Estela

“Estela feels like your local neighborhood joint if your local joint served ingredient focused and elegantly executed plates. Never showy, just refined bites and perfectly balanced dishes. You’re in good hands in this NYC institution.”

“Beautiful spot with wonderful service. I sat at the bar and got some help from the bartender on what to order. Endive dish is fun (gotta eat with your hands so go wash them!), tart, refreshing, sweet & savory. And ricotta dumpling is such a comforting yet entirely unique dish. Highly recommend both.”

“This meal actually blew my mind ngl. I’ve had my fair share of nyc fancy meals and this might be my favorite. Simple ingredients crafted to perfection. It reminded me of Septime in France. The wagyu with chips was amazing and perfect and indulgent. The oysters were perfect. I LOVED the kabob in all its simplicity. It was actually so simple but it was my favorite. The scallops were perfect. Maybe the date was too big. The endive salad is famous but tbh had too much cheese. I wouldn’t order again. DONT SKIP DESSERT. The chocolate cake was INSANELY amazing. A must order.”

“Estela was fantastic. Perfect French spot. A fulsome meal comes to mind~$70 per person (excluding wine). Wagyu Steak was my fav. Also loved the scallops, oysters, chocolate cake. Duck Kofka was nice! Endive salad was good… maybe a bit overrated. Would explore something else next time. Server was nice and chatty. Made a reservation, but you can certainly walk in. There’s a really nice window area to sit in the front. This is like… a perfect date night place. Very lowkey, but really enjoyed”

“During our Anniversary trip last month we picked Estela as the restaurant to celebrate our anniversary due to the many wonderful reviews. Also based on the videos that we saw the atmosphere was more laid back than other Michelin restaurants that we have visited in Italy and France. We arrived on time and had to wait 35 minutes to get seated, while we waited they encouraged us to purchase drinks, we had been at a wine bar before going to the restaurant so we were unsure if we wanted to order or not because we didn't know how long the wait was. Apparently the man who initially came to get our orders had a little bit of an attitude and seemed annoyed at our indecision. After 15 min we decided to order some mocktails to pace ourselves and order alcohol with our dinner. I should say that the second person that took our order was fantastic. I am not sure if she was a floor manager or a waitress but I must say that if it wasn't because of her and our actual waitress, I would have given this restaurant a 2 or 3 stars review. We finally got seated and we ordered our food. The 3rd bad experience happened when the sommelier came to ask if we wanted to order wine, unfortunately the restaurant is small and loud so I couldn't hear him well and I politely asked if he was french because I could hear a slight accent and then he replied in a snarky way that he was faking his accent, he left and never came back to check whether we wanted a bottle or not. The food came and we delighted with all the dishes that we ordered and they were nice to bring our desert with a candle to celebrate the anniversary. I am also grateful that they placed us in that little separate areas with less tables. Our server was also fantastic and that lady that helped us at the beginning came to check on us and said good bye when we were leaving. Overall we had Michelin star quality food as it was excellent but the service was inconsistent and there is room for improvement.”