Atria, (fka Gneiss) Martin Brock’s Gray Kunz-less follow-up to Grayz has been open roughly a month now, scrollatropes and all, and already sites like Yelp and Menupages are filling up with early reviews of all kinds—many of which come from the shitshow that is Restaurant Week. Of chief irritation to many is the long waiting times/seating kerfluffles that have ruffled feathers among both first-timers and loyal Grayz fans. But generally speaking, Martin Brock’s food seems to be winning over even the most disgruntled diners, despite all the other complaining going on. Here’s the news as it stands today: good, bad, and everywhere in between.
The Great News: On Menupages, one diner posts a rave review of a recent restaurant week experience: “Tried during Restaurant Week 09 dinner and all was beyond expected. Dining area is beautiful with it's breathtaking ceiling, service very attentive and pleasant...the food however was the best part! Absolutely loved the lobster ravioli and cured trout appz and main entrees of braised flatiron steak(melts in your mouth) and grilled arctic char simply delish and new twist on American cuisine.” [Menupages]
The Bad News: An extremely displeased Yelper laments her two hour wait, bad table, and other dining woes: “The four hours at Atria can best be summed up this way: TWO HOURS waiting in the bar area, drinking one $14 cocktail after another. On food alone, perhaps 3 1/2 stars. The value is 5 stars. Until you add in the dozen or so cocktails and two bottles of wine we order to dull the excruciating memory of the first half of the night.In sum, I really just have one thing to say. Get your freaking act together, Atria. PLEASE. My experience was so unfortunate I don't think I could force myself back, even if assured the training wheels were off." [Yelp]
The Mostly Great News: Another Yelper also bemoans her long wait time but loves the food and experience: “The four of us (miraculously) arrived on time for our reservation and waited at the bar for our table to be ready.... for 45 minutes. We didn't even get comped drinks (which is what they did last time for making us wait so long)… As a main course, one of the girls got the lamb special which was amazing, melt in your mouth good. Two of the other girls got the flatiron steak which was very good as well. I got the Lobster & Coconut Bouillon with scallops, lemongrass & thai basil. The broth was absolutely rich and packed with flavor. The scallops were perfect, as was the lobster and shrimp. Amazing!” [Yelp]
The Not So Good News: A not-so-happy diner via Zagat reports some more ups and downs: “The food was uneven. The salad had too much rock salt while the cured sea trout was tasty. We were greeted warmly, the waiter once he arrived was pleasant, and the support staff is akin to a deer stuck in the headlights. A request for pepper went unheeded. Upstairs is lovely so perhaps they haven’t had time to train the staff properly. I’m glad we went during Restaurant Week as I spared my pocket book the expense of an untrained staff." [Zagat]
The OK News: Another Restaurant Week diner has trouble finding the place, and is left hungry by the small portions, but generally liked the food: “Slightly more difficult - how to find the place. You're @ the address but standing in front of a nondescript residential brownstone. I ordered the vegetable "tangine." B+ for presentation, very whimsical and creative (clean squares of market vegetables in a creamy greek yogurt sauce hidden away by a sliver thin fried taro "hat." Good deal since it was restaurant week but the small portions put Shake Shack burger on the brain immediately after dessert.” [Yelp]
