The Round Table

Stopped in for an early light meal between matinée and evening shows and was not disappointed! Although only a few tables were occupied, the service was a bit slow off the mark, but once I placed my order all was well. I ordered the spring minestrone soup and the diced and chopped salad. Both were fresh and delicious, with just-​right serving sizes. The bread (what seemed to be a pumpernickel popover) was more crust than filling and it left my fingers sticky, but was not a major detraction from the meal. Prices quite reasonable, I thought, for this neighborhood and this kind of a storied locale.

Unsuspecting little place that was surprisingly calm on a Friday night for dinner.
Service was decent. Ambience was nice.
But I was absolutely shocked at the incredibly high quality and care put into the food. Especially the chicken tortellini dish. It was incredible. Order it.

My friend who used to be an English teacher and is fascinated by Dorothy Parker was in town so of course we had to eat here. My cousin always says you can’t get a bad meal in NYC. I think this place proved him wrong. I am not a picky eater and will eat pretty much anything you put in front of me. I should have sent this meal back and honestly can’t believe they actually served it to me. I ordered a prefix. The app was perogies, mostly edible but suspiciously from frozen. The main course was sea bass. The fish smelled bad. It was served with watery under cooked rice and boiled plantains. The flavor can only be described as old. It was literally the grossest thing I have ever been served in a restaurant. The dessert was super dense cheese cake. Again edible but not necessarily good and probably from frozen. I don’t like to be that person that ruins dinner by complaining about their food but despite starving I could barely make it through half my meal.

We were greeted immediately the 6 times we ate there for breakfast and dinner. The service staff is very attentive and fulfilled our requests. We met the chef on two occasions who was jovial and great to talk with. The food is of high quality and prepared with the same care as any high end restaurant.
Besides the restaurant having the «Round Table» of historical literary note, the room is located is at the back of the Algonquin lobby which provides a feel of nostalgia. When we return to the hotel in the spring of 2016, we will frequent the Round Table.

Went here for dinner before the theater. It took forever for them to even take our order. We let them know we had tickets to a show and were ordering from the pre-​theatre menu. Took an hour for our food to arrive. The salad was bland, and the hangar steak was tough. The service was the main problem. It was like they didn’t know who was supposed to be serving out table. The décor was nice, but not enough to compensate for the poor food and service.

Best fish and chips in the city! We had a great time, I’d definitely return the next time I visit.

Ok for my first Unilocal got to show some love to this place for the calamari. Someone who I work with at Bank of America came back raving about it after happy hour so I had to go try it. So good with Asian spices and cilantro and these HUGE peanuts in it. Best. Calamari. Ever. Can’t go 5 stars since I had to wait a few minutes for someone to seat me.

I love the Algonquin and everything about it including this restaurant. This restaurant was a meeting site for famous literary elite to discuss their works. It is furnished beautifully and in a classic style but is right next to the very cool and chic Blue Bar across the hall. One of the things that I love about the Algonquin and the Round Table is the hope of getting a site of Matilda — the resident cat. As an animal lover, I love that this hotel has a cat as a mascot. Matilda and her predecessor Matildas is as old as the hotel itself! The signature drink the Matilda was quite nice and the service was impeccable as usual. Bravo Algonquin. Y

Delayed review from my last trip to the States but this place had the best grilled cheese and tomato soup I’ve ever had! Looking forward to heading back when I’m next in NY…

I came here for breakfast with someone visiting the city.
The restaurant is in the back part of the hotel lobby. The décor is really nice and I liked that the historic elements of the building were incorporated into the more modern aesthetic of the restaurant. The two worked together really nicely.
I was absolutely stunned by the food prices during our breakfast. They were absurdly high, even for midtown. I ordered eggs, bacon, and hash browns ($ 27). The food was all bland and not very memorable.
Some reviews complained about the service but our server was very kind and funny. Food came out fairly quickly.
This is definitely a tourist spot. If you’re visiting the city, I’d recommend getting out of the midtown area and finding a neighborhood place that serves the same food for half the price.

I eat breakfast and lunch here 3 – 4 times a year and the food is absolutely delicious. The breakfast is served on hot plates and the food served on these plates are the best. The eggs and French toast are a must have.
The lunch here is another gem. The sandwiches, fish and chips and homemade potato chips and French onion dip are awesome!!!

Food was miserable. Not hot not tasty. Small portions huge prices.

We had the steak and the crab cake with lobster mashed potatoes, and everything was great! The service was a bit slow, but the food’s presentation and taste were worth it with the Groupon.

I’ve been to the Round Table for dinner on 3 separate occasions and each and every time we were treated with the utmost in professionalism and thoroughly enjoyed our meals and drinks. Below is a recap of each of my 3 visits with more to come~~
ON VISIT #1 (1÷28÷2014)
I went with my boyfriend and his Mom. Based on my pre-​dinner on-​line research I knew in advance that I wanted to order the scallop dinner but unfortunately they were out of them. Keep in mind that our dinner reservation was at 5:00PM (the start of their dinner hour). Being that I’m not a red meat eater and I did not want the salmon dish I asked the waiter if I could please speak to a manager to find out how the kitchen could be out of one of their key item. With a sincere apology from the Jeff the Manager at the time and a promise that I’d be comp’d my next scallop dish upon my next visit (I was planning on coming back for my birthday in May), I went ahead and ordered the chicken breast dish which was actually quite tasty. The shrimp cocktail and calamari were also very good as well. My boyfriend’s Mom ordered the blackened salmon which was served atop grapefruit segments and crispy kale along with fingerling potatoes. And the lobster mashed potatoes served with the crab cakes should be added to the menu as a side dish… they were THAT good — -oh and so were the crab cakes. We ordered 2 Manhattan martinis which are served in nice sized glasses for I’ve seen teeny tiny martini glasses at many bars. The Round Table does not skimp on the drinks albeit they are quite pricey at $ 20.00 a pop for the Manhattans but this is something we knew ahead of time so no complaints there. And most of the regular bottled beers are $ 9.00 unless you’re drinking a Chimay which is $ 11.00. Going to the Round Table for us is a once-​in-​awhile treat given the fact that we are all living on tight budgets. When it came time to order the dessert we discovered that they were out of what we wanted… I think it was KeyLime pie (my memory escapes me) Once again, Jeff the manager at the time was very accommodating and gave us our NY Cheesecake dessert on the house. After our wonderful meal, the 3 of us moved over to the Blue Bar for some after-​dinner drinks including some beer and more Manhattans. We thoroughly enjoyed our time at the Round Table and the Blue Bar even though there were 2 minor hiccups (both which were resolved to our liking).
You’re probably wondering if the Round Table honored their committment to comp’ing us one scallop dinner at our next visit which brings me to my review of VISIT #2…
VISIT #2 (5÷28÷2014):
My boyfriend and I went back to the Round Table to celebrate my birthday. In advance, I had emailed Jeff a head’s up that we would be celebrating my birthday at the Round Table and I attached a copy of the email where he had agreed to comp us one Diver Sea Scallop dish. I received a prompt response back from the new manager that Jeff had relocated to the Four Seasons in California (congrats Jeff :-)) and the new Manager, Alex, reassured me that they would honor the previous commitment. My boyfriend and I ordered a bunch of side dishes including the scrumptuous shrimp cocktail, creamy kale and calamari along with several drinks (Manhattan martinis, Budweiser and Chimays) and stuffed ourselves with the sea scallop entrée which were all soooooo sooooo good. Since I do not like risotto (which was the side dish for the scallops), they were very accommodating when I asked for the lobster mashed potatoes as the substitute. And for dessert we ordered the fresh fruit and were pleasantly surprised to see the huge bowl of fresh raspberries, blackberries, grapes and pineapple. And the fresh sorbet and whipped cream we had to accompany our fruit bowl was the perfect pairing for an almost guilt-​free way to top off our dinner. It was a nice touch that they added a birthday candle to my sorbet — thank you Round Table!!!
And now for the review of VISIT #3:
VISIT #3 (6÷14÷2014):
I went back with my boyfriend and his Mom. We ordered the Diver Jumbo Sea Scallops (my fav) and his Mom ordered the *Blackened Salmon dish from the *Pre-​Theatre menu. The Pre-​Theatre menu has a nice selection and my boyfriend’s Mom enjoyed the soup of the day along with the salmon and we all dipped our forks into her NY Cheesecake dessert (yummy!!). After our dinner the 3 of us skooted over to the Blue Bar where we all enjoyed our after dinner drinks.
The Round Table gets 5 stars from me — -I have absolutely no complaints and only positive things to say. We started each dinner at 5:00 and each time we didn’t leave the dining table till 3 hours later — we were never rushed and were able to enjoy our conversations while savoring each and every morsel. Thank you to the waiters and managers~~A top notch restaurant!
Here’s the link if you would like to review all the menus in full detail:

UPDATE: I spoke with Mr Wilson from the accounting department, explained my problem with the pricing of the mimosas and my feeling that I was deceived about the Groupon and the final bill. He was extremely helpful, friendly and apologetic and he took care of the problem to my satisfaction. I’m raising my initial 1 star review to 3 stars, based mostly on Mr Wilson’s courteous response and professionalism.
I’d still have to recommend that you proceed with caution if you choose to use a Groupon here, make certain that you know exactly what you are being charged and check the final bill carefully.
As for the other gentleman’s response, I certainly understand that the Algonquin is in a high rent district, but my wife and I enjoyed other fine meals, cocktails and glasses of wine in the same neighborhood during our 6 day visit and never once saw a $ 21 mimosa on any other menu…

I had brunch with a girlfriend of mine using a Travelzoo voucher. I initially went in ahead of her as I arrived early and asked one of the staff about brunch and he recommended that I go to Bryant Park! I don’t understand why he did that when I asked him about the brunch that was offered there. He called himself apologizing after I told him that I had a reservation, but he could’ve kept it. Also, the manager was very unprofessional, he walked away from us without seating us — then our waiter Babla seated us. Babla was great.
The food & drinks are way overpriced, but the hotel /​ambience was nice. Needless to say, I won’t be back, all of their staff needs customer service training from top to bottom.

didn’t honor pre-​theater menu, Q&A on groupon is a lie. The waitstaff seems to think they are better than you if you are young. The air felt quite snooty. Food was also not worth the prices, at all.

I came here with my girlfriend for a special dinner last Friday night. I rarely write reviews, but in this case felt like I had to because my experience was so different to the last 3 reviewers.
I am no «literary geek» (although my GF is, hence the reason for the visit), but I found the atmosphere in the place nice and relaxing. More like a giant lounge that a full-​blown restaurant, the chairs were comfortable and the tables had ample space to spread out and relax. Very cozy and warm feeling. We had dinner at ~8:30 and it was very quiet — in terms of volume — until a large group turned up for drinks around 9:30.
Cocktails — Tasty, but a tad overpriced. I think they were something like $ 22, and were good, but I’ve had equivalent or better at a lot of other hotels and bars for ~$ 15. That being said, there is a price for ambiance and setting, and I the Round Table was nice and no more overpriced that a lot of other high end hotel bars. I guess if it’s too much, you could make drinks at home or get them at TGI Fridays in Times Square…
To the food — the best surprise of all! I had read the reviews and really wasn’t expecting a whole lot. You may be asking why I would go somewhere when the reviews weren’t good, so before I go on, I have to note that (in conjunction with my GF wanting to go there) I bought a Travelzoo voucher for dinner. This saved me ~$ 60, but it was still not a cheap dinner. However, even disregarding the deal, I feel that, while not cheap, it was entirely worth it. (As a side note, I thought the voucher thing may have made a difference in service, but the waiters were fantastic and hospitable)
We started by sharing the smoked salmon carpaccio, served with arugula, shallots, capers and bagel chips. Well dressed, with a light drizzle of oil with a very tasty citrus tang. Serving was plenty big enough for the two of us to get started.
Mains: I had the NY strip steak and my girl had the diver jumbo scallops. The steak was perfectly cooked, very lean and tasty, and a good size (must have been at least 12 oz). The herb butter was a magnificent compliment and the sauteed spinach was still tasty and not overly wilted as can sometimes happen. The potato pancake was the only part of the meal that I found slightly disappointing, as it was a little tough, but still edible. The sea scallops were amazing. 4 large (and when I say large, I mean HUGE) scallops served over a sweet corn risotto with asparagus. The scallops, despite their ridiculous size, were incredibly tender and very tasty, while the risotto was gorgeous and very filling.
Overall, not a cheap meal, but entirely worth it. Entrees are in the $ 36 — $ 42 range, so definitely at the high end of the NY dining spectrum, but I still thought it was quite reasonable for a special, albeit relaxed, dinner.

Historic ambiance doesn’t compensate for the mediocre food and poor service here. We were guests at The Algonquin who called down for a table. The host on the phone was affable enough but the experience went downhill from the second we were seated. Our order-​taker, I can’t call him a server’s as there was little service offered, was perfunctory and borderline rude to us. We said right away that we had theater tickets and would not be lingering when we ordered a round of drinks, that seemed to brand us as tourists, beneath some desired level worth effort to the staff. I find that offensive, all guests should feel welcome. There were only a few other tables seated at the time, the only table that was given much attention were the extremely young honeymooning couple (they were very cute).
Our drinks came in a reasonable amount of time but we were never asked if we wanted a second round or even had our waters refilled. Dinner also arrived in a reasonable amount of time and was hot, that is about as complimentary as I can be. The Round Table is in a hotel and well that’s the type of food it was, nothing spectacular about and certainly not somewhere I’d choose to revisit.
Dinner was fair but certainly not worth the price, I’ve had much better for less.

I am a literary geek. I mean it. I don’t feel right if I don’t have a book on me and I am usually reading at least three. So this place, along with the Hotel Chelsea, represents heaven for me.
Once the meeting spot for the famous and acidic wits of Dorothy Parker, Edna Ferber, Tallulah Bankhead, Robert Benchely, Groucho Marx, and others, it seems to be calmer these days. However, even just sitting, drinking coffee like I did (it was only 11 when I got there and just couldn’t order a drink) you can almost feel the literary history and importance of the place. I felt wittier just sitting there. It was amazing.