Ipanema Restaurant
“If you like shrimp and Thai coconut soup (Tom Kha), I highly recommend trying the Camarão no Côco!”
“I had the monkfish stew and my fiance had the picanha (I think that's how it spelled) and they were soooo good.”
“For entrees we had camarao no coco- shrimp in a coconut sauce, served in an actual coconut and bitoque- a really flavorful steak dish.”
Ipanema Restaurant
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
Rate and write a review Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
My hubby decided to come here to have our anniversary dinner when we visited NYC and it did not disappoint. It's located only 6 blocks away from our hotel so we just walked over. Checked in for our reservation and the manager happily escorted us to our lovely table upstairs by the window. Our server came over to greet us and started us off with drinks, bread and butter. It was amazing that the staff carried and brought another table across the room and connected it to our table to make more room for us. They did it without being asked so that was thoughtful.
We ordered the Fried Calamari with a Sweet & Spicy Sauce drizzled on top to start with. The pieces were huge and the portions were enough for the two of us to share. I had the Sirloin Steak topped with Shrimp, Lump Crab and melted cheese. Hubby had the Sirloin Steak topped with Fried Garlic and when I say topped, I meant it was crusted heavily on it and he loved every bite of it! Our entreés came with Rice and Black Beans which were also delicious. We left very satisfied and full! Thanks to the great staff and the manager who constantly checked in on us.
I had high hopes given all these good reviews, but my visit here was less than satisfactory.
The night started off when the host, who was missing from his station, came out to greet us. He had his suit jacket and tie sitting on a chair rather than being worn on person, as you would normally expect. Even so, if he chose not to wear it I don't recommend you leave a tie so visibly crumpled up on a chair next to the host station, where it caught my eye multiple times both entering and exiting the restaurant. His greeting was without emotion and he never said two words, just waved at me and my fiance to follow after asking for a table.
However, I digress from the key factors that landed a poor review for such an establishment. The place is nice and has a pleasant decor. Their tables have foam cushion underneath to keep from banging your knee. An added bonus, but did little to bump up a star in this review.
As mentioned by fellow patrons, the water on the table is their filtered water in glass resealable bottles. At no time was this bottle identified as special water by any of the staff nor was there ever an offer to get tap water instead. It was not until we finished the bottle did we get offered tap. This is a shady and misleading tactic. Other places would have the bottle sealed or clearly stated with a sign or tag on the top that says special filter water. Their reasoning for using resealable bottles is to lower the carbon footprint of plastic bottles; I'm all for the environment but my rebuttal is I have no way of knowing if that is truly the Vero water or just plain old filtered water with some other system. Especially since the resealable bottles are identical to the resealable bottles used by many restaurants which are filled with tap water. I don't mind paying the 3 dollars for filtered water, but not being told upfront is disrespectful to a customer.
The staff was friendly, but the food was hit and miss. You order their 12 dollar Salada de Palmito and what you get is a small plate with 5 half-slices of tomatoes and one sliced Hearts of Palm tossed with a handful of raw onions and shredded lettuce. The cost to make this is less than half their price. You can't put one more handful of lettuce? This plate was just small, sad and tasted bad. I didn't even taste a drop of their "Portuguese olive oil" because the onions were so raw. A bag of prepared salad from the supermarket would be better than this salad, and it wouldn't cost me as much.
The only other vegetable I ordered from this place was a plate of asparagus. I wasn't expecting a lot but what I got was three stalks of burnt asparagus, which costs you 4 dollars. The math comes out to $1.33 per stalk, which I must admit is the most expensive burnt asparagus I've eaten in the entire New York City. A total ripoff, even for Manhattan standards. It wasn't seasoned and tasted unprofessionally cooked.
Their Picanha, aged top-sirloin served on a sizzling plate with pineapple, was not served on a sizzling plate. The plate they used was not even hot. The rice and beans that came with it weren't bad. However, a good portion of the sirloin was pure fat, the heavy oily sort of blubber. I understand fat gives it flavor but nearly a third of the sirloin was inedible fat. On top of that, the pineapple was diced and pickled and served in a small saucer. That's what you call "with pineapple"? You can barely consider it a garnish. Poor description or false advertisement, you be the judge.
The one good dish was their Paelha Negra, a paella made with squid ink, shrimp, octopus and squid. The dish was covered in black ink and the rice was well cooked. They never provided me with a knife to cut the thick rubbery portion of the tentacle; not the end of the world but it would've been nice. The big issue I had with this dish was the large octopus tentacle tasted burnt because one side was charred and not in the good way. It was like eating extremely over grilled meat. Just like the asparagus which tasted burnt. It's such a waste since it looked so delicious until I had my first bite.
This meal was well over the $50 per person range, with one drink and tips included. I don't understand how it's rated as $$ on their profile. There seems to be a consistency with inaccuracies of descriptions and misleading facts regarding Ipanema. There's so many issues that I have a bad taste in my mouth and its not only from their raw onions or burnt food.
Came here to meet a girlfriend for dinner before our mutual obsession: a Marvel movie (Civil War).
I tried to be a fashion girl and just get two appetizers… Only to decide I also wanted steak as well. Oops.
Food:
-get the crab-stuffed avocado!! So amazing.
-the octopus salad is also a great appetizer option. Mmm.
-skip the shrimp in sauce appetizer… Impossibly messy to eat as it comes with heads/shell on and is a tiny portion.
-everything here is presented in the prettiest manner. My steak looked like a work of art.
-the portion sizes are on the smaller side, but the quality of the food is amazing.
Service: great. They were very attentive to us throughout our meal. I loved our waiter.
Atmosphere: this is such an impressive spot for midtown/theater district. It would be great for date night before a show.
Verdict: worth it if you want a foodie-friendly restaurant option that's not overcrowded before a show.
PRO TIP #1 – That bottle of water on your table is NOT FREE. Do not open it unless you want to pay an extra $3 for distilled water. (They'll come and fill your glass with distilled water from their pitches eventually.)
PRO TIP #2 – Check in on Yelp for a free beer.
PRO TIP #3 – They have a minimum order $$$ amount. We came here wanting just a snack and wanted to share an entrée (and a jug of sangria!) but they made us order an appetizer as well.
I trotted into this restaurant completely hopeless and out of no where just before their closing time.
But very glad I did. Since I was only a party of 1, after a little hesitant look I was seated on the upper level immediately. The server came and off loaded a bottle of water on the table and a few bread pieces and butter. Bread was good homemade bread. Glad I did not open the bottle, apparently it was not free! I had my own bottle of water that I was sipping from and then they filled the glass with tap water. Mind games??? really? common grow up guys or just ask the guest!
From there on everything was uphill. I did not want to waste their time and asked for a suggestion and was promptly directed to the first steak preparation on the list. It was a little aged steak, topped with lobster meat ad shrimp and melted cheese which was served with a side of roasted potatoes and rice and beans.
It was a very juicy and flavorful preparation. Worth a repeat trip and from what I hear they keep busy so reservations might be the way to go.
The good: The monkfish stew was delicious. Cooked with coconut milk, shrimp, and peppers I think. Balanced flavors and served with rice and beans.
The bad: The grilled codfish. It was WAY too salty. I tried my best, but after three bites, I just couldn't stomach it. I'm pretty sure it was just a one-time mistake, and apparently the fish itself is salty already, but I'm sure it wasn't meant to be served like that.
The service was good, and they were happy to replace the codfish dish for me. Decor was really nice as well.
We had a great time and ordered two starters and two main courses that our server Artiz suggested.
The staff was great and were very nice and attentive.
The Vatapa was especially tasty as were the fried bananas.
I'm putting up some photos of the order.
We'd go back again.
Oh, and upon checking in with the Yelp app, I was given a complimentary glass of beer. Nice!
Had an overall lovely experience here. It's a cute little restaurant. I was surprised it wasn't busier but my family and I were a little early and it was Father's Day. They probably have around 30 tables and only like 5 had people. But better for us since we didn't have to wait.
Our server was quite nice and friendly. He and the other employees were quite good at keeping our water glasses full. Our server was good at answering our questions but, and I feel horrible for saying it, he was a little hard to understand. But he was friendly and thats more important. He was able to recommend some dishes and oh boy were they good.
We had the picanha. It's Manhattan so I understand the price, but it was four thin pieces. I liked the flavor most out of my family but still was surprised by the portion. Though it did come with rice and beans.
We shared the paella too and it was delicious! It was full of stuff and the rice wasn't over cooked. But again, Manhattan price. On Long Island I can pay the same for way more!
And we had an octopus dish that I loved. It was different because it was two big legs that came out, covered with onions. It wasn't chewy at all. I loved it and would get it again if I ever wandered back it.
I can't say if we will go back. It was close to the theater we were in. But I can't say we won't go back either.