We had a 12:00 reservation, which is when they open, and there were already a few people waiting. We got seated right away, and the first thing I noticed was the beautiful decor. It is very classic and elegant, and the lighting is really pretty as well. As we were looking at the menu, they came over and brought a warm sourdough roll which was delicious. I decided to order off of the greenmarket menu and got the strawberry and arugula salad and the slow cooked chicken. The menu was slightly different than the one online, but everything that I wanted was still on it so I was happy. My sister ordered off of the regular menu because she is a seafood/fish lover and there were many more options on the regular menu. After hearing the recommendations from the waiter, she got the seafood salad and the miso glazed cod. The only thing that was a little misleading was that online it says the 3 course price fix is $28, when really it is $28 for the appetizer and main course, and an additional $6 for one of the three greenmarket dessert offerings.
(The top image is the strawberry arugula salad and the bottom is the seafood salad)
The strawberry and arugula salad was very fresh and light, and was really delicious. It is a pretty big portion so I could not finish it because I was trying to save room for the rest of the meal. The salad came with fresh greenmarket strawberries, hazelnuts, goat cheese, radishes and was coated in a light balsamic vinaigrette. My sister also loved her seafood salad, which came with scallops, squid, japanese octopus, lobster, and avocado in a lemon vinaigrette.
For the next course, I got the slow cooked chicken breast, which came with couscous salad, grilled eggplant, and a golden raisin chutney.
The chicken not only looked really pretty, but tasted delicious. It was cooked to perfection, as it was still very moist on the inside but crisp on the outside. The sauce made it even better, and the raisin chutney was amazing. The couscous was also good, but the chicken and the chutney were the stars of the dish. Even though chicken can be pretty generic at many restaurants, they really do it justice here. My sister also raved about the miso glazed cod, which is their signature dish, so if you like seafood you should get that. I tried the sauce and rice that it came with, and can vouch for the fact that the sauce is delicious. She usually is pretty critical of cod since it can be a hit or miss, but she absolutely loved this dish.
Once we were done, the waiter brought over the coveted dessert menu. Since I had already scoped out the menu online, I knew what dessert I was getting; the Gotham Chocolate Cake. It is the most popular dessert, and luckily for me it is offered as part of the price fix. My sister did not plan on getting dessert since she did not do the price fix, but the seasonal offering today was the coconut dacquoise so she gave in to temptation and ordered it.
Oh. My. God. The chocolate cake was so amazing! This was one of those situations again where I went into lunch with good intentions of only eating half the cake, but ended up finishing it. I was left with no guilt, however, as it was TOTALLY worth every single calorie. The reviews I had read online did not adequately describe the amazingness that is the Gotham Chocolate Cake (which is actually more like a spongy mousse than a cake). It is so rich and decadent, yet light and fluffy at the same time, and it just gets better and better with each bite. It also came with a small scoop of salted almond ice cream and some chocolate crunchies, which were ok but could not even compare to the amazing flavor of the cake. My sister is not a huge chocolate cake lover, but she took one bite and had the same reaction as me. In fact, she told me I had to finish it otherwise she would! The dessert that she got was really good as well, but it just could not compare to the chocolate cake in my opinion. It had fresh pineapple slices, pineapple cream, and little coconut cookies (like macaroons), and a strange ice cream that she didn't like. At first she loved it, but after having a bite of my cake she quickly changed her tune. While it was good, she said that it was not nearly as worth it as the chocolate cake, and she should've ordered the cake so that we could've had two! (As a side note, I can not remember the last time my sister ordered a chocolate dessert, so that really says a lot!)
Overall, this was an amazing lunch experience. The decor is very nice and elegant, the service was impeccable and the servers were all very friendly and attentive, and the food was outstanding. They really pay attention to the details here and every aspect of each course was fresh and flavorful. The two stars in my eyes were the chicken and the chocolate cake, and my sister said her two favorites were the cod and the chocolate cake. While it is pricey, we will definitely be back here. The greenmarket price fix lunch is an amazing deal and you really get your money's worth. There are many expensive places in the city that are over-hyped and pretentious and the food doesn't live up to the price tag, but at Gotham it is totally worth every cent. I looked around at the other tables, and everyone was smiling and raving about their food. Basically, you should save up your money for the week and splurge on a visit here. It will be worth it!
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