The Pavilion has been a project New Yorkers have waited quite a long time for – over 6 years of a delays, to be exact. Some New Yorkers may remember when the iconic Union Square arch and colonnade housed many a warm weather after-work cocktail at Luna Park: oh, how we loved that place.
Once again home to an outdoor drinking and eating destination, Simon Oren has taken over the space and The Pavilion is finally open to the public. We do love being outdoors this time of year, so we recently headed over to The Pavilion on a beautiful sunny late afternoon and did what we do best: order some drinks.
The ambiance evokes the French Rivera and we excitedly perused our menus, starting with a specialty cocktail. When our group of three asked the server for his recommendations, he answered, “I have never tried any of them” but we are confident in our drink selections, so we each ordered a different drink. The signature Pavilion 75 is their version of a French 75 with gin, honey-thyme syrup, fresh lemon and sparkling wine. It was a nice cocktail if not a bit too heavy on the syrup, and was a tad tart. Next, the Pink Me Up combines tequila blanco, yellow chartreuse, strawberry, basil and fresh lemon, which will appeal to those with a sweet tooth. The 6 Train with gin, cucumber, local honey-thyme syrup, and soda water wasour favorite of the bunch, with balanced, refreshing flavors.
All of the cocktails range from $12 – $15 with non-alcoholic specialty drink offerings as well.
While the space is lovely, the service certainly leaves much to be desired (the same server wasn’t able to provide a description of the oysters and wasn’t very attentive) but the food was solid and the setting is fantastic. So we stayed for a glass of Domaine Jacourette Côtes de Provence Rosé, Langlois Chateau Sancerre and a Southampton Double White on draft.
We suggest we you do the same.
20 Union Square West (top of the park); 212-677-7818; www.thepavilionnyc.com
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