Russian Tea Room - NYC

Made a reservation with OpenTable (which now shows "no-show")… but we were turned away due to a special party! They acted like they didn't know what happened and blamed it on OpenTable.

Lovely room, very historic and delicious food but inattentive and grudging service spoils the experience. This is right near the Downton Abbey exhibit and is a nice experience - maybe other waiters are better. We were there at lunch time. We enjoyed our food.

I’ve heard about the Russian tea room my entire life. However, I wish I hadn’t booked this reservation. The interior has not been changed in at least 50 years and looks like a gaudy Chinese restaurant. The servers seemed arrogant which was confusing as the restaurant was empty. The wine by the glass list is weak...I understand it’s a vodka place (there were probably 20 vodkas) but I would expect better wine options. We all four ordered the beef stroganoff, the house specialty, which was pretty great. However afterwards to venture to the bathroom in the damp, dark basement was uncomfortable to say the least. Our waiter disappeared in the middle of the meal and never returned. So sorry but really not the experience I wanted.

Went before Billy Joel Concert. Interior nice except a couple of strange touches that looked cheap including lighting fixtures with red Christmas ornaments around them in June. A clear "miss" in a high end establishment. meals were hit and miss. Lobster salad at $38.00 was REALLY tiny. Lobster was way overcooked and chewy. They served us a glass of wine that turned out to be water and then acted like somehow did something to wine, like downed it an complained. LOL! We spent $500.00 on dinner and wouldn't try to get a free glass of wine. Over all our server was very sweet but we were a little under whelmed. If you want to see this historic spot stop in for a cocktail and head to another spot for your meal.

Food and service was excellent. Had lunch.

We had brunch here before we saw Anastasia on broadway. We wanted to make it a theme day, so we decided the Russian Tea Room would be perfect, and it was. Food was great, service was great. It was just the perfect place and it had a great ambiance.

Certainly disappointing... While the food was superb, I will say that the caviar appetizer felt like a "tourist trap." The blintz was too heavy, the "caviar" was mostly roe. I joined my party last, and waited 10 minutes before a server greeted me or inquired about my need for a drink. The ambiance seemed tired, as did the staff. Our server was nicer as the evening progressed, but never friendly. It was my sister's 75th Birthday. Bottom line - we did not feel welcome.

Ate the prefix meal before a show was the only table for almost entire time we ate.... should we go back really want to see it busy and alive but food decor and service awesome!

This was in celebration of our granddaughter’s first NYC visit.

Absolutely great restaurant! Nice foods and atmosphere.

The food was great and the service was impeccable. I look forward to more dinners at the Russian Tea Room.

The food here is good enough. It's a long time New York restaurant but some of their prices are just robbery. I had an iced tea and it was $10!! No refills or anything. What a rip off. The service is also very rushed and they try to push you out very quickly.

We were warmly greeted when we arrived. The room was quiet and beautifully decorated. We sat in a roomy booth. The pace was leisurely and I felt as comfortable as if I were at home. One person had the salad which was large for an appetizer and had blue cheese and walnuts. Looked great and she said it was. We had the crepe with a mild goat cheese which was delicious. I had the baked salmon with fresh carrots, brocolini and rice and they had beef stroganoff. We all loved our main courses. We all had cheesecake for dessert which was good. This was the restaurant week menu and a good value. Tea was $10 and was a teabag in a pot served with cherries. Seems to me that is way overpriced. Coffee is $8. They did have inexpensive wine for $9 a glass. Service was pleasant and professional. Will definitely go back.

second time there. For restaurant week. Food is quite disappointing given their long-time reputation as one of the legendary classic places. Services is worse. When i asked for hot tea and stopped him from pouring my ice water (cramps issue), he ROLLED HIS EYE on me and said "huh". tables are at a reasonable distance from each other. But somehow did not help reduce the noise level in the dining area. Very noisy. Would not recommend this place to any one.

Service was very accommodating. Often not the case during restaurant week.

Enjoyed our winter restaurant week $29.00 lunch. Waiter was really pleasant and accommodating. Food was very good. We would have preferred a booth instead of a table,
since there were other parties of two that had booths. Don't know if that was because we
were there for restaurant week or not. We did ask hostess as she was seating us if we could have a booth (there were booths empty and one right near us was filled after that with a couple). We did order wine and pots of tea so our bill was closer to $50.00 pp, which was fine with us.

One of the best experiences i’ve had in a restaurant. Definitely one of the places to go in nyc

Dry finger sandwiches. Minimal amount of caviar. Our waiter disappeared at the end of the meal. Way overpriced. Will not go back.

We dined at the Russian Tea Room for Restaurant Week (winter 2018) and had a great experience. The RW menu was excellent and, unlike many restaurants that offer burgers or uninspired pasta on their RW menus, quite representative of the restaurant's classic fare. There was even a wine and vodka menu at reduced cost for RW diners. Most of us had the borscht, which was fantastic, and the beef stroganoff, which was very rich but delicious. The ambiance is quite different on the different floors of the restaurant -- with each floor nothing short of breathtaking. The Russian Tea Room is definitely one of the better options for RW dining.

I called the reservation to put Happy birthday on the cake but they don't do it, the server
was not pleasant, the lady in front who took the name of us when we came, we were like
standing in front of her and she told us to move, while this american ladies stand in front
of her she didn't say anything, my first and last will not go back there anymore.

My colleagues and I went here for a restaurant week lunch outing and had an amazing experience. The 2nd floor was by far the best room in the house that featured,a giant statue of a polar bear filled with koi fish, ornate ceiling decorated with beautiful art work and stained glass! The service was phenomenal and the chocolate mousse is to die for!

I had been here a couple of years ago and thought it was phenomenal. This time though the beef was dry and chewy, my boyfriend's chicken tasted like it had no seasoning on it, not even salt. While I wouldn't call it a "bad" experience, I feel like I don't want to go here again.

It was lovely. The service was outstanding and food was delicious!

La comida no fue gran cosa

It was my birthday!

I went during restaurant week, and felt that waiters not all, but some, are super rude , maybe because of the special week, but I asked the waiter to recommend one of the desserts from the menu, and he said, and I quote.. what Ever he thinks its not important..... That said! Place is beautiful, food was good & it represented the normal menu , but the waiter being rude, takes away a lot of the experience..

I hate to even have to say this - but the prime booths were only offered to heterosexual couples. When I was seated at a table with my female companion, I inquired about a booth. The hostess rudely snapped that they were for larger parties. I told her there were several couples seated (5 couples to be exact). She said they had been there since lunch and walked away quickly to end our conversation. It was 6:15pm.

I noticed that the other people seated at tables around us were also parties of the same sex or bigger parties (5 people).

It was really a shame to have experienced that at such a beautiful landmark restaurant. This was my first visit and I was thrilled in the weeks leading up to it - but it will likely be my last visit.

This was Restaurant Week. We were very glad to have chosen Russian Tea Room for lunch.

A nice tea but not worth the price Tiffany or st Regis or plaza are better value

Food is pretty ok

Five friends and I took advantage of Restaurant Week and we were truly floored but how amazing the food and service were.

We went for a restaurant week dinner. The food - we tried blinchiks, chicken, stroganoff and both desserts - was very good, and it was plenty to eat. At first we felt rushed, I assume because they do a lot of pre-theater business. But, once we asked the server to slow down, we were able to relax and enjoy our meal, which was great. The 3-course menu was a good value, and we found a nice, reasonable bottle of wine, too. My only complaint: they charged an absurd - even for NYC - $8 for a so-so cup of coffee. Go, enjoy this classic NYC place, just maybe skip the coffee.

It was very relaxed and enjoyable. Food was amazing and the staff very kind and attentive.

I've always wanted to go and finally had an opportunity! I will definitely go back. Absolutely everything was amazing!!!!!

Restaurant Week on a Friday evening. I think I would have preferred to have been seated on the ground floor. Let me get to the issues first. Drinks are overpriced. Moscow Mule = $22 and you don't even know what Vodka is being used. My wife's Vodka Cosmo was $18. The beef Stroganoff wasn't hot enough, the dinner rolls were hard. A round table for four came while we were dining. The women pulled out her chair and there was a napkin on the chair from the previous party, she took it in stride but you could see she saw it as unexpected. When I pointed it out to a nearby waiter he didn't take it away but actually told us to ignore it. My wife used the bathroom facilities and came back telling me it was filthy. I wanted to like the Russian Tea Room, The Borscht was fantastic, the Chocolate Mousse Cake was decadent. I just got the impression the meal wasn't prepared, a bit too assembly line for my liking.

Rservation wasn’t honored—had to wait nearly an hour to be seated.

Disgusting, inedible food. Made a reservation but still had to wait an hour to be seated. Extremely expensive and was the worst food I have ever eaten. Took one bite and started gagging. Don't go here!

Food quality may have been sub par due to restaurant week

If you know anything about Russian food, you would know immediately that the food is not authentic here. They put SUGAR in their borcht so it's too sweet, there was no meat in the borcht either, and they didn't even give you sour cream to put in it!! Enough said. Subpar food at a extravagant price.

My friends and I selected The Russian Tea Room for Restaurant Week. It is a beautiful restaurant with very interesting decor. We even took photos of the dining room. The choices on the dinner menu for Restaurant Week were varied and we were excited to get our food. The dinner rolls were delicious. I ordered the blinchik which was small, but that’s okay. I was looking forward to the entree. Unfortunately, we were disappointed with our entree. A few of us ordered salmon. One friend asked the waiter to take it back and get her the beef Stroganoff. I ate my salmon but I think the meal was lukewarm, including the risotto it was on. I didn’t finish the risotto. The dessert was good. I had chocolate cake. A few of us ordered the cheese cake, which was very good. I was really shocked to see that they were charging $10 for a cup of tea. They had an excellent selection but I will not pay $10 for a tea bag and a pot of hot water. Cappuccino was $8 which seemed like a better deal, but I don’t drink coffee. Our waiter was very good as were the other servers.