The Clocktower — Restaurant in New York

2/14/20 our valentine day is a special thing for us. I surprise my lady to this restaurant since she been wanting to come here. When we first came in to the restaurant the vibe was nice and really fancy. However, they change the menu on the day of valentine day without letting us know ahead of time in their website. It was $136 per person for 6 courses. The first course was 2 oysters. The 2nd was fish which my girlfriend was not a fan of it. We told the waitress if we can Substitute but she said “ are you allergic”? My girlfriend said “no” but she does not eat fish at all. Then the waitress just ignored it. The 3rd course it did come until 45 mins like literally 45 mins. In addition to that it was really cold inside and our legs were numbing from it. There was a draft of cold coming in behind us. My girlfriend was wearing dress so she was extra cold. The person who sat next to us who was pregnant complain how cold it was to the waitress then she said “aww you’re cold” what’s? Like for a fancy place like that you don’t have heat? Then 4th course came to our table which was very tiny and they added some extra flame to make it look fancy but when you eat it, it taste like gas and alcohol nail polish remover. Then we waited for another 20 mins For the other food to come. It was ice cream and something else very satisfying. Then after that a tall guy with a suit I think he was the manager give us a check but we realized they only give us 5th course. Not 6th. A lot of waiter and waitress was running around looking so busy but forget to attend to there customer. Then we complain how they didn’t give us our 6th course. Waitress apology but not very polite and the waiter came with the food with attitude and slam the plate in the table.

Overall: for a fancy and very expensive place like this it is not worth of coming specially the customer service really suck. The food take way to long to come. We were cold because we sat next to the big window no one took care of it. They forgot our 6th course like how? I thought the people were way to professional? We thought wrong. We were having a good time because we have each other but the experience itself being there it’s a mission because we got tired of sitting and waiting. We were there for almost 3 hours. Deeply in our feeling we wanted to leave but we didn’t wanna ruin our night. The totally was $$$$. Definitely not recommend and I will be sharing this to my audience as well.

Instagram...

This place is ok in terms of decor and location. The food is average and the service leaves room for improvement.

We had a reservation for 7:30PM and we arrived promptly. We were not seated until 7:45PM.

The restaurant itself is pretty small, one room for the dining tables and another room for the bar, plus a small room with a pool table.

They are having restaurant week but did not give us the restaurant week menu so I had to ask for it.

I'm a vegetarian and the vegetarian options are limited in entrees down to a pasta dish or a risotto dish featured for restaurant week.

I didn't see any vegan options.

The cocktail menu is small but I ordered a Ritual. It was good.

I opted not to do the restaurant week menu because I didn't want risotto. I had the agnolotti from the regular menu which was pretty good.

The other members in my party were lukewarm on the food. Two members ordered steak cooked different ways but when their steaks come out, they were cooked pretty much the same.

They give you free bread to start and that was actually very good with salt butter. If you wanted more, there was a $5 up charge.

We each had dessert. I had a salted caramel custard bar, everyone else had the restaurant week desserts including the ice cream and the panna cotta. I think we all enjoyed the dessert but it was not anything groundbreaking.

They have an abundance of waitstaff and they cleared plates pretty quickly, even before we were done with them for the bread. We had to ask the server to bring us new plates for the second bread course.

There are two bathrooms located in the restaurant. The space is accessible by elevator. You have to enter on the 24th Street side and use the elevator bank to go to the restaurant.

The door staff on the ground floor of the hotel were very nice. The hotel bar in the lobby seems nice too.

The food is not cheap but the value and quality is just not there. You can have better food for the same price in other restaurants in midtown.

Each course took a while to come out too. We were there over two hours with most of it spent waiting on food.

Overall a pretty average experience. I don't think I'd come back for dinner, but I'd consider coming to the bar for a drink. The bar area doesn't have many seats other than a few at...

Yet another big enigma of how Michelin Guide operates in NYC, and what criteria are being used. Now, we may have thought - as an excuse for the Clocktower - that the restaurant's dinner is what makes it special, and our brunch and breakfast are not representative of the establishment as a whole, but we have tried - on two separate occasions - eight different dishes, so our assessment is accurate. If it is not, and the restaurant's dinner is so much superior to their brunch and breakfast, then the latter meals shouldn't be served not to ruin the alleged reputation of the Clocktower. Nothing specifically wrong about the Clocktower, but nothing is equally great about it. Out of eight dishes we got to sample, only the Chilled Maine Lobster (an appetizer offered for $32) was qualified to be very good, a true specimen of what haute cuisine should be like. The other appetizer (Crab on Toast, offered for $26) was decent but nothing more than that. Everything else was very very average, with no twist, no daring, no fantasy, and apparently not so much of an effort. The brunch main course, Skirt steak and Chips ($39) was on par with what other 90% of NYC (and not only) restaurants offer, and for much lesser price at that. The Roasted Mushroom, Goat Cheese and Spinach Omelette was mediocre, with no discernable mushrooms, goat cheese nor spinach. Our brunch desserts, both the Custard and Almond Tart and Zucchini Tart were not bad, but could have easily come from a Pret-A-Manger around the corner. And, as noted by other reviewers, the place is more than overpriced. A glass of 2011 CHÂTEAU LA TOUR DE MONS that retails at $22 for a bottle was offered at $25 a glass. The service was good, but, again, nothing memorable. The interior features interesting enfilade, a suite of succeeding dining rooms that slightly differ in design, but the decor is very reminiscent of a chan restaurant, or - we will give it to the Clocktower - a chain steakhouse, with the same generic photographs of bygone New York. Three stars are given for the restaurant's Chilled Maine Lobster. Otherwise it would have honestly...