Dining Bar popolari a Blauvelt

I've been coming here for many years and the food has ranged from good to very good. I went back again last Saturday night and while the menu hasn't changed much, the quality of the food has improved markedly. My wife and I xdashared apps of onion soup and artichoke bottoms. The onion soup may have been the best we've ever had. We've always enjoyed the artichoke bottoms but the recipe has definetly been tweaked for the better. The crunchy panco breadhing made this an outstanding dish. I had the ahi tuna special and my wife had the mussel frites for entrees. They were both outstanding with a major shout out to the frites. In general I don't like french fries (frites) but these were amazing. Super cruchtly with baked in parmesan cheese. I couldn't stop eating them. We shared the Nutella bread pudding for dessert. It was OK but not very memorable. I don't think the croissant had enough time to soak in the custard properly so it was a bit spongy. There were a couple negatives. The bread, while served warm, was stale and dry. That was a shame considering the roasted pepper compound butter it was served with was delicious. I just wish we had something good to put it on. My tuna came with a coconut rice and while it was cooked and seasoned well there was zero coconut flavor. This just left me with forgettable white rice. Service was not as good as on previous visits. While our server was excellent the person who greeted us was a little gruff. We walked in and there was no one manning the hostess station. In a few minutes a man walked over, after greeting some other patrons. I told him we had a reservation and he said yeah, I'm putting you upstairs. The upstairs is a bit spartan with none of the ambiance of the downstairs dining room. I thought with a reservation (from the day before) we'd get a better table. Other than that everything was fine. All in all, we had an excellent meal and I can't wait to go back and get some more onion soup. Highly recommended.

Ben's still got game. By far the best steak in America, maybe the world (of course with Benjamin's in Tokyo, all bets are off). The tastiest, juiciest, perfectly seared steak every time. The best one is the one before us on the table. That's what brings us back. But don't downplay the sides; creamless spinach (how do they do it), flavorful fresh mushrooms, broccoli like no other, potatoes better than mom made. Then, the pièce de la résistance the Tiramusu. Best in show. If you want a meal that brings you back time and time again, it's our first choice.

As expected busy Saturday so bit loud but great service & delicious

Amazing! Highly Recommend. Outstanding food , service, and atmosphere. Will be back !