am disappointed, and will not be returning. If any of my friends are to ask me for restaurant recommendations in New York City, if I have no positive recommendations I will certainly still tell them to steer clear...

Fabulous. I have been dying to eat here since before Forsythia opened, but a confluence of factors kept me from doing so until this weekend. I'm glad to say it did not disappoint. My friend and I walked in on a Saturday night (albeit MDW) and the staff were very helpful and kind. They were able to seat us at the (beautiful) bar in under 30 minutes. Neither of us drinks, but both the wait staff and the bartender treated us just as graciously as other patrons who were drinking which is always appreciated. The bartender was great, very friendly and happy to make light conversation during lulls in the meal but not overbearing at all. Service was extremely prompt and courteous. We started with 2 (complimentary!) slices of their homemade foccacia, served warm with house made ricotta and black pepper butter as well as olive oil. It was so fantastic we ordered a second round for a small charge. For antipasti we chose the famous suppli (creamy and decadent) and broccolini with calabrian chili, cured egg yolk, and aioli (bright and spicy). For our primi we went with their buccatini with tomatoes and guanciale and a garganelli in rabbit ragu with nettle pesto. Both were truly fantastic. The buccatini was light but complex and the garganelli decadent and rich but also bright and herbacious. It's very easy to tell the pasta is hand made on premises as they claim. We went with the earl grey gelato for dessert, which is perfect for lavendar lovers, refreshing and delicate, but perhaps not advisable for someone who doesn't love the tea itself--the flavor is exactly spot on. When we were done, we weren't rushed from the counter. Add on the inclusion of gratuity so as to take that burden off the customer and it was a perfect experience. I will be back,...

Tough review to write. The service was decent and the setting / atmosphere were all fine. However, the most important aspect, the food here, was emphatically unimpressive. I was super excited to eat here based on the positive reviews and my general love of Italian food, especially Roman pastas which are meant to be the focus of this restaurant. The meal actually started off really well with two strong appetizers (the suppli and the polpetta). However, when the main pasta dishes came it was disappointment after disappointment. First, the amatriciana was terribly short on guanciale. It's like you order a clam pasta and there's 3 pieces of clam in it...maybe we were just unlucky, okay. Next, rabbit with broccoli rabe, the dish was very savory (which is great) but severely lacked the acidity and sweetness necessary to balance the bitterness of the greens...too bad. Lastly, the eggplant pasta was perhaps the least disappointing of the three, but still utterly uninspiring and the eggplants were mildly undercooked.

Obviously this restaurant is very pricey for what it offers. If these faults were at a place where a pasta is under $20, perhaps I'd give a 4 star review. However the bill at the end for 5 plates (2 apps + 3 pastas, no drinks) was ~$150 dollars. I will still give 3 stars because of the fair service, environment, and appetizers, but I will definitely not be coming back. There are simply too many great Italian options in NYC to spend this much on...