Mayfield — Restaurant in New York

Ok! I totally doubted the menu of this restaurant, because of the lack of diversity in entrees, appetizers. I don't eat meat and this place serves a plethora of red meat and pork dishes. ALERT! This is not a place for Vegans! Ok now back to the topic at hand. OMG😍😍😍😋😋😋😋😋😋 The food...is.... DELICIOUS NOM NOM YUMMY🙌🙌🙌👌 I ended up ordering fish and chips. What I thought was going to be a boring standard fish and chip dish was the exact OPPOSITE! The cod was well seasoned, the batter soft and crispy, the fries were the perfect fried texture and taste. My tartar sauce had remnants of citrus and well balanced acidity with cool creamy. My boyfriend had the fried quail with collard greens and a butter milk biscuit. FIRST OF ALL! The biscuit 👍🙏😋😋😋 HEAVENLY and the honey rose dipping sauce OH Lawd! 👌😍😂😂😂 It literally melted in my mouth. It was so soft, buttery, and the contrast of salty and sweet had my taste buds cheering and doing back flips. So all in all! This place is well worth it for the high quality of food. We were a very large party of 17 ppl and this place was the only place between our options to seat us. Now the wood decor along the bar and high beams is nice. I don't care for the uneven slated wood floors, you must be careful if you're wearing heels. I loved the exposed brick walls and the subway tiled walls with crown lighting. The space utilizes various textures and pairs them well from raw, original detailed brick, to chic and smooth walls. I one hiccup, the bigger bathroom is well maintained and nicely designed. The smaller bathroom shares a pipe that is less impressive and very leaky, it also retains the smell of urine😬😥 No Bueno! But the kitchen is open and you can look in to see that you're food is being prepared safely. I love open kitchens in restaurant. I want to see what the kitchen staff is doing. The bar is huge and open as well. Our waitress did a MAGNIFICENT job👌👏👏👏👏 she managed our unique needs perfectly. The birthday girl is the one with the gold dress and long locks. So happy to have celebrated her with...

We came into Mayfield for dinner without a reservation. I felt lucky we were able to get a table outside on such short notice, but my joy quickly stopped there.

We ordered a mezcal drink, snow pea salad, fried oysters, and fish and chips.

The mezcal drink was decent.

As a whole, I could tell there was thought behind the food. Unfortunately, in my opinion the flavors just weren’t there and the execution fell flat.

The snow pea salad was covered in some kind of creamy and umami filled dressing. The individual components were good but I think the salad would have been better with a different flavor profile, perhaps something more refreshing and light. As a result of the dressing the salad just didn’t taste that good, even though the ingredients were fresh.

The fried oysters sat on top of a sizable bed of smoked salmon and celeriac salad. Individually the fried oysters and smoked were good but the celeriac salad felt out of place. This dish felt like it would have been better with its individual components separated instead of together.

Lastly the fish and chips was a disappointment. The batter itself was fried well but the fish was overcooked. The batter was crisp on the outside but slightly chewy on the inside. This would have been great had the batter had some actual flavor in it. The fish itself was overcooked and somehow lacking in flavor. The fries were decent but I expect the fries to be at least this good from a restaurant of this price point and caliber.

Overall I could tell there was intention behind the food but felt the execution fell flat. Many of the dishes had great notes of flavor but just didn’t appeal to my palate. It was a shame because you could really tell the chefs were trying to do something great with each plate. It’s like trying to cheer for your favorite sports team that in your heart you know can do well, but lose time after time again.

Unfortunately I don’t think I can recommend anyone come here. If I find myself back here I would be willing to try their other dishes for an attempt...

This place used to be so much better. The pork chop was one of the best plates on the menu. Now it's half the size, dry, and served on a bed of flavorless chickpeas. They used to have au gratin, but now that's missing, which is a shame because it was a Mayfield classic. Service is mediocre now as well, and there's close to zero effort from staff to get things right. Recently, I showed up for a 9 o'clock reservation, but wasn't seated until close to 30 minutes later, for "a reservation". This was despite multiple tables being available too, and no, it wasn't a limited capacity thing. Hosts were stubborn to only want to seat us at one particular table, perhaps to make sure a server got their rotation. I'm not sure, but it was very bad form. Once sat, it took over an hour for our food to arrive, at which point our server was already informing us that the kitchen was closing and we had to hurry if we wanted anything else. We showed up promptly at 9 mind you, and for context, there were only 4 other tables occupied in the restaurant at the time we ordered our food. Bottom line is this kitchen is very slow now. I've been here dozens of times, and this place used to be packed, overflowing even, yet the kitchen could always get a great meal out in under 30. Now it takes over an hour, and the meal is sloppy and overcooked. What's more, sitting near the kitchen, it became obvious to us that take-out orders take priority over actual customers inside the restaurant. That's all any staffer cared about - was getting take out orders ready and super-serving delivery drivers at the door. This place just isn't the same anymore. The menu has changed a bit, service is not what it used to be, and the food is too hit or miss now. I would go elsewhere in the neighborhood. Two recommendations where the restaurants are consistent are Chavelas (food comes out in less than 10/15 and is always delicious), and La Napa (a hidden treasure in the neighborhood). Pass on...