Sascha
I met Sascha 2 years ago at our friends kids bar mitzvah. He sat at our table. Couldn’t have been nicer. The party was at a Chinese wedding hall downtown and gambling was the theme. It was a fantastic party. Sharing and eating out of Chinese cartons. Brilliant slice of the world.
Anyway, he told me about his restaurant, Sascha. He was working on it. It has finally come to life. I went over there today to have lunch and check it out.
I had sent my sister in law over there on Friday evening to the cafe downstairs with a big group. She said it was great. She was able to order from the upstairs menu while the kids ordered from the cafe. That is pretty sweet.
The menu isn’t so easy to read. If it wasn’t for our attentive waiter I am not sure I would have figured out that there were actually a few salads to order. I am not sure why they set it up that way but they did. So, I guess it is key to have a good waiter.
Sascha definitely has the feeling of Pastis where he came from and worked for years. French bistro. This was a pretty large undertaking for his first restaurant. The cafe is downstairs. No reservations and a Pastis type menu. Next door is the bakery. Upstairs is finer dining which I am interested to come back and try. I really liked the way they put the place together.
Our salads were fine. Nothing to write home about. But, I really liked the vibe. As I saw the other orders come out of the kitchen, I don’t think we ordered what they are good at. I think the key is burgers, french fries and fried chicken downstairs. Also, they have an incredible ice cream menu. Coming there on a warm summer night, sitting on the street and having a big banana split sounds incredibly delicious. I will be back to take that on this summer.
Comments (Archived):
sorry about your experience with the menu…i had more control over the bar mitzvah.
Hi – My husband and I were in NY last week and ate at Sascha on thursday night. We had reservations and ate upstairs. It was packed. I loved it. I agree that the food was great but not overly wonderful. We were in NYC for 6 nights and had reservations at a different restaurant each night so it was interesting to compare and notice differences in the service and menu. I would say that Sascha has a lot of potential but they still need to work on their service. I could tell that Sascha was still working out their menu and service. Our waitress was okay and pleasant, but she kept forgetting things and we had to ask twice for another glass of wine, silverware etc. Also our food came out sporatically – not timed well. I had salad and the veal tortellini and they were just okay. My husband had a steak and fries and loved them. I liked the interior – very elegant and rustic blend – but it was very very noisy upstairs. I found Sascha because I read the Dining & Wine Section of the NY Times online every week. I also read some of your restaurant reviews on your website. (We preferred Lupa, Esca, and Baltazzar.)