My spouse and I stopped at Smith’s Bar and Restaurant for a
drink on a Sunday afternoon in early May 2017. We were on our way to the nearby
St. James Theatre, and we arrived about an hour before curtain time. Smith’s is
open daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. (Note: Do not confuse “Smith’s”
with “The Smith”, a group of upscale casual restaurants elsewhere in the city.)
Smith’s is located in Hell’s Kitchen on the corner of Eighth
Avenue and West 44th Street. Its icon neon sign has served as a city
landmark for over 60 years. (Its awning/canopy is also memorable.) Smith’s
first opened in 1954, renovated in 2009, and slated to close in 2015, but
actress Hayden Panettiere’s father bought the property.
The restaurant space is large, occupying two storefronts connected
by a huge double-sided bar that joins the sides. One of the two main dining
areas enjoys a corner location with two walls of windows. You can choose to sit
at the long U-shaped bar (half of the L shape is located in one storefront and
the other half in the adjacent space), at high-top tables, regular-height
tables, or at one of the few booth, some of which enjoy a slightly higher
elevation and offer a small square window that opens onto West 44th
Street. The décor is dark wood accented by bar memorabilia, including many TVs
that broadcast a variety of sporting events. The bar offers live entertainment
(bands or DJs) on certain nights of the week.
Smith’s offers American cuisine. We had already eaten lunch
elsewhere, but we shared a piece of pecan pie along with a few rounds of
drinks. The seemingly store-bought slice of pie was a bit under-sized, as was
the tiny sauce cup filled with vanilla ice cream (comparable to the size of a
scoop of rich gelato).
Although the food and atmosphere are average, Smith’s benefits
from a built-in crowd from nearby hotels, theatres, Times Square, and Port
Authority. The bar fit our needs, but next time we might try somewhere else.
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