The Poni Room

Seems designed for bridal showers and hen parties. Definitely style over substance, which isn't really my scene. NOT a Izakaya, more like a Japanese fusion place but...sadder?

Pros: The happy hour deal is amazing. $25 for self serve rose on tap and kitchen snacks that were pretty substantial. They served edamame, chips and fried seaweed. It was pretty empty and quiet, I'm not sure if many people know about the place yet. The waitress was really informative and attentive.

Con: The downfall was our reservation was for 6pm (happy hour deal is 6pm-7:30pm). We got there on time and were told they were waiting for things to be setup downstairs. They didn't seat us until 6:25 and then cut us off right at 7:30 so that was pretty disappointing. Other than that, it's still a great deal they should just either change to 1 hour or move to 6:30 instead of right when they open.

The Happy Hour deal included two very small snacks ( to share for 2 people), so the whole point is just rose wine, definately dont go for it to enjoy food. Wine is served from water classes and comes from a tap. The Poni Room is also underground and at the happy hour there were only 2 other guests. I would not go there again.

The environment and the customer service was excellent. Perfect for catching up with friends or a romantic evening out. Be sure to check out all the spaces. Each area of the restaurant is different and there is something for everyone.

Really great time at happy hour with a group of friends. The serve yourself rose on tap was amazing and the deco was beautiful. I’ll definitely be back!

Too bad no choice, just an obligatory Valentine menu with too many flavours and unbalanced. Can therefore not really judge the restaurants.

not a well designed restaurant. took forever from ordering to getting our food, like we didn't get our entrees until 1.5 hours after arriving. received the wrong order multiple times while waiting. food was disappointing. lotus root that we got by accident was too strongly flavored and too sweet. coconut balls were ok, wouldn't get it again. potato chips with "caviar" is just roe and not good. chips are stale. salmon tartare was decent, wouldn't have it again. not much of a drink selection and no cocktails. only redeeming thing was the duck, pretty good or maybe just because i was craving peking duck already. this restaurant was understaffed and underwhelming.

Such a mixed bag, fried oysters were excellent, pork belly was good but the rest of dishes very agerage. We had octapus, salmon tatare and coconut rice.

The food and ambiance were phenomenal. The Poni Room served Asian inspired tapas. The portion is shareable and very tasty. The back room filled with bottles of rose, white, red wines, etc compliment each dish. The area is intimate and fairly quiet to enjoy long conversations while enjoying food and drinks. The server and staff were welcoming and easygoing. Made our time there more comfortable and enjoyable. Definitely going back here.

Interesting concept below Saxon + Parole but the whole experience could be elevated so it feels less like an after thought. Not izakaya-feeling enough, needs more buzz. Menu is a little confused. Feel like you’re missing out on Saxon upstairs which is such a contrast - which is crazy because you’re supposed to be in on some secret. Wish Poni all the best - but it’s a good start. Weird that someone at the Saxon door has to seat you. We went downstairs to Poni, and were told to go up by the host, then waited for someone to seat us, then were brought down to be seated. By the time we were finally sat, the anticipation was kind of over.

Food and service was great but could be cheaper. We had the fried oysters (excellent), the laska (very good) , the salmon tartare (good), and the lamb neck with bao buns (excellent). Probably won’t return but it was a great choice.

The food and service in the Poni room was great. We liked the decor and ambience but it was very quiet which spoiled the vibe unfortunately.

This is the best restaurant I have ever been to. Our server, Jocelyn, was extremely helpful and went above and beyond. The food was absolutely incredible and the wine was phenomenal. Whenever I come back to NYC I will definitely be going here again.

Fun ordering lots of small dishe

We really like the Poni Room. It's a little unique (you pour your first glass of wine yourself). The food is a little overpriced for the portions, but it is very good. Highly recommend every one of the skewers, and the pickles. We've had our waitress before, and she was super-sweet, as usual. We'll be back.

It’s a very normal restaurant, the food is not bad, but it leaves you indifferent...
We had a terrible experience because in the restaurant they have an option to go to a room and get your own wine or beer, we just got ONE beer and when we ordered the check they had added a cup of wine. When we said we didn’t consume any wine the waiter said it was because the manager saw on the cameras that someone had drank some wine. They let me down because first of all if you think that happened you can ask, you don’t put it in the check as if it was nothing, there are ways to do it and also because if they have cameras they could have checked them and see if it was us or no. Also, i did not like the attitude of the waiter, plus, if the manager was the one that asked her to put it in the check she should have come and said so. I would definitely not recommend this restaurant to anyone.

The first surprise was a Restaurant in a Restaurant whats make everything even more interesting.
The food was very good and the look and feel of the room was super nice with a lot of details. Loved it!

Comida bien elaborada bien ambiente bebeidas bien

The entire experience was okay. I like the drinks concept whirr you get to pour your first round. If you plan to do 1.5 open bar for a cost you can pour for that amount of time. However, there is no ice in that drink area or a dump bucket or sink for excess drinks you may not want. The food however was the biggest disappointment everything was SUPER DUPER SALTY

becky was the best waiter we have ever had! she gave our group the most fantastic experience. Unforgettable and cannot wait to return. Thanks Becky!

I love the concept of the Poni Room. The food and wine are very good. The service is good one second, like really good, and then non-existent the next second, even when it's not busy. The food can add up, since the plates are very small, but again, it's really tasty. Recommend: the pickles, the shrimp skewers, the tuna skewers, the scallops, and especially those octopus skewers (sauce is amazing).

Really fun restaurant, food was just ok but drinks were great and vibe was fantastic. Would be back for drinks and snacks

Overpriced, hot, music so loud and the portions were so small.

This is my second review of the Poni room and a bit of an update on the first. Only downside of the first visit was a small snafu in terms of seating, but I am pleased to report that there were zero issues the second time around. I was late for the reservation, but we were seated the moment I got there without issue. The food was again top notch and same goes for the cocktails. Also, the service was Grade A. Our server this time around was Becky and she was fantastic. Also, our previous server Anne came by to say hi, to chat with us, and make menu suggestions when we asked. The service at the Poni Room is really excellent and probably reason enough for me to go back. Also, the playlist is sneaky good and can be found on Spotify!

The Poni Room is delicious! Great share plates that definitely fill you up, and love the self-service wine aspect also (for your initial drinks only). The music was a little loud at first as when we got there the place was almost empty, but once you have a drink and the space fills up you forget about it!

Overall good experience. Very fun environment. Food was delicious. Some dishes were very slow to come out, and they forgot a few of the skewers we ordered, but course corrected. Very accommodating and thoughtful since we had a shellfish allergy in our party.

We had 2 tapas, a fish with lettuce wraps and edamame. We served ourselves some rose out of a sink in the back. The bill - $265 with tip. One word - overpriced.

Our experience was great - good food, drinking rose out of a fish, etc. Something was missing though. There was a distinct missed opportunity to play Ginuwine's 1996 classic "Pony" on repeat throughout the evening. I'm not saying it's the only song to play and to play it on loop. That'd be crazy. But like, throw a Pony in every 3 or 4 songs. Keep the people guessing. With these changes I think Poni room could really capture the zeitgeist of the modern dining experience. That is, going into a loud crowded room to listen to Ginuwine's "Pony" while eating food.

Thank you for your consideration.

What a very cool dining experience. For once, something different. You get to pour your own first glass of wine, allowing you to see the bottles and take small tastes. The decor is so cool. The food was delicious, and the service was very good and fast. We had the pickles, shrimp, octopus, tuna and uni and all were spot-on. Roses are really good. Red selection is limited, and should be reconsidered, if it's going to be that limited.

Didn’t seat us until 70 minutes after our reservation time.

Fun flirty vibe, however even with a reservation we had to wait an hour to be seated. While the staff was very nice and appreciative of us waiting, that sort of wait time with a reservation is unacceptable in my book. Also, we had the tasting menu, however it was not until we finished our meal and they brought us the check that we realized we never received one of the dishes from the tasting menu. Overall, service needs to be improved, however it was a fun night out for a girls dinner.

First experience with the Poni Room was mixed. We made an 8 PM reservation, but when I arrived it seemed like things were running a little behind. There were a number of other patrons waiting to see the hostess who was doing a great job of keeping her cool despite fielding questions about reservations and seating wait times from all angles. From my perspective it seemed like she could have used a few more people to help her marshal the crowd. In any case, once we were able to speak with her she let us know that the table wasn't ready yet and suggested that we wait at the bar. We did so, ordered drinks (chamomile sazerac - quite good), and waited...and waited...at about 8:40 I went back to the hostess to ask about getting seated, explaining that we had a 10 PM show to catch after dinner and we were seated fairly shortly thereafter (Approx. 8:45). The dining room itself has a cozy and inviting atmosphere...almost tropical. Our server (Anna) was AWESOME. Really pleasant, really helpful, and significantly improved the experience from that point on. We ordered food, and everything we had was delicious (lettuce cups, octopus skewers, daikon fries, and coconut laksa). We also ordered the crispy pork belly and forever crispy wings, but we had to pay the check and leave before those came out in order to catch the show because we were seated so late. Our server (again, amazing) was really apologetic, she made sure the items we did not receive were removed from our bill and comped our drinks. Regarding drinks, the Poni Room is a self service bar. Once you've been seated you can serve yourself at the back bar with either rose (bottled or on tap), red or white wine, pre-made cocktails, beer, soju, or sake. This is a novel concept and we loved it as there is no waiting in between drinks for a server to come take your order. I would definitely go back to the Poni Room and hope they are able to work out their seating issues.

i don’t like the food at all

we were there on time and one of our party was late. They would not sit us until the full party was there. acceptable but we didn't know ahead of time and had we known, we would have had made sure we were all there, or made a later reservation to accommodate. so we waited 30 minutes and then our last person came but the table was gone. all this while the hostess kept telling us that "don't worry the table will be waiting for you". we were seated 90 minutes later in a tiny cramped table that was not a fit for 3 people, but we somehow managed.

The whole self-serve thing, while different, just doesn't work. And neither does their menu.

Really wanted to love this place, but the service was terrible and our waiter was very rude

Great atmosphere and wine but very small food portions

It was just above mediocre food. Not deserving of the 4+star rating shown but overall a positive experience.

It’s in the basement of Saxon & Parole, And has this terrible moldy musky odor. We ordered over 10 dishes and asked them to pace it 2-3 dishes at a time since the tables are so small. Everything practically came at once so we had no room to eat, everything got cold and was just not enjoyable. The food itself is only ok. If you want tapas, there are plenty of other better restaurants.

The most beautiful little hideaway! Rose selection was incredible with an array of tasty seafood dishes as well - coming back!