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Category: Steakhouses [Edit]
Neighborhood: Lower East SideBowery (J, M)
Grand St (B, D)
2nd Ave-Houston St (F, V)
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I took my boyfriend here for his birthday because he is into his Hungarian heritage- and more especially his grandmother's cooking. While this may not be Hungarian food per se, it is geographically close enough- and he had heard good things about the place. I agree with Andrea this is definitely a large group place.
We ordered the seltzer which comes in the old school bottle with the trigger, and glasses of vodka which were poured out of a bottle that was frozen into a block of ice. The two of us split the chopped liver Sammy's way, which we both agreed was ok, but a bit much for people who had never before had liver. It came with thick white slices of yummy bread, and they brought out a great selection of pickled items, of which we both agreed the pickled peppers were amazing. For entrees we had stuffed cabbage and the paprika broiled chicken with potato pancakes. The portions were huge, and we liked the stuffed cabbage. The potato pancakes were amazing... but the chicken was uninspired. It was a suggestion from the waiter, but now I wished that I had just tried the succotash instead. The bill was a bit more than you'd think from looking at the place- it's definitely steakhouse prices but the atmosphere is more somebody's basement, which is pretty sweet. We will be going back- but with more people. Oh, and the music and entertainment provided by Danny Luv is awesome- you'll get enough Jewish humor and New York kitsch to last you a week!
Hands down, this place blows every overrated NY Steakhouse out of the water (i.e. Peter Luger's, Smith Wollensky and the likes). This place is NOT fancy. I was never a fan of liver but I inhaled the chopped liver with onions (I was totally not going out after dinner after this mess). We also ordered the Double Romanian Tenderloin. It was cooked perfectly and flavored well.
You get great food at a good price. Can't beat that.
3.+ times will be back soon (meaning its a pass my standards)
Wanted to tray of my own free will
Come here eat and shut up! Its so different you'll have a blast!! its like no other restaurant. Order the garlic sausage thing, The steak of course. Its NOT dirty but its not THE PALM but if your not a clean freak or a prude I guarantee you'll love it.
Please if you can't stand nothing but straight angles in your life don't go!!
chutzpah of this place is priceless !!!
Loved that my tenderloin was so big it could have come off a T Rex, loved that my lamb chops were enough for three people, loved that the latkes were the fattest I've ever had, loved the gherkins and pickled tomatoes, loved that the peppers were as garlicky as they were and I loved that my friend was offered chicken when she said she didn't eat meat! Sammy's isn't about fine dining, it isn't about fine drinking either. It's about having a raucously loud and fun time eating a load of meat as the wedding singer toasts and serenades just about everyone in the place.
For larger groups, Sammy's offers a $50 per person set menu that is pure genius. It starts with chopped liver (mixed tableside with chicken fat, onions fried in chicken fat, and chunks of chicken fat fried in chicken fat) and ends with rugelach and egg creams -- in the middle are at least three kinds of potato (latkes, mashed, fried), a giant steak, salmon (!), deep fried dumplings, stuffed cabbage, sausage, and lots and lots of pickles. The food is good. When has fried fat ever tasted bad?
Clearly vegetarians and fat-phobes should steer clear, but it's not like the words "Roumanian Steakhouse" can be mistaken for "Juice Bar."
I have been dining at Sammy's since I was a little kid. After experiencing this place at all stages of my life I can say its an amazing place.
For all you non-Jewish kids out there who never got to have a bar-mitzvah, here is your chance! It is in essence like going to a bar mitzvah. Because after you have indulged in the "original bottle service" and ingested enough Ketel One to put a horse down, you are going to get up and dance, and do a horrah, and maybe even lift someone up on a chair. Its going to be fun, and raucous and you're going to remember it for a long time.
Many have commented on the health aspect of the food. It is a romanian steak house, just like Luger's is a steak house. Would you go to Peter Luger's expecting to eat a healthy meal? The food at sammys is a bridge to our past. No other restaurant that I know of serves food like they do, and in that atmosphere.
Frankly, the chopped liver is the best on the planet, hands down! The romanian tenderloin is nicely seasoned and a great entree, as is my favorite...the breaded veal chop. The breading is on point, and the veal is as tender as it gets.
Of course you have to have to potato latkes, sausages, roasted chicken, salmon and everything else they have...because its all GREAT! Just remember, you are going to eat a lot of fatty food, so for once in your life...JUST ENJOY IT and succumb to the experience, you will be happy you did!
I honestly don't remember what I ate because it was family style for a party of 15 (friend's birthday) but I do remember the chopped liver felt like it was going to give me a heart attack from the fattiness but at least i'd die happy cuz it was delicious. Steak was fair, but overall the food was plentiful and pretty damn good.
The reason this place gets a 4 star from me is because of sheer entertainment value. Yes it's pricy but we were here from 7pm til nearly 1:30 in the morning. This place is super kitschy and reminds me of someone's basement in queens but the Israeli keyboard player was awesome. By about 11pm every table is wasted (ketel one served in a block of ice - we finished 10 or so bottles somehow) and despite the crampedness, we were all dancing and having an amazingly good time.
This place is NOT clean and NOT for the faint of heart but as an asian american it was definitely an experience I am glad that my friends brought me to.
I had an awesome time and i'm willing to deal w/ the pretty decent food, and slightly above average prices for the overall experience, which for me was awesome.
If anyone is lacking for funds, this isn't a good choice.
If anyone doesn't eat slabs of meat, is a vegetarian, or may gag at the sight/sound/smell/thought of chicken fat, this isn't a good choice.
If anyone breaks out into hives at the site of their parents'/relatives' panelled rec room/den/basement, this isn't a good choice.
If anyone is disabled, this isn't a good choice.
STAY AWAY unless youknow what schmaltz is. Specially stay away if you have any plans to go out afterwards; if you're not used to eating the food you will feel sick and lethargic.
Although the steak was good, it was hard to really enjoy it becuase of how grimy the food looked.
I will never eat here again, but to be fair it was packed and people seemed to be enjoying the entertainment and the food.
Tucked off of Christie street Sammy's is a throwback to old new york basement dining.
The steak is amazing and my favorite part of the whole deal is make your own chocolate egg creams.
Loud Fun cantankerous.
Oh yes and remember if you have been out on the town easy on the egg creams as my friend "G" found out. I'll say the taxi driver and his dry cleaner was none to happy with him. It's hard to avoid your friend spouting like a fountain in the back of a cab .. Oh what fun..
You have to take Sammy's with a HUGE grain of salt. Yes, the place is a dump. It is dark, smells funny, looks like someone's 1960's basement that has not been touched for almost 50 years. The waiters ARE obnoxious, the piano player so bad he would be booed at my father's nursing home.
HOWEVER, the dining experience is unique, to say the least. The choped liver is to die for (literally). You might as well just put an IV in your arm for the rendered chicken fat (schmaltz) to flow in. Hangar steak, stuffed cabbage, kasha varnishkas, latkes.....all like someone's bubby used to make. (although most of them are gone by now). The frozen vodka bottles are a nice touch. You need something to cut the fat in the meal.
Go in a group. That way the noise from the others won't bother you.
Go hungry. You won't want to eat for 3 days afterward.
Ok, actually, the food is delicious. They only have like, 5 things on the menu and they do them well - if you like the food to start out with. Garlicky steak? check. Stuffed cabbage rolls? check. Latkes with applesauce? mmm just like grandma's! And imagine my insane delight when they had pickled veggies ON THE TABLE. Just waiting for me! So if you don't like those things, you're already in trouble.
So, the food is perfect - the decor is just hilarious. The DJ looks like he just got off a gig at a wedding, the walls are covered in old cards, newspaper clippings, graduation pictures - it's just amazing.
AND - they have egg creams! They just leave the seltzer and chocolate sauce and milk and you can have however many you want.
Thanks guys, I'm hungry now!
I've never been anyplace like this before. It's a hot mess that works remarkably well. Luckily, I wasn't paying the check and we had a pre-set menu, but I'd go back and pay on my own, ordering the following: dumplings, latkes, meat stuffed cabbage, and ice-encased ketel 1. Love the seltzer bottles and the packets of alka seltzer on the way out. I'm not a liver fan, but people who like liver said it was great. Sammy's rocks!
Super kitschy... but Sammy's is indeed an experience of its own. My friend and I walked in one evening when we were up for something low-key.
The minute we walked in, we saw balloons and big party groups, the keyboard player was doing his thing and it seemed as if we were walking into a wedding / birthday celebration. We were seated at a talbe for two near the window and felt out of place.
More and more people started to show up. People that dressed different from the folks I see day-to-day in the city and they seemed to know one another. I was thinking, perhaps they travelled from outside the city to attend the so-called wedding. The ketel one frozen in a huge ice block was probably a standard fixture at each table. Then people started dancing to the tunes.
We had the chopped liver. It was so bad (full of fats) yet so good (simply delish). Would recommend doing this with a bigger group as the serving size is the same regardless if you order for 2 or for 10. Came in a huge serving bowl. We also ordered the eggplant salad (good), stuffed cabbabe, the dumplings (not recommended) and had the seltzer (really old school and fun).
Our waiter would serve us and suddenly break out in a song and dance routine. Totally impromptu. Later on we saw pics of previous patrons and realized that Sammy's is just usually decorated like such. There was probably NO wedding / birthday going on. This is what it is like here EVERYDAY...
Came as a kid for a bar mitvah and only remember the seltzer.
went back w/ friends recently. The place literally stinks and food feels dirty.
Just the though of this place makes me feel sick in the stomach.
A very disturbing experience for a lot of money. Does make you ever want to go to Romania either.
When my grandfather talks about coming to New York, he doesn't talk about coming to visit me. He talks about going to Sammy's for dinner.
A quick glance at the reviews show that most of the bases are covered. I will, however, add a few things...
Steak: It comes well done. Really well done. Like "been cooking in the over for two days with garlic" well done. Don't order it a different way. Don't complain that there's not enough marbling or juice. Sammy's tenderloin steak, served in the old-school way, is why the place still exists.
Anecdote: Many years ago, before I moved to New York, I was visiting the city with my then girlfriend. It was a weekday afternoon, and we somehow got caught in a torrential downpour. Seeking cover, we ducked into Sammy's, which had just opened. Knowing nothing about the place, but of course intrigued by the decor, we sat down. The menu was clearly too expensive for our college budgets, but they had soup, and we were wet. I got a bowl of the matzoh bowl, and they brought out the traditional appetizers ahead of time, despite the fact that we were soaking wet and kind of crazy looking. We were very gracious, and tipped well, because they easily could have shooed us away.
Classy move from a gem of an establishment.
What are you coming to Sammy's Roumanian Steakhouse for is really the main question at hand. If it's food then this place should get negative stars. Know that right off the bat.
If its getting blistering drunk on vodka frozen in ice while listening to the most shmaltzy music on the planet then this place gets 5 stars. For the rating of the place I've split the difference.
It's super expensive here because you WILL get a few bottles of Ketel One without even realizing it. Great place for surreal business meetings or a wacky birthday before going out. The food is awful..did I mention that?
My roommate and I were shopping for goldfish on Delancey (not to eat, of course) and decided to stop by Sammy's. It was the first visit for each of us, though we'd passed by a few times before.
I wasn't feeling too well (I take some medication that....well, to say it nicely, makes me not want to eat). So, I was thinking it wouldn't be fair to review.
Yet , oh my! We didn't have much: the bread and pickles that come on the table, mushroom & barley soup, the steak for two, and chocolate pudding. The bill was $84--and well worth it.
The soup (we shared a big bowl) was earthy and rich. The seasoning was interesting, but not overpowering.
The room is a blast, like a 70s basement, as another reviewer commented. There are a lot of tables and they're close together. You could make a new friend (yeah, that close together).
And there's a lot of noise.
But who cares when the food is this tasty?
If you can't have fun here then you have a problem
Oy vey! Everything about this place is a little meshugge!
Had to eat before a concert at Bowery Ballroom, and thought why not go for the experience and try this place out. So we shlepp over to this crazy little basement establishment on Chrystie St., where its everyone's birthday and the schmaltz factor is turned up about 20 notches.
I grew up in a town with a very large Jewish population in NJ, attended my share of bar mitzvah's and the like, but I've never been to anything like this. There's an old man in the corner playing "New York, New York" and "Piano Man" on a Casio Keyboard in the corner. The waitresses pick up a microphone and start singing. People are literally dancing in the aisles. There's photos of past great times everywhere. The waiters are shouting at the managers.
All this makes me a little verklempt!
The eggplant salad is a must try. The rye bread terrific. The steak is a thing of beauty. An unaturally long tenderloin coated in garlic. It's huge and should really be shared among two people.
So come here, sit down, nosh a little and take in the atmosphere. You really have never been to a steakhouse like this. It'll cost you a quite a bit of gelt, bit I'm not kvetching.
The only thing I have to add to the other great things said about Sammy's, is how wonderfully inviting it is to non Roumanian, non-Jewish, non-Manhattan, West Coast Chinese diners. We stumbled into Sammy's after walking down, down, down from Greenwich Village shopping. Two Chinese American couples walking past Chinatown looking for something we wouldn't find in San Francisco... We stumbled on Sammy's just before five o'clock, and it was empty... who would know what we would find when we came back at 7pm for dinner? But the owner encouraged us to come back and see the transformation, when the diners arrived. And did we ever!
But we were warmly welcomed, seated next to the piano, and incorporated into the singing, the dancing, the jokes, and the eating... not just the butt of someone's ethnic jokes, but a real part of the entertainment!
When we come back to New York, we're heading straight for Sammy's.
What an experience! You'll need to diet a month before AND after a visit to Sammy's. This Roumanian Steakhouse serves many typical jewish favorites, in a very unique atmosphere.
You will feel like you are in a friends basement back in the 70s when you enter sammys. In the corner, a nice guy plays yiddish favorites on a casio.
Order the chopped liver. Order the flanken or the skirt steak. Order the vodka in a frozen bottle, and dont forget the egg creams and ruggelach for dessert.
skip it! went for a celebration dinner, the food was just this side of inedible, server was a douche who insisted on getting his tip in cash and sold us on the overpriced fixed menu and bottle of vodka, everything felt grimy and the price for this $120 a head...
Scott S. broke the first rule of Foodie Club. He spoke about Foodie Club. He'll be dealt with accordingly.
As for Sammy's, it was a great time. Obviously the atmosphere of the place is half the experience. The food was quite good but by no means worth the price alone. Would I go back? In a heartbeat.
The chopped liver is enough to convert some vegetarians. It made believers out of some non-liver-eaters in our group. The family (or tasting) menu provided our party of seven with an overabundance of delicious Jewish fare. The pickles and peppers were a nice way to start the meal. Although we were full after the apps, our group pushed forward and ate our way through the main courses, many sides and even found room for the warm (homemade?) rugelach.
This was an exercise in pure gluttony. We all passed with flying colors.
Get the bottle of Ketel One frozen in a block of ice. Just don't pick my business card (they're hanging all over the walls) when you decide to drunk dial someone.
Be warned. Do not come here if you hate fun. There's no avoiding it.
Oy veyz Meir!
I don't know where to begin telling you how wonderfully, authntically, cheezily, weird this place is....
From the suburban rumpus room decorations, to the cheesy singer with a synthesizer in the corner, to the "maple syrup" dispensers filled with schmaltz, this is one fully realized vision.
Whose vision, and what he's trying to tell us, I'm not so sure.
My friend and I shared the chopped liver, which is prepared at table, a la a 1950's restaurant doing a Caesar Salad, and then followed with the brisket. I had an egg cream.
The guy in the corner was singing "Feelings" in Yiddish, follwoed by "Danke Schoen". I almost died laughing.
All of the other meals I had in NYC that weekend paled in comparison. Babbo, Tabla, Union Square? Got nuttin' on Sammy's Roumanian......
Not your Bubba's Basement Again??!! Oy Vey!
I kept staring at hundreds photos that adorned the walls only to be distracted by everyone schvitzing on the dance floor! "All we need to do now is put someone up in a chair and raise them up when we're dancing" my friend replied, "you missed that!??"
Yes I actually took a number off of a business card on the ceiling and tried to call the person!! No answer yet!
Though I wasn't a huge fan of the food -- I can say I was a huge fan of the music man and the fun! Love the seltzer bottles that squirt out bubblies, the excessive Vodka, and the awkward little makeshift dance floor.
Apparently if your Yiddish Grandma didn't show you the way then this substitute Grandma can!
Come on shiksas if you've always wondered how Jews get down you can check it out here!!
5 Yelp Stars for being disturbingly fun!
Date Rating: 6
Pick up Scale: 7 (Depends on the night and your dancing ability)
Strong suggestions: Book a work party here -- very fun to liven up the group and the service is excellent.
Sammy's is where I take all my out of town friends, most of whom are goyum, for a great time. I brought my friend's parents here last year. They came in from Japan. Although they loved the karnatzlack, the schmaltz and bread, the big ass steaks, the chicken liver salad, and especially the vodka bottles encased in ice their favorite by far were the pickled tomatoes and peppers. In fact they made the waiter get two more bowls of them so they could eat them on the flight back to Tokyo and sneak the remainder through customs.
The food is beyond fattening and deadly, the lounge acts are funny if not bad and the decor is piecemeal. I heartily recommend this place for any type of celebration, and bringing your out of town friends. I am giving Sammy's five stars.
L'Chayim!
P.S. They also have the best chocolate rugellah west of the Wailing Wall.
Oy Veh and L'Chaim to Sammy's! Why? Sammy's is a slice of the bygone days of the old Jewish, lower east side.
Don't let the beat up sign and dodgy entrance fool you, this is the real thing. The interior is a mosh mosh of age and celebration mixed with some old fashioned chutzpah. Each table has a bottle of Jewish ketchup (schmaltz) at the table. Music, straight from the Catskills, was provided by Dani Luv (he probably winters in Boca).
The food:
Chopped liver: forget Katz's....this is unforgettable stuff. White radish, caramelized onion, schmaltz, all mixed at your table. This stuff is better than sex ;-)
Steak: Huge cuts, beautifully prepared. Each piece can feed the average American family.
Karnatzlack: A delectable combo of beef and veal. Yum
There are bottles of Seltzer (the real thing) at the table, and food food food. With the Jewish food traditions of my family largely lost, this is a place I can imagine my dear old Grandma Bertha would bless with a happy mazel tov.
This place makes me feel like I'm in my friends parents unfinished basement with mini tiles plastered all over the beams that hold the place up. This place is off the hook. The chopped liver is outstanding. Made right in front of you, mixed in a bowl with cabbage and of course the chicken fat poured inside as well. Sounds gross I know but don't knock it. It's awesome!! The skirt steak is a must as it has to be folded on your plate cause it's just too damn big and with garlic! My mouth is watering just writing this review. I love how they have the warm yellow glowing chicken fat sitting in a bottle at every table like it was pancake syrup at a diner. Amazing how delicious this really is though. You can pour it on anything and you will love it.
Only problem I have with this place is after eating all this goodness, the egg creams, which are great, usually get me sick and I have to drive home fast if you know what I mean, so I have to avoid the egg cream as much as I wish I didn't have to. Also, you can only go to this place maximum once a year or you will surely have to get a quadruple bypass in the near future.
The vegan reviewer who hated this place must have been on crack to come here. But if you partake of animal flesh, you should definitely come to Sammy's at least once in your New York career, because you will never find anything like it anywhere else.
The last time I came here, Billy Crystal was having a rosh hashanah dinner with his family, and my mom befriended their whole table. that would have caused me and my siblings total mortification at any other restaurant, but at Sammy's it was just par for the course.
Again: do not bring vegetarian friends or anyone who is averse to drinking vodka and doing the hora around the table between courses. do not feel obligated to eat chicken liver just because its on the menu.
Do get a steak, get drunk, and be happy.
All I have to say, although this place is not figure friendly, you must try it, at least once. You have been warned, though, it is addictive and may be harmful to your health!
My favorite is the chopped liver with the real chicken fat (oh my God - that will take a whole month of one hour work-outs on the treadmill to work off); and I also love the Romanian steak. All the side dishes are delish, and the vodka on the table helps make the whole thing go down with less guilt.
Yeah, it is a Jewish classic, and a bit tacky - with all the business cards all over the walls. But it is part of the gestalt.
I also miss the violinist who has sadly left us....he was so much part of the old world charm.
Bottom line: all you beautiful, skinny people, you must try this - if only once. Everything in moderation. Happy New Year!
This is not the place to eat if you're on a diet or prone to heart disease. It has a great kitschy Borscht Belt party atmosphere, the enormous garlic-rubbed beef tenderloins and the pitchers of schmaltz on every table remind us that, 'Oy, life is short, and life without a bit of chicken fat is no life at all!" You have not eaten until you eat rendered chicken fat, and gribeness, the cracklings left over from making schmaltz, which are often mixed with caramelized onions. Pour a bit of this on your mashed potatoes and well, can I say gastronomic orgasm??
The food is totally awesome, but the ambiance is what makes this a 5 star worthy place. Ffluorescent lights and the rec room decor with plastic table clotths AND a guy singing Sinatra's "I Did it My Way" in Yiddish while playing a Hammond organ had me laughing so hard at the incongruity of the whole scene, I had borscht running out my nose!
Oh, lest I forget, to drink you will get a bottle, a whole bottle of Vodka frozen in a block of ice brought to your table. Need I say more?
Mozel Tov!
4 Stars and one to offset the Vegans review..
Go with a group.. Its the type of place where if you are eating with 2 people or 6 people you will order the same amount of food, the bar tab is the only thing that will change.
I will speak strictly for the food.. Its awesome.. The best, best, best chopped liver I have ever had.. Served table side a la Cesar Salad or Guacamole, the burnt onions and the extra hit of chicken fat take it to the next level.. In fact, its hard for me to go with my parents because I have to hold back and play it down a little.. "Do you like there chopped liver Daniel?" "Sure Mom, its good, I mean, nowhere near as good as yours, but its certainly good, definitely worth ordering.."
The potato latke's are bricks.. "The latkes that they give you, they say there mighty fine but, one rolled off the table and killed a friend of mine" Hit it with a little sour cream and apple sauce and its fairly decent.. I am also a huge fan of the sausage.. Not really sausage, more like a loaf made with garlic, veal, beef, and then a ton more of garlic rolled into a cylinder and bound with a little egg.. Make sure everyone at the tables eats them because it then cancels out the affects.
Couple of good meat options.. Get the burnt onions with all the steaks and for g-d sakes get it medium rare..
This brings us to the drinking portion of the evening.. Often times people will complain about the expense of drinking here.. Its cleary stated on the wall how much drinking is.. A bottle of vodka is something like 100 bucks.. Thats fairly reasonable for New York and a restaurant.. My only pointer is to make sure they open the bottle in front of you, make sure keep track of how much you are drinking.. If you want less to drink a double shot of vodka works out ot be 10 bucks..
This aint the Ritz so take it for what it is.. Its a unique experience which is going to be as fun as you make it..
This place has some wonderful steaks - and great entertainment. The singer in the back plays the piano and cracks jokes, and celebrates a lot of birthdays.
The steak - for one, double, or triple, boiled and broiled in a drowning of butter. The pickles and pickled random peppers - delicious, although beware to the sensitive stomachs.
Admittedly, there are ton of photos on the wall. And the space is crowded. But the atmosphere is lively, and even if you aren't Jewish, you'll have a lot of fun listening.
This is like the after-hours of a Bar Mitzvah gone CRAZY! The food is incredible. Imagine your Jewish grandmother's cooking at its BEST and then some. Golabki (stuffed cabbage), chopped liver, and a bottle of shmaltz (chicken fat), on all tables.
The place is a "sh*t-hole". Low ceilings filled with 1000s of business cards and photos of wild dinners. It's also in a crappy part of town too. However it's all part of a GREAT experiance. Even the so-so entertainment singing pop classics and Jewish classics.
This place is hilarious. It is decorated like your hebrew school basement during purim and the music adds to thinking it is!
You have to go with a group looking to get all ridiculous.. not for an intimate dinner.
From what I remember meat & fish mostly - no veggie option unless you eat a dinner of half sour pickles.
I think Sammy's has the best chopped liver in town. I remember being upset to see a 2nd Ave Deli van claiming that title, because (when they were still around) theirs wasn't so good (too sweet and homogeneous). Sammy's takes chicken livers, grilled onions, radishes and schmatlz and chops it in a bowl at your table. Yes, it is easy enough to do at home, but I would still buy theirs from time to time on the way home. The last time I ate inside was probably 2000 (I don't live in NYC anymore).
I had two birthday parties here, and although I love the food and atmosphere, I will admit the price seems a bit steep.
The steak is garlicky, and hangs off the plate. (You would think they could buy larger plates, right?) They have these delicious garlicky appetizers that could be described as cigar-shaped meatballs, or perhaps skinless sausages, or maybe a type of kofta-kebap.
From what I remember, the latkes were pretty tasty.
Atmosphere-wise, this place is corny and gimmicky and a lot of fun. Examples: bottles of vodka frozen in ice blocks, the keyboard player who sings funny songs, the make-your own egg-cream thing. But all that aside, the food is good, and they serve a lot of it.
I think my distended stomach is still in recovery mode - but I want to go back anyway!
Eating the best chopped liver and schmaltz while clapping and singing "hava nagila" is about as good as it gets during the holidays.
Romanian steak = heaven
Singing and dancing = bliss
Potato latkas - divine
Make reservations and take lots of friends and get the bottle!
Maybe I shouldn't be reviewing this place, considering that I'm a vegan, but here goes nothing...
This place REEKS of meat, fat, lard, butter, grease, animal flesh, etc. My family was eating fried meat, meat juice, fried this, fried that, chicken-fat everything... it was DISGUSTING. To the point where I felt like vomiting. I ate two pickles (they were safe from the meat) and two pieces of rye bread (probably not vegan, but I was starving). I wore my headphones and listened to Jawbreaker the entire time.
I may be Jewish by... birth? But I don't dig the Jewish "scene." If you don't want to feel totally Jewish, this is NOT the place for you. I promise.
Like dinner at grandmas, if my grandmother was jewish and served vodka frozen in ice. Dave is a consummate host and real asset to the experience, form the live music, a keyboard and seasoned musician to the hang off your plate steaks, this place has it all. kettle one frozen in ice is heaven on earth, goes down way to easy, but at $100 a bottle, you can kick back a few and not go broke. The chicken liver with schmaltz, or liquid chicken fat, is the least healthy best food I have had in a while! I only wish I still lived in NY.
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