Casa Mono

I've been to most of Mario Batali's restaurants and all have been a great dining experience. For my friend's birthday, I went to Casa Mono near Union Square, about which I have been hearing great reviews.

The restaurant is pretty small. You get locked into your seat. Service is fairly good. Not too uptight, not too casual. Their wine list is amazing in a way that they have nothing under $35 but lots of $xxx. We tried $40 red wine as per the server's recommendation. I liked it so much that we emptied 2 bottles.

I'd say the razor cram and fried sardine were the best pick of the night. Especially the sardine was fried light and crispy on the outside, moist and fluffy inside. They were quite big—three pieces served—but we quickly finish the plate.


The least two favorites were the quail with fig salad and pumpkin goat cheese croquette. While the fig salad was really tasty, they salted the quail too much. Pumpkin was too sweet to my taste (I am used to and fond of Japanese kabocha pumpkin which is less sweet and more fluffy).

Overall, I had a good time. And I might try again to see if they normally use less salt overall...

Casa Mono
www.casamononyc.com
reservation suggested