good enough to eat

The name is deceiving—after dining at this ‘comfy’ and ‘homestyle’ upper west side joint, your common sense and unsatisfied stomach will tell you it was ‘not good enough to pay’--for those inflated prices. I am not ‘hating’ on the 15 dollar per entrée dishes, in fact I’ve been to casual pubs such as the Spotted pig, and dished out 17 dollars for a burger and let me tell you, that was worth 17 dollars compared to the burger at ‘not good enough to eat.’ It would not be fair to compare these two. For one, ‘good enough to eat’ does not understand how to work with the food they put in e.g. unifying different ingredients in one plate.

The lowdown on the dishes:

My order, Pizza with olives and anchovies on focaccia was soggy focaccia—in no way crispy on the edges or on the base, topped with tasteless canned tomato sauce with scattered mozzarella cheese dropped off by whole anchovies and olives. Can I begin how disappointed I was on this 16 dollar pizza. This dish was amateur. The size was not nearly close to a regular slice of pizza from any hole in the wall joint.

Scallops with shiitake mushrooms and breaded zucchini: this was the special for the evening, but the scallops were not special or fresh instead they were rubbery. The whole dish did not come together; the scallops, welted and shrilled mushrooms and soggy deep fried zucchini were out of place and overcooked as if they were three separate bad dishes. Perhaps they all came together for their over-cooked-ness.

To play it safe at any restaurant order a burger. The Burger 8 oz. on a homemade oat roll with french fries, side of lettuce, tomato and pickle with sharp cheddar cheese $14 was the cheapest and merely decent.

Good enough to eat…or is it?

483 Amsterdam Ave (at 83rd Street) New York, NY 10024 (212) 496-0163