Saga (NYC )

After reading reviews on this subreddit booked a dinner reservation for this pst Saturday night with my girlfriend to celebrate birthdays/upcoming anniversary. Had a wonderful time with fantastic food, service and views.

Arrived at Saga at our reservation time but it took a few minutes for them to have us head up in the elevator. When we arrived in the lobby offered the complementary cocktails and took us to our table. Was quite surprised to see we got a table right by a window with a view of Brooklyn’s downtown and the NY harbor as I’m certainly not a VIP. After an introduction to get us situated the sommelier helped us each choose a glass of wine and not too long after the courses started arriving.

First course: Abalone with shiitake mushroom with a citrus foam followed by the bento box. Bento box was beautiful and enjoyed how they allowed diner to choose their own adventure with sequence of fish and veggie bites and whether to use nori or lettuce wraps. The garlic glazed octopus and butternut squash bites were standouts.

Second course: citrus compote with coconut meringue and a radicchio ice. Felt like chef showing off technical skill. I was a bit hesitant about the dish but really enjoyed it, got hints of Roquefort from somewhere that played nicely with the citrus compote at bottom.

Third course: caviar with tamago and potato/scallop cream. very traditional fine dining dish. tasted quite good but didnt do a ton for me and tamago flavor didnt really come through at all.

fourth course: did the pescatarian tasting menu so the bbq course was celery root with chestnut puree. celery root itself was super tender with wonderful bbq flavor, but the chestnut sauce was a bit overly sweet, needed some smokiness or countervailing spice.

fifth course: lobster with black pepper sauce, sunchoke puree, and a mini bun stuffed with clawmeat. perhaps not the most creative dish ever but every single bite was delicious. pepper sauce paired perfectly with rich buttery lobster and the pretzel flavor of the bun.

sixth course: Moroccan branzino with pear and served with Msemen, hummus, harissa yogurt, and chili oil. Loved the family style presentation and the ode to his Moroccan heritage after doing a world tour of fine dining staples. Branzino had managed to absorb a lot of the spices it was cooked in but maintained a crispy skin. Hummus was great. Felt bad about amount of food waste as this alone could have fed both of us for a dinner.

Desserts: Moroccan tea with shortbread cookie. Not a huge tea fan normally but could have had a gallon of this, sweet without being cloyingly so and the mint really shown through. Telling myself sweetness was from mint and not sugar haha

Brought a chocolate hazelnut cream cake as we’re celebrating a birthday along with the chai apple crisp. Forgot to grab pictures. Enjoyed the cake but didn’t try the crisp as felt like Mr. Creosote in Monty Python “not even a wafer of thin mint”. Girlfriend though crisp was solid with the miso butterscotch being the standout.

Overall was an outstanding meal (bento box and branzino being standouts) and the service, despite some conflicting reports on here, was flawless and on par with any other place we’ve been. We’re both on the younger side and were among the many young couples celebrating. With a relaxed dress, great views and clientele was the opposite of stuffy dining. Well deserved two stars and will not leave hungry