Midtown Manhattan and NYC's fashionable Upper East Side are home to a multitude of fine-dining restaurants. These are among the most romantic restaurants uptown. All are fairly expensive, but if you want to plan an exceptional meal that's also a romantic interlude in New York City, you can't go wrong selecting any of these restaurants.
© Marea.Located on Central Park South by Columbus Circle, Marea transports diners to a world of sensational, sophisticated taste.
Relais & Chateaux Grand Chef Michael White is a master of both seafood and Italian fare, and he blends them in uncommon combinations that make taste buds soar. We were initially seduced by his hand-made fusilli with braised octopus and bone marrow in red wine sauce, and each dish that followed was equally sublime. After dinner, hop into one of the horse-drawn carriages parked across the street from the restaurant, and take an enchanting ride through Central Park.
In his elegant Upper East Side jewel box of a restaurant on 65th Street off of Fifth Avenue, chef-owner Daniel Boulud serves lavish dishes whose tastes he elevates via classic French cooking techniques. Recently a klatsch of European beauties, a Texas magnate and his wife, and across the room a famous editor were among those gathered to savor the chef's haute-Gallic flair. Drawn by his brilliant menu, they anticipated one of New York’s premier dining experiences. Boulud does not disappoint.
The doyenne of Italian restaurateurs, Lidia Bastianich believes that good ingredients are half of good cooking—and she selects the season’s best for Felidia’s Northern Italian menu. Seafood lovers will find many tantalizing choices inside this cozy and romantic NYC converted brownstone on East 58th Street. Every day there’s a different species of whole grilled fish prepared with vegetables as a special. Linguine with clams is also heavenly. Complement restaurant cuisine with a prized older Italian vintage from the vast wine list.
Stylish Remi seduces diners with the taste and magic of Venice. Illuminated by sparkling, modern Venetian glass chandeliers, the main dining room features a 120-foot mural of the Canal Grande. Dig into rosemary foccacia while considering the menu of contemporary Italian cuisine that includes creamy risottos and innovative seafood and pasta al dente. A signature cross-cultural dish is Ravioli Marco Polo, stuffed with tuna, topped with ginger, and surrounded by a light tomato sauce.
You can't eat a view, but the floor-to-ceiling windows in Per Se in the Time Warner Center that overlook Central Park and the loveliest stretch of NYC's uptown greensward certainly are deliciously romantic. Yet even they are outdone by the food, conceived by Thomas Keller. His French Laundry in California is regarded as the best restaurant in America by discriminating critics. And his New York outpost is the closest we can come. Whatever you order, do leave room for his unique dessert, "Coffee and Doughnuts" that won't taste like any you've ever had before.
Adjacent to New York's Condé Nast building, Aureole is a business restaurant that knows how to set the scene for culinary pleasure. The restaurant's chef-owner Charlie Palmer believes, “People eat with their eyes as well as their mouths, which makes presentation an integral part of the art of cooking.” Veal-stuffed wontons, oak-smoked salmon with velvet blini, and the chef’s signature sea scallop sandwich in potato crust delight all the senses. Theatre-goers ought to consider the Bubbles After Broadway prix-fix menu, which offers a choice of entrée, dessert and glass of Pommery Brut Apanage Champagne.
