Nai — Restaurant in New York

Nai was my absolute favorite restaurant in New York. I was very excited to take my girlfriend there for a special dinner. However, after my last experience and after attempting to call and email the restaurant to kindly inform them of our experience, I will not be eating there anymore.

After looking through the wine menu, my date and I had a couple questions and our waitress guided us toward selecting what sounded like two good options for each of us. She retrieved the respective bottles and allowed us to taste each one before filling up the full glass. When we tasted and did not like the wine, she informed us that we could not switch to another wine, even though we didn’t order a full bottle. She proceeded to fill up the glasses with what we had originally selected - however, in doing so, she filled my glass (which was still partially filled with the sample wine), with my date’s wine; thus mixing the two wines together. After I pointed this out, she did not make an effort to get me a new glass.

When we were ordering food, we pointed out that we had concerns about dairy and meat, as my date is very allergic to both if she ingests them. The waitress assured us that the items we had inquired about were free of dairy and meat, and proceeded to take the rest of our order. When she brought out the first dish of artichoke, I realized the entire dish was cooked with goat cheese - when I pointed this out, she lightly apologized and brought a chickpea dish replacement for my date.

Later, I realized as I was eating my favorite - the seafood pasta/paella-like dish - that the dish had been made with chorizo, even though I had requested it be cooked without. I have been pescatarian for 11 years. We had already eaten half of the dish when I realized this, and my date had started to have a slight allergic reaction after one bite. When I brought this up, the waitress assured me it was just clumps of noodles, not meat. After she walked away, I proceeded to taste the clumped piece to assure my date, but what I tasted was most definitely sausage.

At the end of the meal, we ended up leaving partly hungry, as by the end it was hard to trust that anything that was prepared was edible for us. As someone that works in the service industry, and is a business owner, I wanted the manager to be informed of this waitress for training opportunities, but after repeatedly making efforts to reach out about our experience, we never received a...

Updated review in 2023: Leaving a new review to build on the one that I left ~3 years ago.

Although Nai has shifted locations across the street, it continues to be one of the best restaurants in NYC.

Ambience: Nai's new location is very interesting, decorated in a slightly more modern/chic way than their previous location. We sat right near the street side and it was a wonderful experience.

Food: Not only have I never had a bad experience with Nai, I've never had a bad dish from them. They're frequently adding new and interesting tapas and drinks to the menu that I'm excited to try. Each dish is wonderfully prepared, seasoned, and presented. Although some are on the simpler side (the shrimp, for instance, is basically prepared in a mixture of butter, lemon, and paprika), it's done very well.

Service: Our server, Annie, was attentive and kind. She helped make our anniversary dinner special, always making herself available whenever we needed something but not being overbearing in any way. In addition, the restaurant comped some glasses of dessert wine which came alongside our cheesecake dessert.

Nai continues to impress and I'll continue to be a loyal patron in the future.

Review from 2020: Nai Tapas is far and away one of the best restaurants in New York. From the moment that my wife and I walked in to the moment we walked out, it was clear how much care and detail went into every inch of this place. All of the staff are incredibly friendly and happy to accommodate any patron.

The ambiance of the place is phenomenal, with every vase, every flower, every chair chosen with acute attention to detail. Additionally, every Thursday and Saturday you have the opportunity to see an excellent live flamenco show.

It has all of this going for it without even mentioning the food which is phenomenal. All of the dishes are created by chef Ruben Rodriguez, a man wholly deserving of a Michelin star or two. The tapas are small but, if you listen to the staff on how much you should order for your party, you will walk away feeling very satisfied. I will be recommending this place to every...

In my honest opinion, tapas are made for girls. That's why we've decided to venture here during our girls night out. It wasn't a spectacular experience but it was suitable for a catharsis. In terms of the food and drinks, here's what I had to say...

Blueberry Pomegranate Sangria - First pitcher was not potent. Second pitcher hit the spot

Churrasco Arriero (skirt steak sauteed with garlic and spicy cherry peppers) - Best dish but TOO well done, which made it chewy

Lomo Adobado Con Pimientos Asados (seasoned pork loin with fresh roasted red peppers) - Definitely tender but lack of flavors. More gravy would be awesome

Patatas Bravas (spicy potatoes gently coated with spicy house tomato sauce) - Perfectly seasoned with a mild kick. Sweetly done

Patatas Alioli potatoes basted in a creamy garlic alioli sauce - Ultimately creamy but no garlic flavor. Tasted like plain mayo

Mejillones Rias Baixas (galician style mussels in garlic, virgin olive oil and white wine) - Bland. Sand. Flat

Pulpo A La Gallega (spanish octopus in virgin olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt and sweet paprika) - Nicely spiced but overcooked. A little texture would be great

Esparragos Navarros (imported white asparagus with a minced onion and pepper vinaigrette) - Fancy but the sogginess killed the asparagus' taste

With all the mentioned above, we still had room for dessert (which was what we were hoping for). This place is a little hard to find because we got misguided by the confusing Yelp (Google) map. However, the friendliness of the staff made up for it all. Will try to come back on a Thursday night to catch the live flamenco dance...