Roy's Restaurant

http://www.roysrestaurant.com/

Roy's Restaurant
130 Washington Street
New York, NY 10006

Directions: Take the 1/9 subway train to Rector Street

While we were in Hawaii, back in May, we went to a place called Roy's Restaurant. We liked it immensely, so when we came back to New York, imagine our surprise when we found out that there was a Roy's Restaurant near the Marriot downtown in the Financial District - so of course we had to go try it out and see how it compared to original restaurant in Hawaii. Here's a breakdown of what we ate!

Edamame (-FREE-)

Roy's Restaurant serves Edamame to all of their guests complimentary. They marinate in some kind of sesame oil mixture that makes them particularly tasty, but it makes for messy eating with your fingers.

Butternut Squash Soup ($8.00)

Our guest of the evening swears up and down that this was among the best soups she's ever had. If you look carefully in the upper-right corner, you can see her hands. She could barely wait for us to finish taking the picture before she dived in.

Aloha Roll ($15.00) and Uni Nigiri ($11.00)

Yeah, I know it's actually Unagi Nigiri, but the kitchen screwed up my order and sent me this instead. On the plus side, I got to eat the Unagi for -FREE- and the Uni when the kitchen sent the correction.

From the left, clockwise - a Mai Tai ($12.00), a glass of Pinot Grigio ($9.00), and a Hawaiian Martini ($12.00). Pictured separately is a Blood Orange Martini ($12.00).



The drinks were well mixed so it didn't taste like you were drinking alcohol. Speaking for myself, I had 2 blood orange martinis and a hawaiian martini in rather quick succession and it gave me pleasant buzz.

And now the main courses!

Dynamite Halibut ($32.00)

In Hawaii, they call the fish Ono. It was served with a scrumpcious crabmeat topping over a bed of asparagus. Delicious! The best thing about the dish is the sauce that you see drizzled over everything - after all, halibut can be a rather bland fish if not flavored correctly.

Surf and Turf ($44.00)

This consists of 3 medallions of filet mignon, each with a different topping (crabmeat, scallop, and grilled shrimp). You can tell from the color of the filet mignon that I like to eat my meat on the medium side. I WOULD NOT ORDER THIS AGAIN. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that it tasted bad - on contrary, it tasted great. The drizzles that you see above each medallion is a different kind of puree that you can try with the steak (orange, celery, and some kind of cream). But at the price you pay, you'd hope for a bit more in the way of substance.

And the highlight of the evening was the Hawaiian Style Misoyaki Butterfish ($30.00)

It was served with a side of Chinese Forbidden Rice and Bok Choy vegetables. The black rice has an interesting texture to it - slightly chewy, as if the shell on the rice grain is still partially intact. Out of the three dishes we ordered, I would have to say that this was hands down the best! The butterfish was delightfully flakey, exactly the way it should be.

And lastly, but not least, are some of Roy's signature dessert dishes, the Upside Down Pineapple Cake ($8.00) and Melting Hot Chocolate Souffle ($12.00).



Due to the time it takes to prepare these particular dessert dishes, you need to order these at least 20-30 minutes ahead of when you actually want to eat them.

While I did like the food at Roy's New York, I have to admit that there is no comparison to Roy's Hawaii. The servings in Hawaii were bigger, the seafood was fresher, the drinks made me drunker, the prices were cheaper, and they have a prix fixe menu - Roy's is better in every way in Hawaii.

All in all, I would love to come here again. It was pretty easy for us to get seating since we went in the early evening hours; however, by the time we left, most of the tables had been filled. Keep in mind that it was a Friday evening and life in the Financial District gets kind of dead after work hours.