Grand Army — Restaurant in New York

I'm not sure about the negative post here. (Especially the one about the coffee - they don't serve coffee) I used to go to Grand Army back in the early days when they used to give you dropper bottles of handcrafted kinds of vinegar and such for the oysters and it was great. The bad reviews made me a little hesitant to take my guests here, but I try to read into reviews and see where their angle is and I felt that some were people with an ax to grind. I've revisited before covid and it was always spot on. My most recent visit, and first since covid, was last night.

I can say the staff was pleasant and knowledgeable as it has always been. Jessica was great, even taking the time to let me bore her with my stories of the "old days" eating at Grand Army.

The food - always good, is better than it had ever been. The flavor and texture combinations were perfect. The kitchen knows their way around food. The menu changes, so I couldn't pull up the names of the dishes, but ill do it from memory and describe a few. The High Brow seafood tower was very fresh and the oysters were super briny and perfect. The lobster was fire-grilled and topped with an amazing sauce of I can only guess passion fruit(?) The "Bread and Butter" was a hunk of wonderful sourdough and smear of hummus-like spread that you wanted to lick off the dish. I'm a deviled egg fanatic so it's not fair for me to judge, but I loved them topped with trout roe Baguette toast topped with Japanese potato salad was carb and mayo heaven. The smoked trout wasn't what we expected from the description, but we were f a r from disappointed. Smoky, crunchy, salty everything just fell together What I can only describe as a Mussels Pozole - plump just barely cooked mussels (the way they should be) in a slightly piquant broth scented with cilantro with soft hominy and crunchy radish was to die for. The Black (Sea?) Bass was perfect. Skin on made for a beautiful presentation nestled with grilled scallions, salsa verde, cotija polenta, and what I can only describe as crispy shallots(?) The dish was a textbook example of flavors and textures. Simply amazing. I didn't taste the scallops, but my SIL said it was amazing. I'll take her word for it - she is very picky about her scallops. Dessert did not let us down - an apple crisp with ginger and sage ice cream. I'm sure I detected flecks of cardamom(?) Brilliant The Japanese cheesecake was an interesting combination of texture (rice flour made it dense and chewy not in a bad way) and flavor - amoro and fruits.

The handcrafted cocktails were fresh and tasty. All well balanced with flavors and alcohol. Not in your face strong - just perfect. Served in the appropriate glassware for the type of drink

The vibe is young (25 to 35ish) brooklyn hipster. If you prefer to hear Frank or Dean crooning in the background, this place is not for you. Its not a quiet place, its not meant to be.

Are the portions big? No. Is it cheap? No. Please don't go here to eat big and spend little. There's a thing called value and what that means is you get the quality (not quantity) for your money. We hit it pretty hard between drinks, courses, and dishes. It was a respectable $100 per person before tip and tax. It's reasonable for the quality of the food, the level of the cooking, and the portions. ( 1 bt wine, 6 cocktails, 5 apps, a tower, 4 mains, and 4...

No. Tasteless food and an uncomfortable/dishonest moment in regards to payment.

This place is not great. First of all we stopped here for a quick bite.

The crisp wine I drank was so ok. Didn’t command it’s price tag. Also the Black sea bass was awful. It’s came on an alleged bed of polenta that looked like soup. There was literally no flavor to the dish. One of the worst dishes I’ve ever ordered anywhere.

I am also pretty upset regarding how my friend & I were tricked into tipping 50% of the bill. You ask how? On Sunday afternoon the waiter shows up w/the keypad, hid the whole bill & pre populated the tip amount to 22%. but that wasn’t the strange part, he hid the bill because we were tipping off of the full amount/the Seabass versus what we really got. Mind you, if service was good we would’ve paid off the whole bill but it wasn’t some stellar experience.

He tried to pull a fast one so we couldn’t see the full bill. I let it go after I realized what he did and that I had overpaid tip. I simply confronted him and said “That’s not cool to do”. His response “you okayed it”. Wow. Disgusting.

Tipping well has always been a joy for me. This restaurant did not deserve or earn a 50% tip. Let’s alone a 20%, & who presets a keypad to 22%!!

@GrandArmy- You didn’t earn that tip money, you took it. How disgusting to me as a customer that you would steal from my pockets…especially during these times! When customers are supporting your business.

I definitely will not be back. I’ve warned...

DO NOT COME WITH A GROUP. Rudest, most pretentious staff I've ever encountered. I went to meet up with my friend for his birthday along with 10-12 other people and we were relegated to a corner in an otherwise mostly empty bar. I went up to order a whiskey/soda ($13?) and was looked at like I had two heads and then not allowed to open a tab. When I asked why, the bartender mumbled something about us not having a server (?). Our group was repeatedly told to not move from the corner spot, which was close to the entrance, even though there was plenty of space in the rest of the bar. They asked us how many people we were expecting (?) and then said they couldn't accommodate any more of us because they were at capacity (?). When two friends showed up late they wouldn't let them in, keeping them outside to demonstrate some kind authority(?). Again, the bar was more than half empty. They didn't give any clear excuse other than we were crowding the entrance, which we were not—we were just a group of people in our late 30s standing around talking and ordering overpriced drinks at a ducking bar—and embarrassed my friend in front of his friends on his birthday. It's clear they just wanted us to leave without saying so directly—the vibe was that we didn't fit the kind of uptight, bougie clientele they wanted in the place. Probably no coincidence that we were also a crowd of mixed POC and they were mostly (all?) stuck up, humorless, White front of house staff. Worst bar experience in 12 years of...