Really enjoyed the food and ambience of Casa Mono. Dishes were varied and delicious. The oxtail and blade steak dishes were superb.
Wine list was excellent, predominantly Spanish with some great choices including Albariño’s from Gailicia that are very unusual outside of Spain.
It’s a little overpriced in terms of portions but the flavour is spot on.
It was a beautiful day and what better place than Casa Mono to match it. Its open and airy with bar and table seating. We prefer the bar area. You can watch the chef prepare the meal. Helps with the ordering, as its all tapas.
It was a great dining experience. Every thing that we ordered was delicious to the last bite. The bevvies matched the food. Few glasses of the cavas and prosecco is the way to go.
I say , don't just listen to me. Just go and try it.
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Casa Mono
March 12, 2016
Gramercy/Flatiron, New York City
Chef & Part Owner Mario Batali
Part Owner Joe Bastianich
Exec. Chef & Part Owner Andy Nusser
Part Owner Nancy Selzer
General Manager Miguel De Leon
Chef de Cuisine Anthony Sasso
Executive Sous Chef Diego Moya
Wine Director Rachel Merriam
Sommelier Charlie Abbott
Accolades:
-1 Michelin Star
-3 Stars, New York Times
-Eater 38 Essential NYC Restaurants
Review:
Casa Mono is small. It is loud and it is crammed. But that is the beauty of it. My meal at Casa Mono was a great one. Head Chef Anthony Sasso is coming up with some of the most unique creations I have ever experienced. One would think some dishes are strange, ingredients you just wouldn't think would work together. But somehow they do.
Seated at the chef's counter, with a close up view of where the magic happens, I began my meal by requesting to speak to the obviously talented Sommelier and Wine Director Rachel Merriam. I knew nothing about Spanish wine, which is all that is offered at Casa Mono. I told Rachel what I liked and she told me the perfect white to resemble my tastes and she was right. A great start to the meal. After looking over the menu and speaking with Executive Sous Chef Diego Moya and getting some of his suggestions, we ordered 8 dishes to share. In my opinion that is the way to go at Casa Mono. Pick about 3 dishes or so per person, and share it all. I won't go in to describing every dish we had but I will certainly mention the highlights of the evening and there were quite a few.
The first of my favorites was the Ribeye Tartare. Incredibly unique, served with scallion "ash", blue cheese chicharrón and a porcini mostaza. This dish was a standout. Everything worked wonderfully together creating a melt in your mouth texture while still being able to taste each of the dish's components.
Another favorite of mine was the Crispy Sweetbreads. It was served over roasted fennel and topped with a wonderful toasted almond vinaigrette. This is a can't miss dish.
At this point I had finished my first glass of wine of the evening so I called over Rachel and told her I'd like to try a red wine opened with the Coravin system which of course allows me to try a high end wine rarely offered by the glass. We landed on the 12 year old Gran Reserva Rioja. Another first for me and it was a good one.
The third winner of the evening was a complimentary course courtesy of Diego, the Stuffed Lamb Belly. I truly loved the flavors in this dish. The lamb belly was perfectly seared, leaving its juicy texture and stuffed with fresh mint. It was then placed over thinly sliced kohlrabi and manchego cheese.
The last dish I will mention was a great one, but it had a component that I think it could do without to make it even better. The dish I am referring to was the Pork Belly Havana. Reminiscent somewhat of a deconstructed Cuban sandwich, the seared pork belly is served with plantains, ham and a honey banana sauce. Fabulous flavors make up his dish although the ham was quite overpowering which made it difficult to enjoy the main components if you were to mix. I understand its theme, but since the ham is hardly the intended highlight, doing without would make this a standout.
Overall my meal at Casa Mono was a great one and I would definitely go back. Not for its atmosphere or to have intimate conversations, but for its food. It is clear to me now why this restaurant recieved 3 stars from the New York Times last year and a Michelin star in 2009 and every year since. It's because the talented team of cooks are putting out masterful dishes in that tiny kitchen of theirs.
3 Stars
⭐️ Good
⭐️⭐️ Very Good
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Excellent
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️ World Class
This place is absolutely wonderful; it was a long wait without a reservation but completely worth it. We sat at the bar facing the kitchen and (which are the best seats in there, which are few) and watching them cook was half the fun. At the other bar the bartender was slicing Iberico Ham to order which I thought was stupendous. Only drinks there offer are wine but the selection is endless and equally as delicious. Lastly the food, its flavor is so on point. Each bite as wonderful and more exciting than the last; I had the Stuffed Lamb breast, oxtail stuffed peppers, skirt steak, and duck, they were to die for.
I had not had good food until I came here. I came here during restaurant week and split 12 dishes with my family. I do not normally eat at high end restaurants, so the menu was a bit off putting to me at first, but I let them order and sat back, relaxed, and had an open mind. Wow, each plate was amazing! They deserve all the Michelin stars in the world. Each piece of everything packed a punch of flavor and every dish was a stand out. I can't even choose one. I highly recommend this tiny restaurant.
Fantastic!! I have been a huge fan of Batali since Pó, and on a recent trip to the city, our meal at Casa Mono was the highlight. The small house is a bit noisy because of the volume of the canned music, but this is a minor complaint. Great wine list including a variety of interesting sherries. The razor clams, beet salad and foie gras were all great, but the roasted marrow bones were truly spectacular.
Very good food. We loved the food: the duck is amazing, the fois gras sublime, and the crema catalana very good. The service was good, but we felt as if they were trying to rush us in and out. When you are ordering a bottle of wine for $170, you deserve to stay as long as you like.
ONE OF MY FAVORITES!. Batali is a genius! Small intimate space with a great variety of Tapas. The menu does change somewhat seasonally but I've been here many times and have had the entire menu and i must say...IT'S ALWAYS GOOD!!
The Sardinas Fritas are excellent. And the duck and skirt steak are phenomenal. Both very tender and melt in your mouth! This is one of my favorite Batali spots!
Love love. I just love this restaurant , i have been going there for the last 3 years and the menu is fantastic ! i always order the same , razor clams with this amazing garlic oil sauce , the sweetbreads that i just dream about are a few of my best of the best
Small and intamate space. Great tapas with great variety. Many seafood choses. Appart from the tight configuration a rather pleasant food experience
Best Kitchen Counter Dining!. You're far enough away from the kitchen, but close enough to see the action. Beautiful plates being put together, and the amazing aromas floating toward you. I'm practically drooling as I write this!
Batali is a genius... Fantastic spanish cuisine in a teeny teeny restaurant... It's all good
Mario Batali tapas. Delicious variety of tapas, our favorite was the grilled baby octopus....we were all fighting over it. wish it were a meal. Small really cramped restaurant, reservations are recommended. We had drinks around the corner at Bar Jamon while we waited for a table....great Jamon.
Really fantastic small plate place. The lamb and oxtail plates were my fave, also the home made chorizo is fantastic. When u have to wait for your table go around the corner to Bar Jamon.
Oh so good! Tapas style dishes. A fantastic combination of dishes each one better than the next.
Pretty consistent. I've eaten here a handful of times and it has consistently been great. favorite dishes are the fideos, the pumpkin croquettes, the duck hearts, the pan con tomate (but last time it was way too salty) the trout is good but again the mushrooms on the top were too salty. try not to sit at the bar as it gets pretty hot.
So for the food, as usual, it would be mostly a photo report. We were absolutely delighted with all of our choices, so without long overdue, here is the happy report.
great Catalalan specialites in a very cool (maybe a little tight) Gramercy vibe.
What's the best way to eat at a place like this? Order a bunch of plates and go with the flow.
I could have eaten order after order until passing out.
On Sunday, Lucy and I went to brunch with Courtney, my friend from Charleston who moved up to the city a couple years ago. As of couple months ago, Courtney and her husband are Vegan, as is Lucy. Courtney found us a cute little Vegan brunch spot called Blossom . For being strictly Vegan, they had a menu full of delicious sounding meals. I opted for the French Toast with fresh fruit and tempeh bacon. The French toast was crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside. I was nervous to try the tempeh bacon, but I ended up liking it. Both Lucy and Courtney had the Tofu Scramble with sautéed onion, mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, and soy sausage. I wish we had more Vegan restaurants in Charleston. There were a lot of menu items Iâd like to try and ultimately experiment with in my kitchen. Maybe Iâll use the menu as inspiration. Thanks, Courtney, for picking out a great spot and meeting us! :) We also took Courtneyâs recommendation to walk through Chelsea Market and pick up a
20 years of great service and food.
I'm really happy that I was able to enjoy this anniversary tasting menu . The food and wine pairing were exceptional.
There were a lot of great chefs in the building for this very special event . This place is more than a restaurant it is an institution where up and coming Chefs get their inspiration from.
Over the top experience.
Amazing food, from the quality of the food to the presentation of each dish. Even though the portion was small for each, every bite was delightful. Our server, Antonio, was very professional & friendly.
4 of us ordered 9 tapas in total & a bottle of wine, which came out to be about 420 USD after tax + 20% tip. I would come here again if it was not for the price, but maybe this is the norm here. It felt a bit overpriced as a tourist here.
Reservation is recommended, as walk-ins take over an hour to get a table.
[One-star ⭐️ Michelin] Casa Mono serves small plates tapas-style dishes in a cozy setting. The bone marrow and grazer clams are absolutely brilliant and must try! In fact everything is so good, hard to recommend 1 dish. 👍🏻
We had an incredible time at casa monos! I love their wine collection! Their tapas are great as well! The atmosphere was a little loud and the place we were seated was cramped. Other than that we enjoyed our night and the service was excellent! Our server damian was warm and friendly. 💯 we will definitely come again to try other tapas and we recommend!
Incredible. Every single dish we ordered was fresh and delicious. The goat and scallop dishes changed my life. Excellent wine selection as well. Highly recommend
Absolutely incredible experience dining at Casa Mono. The service was flawless, everything we ordered was totally delicious. I don’t think there’s one thing on the menu that is anything below really good, but a few standouts for us were the duck breast, the goat confit, the lamb tongue, and the scallops. Casa Mono turns out serious food and offers outstanding wine at a modest price. I could eat here everyday. In my view, this is a perfect restaurant.
Fantastic tapas restaurant right in the city. It's easy to see why this place has received and retained its Michelin Star. Menu was creative with tons of options and lots of intrigue. Service was excellent, very friendly and engaging and helped make suggestions when we just couldn't decide between a few options. The in-house sommelier was awesome, incredibly knowledgeable and on-point with his recommendations. Atmosphere inside the restaurant was a great vibe as well and overall, everything is very reasonably priced. A must-go in NYC.
I came here for my birthday dinner and everything was really good. We got like 8 different tapas and they were all very flavorful. My favorite was the skirt steak one, it was the best steak I’ve ever tasted in my life. Lol can’t wait to be back.
7/27/23 visited with friends from out of town that made reservations. I must say this was a wonderful experience. Food was amazingly good. A must place to recommend and return to. Everything was great I loved it! Juan our waiter was delightful professional and friendly he made our evening a fantastic one.
My second time at Casa Mono and it did not disappoint! The tapas are phenomenal and each dish is incredibly tasty. I highly highly recommend the foie gras, it’s the best dish on the menu! Cant wait to come back for more.
we enjoyed most of our dishes here. the server was pleasant and we only wished the restaurant was less crowded as our table was quite small. overall, a good experience.
Bottom line: A true, unpretentious 5-star dining experience. One of my favorite meals in NYC. You can tell why they've earned a Michelin star year over year over year.
There are not enough good things to say about this dining experience. The host, the server, the cooks, and the bussers all worked together in a perfect concert.
To say the food was delectable is an understatement. The flavors were vibrant and varied, the textures made each new dish exciting. I am still dreaming about that Albariño that paired beautifully with each dish.
It's the kind of place that really made me want to travel to Spain now.
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Came here some good food and a relaxing night with a friend from out of town.
The Service: Exceptional.
Everyone was very friendly and down to earth.
The Food: very good.
We ordered a variety of food to get a nice sampling of their menu.
ARROZ Negro with fluke - declicious. It's a little on the spicy side and if you like spicy, you would love this. Rice was done well, the fluke was nice and flaky. Overall, delicious and an amazing sauce.
SCALLOP w/ pepper & curry sauce - delicious. Flavor was on point. Scallops were tender and juicy. Really good pairing of flavors.
The sauce was amazing!
CRISPY pig ears - fried to a really nice crisp. Seasoning was just right. This would go great with a bear or some wine.
PORK sabrasa w/Quince and honeycomb was very salty. You definitely need to eat it with the honeycomb. When you do the combo, it was delicious.
DUCK breast was also very flavorful. Loved the plum sauce. One piece of the duck was just a teeny tiny bit on the chewy side. Was also really good.
Dessert: we had the creme Brule with fried dough on bay leaves. The dough was so soft like a cloud with a nice crisp. The creme Brule flavor was delicious.
The atmosphere:
We sat outdoors. The space is nicely done, but then the heater must have slowed down. It got a bit chilly as the night went on.
It looked pretty cozy inside and noise level is a big loud, but nice ambiance.
We also ordered a bottle of wine shown in the photos. One of the staff's recommendations. The wine was a nice, smooth dry white wine. It went well with most of our meal. I think red wine may have been a better pairing considering our menu, btlut my friend wanted the white. Definitely recommend this wine.
we went there as small group, it does not come with a big portion, so you can order more kinds. very tasty but not traditional Spanish food. house wine is also worth to try
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This popular, reliable and consistently good casual Spanish Tapas/Pintxos eatery has been our perennial NYC favorite for years. Offering a diverse range of creative and exotic ‘tough-to-decide’ dishes from a compact menu, reaching a decision could be quite a challenge. After some gargantuan effort and debate, our party of ‘famished’ 4 finally settled on the following:
Ensalada mone Manchego & pimenton marcona almonds
Razor Clams a la Plancha
Bacalao Croquetas
Fideos, Chorizo, Clams & garlic sherry aioli
Sweet Bread, fennel al mone and marcona almond vinaigrette
Lamb Belly marcona mole and sungold tomatoes
Piquillo Peppers braised oxtail and Jamon Iberico
Foie Gras cino cebollas
Crema Catalana Bunuelos de Laurel ( Bay leaves fritters )
Overall, the food was still very tasty and good, though I did detect a slight slippage in quality and execution ( result of staff attrition caused by Covid? ). Case in point, the slightly overcooked Razor Clams and Croquettas. However, there were more than enough lip-smacking goodies to offset these short-falls… the salad with ’ one-of-the-best-tasting dressing ’ was such an example. As in the past, the gorgeously sauced, huge slab of seared Foie Gras was another stand-out…as was the crispy Sweet Bread…
A most enjoyable first meal. For me, the most important factor was that, I got to enjoy and share such delectable food with my loving family!
One of the best restaurant experiences I have ever had. Every dish was unique and packed with flavour and were affordable for a Michelin star restaurant. I was with a large group and service was on point, and the sommelier was very helpful as well! In a sea of great restaurants in NYC, Casa Mono stood out from the rest. I will be back.
Very delicious tapa place. We ordered 9 course for 4 people, and we finished everything! My favorites are the clams and pork belly. The wine pairing is also pretty good too!
The only problem with this place is that the space is very tiny. It’s very crowded inside and we sat outside. The outside cabin smelled a little bit moldy on a rainy day like this.
Excellent food, well-deserving of those Michelin stars! Just high quality Spanish tapas with good ingredients in a pretty laid back environment.
The lamb belly and mushrooms were especially delightful.
The only issue was that the place gets PACKED and LOUD between the pounding music and the throngs of people packed into a small space. The servers do their best but it clearly seems hard to keep up.
Casa Mono was an amazing experience. Have been to many tapas restaurants in NYC and Chicago and this one definitely takes the cake. High quality food, delicious flavors, and decent portion sizes (especially for tapas). Obviously on the pricier side, but for the quality of food and service, it is most definitely worth it. The staff were extremely kind, giving amazing recommendations and being very aware to our party’s needs. They even sent us a dish from the kitchen! And the menu had great variety too, with decent pescatarian options. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone looking for an elevated tapas experience in NYC or to any foodie! (Also highly recommend the jamon, the pan con tomate, and the setas!)
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