Beauty & Essex- New York

After the faux store entry it's just another restaurant. Unfortunately one with mediocre food and high-ish prices. Middle downstairs dining room is not desirable as it is nowhere near as appealing as the rear one. Upstairs dining rooms and bar are reasonably nice. Steak came on a silly large cutting board with only over-seasoned and dryish mushrooms. It was reportedly filet mignon... but did not seem to be. Somewhat oddly seasoned too. Salmon entree was pretty good - cooked medium as ordered and came with spinach and pearl cous cous. Why does a restaurant decide to serve a starch and veg with one entree but not others? Burger was mediocre. Choc cake was disappointingly dry. Pumpkin cheesecake lacked flavor. Wine by the glass selection is a bit narrow.

Definitely a loud spot for your typical Sunday brunch but it ended up being super fun. Loved the apple cider sorbet shots and would go back for those alone!! Appreciated the vegan menu too and for sure recommend the vegan chilaquiles.

I would reccomend this place for any age group. They have fun things on the menu for everyone. Very attentive servers. Food was delicious!

Our party of 4 absolutely loved this place. The food was excellent ! We had several appetizers ,all were fantastic !!! The dinners didn’t disappoint either. We had the chicken meatballs and the salmon as well as the veal bolognese and they were soo tasty. In addition to the great food , the ambience was awesome! Beautifully decorated and swanky.
Five stars!!!!

Fabulous girls dinner here before going to a show. It took us a while to get to our show from this location because of NYC traffic, but well worth it. Shared plates were all amazing. Great cocktails and scene. It really is a neat, fun place. The staff was great and very nice.

I had friends and family in town visiting. I’d heard good thing about this place and was excited to finally eat here but left disappointed and offended. The food was honestly just ok at best. Nothing was outstanding, though I’d say the Mac n cheese and the red velvet waffles were quite good. As for cocktails and mocktails, the Bloody Mary was great as well as the platinum peacock.
Aside from the food the part that really killed it was our waitress. She was never around which was highly irritating. We asked her to split the bill 5 ways and ended up with different amounts on our checks. As a group we all agreed we’d tip x amount that would make it so everyone’s check total was $67. This meant some of us tipped $1.37 and others $30. As we were leaving I happened to catch the waitress making a snarky comment to other staff about the different tip amounts. I approached her and explained had she split the bill evenly like we’d asked, it wouldn’t look so odd. Regardless of her inability to do basic math, her tip still came out to 20% of the total check cost. (Which she did not deserve, especially after how she acted as we were leaving)
Sadly I wouldn’t recommend this place. It’s a beautiful space with over priced average tasting food, poor service, and ignorant staff.

Second time and it was even better than the first!

Great except the girl checkin people was so ride and full of herself

The only reason I am giving 4/5 on one of these categories is because we waited for an hour for our 9:45 reservation. The lovely Anisha did everything in her power to turn that around and for that we are forever grateful. I honestly have not met such a hostess with the mostess like that in an eternity. I wish I could take her to Vancouver to come work for me!! Thank you for making our experience so special. This is a must do on every trip to NYC for us! Thank you

The service was outstanding and the food was delightful! I look forward to dining at Beauty and Essex again!

Too loud and clubby

Great for a special occasion! Took my mom and sister for my mom's 70th birthday and they loved the food and atmosphere. My sister has very specific dietary restrictions and they were wonderful to accommodate. Champagne in the ladies room was such a treat for a fun girls celebration.

What a disappointment!!! I had been 2 years ago for a Xmas party, and it was fun, food was good, and due to a private room, easy to talk and mingle.
Went last week for my daughter's birthday. I should have realized we were in trouble when we had to wait for a bus load (literally over 50 people) to be seated ahead of us. But once I saw on their website that they have opened in LA and Las Vegas.... I should have known what to expect!
It was so loud we could not hear ourselves talk, the goony guys next to us must have thought they were at a football game! Reservation for 7:45, seated by 8, drinks ordered, came at 8:30, food not until 9:15 and they brought our entrees, but forgot about the apps!!! And I had to tell them they got it backwards. Apps were nothing special, and the prices are a poor value. $18 for 4 miniature empanadas!!! $25 for an appetizer portion of pasta. Really poor value, entrees were cold when they brought them back. I asked for fresh entrees due to the mix up, some were, other ???
They did deduct a round of drinks due to the mix-up, but overall a VERY poor experience.
Shame, it was a great concept and lots of fun and good food, but like so many once trendy spots, they make their money and then go to Vegas.

Love this restaurant! Food was great, service a little slow but understandable since it is usually pretty busy. We loved the variety of options on the menu. LOVED the tomato soup dumplings! Perfect bite-sized appetizer, very tasty. The spinach and ricotta ravioli and Peruvian chicken were excellent. Will definitely be back to dine here again.

Great, but sat very late since our party wasn’t there on time

Our party of 12 had an amazing meal with terrific service. We highly recommend this restaurant while you are in town.

Staff where very accommodating, food was delicious

We had a fantastic experience at Beauty & Essex for brunch. Food was terrific and our server was exceptional. She surprised us with a glass of champagne each for my birthday and a yummy cupcake as well. We loved everything about this restaurant.

Terrible I would not eat here again, the dust in the bathroom was so thick ... its antique looking , over crowded wait times are hours long even with reservations ... an overall flop and a waste of a perfectly good date night ... the best part about this place was the pink champagne in the ladies room. The extensive flights of stairs gets a thumbs down for me . No walking room , not enough seating and not clean for the seems to be upscale crowd who was here .

Rudest arrival staff - Waited 45 minutes for our table.

SO GOOD!!!
ALWAYS A GREAT PLACE TO GO IN LES - YOU CAN NEVER GO WRONG

I was disappointed with my dinner at Beauty and Essex. I have eaten there around five or six times, and historically it has been great. This was not the case in my latest visit. First off, we were not given a chef's special treat upon being seated and given our drinks. I'm not sure if this has been discontinued, but I remember receiving this in prior visits. Secondly, it seems like the time between each plate was longer than usual, it took more than 90 minutes to receive a total of 6 items, coffee and a dessert. Finally, I noticed on some of the items that they were not as hot/fresh as usual. For example, the GRILLED CHEESE, SMOKED BACON & TOMATO SOUP DUMPLINGS we're slightly cold and had a harder texture/staleness to them. I hope this was just a fluke thing, as I really like this restaurant. I may return in the future...

Always love it here. Little disappointed that we had to wait for a table after having a reservation for a month and being on time. I called to say we might be a few mins late due to traffic and we weren’t late in the end but table had been given to others. 50th birthday celebration so it mattered.

Great food and atmosphere. The place never seem to amaze me.

Amazing service and amazing experience, we had this down as a must when visiting NYC and it was worth the wait.

Great ambiance, drinks, and food! The tapas style food lets you indulge in a lot different plates to share at the table. Definitely coming back here with a large group!

I was visiting New York from Houston. Beauty and Essex did not disappoint.

Had my birthday here. It’s beautiful. Food was amazing and big portions to share. Expect a pound of bacon from the accessories menu! Enough for a party 20! Came for brunch had 1:30 reservation and bc parking around here was terrible, we were all 30 min late and they still accommodated us.

Mágico lugar, comida exquisita..

Loved it! Would come back

Despite making my reservation a month before, as soon as reservations opened up for that date and requesting a table in the main dining room, when we arrived I was told that my request couldn’t be honored. I had also called on two separate occasions to ask if we could add one more to our party which was also denied. My husband had a brief conversation with the hostess and magically we were seated in the main dining room at a table that could accommodate 5. Just wondering why that couldn’t have been done in the beginning. Not a good start to the evening. On to the service, it was DREADFUL!! Our waiter was either horrible at his job or simply didn’t care or both because he had to be flagged down EVERY TIME we needed something. No personality, no attemp to engage with us at all, simply going through the motions. Multiple empty glasses on the table during the meal, he never once asked how the food was or if we needed anything, these are all simple, expected courtesies that were never extended. We have been to Beauty and Essex before and had a wonderful experience, this was not the case this time. I finally went to talk to a manager who was apologetic and bought the table a round of drinks. This was appreciated but didn’t quite make up for the overall experience. I had also mentioned we were celebrating two birthdays when I made the reservation, a plate with cake balls was plopped on the table with no mention of happy birthday or any acknowledgement what so ever, in addition they were stale!! The check was dropped, my husband payed the bill, at which point the waiter picked it up and walked away. No thank you, no good night, NOTHING!! Will never return. I had talked about this place for over a year before bringing my family back to Nee York for this special occasion and to have such a rude, aloof experience and to be treated the way we were by the staff is inexcusable.

Gorgeous food, we had rib tacos, scallops, chicken meatballs and another chicken dish. Everything was delicious! Such
a cool atmosphere too!

I don’t understanding Why this is a real “must See hot spot” in NY. It’s really noisy, really busy and The food is ok, but not outstanding..

Best birthday dinner I have ever had. The service was amazing . I will definitely come back

It was a great environment, quick service and the food was excellent. I would recommend it to my friends and family. I would also take a special someone for a special event. Thanks for the outstanding service!

A little bit too noisy, but very cool ambiance and very good food. Expensive.

The food was great, but it took a while for the server to come and our order was not placed entirely, so we had to wait for the balance of the order to come a bit later. The server seemed distracted, which is understandable as it was very loud and crowded, I could barely hear myself speak. The prices are on a higher side, but the food was great. Everything I ordered was absolutely amazing, from taste to presentation. Didn't care for the desert, it was pretty standard, but the rest was excellent. Would go back to try other dishes. This time i tried pasta pesto, and truffle chicken meatballs, french fries and a few sides.

an absolute must if you’re eating out in NYC. Innovative menu, Great produce, outstanding service. Do yourself a favour and book a table!

This was my go to place and I come here at least 2-3 times a month. Why reserve a table, give your credit card for security, show up 10 minutes before your reservation and still wait 45 minutes past your reservation time just to get seated??? This has happened to me every time in the last month. Thank you but I’m done with this place.

We went to celebrate my daughter’s 18th and husband’s 50th. The wow factor is definitely there when you walk through from the shop. The reception staff were warm and friendly and the food was lovely. The food was described as tapas sized portions but they were far bigger and we therefore ordered too much. A fun night and super cool!