Contra

The ambiance was intense, like being in that movie "The Menu" tbh. Anyways, I just want to clarify that the portions are obviously going to be small because it's more about the "taste" than filling you up.

My group of 4 ordered almost everything from the menu. Sadly, almost all of it was super salty, so we didn't finish most dishes. Not to mention, the manager noticed and started giving us uncomfortable glares. It was weird, intense stares every time we put our silverware down. For imagery, he'd turn his head QUICKLY and just glare at us. Never experienced that before lol.

I wouldn't say the food was the worst. It was just okay. I was excited to try this place. I usually really enjoy my experiences with fine dining, but I ended up disappointed. The presentation was beautiful otherwise. I won't go back, but it was a good and interesting experience. We all laugh about it now. Just avoid the manager haha.

TLDR: one of the best tasting meals Ive had this year. Been dreaming of the crab and tomato dish for the last week.

I've been meaning to come to contra for quite a while and I've heard quite a bit about it so I was extremely excited; my expectations were high. Came with a friend so we were able to try almost all of the menu. We had: the tartare, caviar and tofu, Jonah crab, stuffed chicken wing, mushroom tart, monkfish, and pork. Of these dishes, our favorites were the caviar tofu, crab, and pork.

The caviar tofu reminded me of steamed eggs, but cold. It was surprisingly sweet but satisfyingly umami at the same time. The pork was cooked so well it was my friend's favorite of the night. My favorite was the crab dish. The crab was served with this buttery, rich sabayon which was amazing but what really did it for me was the tomatoes. They were acidic and bright and really created a unique experience of flavor in my mouth. One of my favorite bites I have ever had. Monkfish was also quite nice; the lemon sauce was delicious and addictively acidic.

My least favorite was the stuffed chicken wing. I wasn't too excited about it. The wagyu tartare was also quite unusual for me. The flavor reminded me of pepperoni?

We had both desserts. My friend really enjoyed the potato ice cream. It was salty and sweet and paired nice with the huckleberry. It reminded me of dipping fries into ice cream. I really enjoyed the Concord grape granita. The burnt vanilla mousse and shards of meringue were great textural components.

Service was friendly and quick. They accidentally forgot to bring out one of the dishes but they fixed it pretty quickly and were extremely apologetic. The overall vibe was fine dining with relaxed, casual atmosphere.

Came to Contra on a Friday evening and we were unexpectedly 35 minutes late due to Uber theft and road closures! The host and servers allowed us to dine which is unheard of for a Michelin restaurant. In all honesty, when I called in, I was giving them the courtesy heads up that we would not be making it to our reservation due to unforeseen circumstances. We got so lucky!

We ordered a few drinks and opted the a la caffe menu versus the pre fix to try everything.

The vibe and ambiance is just our style and very intimate, yet not stuffy at all. For the price, this place is an 11/10.

We ordered:

Scallop
Lobster
Sprouting cauliflower
Stuffed chicken wing
Boudin noir
Wagyu coulotte

I must say the cauliflower was my favorite dish (don't kill me) because it was so unexpected! Also--THE. BREAD. WOW.

Will definitely be back to see what the next seasonal menu has to offer, thank you so much for allowing us to dine despite our inexcusable tardiness!

This is the first Michelin place I've been to that I can't give a 5 star to. It's still great, but doesn't quite live up to the excellence set by many other establishments.

The place is hard to miss, as I walked right by the store front before going back. You should see a small neon red sign shining through the glass exterior. It's a long and narrow interior, starting with the bar and check in area. Not sure if they were short staffed, or if some parties stayed late, but myself and many others who came in around 9:00pm on a Saturday had to wait 20-30 minutes past our reservation times to be seated. Let me stop here to praise the staff, from bartender, to host, to our server; they were all friendly and courteous people. They checked in, apologized for the delays, and were overall just good peeps.

The delayed started turned into a lagging pace throughout the night, as we were not out of the restaurant until 11:30! This is half of the reason for knocking one star. The other is for the dishes. We opted for the Carte Blanche, and had 6 dishes in all. I only loved 3 of them. My favorites were: wagyu beef tartare, caviar & tofu, and potato & huckleberry ice cream. The monkfish was OK. But I laughed at the fact that the sprouting cauliflower entrée is $20 as a standalone. While fine, it's more of an accompaniment than a true dish on its own. Finally, I just didn't like the flavor of the prawn. Would have preferred something lightly fried, or just removed from the shell. On average, it did all taste good, but not impeccable. I felt like there was too much similarity between the sauces on a few dishes. However, the $120 price tag for a prix fixe menu is a good deal.

Interesting menu shows chefs creation. I love those dishes that you can't get it anywhere else.

My preferred dishes in sequence-

Wagyu Coulotte $29 - my absolute favorite. The wagyu wasnt too fatty, very tender, evenly perfectly cooked rare, flavorful but not overpowering, great balance.

Mushroom Tart $35 - mushroom never failed.

Boudin Noir $24 - I believe it's greens on blood sausage. The blood sausage was on the fluffy side, light texture + light flavor.

Stuffed Chicken Wing $16 - basic

Blue Prawn $16 - basic

I would come back! Fun Michelin 1 star restaurant sold.

One of my favorite meals in recent memory. I've been meaning to come here for years, and glad I finally made it. Truly deserving of its Michelin star!

This place was revolutionary in the early days of affordable tasting menus in NYC. Although it appears that they no longer do the tasting menu, moving to a la carte, they do still have a carte blanche option which is a chef choice of a bunch of their menu items. I came in a party of three, and we just ordered a ton of dishes. The food was all excellent on the menu that day, with a noticeable seafood bent. There really was not one dish which I did not like.

The restaurant itself has a nice high energy, classy vibe without being stuffy at all. The service was superb from end to end. Great wine and drink list as well.

I would definitely come back again, and am already looking forward to my next trip!

Came here for a dinner on Saturday night with a friend and it did not disappoint! This restaurant is compact and seats are limited (unless there's another room that I didn't see). There's also an open kitchen concept, which I always love! We stuck to a La carte for our dinner, but next time I definitely want to try the tasting menu.

For my drink I ordered a mezcal drink, and I can't remember the name but it was good! To start we shared the tofu dish (caviar on the side). This was such a unique way of making tofu. It was a soft tofu in a bowl with a layer of sweet sauce made from mirin and garnishes on top. The texture reminded me of a panna cotta! We then shared the broccolini, which had a creamy sauce on top. I ended with a vegetarian dish that wasn't on the menu which was a medley of vegetables with a pesto sauce. I do wish there were a couple more vegetarian options! However, all of the dishes were very fresh tasting! Our server was amazing. He explained each dish very thoroughly.

It looks casual and a little crammed but it's so worth it. Love that the menu was small but all of the Food was 10/10. Lobster was soft and flavorful and the brocolini was so delicious. Yes to the Wagyu beef and the mushroom tart. The only thing I wouldn't order again is probably the crab. It was okay but I guess I am just never a fan of crab.
Service was great and everyone was lovely.
Oh and the desserts were just okay, nothing special.
We would definitely go back again!

I'm probably one of the few people in NYC who isn't a big fan of Wildair, so I was a little skeptical heading into this meal given it's the same chefs. Needless to say, Contra was fantastic. Unique flavors, friendly staff, intimate ambiance, just great all around. Hard to believe it's the same duo.

We got the hiramasa, beef tartare, caviar and tofu, prawn, jonah crab, mushroom tart, and the potato and huckleberry dessert - all to share. I think this was the perfect amount of food for us.

Everything was delicious. Hiramasa - super light but full of flavor. Beef tartare - easily the best I've ever had, so rich and moist thanks to the mole component. Caviar and tofu - basically their take on a chawanmushi, loved it. Prawn - don't laugh, it's literally one prawn on a plate, however it was packed with unreal amounts of flavor (but I wouldn't get it again). Jonah crab - super rich, lots of crab flavor, and came in dumpling-form which was a pleasant surprise. Mushroom tart - shockingly rich, my partner couldn't finish it. Potato and huckleberry dessert - super unique and very light!

They have a "carte blanche" option on the menu. Unfortunately this does NOT mean one of everything hahaha. It's basically just chef's choice of an assortment of the menu - no specials or anything thrown in.

We didn't opt for the wine pairing, instead choosing a couple of their cocktails. Very tasty!

Would absolutely come back since they change up the menu relatively frequently. Real special occasion spot with dark, intimate ambiance and a casual vibe.

This review is based on vegetarian items and I cannot speak for the non-vegetarian menu items at Contra.

I would like to start this review by saying minus the food my experience here was positive. The staff is very knowledgeable about the food at Contra and their wines and the service was excellent. I way the food was presented also supports the Michelin star. The entire meal was an experience with different types of plates and utensils for each course.

My only issue was the actual vegetarian food. We came here because my husband saw Contra on a timeout article speaking about top vegetarian places in NYC. https://www.timeout.com/newyork/restaurants/best-vegan-and-vegetarian-restaurants-in-nyc

Prior to our meal, we got bread. The bread was very good. They gave you the side of the bread and a middle piece. The end of the bread was very hard and therefore difficult to eat but it still tasted good.

There is only one actual item listed on the menu that is vegetarian. It's cooked asparagus wrapped in a leaf with a sauce. The asparagus was cooked well. However, there was no flavor to it other than salt and it was very salty. I am someone who has a high sodium intake and yet even I found it salty.

The waitress was very nice and explained they have 2 items on the menu that they can make vegetarian. The caviar and tofu without the caviar and the monkfish dish but with dumplings filled with squash and pumpkin with mushrooms. They also said they have an off menu item that's potatoes with radishes on top.

We got all of these items. The tofu was VERY disappointing. First off, it's a cold dish, which may be my fault but I didn't know and it was more a tofu soup. The soup was also VERY sweet and yet had one or two elements of savory and the flavors just didn't mesh well.

The potato dish was also disappointing. It tasted plain and didn't seem like something that should have come out of the kitchen of a Michelin star restaurant.

The only dish that was decent was the dumpling dish. The dumplings were well flavored and tasted great. Unfortunately the sauce it came with was so salty it was hard to actually taste the dumplings. The mushrooms in the dish were well cooked but unfortunately they were also covered in the sauce making the dish difficult to eat.

We came here to celebrate 6 months of being married and I couldn't have walked out more disappointed.

The bill was over $200 and I don't think it was worth it at all. As a vegetarian I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone. I only gave them 2 stars for the service and experience.