Odd Sister — Restaurant in New York

I will give this place one more try because there were many great things but also things that need to be improved.

Pros: Cocktails, amazing and decently priced for the neighborhood Chicken sandwich, flavorful and cooked well Side salad and potatoes (served with French omlette) the potatoes were super tasty and the dressing on the salad is zesty, just perfect.

Cons: Matcha lemonade. I'm assuming because it's lemonade, there should be some level of sweetness- even if just a bit. It was beyond tart and bitter, not drinkable. French omlette with caramelized onion- I was so hopeful. You'd be hard pressed to find more than three small onion pieces. The eggs, though cooked well, were completely bland. I asked for hot sauce which I only do when it's flavorless. I was told it was downstairs and that someone went to get it and would be "just a minute". Almost 10 minutes later, after my eggs were cold, I decided just to eat them as to not waste the money. Never got the hot sauce. Service. The server was super sweet, however, totally overworked. She was trying to bus tables, make coffee drinks, serve food, greet people etc. It was not her fault and I certainly didn't reflect it in her tip but the restaurant needs to do better. No one even came to check on our meal. If they had, I would have been able to say I never got the hot sauce.

So, this place gets...

This was fairly mid as far as New American spots go these days. Nothing bad, but nothing great either. Service was generally ok, some notable lapses but otherwise fine, amiable engagement. Decor was standard, unremarkable.

We started with the hummus and it was very bland. Some lemon juice and salt couldn't remedy it. The sushi sticky rice with spicy tuna was ok, but nothing to want to order again. Similarly my avocado and shrimp salad was particularly underwhelming, just the ingredients assembled and uniformly presented but with no thought to flavors and textures coming together to be something more than the sum of their parts. My daughter's Margherita pizza was actually surprisingly good. Maybe they should just be a pizza place.

I had their version of an Old Fashioned cocktail called the Walnut & Oak. What I expected was a dry, well balanced spirit-forwaed cocktail with some tannin and bite. What I got was something that tasted like a slurpee; meaning overly sweet. They tried to remedy it by cutting the syrup, but it was still an amateurish creation.

Only false note dining out this trip unfortunately was Odd Sister, thankfully the only...

Unfortunately, what looked and seemed like a stunning restaurant with great atmosphere, it just didn't hit the mark. To be fair, we were a late walk in, finding ourselves the only patrons at the restaurant. They were kind enough to seat and serve us. We ordered 2 burgers, of which only 1 came. The waitress thought it was only 1.

My friend started eating his burger while I waited for mine to be made. His patty was rare and extremely oily. He sent it back to be cooked a bit more and it came back even more oily. He didn't finish it as he was quite put off at this stage. When my burger finally came, it was also raw and oily.

By posting this review, I don't intend to bad mouth a new restaurant. My 20+ years experience in hospitality and as a chef, I was wondering, where are the owners? At 6 months, are you really leaving your staff to their own demise? Such a stunning place. No atmosphere, cold, but with such potential to be great. As restaurant owners, you should be there, creating what you intended it to be. Keep the place alive. I wish you all the best...