The National Bar & Dining Rooms — Restaurant in New York

Thursday, July 6, 2017 we went out to celebrate our last night in town in NYC and we were sorely disappointed with our experience at The National.

The service led by our server was riddled with missteps. From the beginning there were errors. As my wife had went to wash her hands, the waiter comes by and shares the specials to only myself. After that we ordered a number of dishes as we were excited to sample Chef GZ's awesome cuisine. Soup and salads were brought out by another server or runner and were auctioned off at the table, to top it off the server places my salad down first before leaving my wife with soup and no spoon. I would have expected to have had the cutlery placed before the food. I requested a spoon for my wife and one was brought. We ate our first course, and the bus-person comes and clears my wife's soup leaving me to eat alone in front of her. I was also served first with water, food, etc. Please remember it is still polite to serve the females in the party first. After this, the food is cleared and the next course is brought out and once again we have an auction going on. Please, there are table numbers and seat positions for a reason. Not once, throughout the whole night did one member of the staff inquire as to how the food was, if we needed anything, or even if we would like another drink when removing a glass.

Missteps in service can be overlooked if the food is exceptional, this was not the case. Out of all the dishes we ordered, the only one that we said we would order again was the brussel sprouts. I rarely add salt to any dishes when dining out, however the dishes were lacking seasoning. The asparagus and fava beans had no flavor, the mac and cheese tasted like Valveeta, and the Branzino was placed on a bed of ice cold artichoke hearts, hearts of palm and other Mediterranean flavors making it soggy on the bottom. On the Petit Filet, the hen of the woods mushrooms were very slimy and bland.

Chef, I know you are busy, but please head over to The National and see for yourself if this place truly represents you. My wife and I love experiencing the cuisine of our favorite chefs, and this was a huge disappointment. Even after we finished, and the bill was placed, not once did anyone inquire if we enjoyed the food, if we were pleased or how things were. I hope that Chef GZ or a staff member of his actually reads this as it is not how I believe he would want to be represented. We are leaving NYC and it is with this experience. Once again we love what Geoffrey Zakarian does, but the National Bar and Dining Rooms is not a place I would recommend to anyone.

As a footnote and to be transparent, the manager of the restaurant called me after I left the restaurant and apologized, inviting us back. I had used open table and they had my cell number. While that is a nice gesture, we were leaving the next day and frankly, unless there are substantial changes to many areas of the restaurant,...

My meal at The National was amazing! The bread basket was a delicious blend of olive bread, white bread, and bread with oats. It was a great first impression of the restaurant. For the first course on the Restaurant Week menu, the Shrimp Salad was delicious. The shrimp was cooked perfectly and seasoned with a lot of flavor. There was grilled peaches in the salad that were just scrumptious on their own. The Gazpacho with avocado and croutons was very refreshing and flavorful. For the main course, the Roast Chicken had an amazing crispy skin and under the chicken was an herbaceous barley risotto. The Grilled Branzino was a great dish with a tasty corn chowder. The Ricotta Cheesecake for dessert was amazing with a unique balsamic ice cream that went great with the cheesecake and figs. The Yogurt Panna Cotta was creamy and scrumptious, sitting in a pool of passion fruit. As a bonus to my meal, I got to meet Geoffrey Zakarian. It was a wonderful meal at The National that I hope to...

This was not the Geoffrey Zakarian dining experience I expected. The hostesses were cold and rude. All three of them couldn’t have cared less if we dined at National or somewhere else. The service was very odd and sporadic. The whole flow of the meal was made awkward by our server forgetting to bring plates for the appetizer and then directing us to hold up our appetizer plates while he placed our main course. When we asked for an additional condiment, we were told it wasn’t available, though the server backtracked when we pointed out that this condiment was a menu item. While the food was good, I was really disappointed by this meal. Upon first entering the restaurant, we were treated as if we were a burden. I recommend going elsewhere to spend your hard earned dollars. The National isn’t interested in...