Ricardo Steakhouse — Restaurant in New York

Hmmmmm🧐🤔 Where to begin? So much to be said about this place… For starters-the bouncers! Super sexy, muscular dudes and very friendly. They definitely add a safety vibe to the place. First time patroning a restaurant with bouncers. Should have given me a clue about what I was walking into. Sooo, I was here to meet up with my girls. Having the semi annual girls night. We were booked for a party of 12. Ofcourse, there were the usual stragglers despite tricking them into getting there a whole half hour earlier. Ricardo’s had us booked for 5:30 but since the majority didn’t get in until 6ish, we were set up at a make shift spot. My guess is that they over book in the event, one party pulls out they don’t lose the money. No problem with that. All about clocking dollars. Unfortunately, the space was tight and not convenient for all parties to converse. Not ideal but not a deal breaker. As the night wore on, shit started getting “real interesting.” For one, as you enter, you have to make your way through a sea of dudes. I mean full on body contact. It was the exact same thing exiting too. In fact, I had to wait a few minutes for people to make their way out of the door. Once we were seated, it was on and popping. Where do I start. The floors-were straight up ICKY STICKY!!! I could hear and feel my shoes pulling with each step from whatever had spilled and semi-dried. The menu, felt as if it were literally taken from a table from patrons who had just ordered right before I received it. Had to wipe the greasy film off of it. Again, another red flag BUT I’m not one to abandon ship before I get the full experience. I like that there was a nearby door, however, I noticed it wasn’t labeled “exit.” Always looking for an escape plan in the event something pops off. Besides, where I was seated was too far to make it to the front entrance. I knew what I wanted before I even got there. We selected from the pre-fixed menu. I chose the skirt steak and and potatoes. I order a watermelon cocktail-a pinky something. Here’s when it went all the way left for me. For one, the waiter brought the plates and each person had to pass the plates to each other. The steak tasted as if it was drowned in garlic powder. I LOVE garlic but this was over powering and I am not a picky eater AT ALL. The potatoes tasted as if they were over microwaved but semi edible. How can you screw up a salad? The salad was submerged in vinegar with a hint of olive oil. The drinks though…🤦🏾‍♀️🤦🏾‍♀️🤦🏾‍♀️ The waitress sits all of the drinks down on one end of the table, and proceeds to leave. Immediately, my sister stops her and asks her, which is which. She makes an effort to tell us as she picks two or three of them up, looks at them and takes a few guesses. Must have gotten overwhelming for her because she eventually gave up, walked away, hands in the air, mumbling, “I don’t know.” And guess what, we had to pass the drinks down to each other AGAIN!!!” To add insult to injury, one of my sisters does not even drink, two of them ordered the same drink but one was virgin and the other was not. Thank goodness the one who ordered the virgin wasn’t on the wagon. We, the patrons had to figure it out!!! Where they do that at?! The drinks were straight up, DISAPPOINTING!!! And that says a lot coming from a straight no chaser tequila drinker. There was all bottom shelf liquor, it wasn’t even the liquor that was advertised either. Tasted like a mush mosh of alcohol, a few ounces of juice and a few pieces of ice. I have no problem paying good money for a quality drink. I paid $18 for trash. At that point I was just done. The one saving grace was the music. Whoever was handling that-was on point. I do like that where I was sitting it was a diverse crowd. Asian, Caucasian, a woman and her family celebrating her 80th birthday and a few gay couples. I highly recommend this place to anyone in their 20s, 30s or 40s or if you’re looking to hook up. If you prefer a more quiet intamate spot, this is not the...

My friends took me to Ricardo’s for my birthday. It was a Friday night and our reservations were for 8:30PM. We found street parking nearby without an issue. Walking up the outdoor seating and entrance was extremely busy. That’s a good sign to me. It was little overwhelming because it is a small place so we were basically packed like sardines. Our table wasn’t ready when we got there so having a reservation on a busy night, might get you ahead of the walk ins but you still might have to wait. We were seating in the back area which had greenery and an outdoors feels. The music was really loud. We definitely had to talk louder than normal to have a conversation. The music was a little repetitive. They played a lot of hip and r&b which was good but some songs were played over and over again. We received the delicious garlic bread and marinara dipping sauce shortly after being seated. Then we ordered the chicken satay, crab cake and fried calamari for appetizers. The chicken satay needs to be cooked with the sauce. It’s like they cooked chicken on a stick and poured Thai chili sauce on it. I wouldn’t get that again. The crab cake was my favorite and the calamari was standard. Our entrees were the lobster ravioli, surf and turk steak and shrimp, and the tour dish that had steak, pork chop, and chicken. All of our dishes were delicious. The meat was cooked perfectly, seasoned well, and fresh. We didn’t wait long at all. I’m actually surprised they didn’t have a mac n cheese option as a side. I think that would be good to have. I didn’t care for the garlic spinach. It lacked flavor. The mashed potatoes were nice and seasoned, but presentation could be better. We ordered amoretto sour and my friend ordered a blue drink with alcohol (can’t remember the name.) The amarettos were made really well and had just liquor to flavor ratio. The blue drink had way to much liquor and my friend didn’t want to drink too much because she was the driver. I know some other people wouldn’t mind, so not much of a con. They sang happy birthday and brought out a complimentary dessert in a Martini glass with a huge sparkler and played a birthday song. That was really nice. The dessert in the glass had strawberries, vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and a delicious brownie at the bottom. Our service was great. They definitely work like a well oiled machine. They could improve on the reservation and waiting system. The pricing was fair, because the portions are really big. As the night calmed down and people were leaving more than coming in, it was way more calm than when we first got there. I would absolutely go back and try another dish...

I am voice texting, so I hope this comes out the way I I intended to intended it to b GREAT. DINING EXPERIENCE!!! No, I'm not giving such a strong review because I work here nor because I know the owner, etc.

I'm giving a review like this because I felt welcomed by The nice beautiful young ladies and men at the door, managing the reservations, the questions, the valet parking in general, etc.

And for the lilies of the valley, who are not accustomed to dining in this particular area of Manhattan, please come with respect of no surprises. Meaning don't be surprised that you treat it so great or this or that. It just has underlying insult in it

These young men and ladies and the owner were just great to me. I swear every patron pretty much was well dressed and looked 1 million bucks all around

And then last, the food! The ribeye I had I'm gonna say was the best I've had in years. That is not an exaggeration. The potatoes that came with it excuse me if I do not know the exact name from I'm just a kid from Queens. They were extraordinary when things taste good I think that's great but when things are "tasty" for me that's a different level.

It was all mouthwatering and I could do it again in a second

Last but not least..... DESSERT!!! And I ordered my favorite FLAN"!!! And once again, I'm gonna say this was the best FLAN I've had that I can recall at least

In addition with the surfer, you get a heaping tablespoon or two of pure creamy caramel As well whipped cream. And of course, berries, etc..

All around just a tasty mouthwatering fulfilling meal that I'm gonna do again very soon!!!

Oh, and one more thing. To my boy from Sunnyside who I met and who went to the same high school as me lol about 10 to 12 years apart. Thanks for the conversation. You're a good man. Hope to see you again soon.

With some restaurants and people do not understand is that it's the little things that go into the atmosphere oven establishment where you are feeding people and or entertaining people and another type of Venu

So with all this said, it was a great time. Great people. And really everyone was super nice.

And I'm gonna be very honest with you when I go to places below 96th St. the chance that I will have a experience such as this is Almost 0

Admittedly, this experience, no matter where is very rare but still what I'm saying is the emotional intelligence/experience you do not find I will...