allminenyc

Most creative dishes. The best restaurant week dinner so far. Price, quality, and service. The king crab noodle appetizer and the truffle short ribs was my favorite. The noodle creamy spicy (Szechuan) complemented each other perfectly. The short ribs were topped with generous high quality black truffles. The staff all the way to the busboy was most attentive and courtesy. A little hidden gem in Flatiron district. We will definitely come back again.

+11

Enzo G

Tried HORTUS during NYC Restaurant Week — a Korean-French fusion spot tucked away in NoMad with a $60 dinner prix-fixe. The food was thoughtful and well-executed, with a few standouts and some pleasant surprises. I started with the Oysters & Shrimp Cocktail, which featured 4 Island Creek oysters with a gochujang vinaigrette. The oysters weren’t the freshest I’ve had but still within a good range. The gochujang added a sharp, spicy kick that made the dish feel distinctly Korean. The Seafood Jewelry Box was beautifully presented — not your typical poke bowl at all. It leaned much more Japanese in style, with fresh tuna, sea urchin, soy-marinated ikura, avocado, and a spicy mayo base. Very solid in both quality and portion. For the pasta course, we shared two: • The Korean Smoked Pasta had gochujang butter and N’duja sausage. Bold flavor, super aromatic — reminded me a little of a Korean take on Shaanxi-style spicy noodles. • The Clam Chowder Pasta was lighter, more delicate. It used a coin-shaped pasta that was perfectly chewy and soaked up the broth really well. Not the creamy New England type — more like a clean, umami-rich clam broth without the heaviness. For mains, the Short Rib was tender and flavorful — closer to a Korean-style braised short rib than a steakhouse version. The Abalone Sotbap was probably the most interesting dish of the night: soy-butter abalone over hot stone rice with radish and spicy soy sauce. The rice had just the right amount of crisp from the stone pot. Loved the fact that the restaurant didn’t just use Korean ingredients, but actually brought in Korean form and structure — like serving sotbap in a fusion setting. 🌟 Overall, this was a solid and well-balanced meal. For $60 in Manhattan, I wouldn’t call it insanely cheap, but it’s reasonably priced and high-quality, especially for fusion done with this level of thought. The atmosphere is warm and modern, perfect for a quiet dinner or low-key date night. Would return to try the regular menu, and definitely curious to see what else they do with their Korean-forward approach to fusion.

+2

Suzy Vang

We came in on a Saturday evening and tried the Chef’s Tasting Menu. Service was top notch. Ambience was great. Food-wise, we had some mixed feelings. First off, the name Hortus kept making me expect Mediterranean food even though I knew I was coming in for Asian fusion, so that sort of messed with my initial expectations. Another immediate issue was that the menu is digital — you scan a QR code at your table using your phone. This would not really be an issue except our cell connections were not great inside the restaurant and the restaurant’s wifi password isn’t posted at the table, so we struggled to load the menu. The menu on the website could use some appeal as well. It just wasn’t as intuitive as other digital menus and appeared a bit deli-like in its presentation. All of that aside, we had some very spectacular dishes and some not so much: Wagyu Gui: this was by far the most memorable dish. The taste and presentation were equally superb. Oyster and shrimp cocktail: the oysters were pretty darn amazing and the chef had perfectly seasoned it for us. I could have done without the shrimp, which was a basic shrimp cocktail (albeit cooked on point), but I did feel the baseness of the shrimp took away from the well appointed oysters. But then again, it said oyster and shrimp cocktail, so we knew what we were getting. Clam chowder pasta: this was probably the most ingenious dish. The texture of the pasta was unique and worked well with the flavors. You’re transported to Fisherman’s Wharf immediately, but then it also made me want to sip some actual chowder for warmth and comfort. Overall, just a very creative dish. Black garlic cacio e pepe: we thoroughly enjoyed this as well. The pasta was cooked perfectly and the abalone added such great texture and flavor. The flavor reminded me a lot of jajangmyeon, but elevated. Short rib: the meat was superb and tender, but we weren’t a huge fan of the barley salad that came with it. Duck breast: this was a too fatty and chewy for my taste. The potato puree was amazing and we licked that up. The salad went well with this as well. Overall, the pastas really stole the show for us and the wagyu gui is a must. This is an interesting restaurant and we are planning to come back to try the other dishes.

+2

Linda Chiu

I’ve been here a few times and have always had a wonderful experience. The 3 course tasting is the way to go and we usually share everything so everyone could have a little bit of everything. Last time we were there, we ordered the Brussels sprouts as dessert and our server asked if we were sure! And yes we were! 😆 Will definitely be back again and have set up my bosses and teams for dinner!

+3

ESB NYC

First visit, restaurant week 2025 dinner. Unusual multi level space with a jazz band playing. We both opted for the seafood jewel box with a $10 supplemental up-charge. It was pretty good, maybe not worth the up-charge. That’s the thing with Restaurant week menus, you go in for this bargain at $60 per person and between supplemental charges, drinks, tax and tip, you’re leaving at over $200 a couple. I’d say overall we had a pleasant experience. The smoked pasta was not quite smokey enough. The blowtorched Wagyu was quite tasty. My duck was a bit on the tough/fatty side but pretty tasty. The steak frites had a tasty Korean marinade but was also a bit chewy. The restaurant week menu does not come with dessert, which was OK with us.

+4

Cindy Vu

restaurant week 2025. got tempura trio, salmon crudo, korean smoked pasta, cacio e pepe, truffle donabe with beef, and braised short rib. food was delicious and everything looked so appetizing. service was nice but a little slow (they were super busy so understandable). no cover charge on wednesday thursday and fridays for the jazz if you’re in the lounge. lovely ambiance! edit: came back for $30 lunch and got softshell crab / salmon sotbap. came with soup or hot noodles then dessert: sweet potato cheesecake or mango bread pudding.

+3

Myrna Chen

tried hortus after seeing good reviews on yelp and google. our reservation was at 6:30 pm on a monday night and there was no one there. we got nervous as to whether we had made the right choice in visiting! the space is quite nice and spacious as we were led to a table on the second floor. it did eventually fill up a bit more in our time there. unfortunately, it seems that almost all of the dishes that we got in our visit at the end of september are no longer on the menu with the exception of the truffle donabe ($33) and sourdough ($5). the truffle donabe was good but not super memorable. not sure i would get it again for the price. i also could have sworn the sourdough was complimentary on our visit, but not sure if i’m remembering this correctly. i actually thought the cod and pastas that we got were highlights of the meal, but unfortunately, it seems they’ve been swapped out for new seasonal options!

+1

Javier Kohen

Generally good food at a pretty good price point, but uneven execution. Some of the dishes combined interesting flavors, but others were confusing or bland. The abalone was chewy and bland, but the ribs were tender. The service was good, cheerful, but slow. The ambiance is quite nice, but despite having no grills at the tables, the main eating room is blanketed in so much grill smoke that it shocks you when you walk in.

+6

This is a decent restaurant with friendly service and beautiful jazz. The food was pretty good, though I wouldn’t say it was spectacular. We started with the salmon crudo, tempura trio, and Wagyu Gui. I really enjoyed the salmon and Wagyu, but the tempura was overdone and lacked seasoning. The Korean smoked pasta was good, but it didn’t blow me away. For mains, we had the cod and duck. I really liked the sweet potato purée that came with the dishes, but both mains were underseasoned overall.

Victoria Lim

FIRST VISIT 10/4/24 The most incredible restaurant I’ve been to in NYC so far. The establishment is beautiful with a very nice atmosphere. Every single food/drink item we had was so delicious and the service was amazing. The 3 course meal is so good for the price! We tried the salad, seafood, pasta, wagyu, steak, duck, cocktails, and dessert and everything was SO GOOD. The seafood was very fresh and paired well with their sauces, the wagyu was so melty and flavorful, and all the other dishes had unique flavors that were so yummy. I definitely want to go back and try everything else. Highly, highly recommend!!! 2ND VISIT 5/16/25 Although I have only been here once for my birthday last year, I remembered this to be such an amazing restaurant with incredible food and the best service. I even recommended this restaurant to all of my friends and family (even those out of state), some of which who came to celebrate a birthday in April. Because of that, I wanted to have my graduation dinner with my whole family here. I came with a party of 14. I called many times prior to the dinner to make sure that this large of a party was okay and could be accommodated. We were seated in the beautiful closed terrace which was lovely. The food as I remembered it was very delicious, with the exception of the duck. The flavors were there, but the meat was overly tough and not easy to chew/eat like last time. However, the service was not what I expected. I do understand that it’s difficult to cater to such a large party and that some of the guests may have been difficult, but ultimately at the end, I felt unwelcome. Our waitress was visibly displeased especially when we were deciding what to order (I was the only one out of the 14 who has been there before) and at the end of the dinner when she told my mom (who was paying) multiple times that we have to leave because another party is coming. I think this is more so a restaurant issue in not having any sort of policy for handling such large parties. Nowhere in our reservation did it say we have a time limit for the table. It’d also probably be helpful to just require large parties like that to get the fixed course menu to speed up the deciding process. Our waitress said she would get a manager to speak to, but we just left since we were holding up the next guests. Very disappointing, mostly on account of half of the party having driven up or flown in from out of state just to join us for this dinner.

+8

Jane

The presentation of the dishes is nice, but the taste is average. The ingredients, especially the seafood, were not very fresh and had a slightly fishy smell. The flavors were on the salty side. The restaurant’s ventilation isn’t great, so you can smell the cooking fumes. The servers provided good service, but the way the restaurant charges tips is confusing. They give you a so-called complimentary “bite food,” but don’t tell you that the tip calculation will be based on a bill that includes the $40 “gift,” which honestly isn’t worth even $10. For example, if you order $100 worth of food and choose 25% tip on the card machine, your tip will actually be calculated on $140, meaning you end up paying $35 in tips—effectively 35%—without realizing it unless you check carefully.

Alisa Zhao

Definitely the worst meal i’ve had at a “nicer” restaurant in nyc especially at the price point they have. Came to celebrate my birthday on a thursday at 7:15 pm we got seated after around 5 minutes because there was no host? we looked over the menu pretty quick and wanted to order but the server was no where to be seen for a good 10-15 minutes. (it may not be her fault since it seems that she was the only one working? also confused as to why there is only ONE server for a kind of busy night. but i feel i still have the right to be upset about this whole situation.) we ordered a bunch of different appetizers and entrees. our main entrees took a whole hour to come. (was there only ONE chef in the kitchen too?) food was below average and im never one to complain. some dishes looked nothing like what is pictured on the menu. most entrees were lacking flavor. it just felt like eating bland food. the only good thing was the royal platter. Unfortunately i had to tip 20% because of the added gratuity but if i could i would’ve tipped 15% :/ service was definitely lacking and seemed to cater to white customers only. Everytime we needed a server it took a good while for them to come. truffle donabe: i added steak for $10 and it just tasted like eating white rice with meat with no seasoning. didn’t even finish my meal cod: tasted like steamed fish with no seasoning whatsoever. the weird potatoes in the sauce tasted better than the cod itself. wagyu sotbap: same as the truffle donabe no flavor expensive for absolutely no reason. korean smoked pasta: we were expecting a different pasta shape as to what was pictured on the menu but got a completely different pasta type and tasted undercooked. sauce was watery. steak frites: the best part were the potatoes that came with it. ribeye: decent but wasn’t anything mind blowing. In conclusion for a $600 meal this was definitely not worth it at all and everything apparently needed seasoning.

+4