The Modern — Restaurant in New York

To provide some context, I chose The Modern to celebrate a special occasion. The Modern currently has 2 stars, and despite it being in Midtown/a NYC "classic" (which usually means that the place is resting on their laurels, kind of like Le Bernardin), I decided to give it a shot. My mistake going against my best judgement.

-- Hospitality/Service:

Hosts were great and I felt welcomed into the space. The coatcheck 'card' has really sharp edges. (Again, 2 stars -- it's the small things.)

Obviously the staff are trained exceptionally well, but I think this is a given (given the price point - which came to a little over $800 for 2 people, 2 drinks each). Napkins always promptly folded after leaving for the restroom, they let the guest walk first to avoid weird traffic, genuine conversation from our main server (none of which who introduced their name --- maybe this is on purpose to allow for flexibility? I'm not sure). He was probably the highlight of our experience, so I do thank him for providing some light chitchat about Monopoly boardgames. He was a great listener and clearly has been in hospitality for a while. He gave a complimentary splash of dessert reisling, courtesy of my friend who works for the hospitality group.

Unfortunately, we were asked about food allergies a total of 4 times, which indicates a lack of communication somewhere. I don't mind repeating myself, but it does get repetitive after the second. (This reminded me of the time I was at le B and was asked for my drink order 3x). Again, it's a 2 star spot -- I'd hope for better comms.

I think the most painful part of the evening was being handed a plastic POS system. This is just.... egregious. To me, this just takes me out of any kind of attempted enchantment and reminds me that I'm here for a transaction. I would think that for $810, a nice checkbook with a decent pen is in order so that I don't feel rushed out, but instead, I have someone hovering over me while I press 20% tip on a card reader.... again, I understand that some systems are put in place for "efficiency", but people don't come to fine dining restaurants and celebrate special occasions to be efficient.

-- Food/Service:

Everything was plated beautifully. Big ups on the cucumber pastry dish, the tomato dish, the crispy seabass, the the mango dessert. It felt like the dishes that were excellent were the seasonal ones ( maybe extra attention was given to these dishes, and the staples were neglected because they've been repeated so many times? I dunno.)

Pacing was really odd. The first plate came out way before our first drink did, and there was a solid 20 minute wait between the first place and the second.

Unfortunately, there were too many errors across other dishes and it felt like we were playing quality roulette.

My partner's lobster smelled like chlorine and was severely undercooked, so we sent it back for a new one for food safety reasons. The burrata pasta was extra SALTY both rounds. My lobster was cooked well, and the cook on the pasta itself was perfect. Truffles were gifted to my partner, though he didn't ask for it, and I do think that asking first would have been smarter than just shaving them on without asking for consent lol.

My squab was raw, so I just left it. To be clear, I'm not squeamish about eating rare cuts, but it was literally glistening red and squishy in texture. I didn't feel like sending it back again, because it was the last dish (and I was kind of exhausted from the ups and downs).

The fried egg cream was SALTY. The caviar was salty. All in all, just very, very heavy and salty. The bread was covered in too much fat.

Palette cleanser felt like an afterthought.

The inside of the sourdough was cold and the outside was warm. The butter was incredible.

I hope this gets read. A shame for tourists to want to experience NYC's "finest" and have it be less than 2 star worthy. It also is upsetting to other 1 star places who do have flawless execution and won't get the...

The Modern is hands down one of the best dining experiences I've ever had. Everything was flawless from A-Z and it has honestly become one of the most special memories in my lifetime now.

My boyfriend and I came here to celebrate our 2-year anniversary during lunch time and we decided on the Prix Fixe (150 per person) option, which comes with 4 courses. For the first course, they bless you with a dish called the "eggs on eggs on eggs", which is a nicely presented dish with a poached egg yolk with egg custard, caviar, and a perfectly toasted brioche garnished with pickled onion and dill. It was an AMAZING start to the meal and they give you additional brioche to ensure that you appropriately scoop as much of the dish as you can.

For the second and third course, we got the hiramasa with yuzu, radish and frozen olive oil and the scallop with celeriac ravioli, aged parmesan and spinach, as well as the grilled lobster, romaine lettuce and spicy chorizo and the venison glazed in cognac with turnips and black truffle. Everything was wonderful, but we especially loved the hiramasa and the venison dishes. The hiramasa and yuzu concoction is extremely refreshing and the venison is the best I've ever had / basically melted in your mouth. I would highly recommend picking these two together.

Lastly, for the fourth/dessert course, we chose the chocolate tart with buckwheat and milk ice cream and the lemon frozen yogurt with black sesame. We were both in awe, and for me, I was especially in awe at the lemon frozen yogurt dessert dish. It was so aesthetically beautiful and I loved the crunchy texture that was added. It felt like a deconstructed lemon bar, but on steroids.

Since it was our anniversary, the chef kindly sent over an additional dessert that was influenced by the classic dole whip, which was a pleasant surprise and was absolutely delicious too (especially because there was a candle included. So cute!). Also, the classic cocktails are so well-made here! I highly recommend the espresso martini, the dirty martini, and the manhattan.

Overall, we loved this restaurant SO much, but what greatly stood out to us was the service and the kitchen. Our server, Ulysses, was easily one of the best servers we have ever been graced with. He is literally the epitome of a perfect server - personable, funny, charming, genuine, knowledgeable, thoughtful, and professional. During our trip, he surprised us with a kitchen tour where we got to meet the head chef, Tom Allen, as well as the kitchen staff, and I swear, I am still thinking about all the emotions I felt there.

My boyfriend and I had never been to a true Michelin star restaurant and we are always watching YouTube videos about how a successful NYC restaurant runs, and to be immersed into it, be given the chance to take photos, and to meet the head chef (who is SUCH a cool, talented, welcoming, and friendly guy too by the way) and hardworking team, I couldn't help but get teary eyed in there.

This is a very long review, but I wanted to tell our story as best as I could, so that you can vividly understand how phenomenal this restaurant is. I absolutely encourage everyone to visit this restaurant at least once because it is an experience of a lifetime!

Thank you so much again to Ulysses and the Modern for...

The Modern should be called The Mediocre. For ~$1000, we got subpar food and service that was dismissive at best. It’s like buying a knockoff painting from a discount store when you’re expecting MoMA-quality art. Overpriced and underwhelming, it’s not worth your time nor money.

We chose the Abstraction tasting menu, and the name was too on-the-nose. The courses had no clear theme or flow, like a random abstract painting that leaves you confused rather than inspired. For nearly $1,000, I expect a meal that makes sense to my taste buds, not just a pretty plate. I’m eating for flavor, aroma, and texture, not just for Instagram.

The service was a letdown from start to finish and needs its own paragraph. During the lamb course, my wife tried to order a glass of red wine to pair with it. The waiter, who should’ve known what course we were on, and the runner, who passed our table multiple times, completely ignored us. No wine, no acknowledgment, just a missed opportunity to make the dish shine. Then came the truffle pasta, a gummy, doughy disaster. The texture was all wrong, sticking to our teeth with no snap of proper al dente pasta. It was dense, heavy, and unpleasant to chew, like the dough wasn’t properly kneaded or rested, leaving it stodgy and undercooked. The sauce was a watery, flavorless letdown, and the truffles, those expensive, aromatic slices, were utterly wasted, adding nothing but a faint whisper of earthiness that couldn’t save the dish. It was lukewarm, too, which only made the whole mess worse. When we pointed out the issue, the waiter’s passive-aggressive “Do you want us to remake it?” felt more like a challenge than an offer to fix it. A simple “Let’s get this right” would’ve gone a long way, but instead, we got attitude. We didn’t bother pushing back, it shouldn’t feel like a fight to get decent food.

Some dishes weren’t terrible. The eggs-on-eggs-on-eggs, fish, bread course, and pre-dessert were fine, but nothing memorable. The lobster, though, was a stingy half-tail whereas Le Pavillon gives you the whole thing for comparison. The lamb was just okay, wine or no wine.

The dessert was the final nail in the coffin and frankly the worst dessert in recent memory: a rice pudding with champagne mango and creamsicle gelato that was hands-down the worst I’ve ever had. The puffed rice was weirdly crunchy and flavorless, overwhelming the thinly sliced mango, which tasted washed-out and out of season. The tart gelato clashed with everything, and the champagne foam just made it messier. Every part of this dish fought against the others, leaving a strange, unsatisfying aftertaste that ruined the entire meal.

The Modern’s food and service don’t live up to MoMA’s reputation for excellence. Skip it and spend your money on a museum ticket instead, you’ll get more out of the real art upstairs. Overall, the disappointing food and indifferent service left us regretting every dollar spent. The Modern fails to deliver the elevated dining experience it promises, making it a costly misstep in an otherwise...