Clay Reviews

Fantastic Restaurant in Harlem. These guys are genuinely passionate about food and this is obvious when you see the carefully crafted menu. Concise yet varied, there are plenty of succulent options of home made dished. We shared a few plates between us, the pastas were fantastic, the pork was cooked to the right point, the sea bass super fresh. The wine carte in itself is a journey through the organic and independent producers of Europe and USA, we sampled a fantastic Spanish red and a dessert wine at the end that was to die for. Worth the trip from wherever you are in NY.

Clay is one of my favourite restaurants in NYC - every single item on the menu is delicious, the service is good and the prices are very reasonable by NYC standards. Outdoor dining is a big plus because it's located on a fairly quiet street. The interior design is elegant, modern, and simple. Highly recommend if you're looking for a good place to eat in Harlem. (For reference, I usually pay ~$70 total (incl. tax and tip) for a cocktail, appetizer, entrée, and dessert), per person.

Have now been multiple times w my kids. They love the pasta w meat sauce and I adore the gnocchi. Don't miss donuts for dessert. Cocktails are also creative and worth trying, although the wine list is fantastic as well. Neighborhood keeper!

My wife and I stopped by on the way to a show at the Apollo. It looked inviting from the outside. The wait staff was knowledgeable and friendly. The menu was disappointing and did not have a great deal of variety. The food was not what I expected and was extremely overpriced.

I stopped in with friends for cocktails at the bar. Service is fantastic and the cocktails are outstanding.

I really enjoyed the food and the ambiance of the restaurant. It is smal so the staff makes you feel special. They were very attentive snd the food was brought to our table in a timely manner We yried the beet salad, the gnocchi with short rib ragu, the pork belly and a side of the duck fat potatoes with thyme and parmesan. Everything was excellent.

everything was amazing. server was super sweet, helped us choose a wine and all the food was outstanding. get the donuts.

Great location, nice interiors, cool crowd, very busy, so make sure you make a reservation. Friendly and efficient staff and service ... really good food, fresh and well prepared ! The wine selection has significantly improved from when i was here last year , well done !

Have been to this restaurant more than once and love it. Food is very fresh, loved the kohlrabi salad and wyagu tartar. As for entres, the black bass is delicious. I was never a fan of duck until I tried Clay's. Service has been excellent every time. All the wines in the list are organic and very drinkable. We will continue to patronize this place.

I have enjoyed a wonderful brunch here months ago, but slipped in last week with friends for evening cocktails at the bar. They didn't disappoint. Service is friendly, the atmosphere is inviting, and the cocktails are fantastic!!

So, mike and Laura sent us a note that they’d be visiting from San Fran as they were boarding the plane, and we needed to find a restaurant that could seat us on a Saturday- ironically, Clay had availability, and we are so pleased they did. The cocktail menu was interesting and the drinks well made. The sirloin w/potatoes was wonderfully flavored, the bucatellj was great, and the halibut special was fantastic. Service was attentive and pleasant, and the atmosphere warm and hospitable. What a great dining experience!

We went yesterday to Clay for a fun dinner. It was excellent. We had the pork belly, the tartare, the duck, the pork tenderloin, the doughnuts and the panna cotta. Almost everything was absolutely delicious, maybe with the exception of the panna cotta . I recommend it very much. It is wonderful food with a very pleasant atmosphere.

I would not recommend this place to a friend, and will not plan to return. My wife and I ate there last night with another couple. We ordered nuts and olives for the table, a bottle of wine, I had a cocktail, and we each had an appetizer and a main, and we shared two deserts. The bill was $150 per person all inclusive. My main course was the $24 hamburger, and as I started to ask for red onion I was abruptly interrupted by the supercilious waiter: “all our burgers come with red onion on the side”. He was clearly impatient. The tone was angry. My wife had to ask three times to identify the bottle of wine he recommended on the menu, and finally after he called him back to the table he took the menu out of her hand and impatiently said the name was different than what he had described, but he assured us it was good and the price was $105. He eventually returned to open the bottle and pour a taste for my wife. As he poured, she took the glass in hand but was in the middle of a sentence that she wanted to finish before sipping the wine. He immediately started verbally agitating for her to stop talking and taste it, rushing her to finish her sentence. This was truly. bizarre. She had to look up at him and tell him she would just be one second. He then poured the other three glasses but not hers, set the bottle down, and left. She had to reach across the table and pour her own. When the meal came I saw that my burger was accompanied by a tiny cup with mushy wet picked red onions. I flagged down the waiter and asked if I could have a raw red onion instead. He dismissively said “we don’t have any red onions” and walked away. I do want to add that the hostess of the restaurant was superb. She was engaged and perceptive, seemingly everywhere all the time, trying to making things better. Despite her efforts and a good vibe in the restaurant, with good but not great food, I felt this was an expensive and insulting experience.

I was allured by a description of the restaurant. I'm always a fan of local, farm-to-table food, and I loved the idea that Clay even locally sources its plates from a potter in Brooklyn. The food itself was quite good -- high-quality produce and subtle weaving together of flavors -- but the portions felt rather small, and we both left feeling hungry (despite the $100+ tab for a salad, two entrees and a bottle of sparkling water). We sat downstairs on the banquette. Presumably, its high, upholstered back is intended to mute the noise, but it produced a rather claustrophobic sensation for my husband who felt like he was looking at me laying on a carpet all night. And, it didn't seem to help with the sound -- it was extremely loud in that basement room. No complaints about service, but no high praise either.

Hidden away in Harlem is this tastefully appointed restaurant. Farm to table choices . We started with olives, a delicious assortment. One of the specials was short ribs, deliciously prepared and tender. My friend ordered the strip steak but when she tasted my short ribs was sorry she did so. She was expecting a barbeque sauce, but was a much more subtle preparation. I do not have a review for dessert because we were comfortably sated after our dinner. But, when in the area again I will definietly go back.

Fantastic little find! we went for our anniversary and were greeted with a glass of Prosecco by the sommelier. I had the liver mousse as a starter and the bucatini with duck ragú as an entree. My husband had the cauliflower appetizer and the chicken entree. We had the donuts for dessert. Everything was well thought out, delicate and delicious. The staff made us feel really special, it was really cute and a lovely night. We sat at a quiet table that opens onto the street on a fair night. Great place. Will happily go back :)

Living in NYC's West Village for 30+ years one becomes accustomed to hearing about great new restaurants. Not so much in West Harlem. Last week I had the pleasure of discovering "Clay" (Manhattan Avenue) twice... once for a cocktail; a second time for a romantic dinner. This 8 or 9 month-old gem is worth the trip from any part of the city. Expert mixologists, a unique menu (focus on locally farmed food) and the most cordial/professional staff one could ask for. Outstanding in every way.

We have been enjoying dinners at Clay for some time and recently went with a gathering of friend from California. As always the food, wine, service was delightful! It's a place with passion, passion for freshness, local foods, service and always willing to please... with the food coming out of the kitchen by the chef makes the job easy... Delicious!

Clay is a wonderful new restaurant in Harlem. The food is fabulous! We've now visited for dinner and for Sunday Brunch. Everything that we ordered was amazing but I can't stop thinking about the gnocchi. The service is great and the restaurant itself is pretty and very comfortable. Many of the ingredients are house made including the bread, pasta and desserts, even the olives are house cured. The cocktails and the wine list are eclectic and well thought out. I can't recommend this restaurant enough we can't wait to go back.

What struck me most at Clay is the quality of the produce they serve. But they also have some really competent chefs in the kitchen (with the exception on one section -more on this later). A starter of pork belly impressed right at the outset: flavoursome, succulent, perfectly cooked and aptly matched with garnishes like mustard seeds and fermented cabbage. Another starter of beetroot featured once again excellent vegetables, though it was perhaps missing some 'substantial' component (a potato or some other form of carbohydrate) to qualify as a starter, as distinct from a side dish. On the other hand, a vegetable side dish we had later, a roast cauliflower with turmeric was good beyond expectation, with great flavour and perfect texture. As for the mains, a confit duck was fantastic, the meat having just the right amount of fat and superb taste. A pork loin on the other hand, while probably better as a dish, with several garnishes creating an intricate and delightful network of flavours, was slightly disappointing as the meat was overcooked and therefore too dry. Desserts were definitely not up to the same standards. Neither a pannacotta nor a chocolate budino were near to what we recognise as such. The texture of both was heavy and gooey, coming I guess from an excess of gelling agent. Good chocolate though, continuing the theme of care for produce. Service was extremely kind and helpful (e.g. when we were undecided between two beers they allowed us to taste them - we ended up having both...), though when the place crowded up it became much more difficult to catch their attention. Prices are fair given quality and location.

This was fab! The food was beyond amazing! And the staff were so helpful regarding diets. I was so pleased to have found this restaurant. They had made a lovely effort downstairs with balloons for new year's eve and it had a very intimate atmosphere. I had the sea bass, which was sublime and has to be one of the best new year's eve meals ever! Thank you

Food is terrific and the design of the upstairs room is elegant and cool. Harlem is becoming a happening place.

Clay welcomes you with a nicely-designed dining room and bar. The attentive service is pleasant yet not intrusive. The menu focuses on a few yet solid dishes with an inventive streak. The wine and drink menu is, however, stunning. Not only extensive but also packed with gems and hard-to-find bottles. The amari section deserves five stars. Unfortunately we found the food to be over-salted, which is a hard to die habit... hence the four stars. Happy to return and discourage the added salt.

We had a wonderful evening here, The restaurant is good value, the Chicken livers were very good. The pastas of garanelli and bucatini were good. Overall a very enjoying dinner in a local area off Central park.

Clay is not a big-box restaurant. There are a few seats at the bar, a couple of two-tops near the street entrance, and perhaps six four-tops that can be separated. The place can fill up quickly, and reservations are advisable. Especially after this review! A small, disciplined menu with interesting appetizers and main dishes, and some unusual world wines. Our server did everything he could to ensure we had a good time, describing dish preparation in detail, and offering samples of some of the wines by the glass for us to decide if they paired well with what we'd ordered. I particularly commend the crispy duck leg confit with celeriac puree, smoked farro, collard greens, and blueberry gastrique. The housemade gnocchi were also nicely complemented by mushrooms and vegetables. A new neighborhood favorite for us.

Go! Go! And, go again. What a meal. We had four appetizers and two entrees for three people. It was a ton of food. The short rib ragú was my favorite. My wife loved the cauliflower side and my sister loved the two salads. Everything was outstanding, but these were amazing.

Simply amazing brioche French toast! I'm usually not a French toast girl so I opted for the delicate beet dish instead. My nephew, who'd been to Clay before insisted I try his French toast and man o'man did I regret not ordering my own. Coffee was fresh brewed. Wine selections pretty solid and service was pleasant. The space is intimate and well designed. I'd definitely recommend for brunch, evening drinks or date night. Harlem gem for sure.