Category Archives: Restaurant Reviews

American, Nolita/Soho, Restaurant Reviews

Musket Room

March 15, 2026 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

My wife and I went to Musket Room this past weekend to try their tasting menu. Overall it was good, but I feel like, for the price, you really aren’t getting a lot of food. Some of it was aggressively acidic as well, but that I didn’t mind so much. I was still hungry when I got home, and after a $500 meal, that should never be the case.

First course; sourdough bread with chicken butter (nice that they gave this to us on the house), red snapper tartare, oysters three ways (half shell, grilled and fried), and prawns.

Of these, the prawns were the big winners.

Next course; duck confit (this was dry), and crab congee.

The congee, while a bit more “whole grain” than porridge style, was delicious. It had crab and sunchokes in it.

Main course; venison and pork ($15 upcharge for the pork instead of the tilefish).

These were both excellent, with the pork being slightly more excellent than the venison. But two slices and three slices? Come on…

Dessert was nice. We had some complimentary French Amer (amaro).

The chocolate cloud with orange cream cake was just slightly less delicious than the sweet potato gratin with toasted ice cream.

There was also a little platter of cookies and things. Very nice.

I probably wouldn’t go back, but the food was indeed very good, as were the cocktails.

MUSKET ROOM
265 Elizabeth Street
New York, NY 10012

Japanese, Restaurant Reviews, West Village

domodomo

March 8, 2026 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

My wife and I stopped into Domodomo for a quick early dinner. Check out what we had:

We started with some tuna cones and their 18-piece sashimi platter. Then we moved on to some Korean style fried chicken nuggets and squid ink pasta with uni.

Everything was good, and I would definitely go back to try their omakase.

DOMODOMO
140 West Houston St.
New York, NY 10012

Japanese, Midtown East, Restaurant Reviews

Shinpi Omakase

February 23, 2026 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

I took my wife here for a belated Valentine’s dinner, mainly because they offer an all-you-can-eat uni add-on at the end of their omakase. This place was a bit pricey, especially with the sake pairing, but I feel like we got our money’s worth. The pieces were all high quality. In fact, the uni was probably lower in our rankings of favorite pieces here. Anyway, here’s a photo dump of everything they served us:

The sake:

SHINPI OMAKASE
121 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10016

Chinese, Fusion, Japanese, Korean, Midtown West, Restaurant Reviews, Thai, Vietnamese

SEA by Jungsik

January 4, 2026 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

This place is a sister restaurant to the Michelin-starred Jungsik restaurant. We went big here, so I’m going to make it quick. Check this out:

First off, the oysters here are probably the best I’ve ever had. I think that has to do with the jalapeno and cilantro granita (ice), and their version of a mignonette.

I also really enjoyed their steak tartare.

The prawn rolls, sticky rice sausage, and fried eggs were great too, but my focus on a re-visit might be on the other stuff above.

The stars of the show were the short rib special and the crispy pork belly.

I would get these every time I visit. The pork belly was the best version of this dish I’ve ever had. The fat was completely rendered and soft, the meat extremely tender (no stringy bits), and the skin was nice and crisp without being too hard and hurting your teeth/mouth.

The crab fried rice was a bit fishy, but beautiful nonetheless. It went nicely with the curry, actually.

The soft serve dessert sundae was a great way to end the meal.

I will definitely be back here again. I highly recommend it.

SEA BY JUNGSIK
151 W 30th Street
New York, NY 10001

Carcass Club/Beast Feast, Restaurant Reviews, Spanish, West Village

Bartolo

January 4, 2026 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

First, check this little video out:

This meal was incredible. We started off with the anchovies with butter, the terrine, the crab and uni pintxos, and the pork belly chicharrones.

These were all top notch and incredible. Tough to choose a favorite, but maybe the chicharrones.

For mains, we had the tripe, the foie gras lentils, and the cochinillo asado (roast suckling pig).

The tripe and the pig were shop stoppers, and the pig came with a really nice salad and fries.

We ate everything but the hoof.

We finished off the meal with this nice flan dish.

I can’t wait to go back and try the steak and roast suckling lamb specials.

BARTOLO
310 W 4th Street
New York, NY 10014

Brooklyn, Pho, Restaurant Reviews, Vietnamese

High Lua

January 4, 2026 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

My wife and I stopped in this small Vietnamese joint for a quick lunch. I had the turmeric noodles with pork and shrimp, and she had the special pho.

Both were decent, but not at the level of our favorites. It did hit the spot though.

HIGH LUA
182 S 2nd Street
Brooklyn New York, NY 11211

Burgers, Nolita/Soho, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews

O’Nieal’s

January 4, 2026 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

This joint has a great burger menu, and I’m glad I finally made it in for a taste. They offer a burger and beer special for $20 (no fries though), or you can get the burger with fries for $20 (no beer). I went with the Grand Street burger, with American cheese.

Nice medium temp on the inside.

I will definitely be back to try more.

O’NIEAL’S
174 Grand Street
New York, NY 10013

Japanese, Queens, Restaurant Reviews

Gyu Kaku

December 17, 2025 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Gyu Kaku is a Japenese BBQ chain that serves up some great grub at a good price. We ate like fat kings and drank like poor sailors, all in, for just $120. Can’t beat that with a bat!

GYU KAKU
44-45 21st Street
Long Island City, NY 11101

German, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

Loreley Beer Garden

December 15, 2025 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

After all these years in NYC, I finally made it over to Loreley Beer Garden for a bite and a drink.

The 7-sausage platter was amazing. I enjoyed both the tots and the fries as well.

There’s a great selection of beer (obviously), wine and cocktails, and the place gets pretty decked out for the holidays.

LORELEY BEER GARDEN
7 Rivington Street
New York, NY 10002

East Village, Pho, Restaurant Reviews, Vietnamese

Moc Mac

December 15, 2025 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

This new Vietnamese joint specializes in hot pot, but their regular menu items are pretty great too.

We tried the pork jowls, the baby clams, and the beef pho. All were awesome, and I think the pho here is my favorite of all time. Also huge props to the wagyu betel leaf wraps. I really loved those as well.