Patsy’s Pizzeria 55 Water Street — Restaurant in New York

I stumbled across Sky 55 last year when I was exploring the adjacent Elevated Acre at lunch one day. It was conveniently located near my office (though pretty subtle and tucked away - unless you're really paying attention to nearby temporary signage on the sidewalk, it's easy to miss), but I remember I hesitated to add it to my list of places to try for one reason and one reason only - overpriced drinks. When I returned to the office, multiple co-workers told me they'd been there and that was their overwhelming impression as well. No one seemed too enthused about returning, so I didn't go out of my way to try it myself. Last Friday though, a review of the seasonal lunch menu and a gloomy weather forecast made me reconsider and wander over to finally give this a shot.

I don't mean this as an insult, but after seeing the interior of this place I wasn't surprised that their official website is manned by a hospitality group - this bar/restaurant could easily be housed in any Marriott just off the lobby. It definitely caters more to the higher-end business set with a lot of dark tables, furnishings, etc. I came by on a solo outing and was almost immediately brought over to one of the high tops in the bar area. Solid location and easy to catch the waitress' eye if needed.

The highlight here unquestionably was the food. I'd had a hankering all day for pasta and went for the Cacio e Pepe (my intention was to get the Spaghetti Carbonara featured on their website, but it looks to be a little out of date - this was pretty close to that though) lunch entrée, which was about $15. Reasonable for the item and portion, and the food came out insanely quickly, probably less than five minutes after ordering. I mention this in literally every review when I dine alone for lunch in the Financial District, but the level of service you get in terms of wait time on the food is always excellent. I have yet to have a mediocre experience in that regard. And the pasta was very tasty. I'm not an expert on this dish, but I imagine that it's easy to go too heavy on the pepper, which didn't happen here. I thought it was perfectly seasoned and hit the spot.

Sky 55's downfall predictably came with the alcohol. I already mentioned the higher prices for these cocktails even compared to others in the neighborhood, but they also MASSIVELY hit you up on the booze. When I sat down, the waitress asked me, "What kind of beer do you want?" She didn't ask broadly speaking what I wanted to drink, she went directly to the alcohol. It's largely marketed as a bar, I get it, but come on. Unnecessary. After a quick look at the menu I decided to get the Blackberry Bourbon Bramble ($19!). Honestly? Not that great; it was very watered down, which makes complete sense given that the glass it came in was FULL of ice. I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that the cocktail itself was probably four or five ounces total when you removed the ice, if not less. And to further demonstrate how jampacked it was with ice, my last few sips of the drink involved me awkwardly having to lift the glass pretty high in the area because the little that was left in there was trapped under the mounds of ice. Coupled with the price, this was insulting.

If I ever came back here, I'd stick with water on principle and focus solely on the food offerings. You have plenty of other boozy options in the neighborhood; I'd stop by any one of those before coming back here...

This place was a nice little surprise. Went with family after taking the ferry and couldn't find the original destination because that 55 Water street was in Brooklyn. We chose Sky55 for the al fresco dining near the water and weren't sorry. The menu has an array of items so everyone found something they enjoyed with no problem. I think I ordered one of the most interesting things on the lunch menu, which was a turkey burger done with greek fixings like tzatziki sauce, tapenade and feta cheese. It was on an English muffin, which added the perfect crunch. Had it with the house green salad and a jalapeno vinagrette. Skip the house made chips because they have to go to a different part of the building to pick them up instead of the kitchen that is in the restaurant. In all, if you're in the area and it's a beautiful day, sky's the limit here. Other dishes ordered: lobster roll, Cobb salad, shrimp scampi pasta....

Deceitful operations alert. Last week, I ordered a happy hour drink during their happy hour and got billed the full price for the drink. I brought it up to the bartender's attention, who admitted the mistake and took the check back to the manager. After this, the bartender just avoided me. I got the attention of another bartender and explained to her what had happened and that I just wanted to make sure my bill was settled. She spoke briefly with the guy who billed me first, and then proceeded to bill me for the same drink, happy hour price this time. I'm looking though my credit card statements to find that they charged me twice for the same drink. The first bill was never voided. A few colleagues, who were with me that day at Sky 55, shared similar experiences with their...