When you have out-of-town visitors, there are a few places that might be interesting for them. It might be a bit tourist-y, which usually means pricey and not very tasty dishes. Well, I might’ve found a pretty good spot! It is Cipriani Dolci, inside the landmark, Grand Central Terminal. Cipriani has many, many locations all over the world. In 2002, they opened this location.
Since they are located on the higher level, you get to have a magnificent view of the Grand Central Terminal. I asked for the table with the view, but when we arrived, they wanted to sit us at the back… The lovely hostess told us that if we were willing to wait for the staff to clean and re-set the table, we could have the table with the view. We of course waited. It took a while, but I say it was worth it.
Once we were settled and put in our order, we got some complimentary bread. I was happy to see we got bread and breadsticks! I always enjoy eating breadsticks… They were good, nothing special, but good basic breadsticks and breads. We also received a small bowl full of cheese from a different staff than our main server after we received our dishes. I thought it was great that we got to have our own bowl of cheese!
Cipriani Dolci offers Venetian menu, and we were all feeling some kind of pasta dish on this day. I was looking at this interesting pasta dish with branzino, but it seems like my interest has convinced someone else to order this dish before me! So I had to see what else I wanted to order…LOL.
So, this interesting dish I originally wanted is, Organic Cipriani Spaghetti with Branzino and Cherry Tomatoes ($36). I love branzino, so I was curious what this dish would look like. If you want the Whole branzino cooked to perfection, Enoteca Maria is still the BEST spot! Going back to spaghetti, it had chunks of branzino, a good amount of cherry tomatoes, and perfectly cooked spaghetti. The combination of branzino and tomatoes worked so beautifully, it was so tasty! What I really liked about is that they brought the extra serving in a metal container! For that, I feel as if the high price point is more reasonable. I must say I was not expecting much from a kind of tourist-y spot, but the spaghetti was really good!
My hubby went with something much simpler, Bucatini Cacio e Pepe ($33). This pasta was also surprisingly good. I enjoy a good Caio e Pepe every now and then. This one had the very plump pasta, I really enjoyed the texture of the pasta. The seasoning was simple yet satisfying, I say it was a pretty good dish.
I decided to go with another classic, Organic Cipriani Tagliarelle “alla Bolognese” ($33). I feel like I got more pasta than the others with spaghetti dishes. Yay! It also had a nice amount of meat, which was coated in a sauce that was almost creamy. It was a nice dish, once again, and I was happily full.
But just because we got full, that does not mean we are gonna pass on dessert. And they don’t make it easy to say no to dessert either. They don’t bring you a dessert menu, they bring you the whole dessert to your table to see what they are!!! And if you are really full, or have other plans for dessert, that is ok. They will bring you complimentary cookies. Yes! They were soft and sweet, basic yet comforting cookies. We of course ordered a couple of desserts, with Tea and Cappuccino.
Out off the dessert plates, we chose Vanilla Meringue Cake and Vanilla Mille-Feuille. Sorry I forgot to get the prices… I thought the way they created the Mille-Feuille was interesting. It was a nice size, big enough to share among the three of us. Not the best Mille-Feuille I’ve ever had, but it was good. The Meringue Cake had the most impressive look with the height of the meringue. This was also a big enough size to share, and it was a good cake.
The bathroom is a bit tricky to get to. You need to go all the way to the back, take a few steps down, go through the door. You will see a bathroom sign with arrow pointing to the right. Go up the stairs. Not accessible, and not easy for anyone with mobility issue.
Once you get up the stairs, you will see two dark brown doors, with a staff guarding the doors. The staff needs to open the door for you, as it is locked. The inside is not as big, but clean and bright.
We had a pleasant lunch here at Cipriani Dolci, with a great view of the stars on the ceiling of the Grand Central Terminal. The food was pretty good, and service was ok too. I would definitely put this spot as one of top restaurants to take my out-of-town guests in the future!
Cipriani Dolci – West Balcony Grand Central Terminal, 89 E 42nd St, New York, NY 10017