My spouse and I
visited Loeb Boathouse for lunch on a Thursday afternoon in late August 2018.
The Boathouse is open for lunch on weekdays, brunch on weekends, and dinner
daily. You can make a reservation for lunch or dinner using the online Open
Table system; however, weekend brunch is walk-in only. (Although we have wanted
to eat here for years, we have never wanted to arrive on a weekend without a
reservation and have to wait for a table, so we felt fortunate when we had the
opportunity to visit the city and dine on a weekday.)
As its name
suggests, the Loeb Boathouse is located on the boating lake in Central Park.
The first boathouse, a two-story wooden Victorian structure with a mansard
roof, opened in 1874, providing park guests with a place to buy refreshments
and take boat rides. Sadly, it burned down, and in 1924, it was replaced by a
rustic wood structure. Fast-forward to 1950, when banker/philanthropist Carl M.
Loeb and his wife donated money to repair and restore the boathouse to the way
it looks today. Bird- and butterfly-watching are popular around the lake, and
you can also rent rowboats or take a ride in an authentic Venetian gondola. Rowboats
that hold up to four people cost $15 per hour (cash only, with an additional
$20 cash deposit), whereas the gondolas holds up to six people and costs $45
per half hour.
The Boathouse
offers several places to dine: a casual outdoor area near the boat launch, just
inside the main entrance at a casual counter-service outlet, indoors at the
large wooden bar (which has a few high-top tables near the stone fireplace), or
on the “porch”, which allows year-round dining that becomes al fresco in the
warmer months thanks to a wall of sliding floor-length windows that can be
retracted. Patrons dine on a huge roofed porch with a long railing and pillars;
in the summertime, striped awnings extend a bit over the lake, and flower boxes
overflowing with blooms hang on the wrought-iron railing. The setting is rather
unforgettable, both from inside and from across the lake, and we were lucky
enough to be seated directly at the rail so that we could enjoy the maximum
views of the boaters while we dined. A large private event space is also
available.
Note that it is somewhat
difficult to reach the Boathouse by vehicle. Vehicles are permitted in Central
Park only on weekdays from 3:00 pm until 7:00 pm; during that time, you can
arrive by taxi, Uber, or your own car. During other hours, you can walk to the
restaurant from the nearest park entrance at 80th Street and 5th
Avenue; you can catch the restaurant’s free trolley from that location as well
(call to check operating hours and frequency). You can also arrive by pedicab
or by hansom cab (horse-and-carriage).
Loeb Boathouse is a fine-dining restaurant that serves
upscale American cuisine. Upon being seated at our excellent table, we ordered
a round of drinks; however, when the restaurant’s Moscow Mule was delivered in
a highball/Collins glass instead of a copper mug, we began our meal
disappointed. (We often order a mule, and never anywhere else have we encountered
a restaurant that doesn’t offer copper mugs!) As we read the menu, a server
offered an extensive breadbasket, and we each chose two different slices
(including sourdough, wheat, cranberry nut, and small baguettes). As our
appetizer, we shared the beet salad (golden beets, whipped feta, olives, lettuce, tzatziki). As our main courses, we
ordered the scallops (with baby rainbow carrots, pancetta, and kale) and the cedar plank salmon (with couscous, mushrooms, English peas, and Meyer lemon butter). For dessert, we shared
the banana chocolate bread pudding (served warm, with chocolate sauce and
banana-toffee ice cream). Our food was delicious, but the scallop dish
contained a very questionable baby carrot that exhibited two large green
(seemingly moldy) spots; we pointed them out to our server, who agreed that it
shouldn’t have been served that way, but no apologies were made. We expected
more quality control from the kitchen, expediter, or food runner.
We enjoyed our lakeside lunch at the Loeb Boathouse (except
for the spoiled carrot).
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