Aquagrill, New York

Well before we arrived in New York, my friend Sara sent me the following text message, complete with a message from her 9 year old son: We just discussed your upcoming visit with A. He said “yay”, and he can’t wait to see you. He wants to know if we can do something that week – go out to a “fancy” dinner in a nice restaurant? He wants to wear his cuff links. Who am I to deny a 9 year old (that is happy to see me, no less,) the opportunity to wear cuff links? So we chose Aquagrill. 

I had been to Aquagrill only once before, about fifteen-plus years ago for brunch. I remember nothing about it except that we went with our

friend Susanna, and it was good.

Aquagrill has a lovely, well chosen wine list, and like everywhere else in New York is on the pricey side, but overall it is not too bad. Domaine Serene Pinto Noir on the list at $74 seems fairly reasonable. The restaurant itself is energetic, and a little noisy, but not so loud you can’t converse. It is a very comfortable environment, and the food is awesome.

The menu is very fish and seafood heavy (hence the name), and it is all fresh. There were two different tuna tartare dishes, and both were delicious. Hamachi crudo was fresh and flavorful. One of my favorite dishes was the truffle crusted cod with wild mushroom ravioli and roasted hen of the woods mushrooms. I would order it all again tomorrow if I could.

Service was very good, and catered to every dietary need at the table. Our server gladly found out ingredients in specific dishes before we ordered them, and adjusted the meals as necessary to be accommodating.

Perhaps the best part of the meal, as most are, was the company. Not only did we get to see long time friends, we

enjoyed a perfectly pleasant 9 year old. And not one person at the table had any sort of device, either a phone, tablet or video game, with the exception of snapping a few photos. (Honestly, you wouldn’t want to just read about the food, would you?)

Aquagrill is located at the corner of 6th Avenue and Spring Street, and is open for lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch.