Don’t be fooled by outside of Knickerbockers in Greenwich Village, the food and decor is not like T.G.I. Friday’s inside

Last October I attended a conference in Jersey City, New Jersey and right across the Hudson River from my hotel was my favorite city, New York. My sister Susie happened to be right across the river too, but we never did meet up.

The conference organizers coordinated a group of us to go to dinner together at the Knickerbocker Bar & Grill in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York one night. To get to the restaurant we took a ten minute PATH train ride from Jersey City to Greenwich Village. From the PATH train station we had to walk a few blocks (city blocks) to the restaurant. We were so focused on staying together, finding the restaurant, and getting to the restaurant on time that we really did not look at our surroundings. After dinner we were able to walk at a more leisurely pace back to the train station and although it was dark and drizzling, we really enjoyed the sights. At one cross street we looked down the street and saw the arch at Washington Square Park. We walked to the park, took some photos, and continued on our walk back to the train station. As we walked we saw small upscale restaurants in the basements of some of the buildings we passed by (check out the Lion restaurant). Limos and town cars lined the streets waiting for their passengers dining in these restaurants. Many of the buildings are over 100 years old and have ornate hand railings on the staircases leading up to the buildings. Some of the apartments had beautiful glowing chandeliers that we could see through the windows. There were window boxes with flowers on other buildings. I would sure like to go back during the daylight to see this charming neighborhood and check out some of the restuarants.

The arch in Washington Square

When we arrived at Knickerbocker’s I thought we had been misguided and would be dining at a T.G.I. Friday’s type of restaurant. The outside of the restaurant was quite deceiving as the inside of the restaurant has the look of a classic New York eatery with an old school bar, piano, and caricatures by the legendary caricaturist Al Hirshfield.

Caricatures by the legendary caricaturist Al Hirshfield.

Knickerbocker’s bar

The group that I went to dinner with really enjoyed Knickerbocker Bar & Grill. A couple of the guys started off with the French onion soup that was served in the traditional soup crock with melted cheese over the top of the soup and a slice of bread. It looked great and the guys that ordered it said it was great. I had some of the best pasta ever. It was housemade pasta with linguine, shrimp, fresh chili, garlic, breadcrumbs and just incredibly good. Others had the filet mignon and the giant T-bone steak. One guy had a gianormous burger. For dessert I had the key lime pie that was also incredibly good.

My incredibly good linguini and shrimp at Knickerbocker Bar & Grill

The filet mignon

Knickerbocker’s famous T-Bone steak

Key lime pie

I had always heard that New Yorkers eat late. As we were leaving the restaurant around 9:00 pm there were several groups of people waiting to get seated–this was not the case when we arrived at 7:00 pm. In my hometown the restaurants are starting to close at 9:00 pm on a Tuesday night. 

I love New York.

~merry~