The East Pole - Kitchen and Bar

We got there having made the reservation the evening before and the restaurant was closed. It was very upsetting as I have a very special friend with me

restaurant was no open -- no sign on door - no communication to reservation holders -- not good business

Overpriced and ridiculously small servings The pasta entree was the size of a tapas plate. Food was generally tasty. Drinks were outrageously priced even by NYC standards.

Our group of 6 enjoyed a delicious, leisurely dinner in the quieter upstairs!

Nice food and place but a bit too pricey

Table was far too small for the five guests we had, even though the restaurant knew we were coming because I made a reservation secured by a credit card.

Met a girlfriend of mine at the bar for some drinks and a quick bite, good service, great vibe and excellent food. We got the calamari and steak tartare which was incredible

i love the fresh vegetables. The food is great. The staff is friendly and welcoming

Wait time for entrees very long.
Quality of food is OK.

I'd been to East Pole for brunch twice and it was always...fine. This was my first dinner there (my parents were visiting and staying in midtown). The service was fine, but the chicken my mom ordered immediately tasted strange, and then upon looking at it more closely (the lighting is fairly dark) we saw that it was completely raw in the middle. It was disgusting. When we ordered it we were told it would come later than the other dishes and were surprised when everything came together--it should have stayed in the oven. While we weren't charged for the meal, the two very small pasta dishes and appetizer of carrots came to $71 dollars. The portions were so small (and my mom didn't eat anything) that we stopped at a bodega and cafe for snacks on the way home. All around it was a major fail, and I won't be recommending it to others.

Great service in a laid back but upscale environment. My server was very friendly and accommodating

Terrible service, completely ignored. A restaurant I’ve enjoyed for years but will not return anytime soon. There are too many other lovely restaurants to frequent a place who does not value my patronsge

I had the grilled calamari. The squid ink sauce was too thick and there was too much of it for the six bits of calamari that came with it. The flavor was odd. We both had the pork chop. The server didn’t encourage us to get sides, so we had only a pork chop each with a sliver of grilled radicchio or some other lettuce. The wine list is terrible, and the red wines come too warm. However, worst of all, my husband became sick after eating the steak tartare. The waitress was nice, but we will never go back.

Excellent food and service. Unique menu with fresh ingredients

Very good food. Three of us had fish, one had meat. Nicely prepared and garnished. Our waiter was friendly but not intrusive. Excellent service - will return.

Delicious food in a stylish space.

Great food. Good prices. Great service. A real New York City classic.

They didn’t have a table for us even though they pushed our reservation back 15mins. We never sat down because the wait got so long and eventually walked out. Hostess was not helpful and unapologetic.

Very good food. Nice atmosphere. Tables too close together and acoustics not great. Too loud.

I did not like the service and for the price I thought that the food quality was quite poor. My server didn’t pay attention to my order at all and I was very disappointed.

Very good food and service.

The waiter was snooty; the food unremarkable; the atmosphere nonexistent. Even a cup of tea had to be sent back because the water was cold. Tea from a tea bag..there's a gourmet challenge.

I will not be returning.

My favorite dish was an appetizer that I ate when they first opened. Braised carrots. The fish was large with huge succulent carrots. All colors and shape. This time the dish was all raddicio and a few puny carrots. I complained but they claimed that was the dish. My chicken was very good and A large portion but everything else petite. The carrots used to be one of the best dishes in New York. Everything changes

Pre-theatre brunch in a visit to NYC

As close to perfect as any restaurant I’ve been to. Festive, yet elegant. Youthful, yet for all ages. Spectacular food. Remarkable cocktail menu. The most buoyant and welcoming staff. They gave us a memorable New Year’s Eve, and I plan to make this a go-to for as long as they’ll let me.

I’ve eaten here plenty of times always having a decent meal. This past Saturday was just marginal. The bloody Mary’s were served with no garnish, waiter said he’d bring it back after the bartender cut lemons. He never did. I ordered the avocado toast which is supposed to be served with soft boiled eggs and came with hard boiled. After we were served or waiter never came back to see if everything was ok, we needed pepper and salt. Finally had to flag down another waitor. I do not think I’ll be returning anytime soon.

Great casual restaurant on the eastside.
The service was wonderful and food excellent.
wonderful casual atmosphere!

Embarrassing dining experience. I paid the check for my party of five because I felt embarrassed for having chosen the restaurant. I arrive 10 mins before my reservation and the hostess refused to seat us until the full party arrived. Understandable, but then when my party arrived, so did about a dozen other tables for a 7pm reservation.

The restaurant sat us at 7:05 and we didn’t have our drinks for over 40 minutes. The appetizers were complete by the time the drinks arrived. Then only two of the drinks arrived, one of which was a Diet Coke. The food was mediocre at best, I had about 16 pea pods on a plate and my entre was a 1/4 roasted chicken, that was about six ounces of meat. Flavors were solid but not amazing. After two hours of dining with one round of drinks and terrible service we left.

The restaurant should stagger their reservations and better triage their bar service and seating policies. I will never go here again and don’t think you should bring guests unless u are trying to have an uncomfortable night.

Speaking of uncomfortable, we were five people in a table for four. Another low point to the meal that I almost forgot.

Run, the other direction. Not here.

Poor service. Waiter had lots of attitude and wasn't interested in being helpful. Food was ok

Overall nothing special. Ambience was fine, service OK, the biggest offender was the food, bland and my eggs Benedict was not prepared correctly (eggs were overdone). I wouldn’t plan to go back.

It was wonderful - from staff, to ambience to great food!

Sat at the bar - food was great. Bartender was distracted despite it being a slow night.

We booked a 7:45 reservation last night but when we got there the restaurant was closed!

Very good comfort food for brunch. It's a little cramped space wise, is the only drawback.

have always loved it here but the service was terrible friday night.

I thoroughly enjoyed my meal here. It was relaxed and the service was wonderful. For the price, I wish my fish portion was a bit larger, but the dessert made up for it!

I went for Brunch in November and was rather disappointed in this place. I was expecting high quality food and great taste but I could have had something just as good and even better at a diner. The first thing that set the negative tone was the coffee. I'm expecting a $5 cup of coffee to have a nice aroma and good flavor. Instead it tasted watered down and basically disgusting. Never in my life have I ever returned a cup of coffee but that's exactly what I did. I still can't believe I had to return coffee. After ordering a cappuccino, which was better, the eggs with spinach and mushrooms was simply OK. The eggs where "fluffy" but I've never seen eggs that were so perfectly round from being cooked in an 8" skilled AND one side was perfectly smooth, shinny and showed no signs of browning from being in the pan. It almost looked fake and shinny. The texture was very weird and it didn't feel like you were eating eggs at all. Maybe it was more like eggs done as a pancake? A round solid thick egg with no flavor or texture to it. As you can tell, never going back again.

Vegetable dishes and accompaniments were delicious and original. Overall food was very good, but I'm not giving 5 stars because fish (halibut) was overcooked. Nevertheless, I look forward to returning and have already booked a table for a friend's birthday next month.

Feels a bit like a Downtown vibe in the Upper East Side, with a distinctly young and hip clientele enjoying farm-to-table cuisine. The ambiance is cosy and upscale at the same time, the food is honest and well prepared with a decent wine menu. Do not leave without trying the pecan pie with caramel ice cream! Yum!

We enjoyed our dinner at the East Pole. The atmosphere was great! The portion sizes were a tad small.