Cheers to Republic!
Written: Jun 15 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Healthy, fresh, flavorful food.
Cons: Do I have a waiter? Does he care?
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| srothstein's Full Review: Republic |
New York City is grossly lacking in restaurants that provide high-quality food for low prices. Where is the dining equivalent of Loehmann's?
Well, my hungry friends, it is at 37 Union Square West and it is called Republic. With small dishes costing $3-$6 and entrees ranging from $6-$9, you can easily walk out of here, stuffed and content, having only spent $15. If you're a student, skip the beer and pay $10.
Republic is a cavernous, minimalist space with the good fortune to be located to the west side of verdant Union Square Park. Semi-glossed concrete floors and sky-high ceilings bring to mind a poorly planned venture - don't they realize that noise BOUNCES off the concrete? During busy times, the restaurant can sound much like a nursery school with hundreds of little conversations overlapping. The seating at glossy light-wood picnic tables and benches add to the din, with patrons often asked to share a table with strangers. A long bar with red stools greets patrons and partially masks the main dining area from peering eyes.
Despite the overwhelming largeness of its' atmosphere, Republic fails to pass the size issue on to its prices (this is a good thing). Appetizer-sized dishes offer Asian-influenced chicken, vegetables, fish and dumplings, with a wide range of dressings and sauces. Seaweed salad comes replete with mint, ginger, cucumbers and a tofu-sesame vinaigrette. While seaweed isn't particularly filling, it serves as an excellent light start to a meal. Extremely healthy, this dish will tingle your tastebuds and leave you begging for your entree. How cruel to make you wait for additional taste sensations!
Salmon sashimi is as fresh as that served in the best sushi restaurants, sliced thin and served over cucumbers, shallots and mint. A light rice vinegar binds the flavors together, allowing the shallots to heat up your mouth, followed quickly by cooling mint. Steamed vegetable dumplings are an herbivore's dream - a thin rice wrapper holds together a mix of carrots, celery, baby corn, mushrooms, scallions and stringbeans. The light root vegetables temper the earthy corn and mushrooms, with scallions adding a bite of onion. Served with a black bean sauce, riddled with garlic, I would eat these every day, if I could.
Broth-based noodle dishes provide light, yet hearty, soups. With centerpieces of spicy beef, coconut chicken, duck, seafood or vegetables, it is difficult to find a bad taste and even harder to pick just one. Wheat noodles are combined with rare beef (thinly sliced), garlic, lemongrass and chili peppers. Fresh bean sprouts adorn the top of the heap in your bowl, adding crunch to an otherwise soft meal. Wide rice noodles get together with shrimp, scallops and squid. Watercress and bean sprouts do their thing and garlic oil gives the dish some zing. With all soups, a little added salt wouldn't hurt - just ask your waiter.
Noodle-based entrees offer some interesting flavor combinations, ranging from coconut milk-spinach to soy-lime. Pad thai makes an appearance on the menu, with your choice of shrimp&squid, chicken or vegetable. BBQ pork is prepared in a traditional Korean way, heavy on the soy and garlic. Glass noodles are topped with sauteed chicken, carrots, scallions and other vegetables. Lime juice and ginger sauce can be poured on top, by you, to season this entree to your taste. Curried duck, sauteed beef and cold noodles are also available. Four rice dishes are offered, but they are a touch greasy for my taste.
All portions are ideally suited for only one person, but they can be shared, if you are only looking for a snack. For the price, Republic gives you a lot of food and it is almost all healthy and definitely all fresh.
Asian beers and green tea are available, as are freshly squeezed juices. The lime-lemonade is tart and refreshing on a hot day, and the carrot-beet is surprisingly tasty. Be careful, though, of how much you drink - refills are not free and two drinks might cost more than all of your food!
While it looks trendy, Republic is actually very casual. On a recent steamy Sunday, I arrived in jeans shorts and a tank top and felt totally comfortable. On a Friday or Saturday night, you may want to dress a little more upscale, but no one will kick you out if you show up in grungy jeans. Reservations are not accepted, so you might wait up to 45 minutes for a table, on a busy night. The bar serves all sorts of alcohol to keep you happy, though, making 45 minutes feel like 15. Parties of 8 or more can have their name placed on a list, though, lessening the wait. All major (and some minor) credit cards are accepted, as are traveler's checks and cash.
The casual environment attributes to one major downfall of Republic: the service. Using state-of-the-art wireless ordering keypads, waitstaff scurry about and take orders in a precise and expeditious fashion. This is a nice touch, when you're starving, because it ensures that a waiter's lolly-gagging will not delay your food. It is a sore point with me, though, because it also ensures that the waiter has no reason to check on me. 'Tis better to get your food quickly, I suppose, than to get to know your server. Ah, reform! Next, they'll have automatic water-pourers at every table, much like those "automatic" pet-feeders that dole out portions of food and water to your cat, when you're on vacation . . .
Republic fulfills every New Yorker's dream of a Loehmann's-for-dining: good food, good portions, low prices. Who cares about the service? You can pay five times as much for food, elsewhere, and STILL get bad service. Why not save yourself the expense and just go to Republic?
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
srothstein
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Member: Stephanie Young
Location: New York, NY
Reviews written: 57
Trusted by: 22 members
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