Studio Cafe — Restaurant in New York

Though we are New Yorkers, this was our first visit to The Whitney Museum. After touring, we had a lovely lunch at 'Untitled', the onsite restaurant on the first floor of the museum. Normally we'd never eat at a museum restaurant (except the Isabella Gardiner in Boston, which at least years ago, was special), but this looked good on line and it did not disappoint. My husband and I were immediately greeted and seated on this Wednesday at around 1pm. Our friendly servers, Isabella and Oliver, made it very comfortable to enjoy looking through the menu, with no rush whatsoever. Isabella offered to explain anything on the menu we did not understand. I ordered the Romaine Wedge with Surryano ham, crumbled bleu cheese, sungold tomatoes and pumpkin seeds mole ($16USD). The mole was a particularly tasty sauce, lightly but effectively administered. I also had a glass of Muscadet, recommended by Oliver when I asked him to tell me which wine by the glass was closest to a pinot grigio. This was a perfect suggestion and introduced me to a wine I've never had. (I'm only an occasional wine drinker.) My husband had the Grilled Shrimp Lettuce Wraps ($19USD), with avocado, sunflower seeds and kohlrabi slaw. Accompanied with a glass of Pinot Noir. He enjoyed his entrée and wine thoroughly. We had ordered sparkling water, and it was refilled several times throughout our meal without us asking. The coffee ($5.00USD), was truly delicious. My husband topped it all off with a blueberry creampuff, with a chunky blueberry sauce reduction surrounding the tiny puff. He was pretty much speechless as he savored each bite! This is a non-tipping restaurant--the tip is included in the price of your meal. We tried to tip anyway, and it was respectfully refused by Oliver. He explained that the concept is a "revenue sharing" one, whereas as 'Untitled' generates income, those working there share in those profits. Mmmmm, a new concept to us. We assume it makes every single person employed a real team player, all working for the true benefit of the customer and therefore the restaurant.

Overall, a very good experience. The meals are small--if you have large appetites, this will not satisfy you, but very well prepared and presented.

A special thanks to Oliver, who is friendly, helpful and an asset to any restaurant or other business lucky enough...

Visited the Whitney Museum last week and after spending 2 hours touring the galleries, decided to have lunch on the main floor at Untitled. Waited 45 minutes in the lobby for a table. Had to check back with the host a couple of times since we never received the promised text for our table. We were seated outside, in front of the restaurant, not in the dining room, with no explanation or offer to sit inside or out. The menu is edited down to 3 or four ingredients, only, with no mention of the preparation of the dish. I order the Sea scallops, tomatoes, watermelon gazpacho at $15.00, iced tea, and the Artichoke fettuccine dishes at $24.00. Nothing was outstanding and the portions were very small. To my surprise, the gazpacho arrived in a mostly empty bowl, with a swath of tomato / fruit puree that barely covered the bottom of the bowl, along with 5 of the very thinest slices peach and 3 thin slices of scallop. Basically , one scallop sliced into 3 cross section pieces. On top of that, the scallop was raw/uncooked, which was not listed in the menu or explained by the waiter, when I ordered. I was not happy with having raw seafood served in my soup.

I found the staff to be pre-occupied and too busy to focus on us, from the time we were seated, as we ordered our food, or for the rest of our meal. We ran out of beverages, no one checked back to see if our meals were acceptable, the waiter never returned until we asked someone else for our check/tab.

Such a pity, when the venue and opportunity to provide a relaxing, enjoyable meal, in a terrific setting, is ruined by employees who are too busy to take care of the customers and the owners cannot provide a suitable menu to describe the dishes being served. The lack of attention to details and the inability to communicate or accommodate the customer is lacking in service here. Very...

This has been on my list of restaurants to try for over 6 months now . As I was celebrating my birthday with friends, I thought this an apt occasion to indulge.

Untitled was... so many things. Its easier to talk about what it wasn't. Untitled was not pretentious. Untitled was not bankrupting. Untitled was not boring.

The menu changes very often, so I couldn't recommend you a dish in specific. I had the charred cauliflower with pumpkin seeds, sumac, and mint. It was delicious, fresh, healthy, and interesting. I couldn't place the sauce they used , but it tasted of mint and cucumber and yogurt. With a bit of spice (jalapeno?). I would recommend it.

Of course this was expensive, along with drinks and dessert. Keep in mind I was celebrating. I did not mind paying for this once ( I would go here again in a heartbeat, but only if my wallet magically doubled in size). Total was around 40 dollars per person. But the vibe, the food, the movement, and the Whitney made it more than worth it.

The olive oil cake was great at the end. One of my favorite restaurants I've been to.

**edit: I've since went here again, and with a pretty girl this time. Quaint! I think I'll see her again.

*edit: This has become one of my favorite date spots and the service completely exceeds my expectations. Now a non-tipping restaurant, which I love to see. The food is a bit more expensive to help compensate the employees...