New York City: Blue Fin (September 2016)

My spouse and I dined at Blue Fin for lunch on a Saturday afternoon in late September 2016. Blue Fin serves breakfast, lunch, dinner, and drinks. You can reserve a table by telephone or by using the Open Table reservation system; however, walk-ins are also accepted. The BR Guest Hospitality group operates Blue Fin, along with 20+ other restaurants including the Blue Water Grill, Strip House, Atlantic Grill, Bill’s Bar and Burger, Dos Caminos, Isabella’s, Sammy D’s Strip House, Troy, and The Lively.

Blue Fin is located on Broadway (near 47^th Street) in the heart of Times Square (opposite the red TKTS staircase); the restaurant is part of the W Times Square hotel. Until 2013, when you could still drive down Broadway in Times Square, this restaurant space held the Roxy Deli. (Roxi Deli is now located on 8^th Avenue and West 44^th Street.) After a restaurant refresh in 2015, half of the original Blue Fin space on the corner of West 47^th Street and Broadway now houses Dos Caminos restaurant (owned by the same BR Guest group).

The elegant, serene Blue Fin offers seating on two floors. The smaller ground floor/street level seating area is more casual, with a few tables and booths (both semi-circular and regular) near a 12-seat sushi and sake bar. In the evening, the street-level dining room operates as a more exclusive sushi bar called “Izi at Blue Fin”, but during the day, the same menu is available on both levels. The two-story wall behind the sushi bar contains nautical-themed framed photographs, with lights strung on thick ropes in the space above the sushi bar. An iconic wave wall features an ocean of blue and gold to reflect the overall maritime mood. A huge open suspended staircase leads to a larger, more formal dining area upstairs that contains a marble bar with adjacent lounge area, regular tables, navy banquettes with white piping, and some private dining rooms. Restrooms are located on the second floor, and a hotel elevator provides access (be sure to take the leftmost elevator that is marked for Blue Fin). The sleek and modern décor includes polished wood, mirrors and mirrored columns, teak tables, and pendant lighting. The restaurant space was redesigned in the latter part of 2015 after neighbor Dos Caminos opened.

Blue Fin serves sushi and modern seafood. The restaurant offers a brunch menu on weekends, which features both breakfast and lunch options. All entrees are served with your choice of complimentary bloody Mary, mimosa, bellini, or champagne. We chose the bloody Marys, but they were so spicy with horseradish that we could not finish drinking them. After we ordered our food, our server delivered a small wooden pasty board that contained a slice of marbled pound cake, a corn muffin, and a scone, along with butter (which was not necessary because the items were so tasty). As an appetizer, we shared the Vietnamese sushi roll. We ordered one lobster and shrimp sandwich, which was delivered as a lobster roll in a large sliced hot dog bun bulging with seafood salad and topped with cherry tomatoes. Our other entrée was offered as a daily special addition to the menu: the bigeye tuna club sandwich, with rare tuna slices, bacon, avocado, and hard-boiled egg layered between three slices of bread and then cut into quarters. Both dishes were served with fries: the lobster roll came with waffle fries, and the club sandwich came with regular fries. Regrettably, we did not have time for dessert because we were on our way to the theatre, but reportedly, Blue Fin serves an enormous decorated fortune cookie that we would have liked to try.

We were pleased with the quality of the food and service and the beautiful environment of this spacious Times Square restaurant. We had not planned to dine in Midtown, so we scrambled to find a suitable restaurant at the last minute, and Blue Fin was a good find!