My spouse and I
visited The Office for drinks on a Saturday evening in mid-October 2018. The
Office is open daily from 6:00 pm until 12:30 am, with closing hours extended
on weekends. Food is available until 11:30 pm. You can book a spot through the
online Tock reservation system. Currently, there is no charge to reserve a
place at The Office. (Previously, we seem to remember that guests paid a $20
per person deposit that was applied to their final bill.)
The Office is located on the 35th
floor “sky lobby” of the Mandarin Oriental at Columbus Circle on the Upper West
Side. (The space was previously called the Lobby Lounge and MO Bar.) The Office
(and neighboring venue The Aviary) were designed by Chicago Chef Grant Achatz
and modeled after the originals in Chicago. (The New York outposts opened in
2017, whereas the Chicago versions date back to 2011.) We visited The Aviary in
NY in March 2018; see our review titled “Look for the Bird Symbols on the Menu
for the Most Theatrical Drinks”.
Whereas The Aviary seats about 95 guests, nearly all with a
stunning panoramic view of Columbus Circle and Central Park, hidden speakeasy
The Office seats about 45 guests, in an interior space without views (although ambient
light from a few faux windows mimics the outdoors). The Office space resembles a
luxurious study, with lots of dark wood, leather seating, and framed art on the
walls. Interesting bric-a-brac, including vintage spirits bottles, occupies a
small shelving unit that divides the room. Guests can sit at a small U-shaped
bar, or in small furniture groupings that contain stuffed armchairs and couches
and small cocktail tables.
While The Aviary
offers flamboyant molecular mixology cocktails, The Office serves simpler pre-Prohibition
style cocktails and classic drinks. The Office’s light fare menu exhibits more
flair than its cocktail selections, in our opinion. Take care when ordering;
the bar offers a few rare vintage liquors that cost over $100 per ounce (although
most drinks are in the $20 range).
After our visit, when
we reconciled our credit card slip with our bank statement, we noticed that an
automatic gratuity had been added to The Office bill, but since we didn’t
notice it at the time, we tipped twice! The itemized receipt was stamped with a
very faint red print that mentioned the inclusion, but it was really easy to
overlook in the dimly lit room. Even though we left The Office with a positive
feel, we now feel a little deceived in retrospect.
Although we are glad
to have visited The Office, The Aviary remains tops on our list! (Note that The
Aviary also includes an automatic gratuity; however, we were well aware of it
back when we visited.)
