New York City: Alder (October 2013)

My spouse and I dined at Alder for dinner in early October 2013. We made a reservation 30 days in advance using the Open Table reservation system, although when we arrived at the restaurant, the hostess could not find our reservation in her book. When she accessed Open Table, she could see our reservation, but something went awry with the interface between her master reservation book and Open Table. We should have known something was wrong when the restaurant did not call the day prior to confirm. (Note that a restaurant called Aldea also uses Open Table; do not confuse the two restaurants with very similar-sounding names.) The sign for the restaurant blends into the building façade, so approach with care. The restaurant is open daily for dinner, and also for Sunday brunch.

There are not truly any great tables at this approximately 60-seat restaurant. The front of the restaurant houses a large bar, with lots of bar stool seating, one end of which forms more of a peninsula where a group of 4 or so people could sit facing each other. The back half of the dining room contains tables, with a wooden banquette running alongside one wall. Tiny tables for two run down the main dining room, but are spaced quite closely together. The restaurant also offers sidewalk seating when the weather is favorable. The restaurant and restrooms are handicap-accessible.

The concept of the food is casual comfort food/familiar dishes that are presented in a unique way, using interesting flavor combinations and innovative techniques. The rye pasta with shaved pastrami was clearly the standout of the meal; that dish was so terrific that it would be a reason to return. We also enjoyed the pigs in a blanket and the pickled beets (the beet dish was beautifully plated, the presentation of which was a bit incongruous to most of the other dishes). Although many past diners rave about the pub cheese, we did not care for it - neither the color or the consistency of the cheese, nor the crisps/chips that were served with it (the pistachio brittle was good, though). The fish and chips were tasty, although not particularly creative, except for the dehydrated malt vinegar powder - that was a great idea! None of the three dessert items stuck our fancy, so we passed on dessert - something we never do!

Service was a bit too over-attentive at times; because of our reservation snafu, we had an unfortunate table that was at the complete rear of the restaurant, near the door to the kitchen, but with quite a bit of space on one side near the corner of the room. The staff waited in this spot (for food, for customers to summon them, and so on), and so we felt that they were hovering over our table more than necessary. Service was incredibly FAST! We ordered five courses food items on the night that we dined, which we delivered in four separate courses (our two entrees of fish and chips and rye pasta came together), yet we were finished within an hour or so; it was not the long leisurely date night that we had envisioned.

Overall, our meal at Alder was disappointing in comparison to the experience that we had at chef/owner Wylie Dufresne's WD-50 in January 2011 (see our separate review). Admittedly, the restaurant concepts are completely different - as are the prices - but we still had high expectations from Alder that were not met.