Located at the entrance of The Redbury Hotel New York is Marta, an Italian restaurant with live grills and two pizza ovens. Due to its popularity, you need to reserve in advance. They say that the food is good here.
Lights suspended from the high ceiling dangle down, two pizza ovens behind the bar, an open kitchen with a live grill, a lively alcohol bar and a balcony where guests enjoy a view onto the main dining area's action... the restaurant decor is sexy and so is the food! I loved how the tables are set up, the materials used, the warmth and adequate lighting, as well as the staff's welcoming and professional service.
Marta is a lively restaurant from Chef Nick Anderer, inspired by the tradition of rustic Roman pizzerias, baking crackly-crusted pizzas into the late hours of the evening. Located at The Redbury New York hotel in the growing neighborhood north of Madison Square Park, this restaurant re-imagines and invents thin-crust pizzas both classic and new, and celebrates the Italian tradition of cooking seasonal specials over open embers.
The restaurant is known for its pizza and has several sides and starters that are not what you'd find at your typical Italian restaurant. Spiced veal, fried mushroom, duck confit, grilled scallops, risotto croquettes, beer brined half chicken, dry aged strip-loin and butternut fries are some of the choices.
We waited half an hour to be seated before being taken to the side room of the restaurant near the hotel's reception. Pizzas are indeed the in-demand dish here so we were informed that a wait of 30 minutes was to be expected.
A super crunchy dough, a generous spread of tomato sauce, molten cheese mozzarella and olive oil... the pizza is magical! Try the risotto croquette with their hot hearts of cheese... the butternut fries are superb! Yum... the duck is really awesome! The fat, the crunchy skin, the tender meat, the flavors... it's something you really don't want to miss out on. On the other hand, salads are simply adequate.
Unfortunately, the long anticipated carbonara pizza is not what we expected and I don't recommend that you order it. Too dry, too fatty and has a burnt flavor... we sent it back to the kitchen and I'm positively impressed how the professional waitress took it without us having to ask and removed it from the bill.
A good dinner followed by an average dessert. I had the chocolate mousse with whipped cream and crunchy meringue crumbles... the Cannoli cheesecake with crunchy biscuits... the waffle cone with two scoops of sorbet which tasted like cough medicine. I expected the desserts to be better after such a good main course.
Some things are good, others less good... I am not to impressed; maybe I came in with very high expectations.
