Two years ago, I spent Christmas in Paris, and I’ve been longing to find the same festive charm in my home city of New York ever since.
Enter Grand Brasserie, Grand Central Terminal’s newest restaurant, which pays homage to classic Parisian eateries with its signature red booths, cozy bistro tables, and French fare.
I visited Grand Brasserie on a Thursday morning during the height of the Christmas season in New York City and thought it was the ideal spot for a satisfying — yet convenient — meal during your commute to or from New York during the holidays.
However, it could also be a destination for those visiting New York and wanting to have a festive brunch or dinner in a classic, well-decorated restaurant in central Manhattan within walking distance of some of the city’s most iconic tourist attractions.
Here’s what it was like to eat at Grand Brasserie inside Grand Central Terminal.
The restaurant is located inside Vanderbilt Hall on the same floor as Grand Central’s Main Concourse.
The restaurant is located across from the Grand Central Holiday Fair, which features various shopping vendors.
Grand Central can be a little difficult to navigate if you’ve never been — or, if like me, you’re running to catch a train whenever you’re there — so I appreciated that the restaurant was in such an easy-to-find location inside the terminal.
The hostess stand was located outside the entrance to the restaurant.
The restaurant’s curved entrance was adorned with a festive display of human-sized nutcrackers, wreaths, and holiday lights.
There was also a large menu located by the hostess stand.
This made it easy for multiple passersby to check out the menu at the same time.
The brunch menu, pictured above, features mostly traditional French fare, from soups and pastries to sandwiches and steak frites. The restaurant also has a full bar and offers cocktails like a mimosa, Bellini, or espresso martini.
The menu changes for dinnertime, with a more extensive cocktail menu and entrée selection.
There was a variety of dining options available when I booked my reservation.
The restaurant occupies a massive 16,000-square-feet and can seat up to 400 diners, Eater reported.
I made a reservation the day before and was able to snag a table for one inside the restaurant’s main dining room, but there were also tables available in the bistro dining area outside the restaurant and in the Green Room, a more dimly lit, cozy dining area located past the main dining room.
The overall vibe of the restaurant was elegant and reminded me of French restaurants in Paris.
I’ve been to Paris three times, including once at Christmas, and have eaten in quite a few traditional French restaurants.
Even without the holiday decorations, many of the touches, from the mercury-glass sign and swooping red font of the restaurant’s logo to the design of the tables, are reminiscent of the city of lights.
The main dining room has four options for seating.
Guests can choose to be seated at the bar, at a high-top table, in a booth, or at a small bistro table dining table.
The red booths scattered throughout the dining room were fitted with white marble tables and festive decorations.
The dining room’s design felt elevated and festive, and the booths looked comfortable for a larger group.
I was seated at a small dining table across from the bar area.
I was given the full brunch menu, a drinks menu with cocktails and wine, and the restaurant’s pre-fixe menu.
When I sat down, I was also asked whether I would like something to drink while I settled in, so I asked for a bottle of tap water. It was promptly brought over to my table.
The menu is French, but it’s approachable enough that even those unfamiliar with French cuisine will feel comfortable dining here.
I’m a pretty adventurous eater but I have still struggled to find things to order while traveling in France and dining at more upscale eateries. However, I thought this menu was really approachable.
Brasseries tend to offer more comfort foods than upscale fine-dining options. Sure, there were more adventurous menu items (at least, perhaps to some people) like escargot and caviar, but there was also a classic cheeseburger, croque monsieur, and boeuf bourguignon for people who might only be familiar with a few traditional French dishes.
I felt there was something for everyone’s tastes here, even kids who might not go anywhere near the steak tartare or duck confit.
I could admire the beauty of Grand Central’s architecture from my table.
The restaurant itself, at least in the main dining room where I sat, isn’t particularly warm or cozy. But where it lacks in intimacy it makes up for in stunning views of Grand Central’s architecture.
The terminal opened on February 2, 1913, replacing an older train station that was opened in 1871 and another that opened in 1900.
Many preservationists, including Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, fought to save Grand Central from demolition in the 1970s and helped restore the building’s historic grandeur, including its constellation-covered ceiling that was previously coated in cigarette smoke from the days that smoking was allowed inside the terminal.
Grand Central’s chandeliers are among its most famous architectural features — I could see multiple of them right from my table.
The chandeliers were originally fitted with electric lightbulbs, making them a marvel for a society only recently introduced to electric lighting.
In the 1990s, the chandeliers were cleaned and fitted with energy-efficient bulbs, thus modernizing them yet retaining their historic charm.
I loved that I could observe a slice of American history right from my dining table.
The ceiling of the restaurant was equally ornate.
The restaurant feels very open-air, like an extension of the rest of the terminal rather than an enclosed restaurant.
Even though the restaurant, which opened in September, is a permanent addition to the station, the open-air setup gave it a pop-up feel. I didn’t necessarily mind, though, as it allowed me to admire some of Grand Central’s architecture.
I started my meal with a latte.
It cost $6.50, excluding tax and tip, which I actually thought was pretty fairly priced. Living in New York City, I’m used to sometimes paying upward of $6 or $7 for a latte, so this didn’t jump out to me as more expensive than usual.
I thought it was less creamy than other lattes I’m used to having, but it was flavorful, hot without being scalding, and topped with a delicious amount of steamed milk.
I also ordered a traditional onion soup.
The soup arrived covered in gooey melted cheese that dripped down the bowl.
It cost $18, which I thought was a bit expensive for an appetizer, especially one that’s difficult to share between multiple people. However, it was still one of the cheapest appetizers on the restaurant’s hors d’oeuvres menu.
Other menu items, like the steak tartare and shrimp cocktail, cost more than $20, and the crab persillade cost $31.
While it was a little pricey, the onion soup was undeniably delicious.
The gooey cheese practically melted in my mouth, while the soup itself was rich and loaded with deliciously caramelized onions. The bread inside the soup was super soft and easy to eat with the soup spoon. Overall, it was the perfect consistency — not too watery, not too thick or sludgy.
It was very flavorful and could have sufficed as my main meal.
I’ve had onion soup in Paris, and this rivaled even those.
The restaurant also gave me two pieces of complimentary bread to go with the soup.
The bread was crusty on the outside but soft inside. I was impressed.
For my entrée, I ordered the eggs Norwegian.
While many might associate this dish with eggs Benedict, eggs Norwegian comes with smoked salmon and hollandaise rather than ham.
I was also given the choice of a side salad or potatoes with the eggs. I opted for salad because I was so full from the onion soup.
The eggs Norwegian cost $31, compared to $28 for the eggs Benedict. Again, this felt pricey, especially because the portion size wasn’t huge. However, that’s also a pretty standard price for a brunch entrée in New York City — let alone in a famous location like Grand Central.
The hollandaise sauce was creamy and slightly tangy.
I could clearly taste the lemon, and I really loved the consistency of the hollandaise. It wasn’t too thick, making this dish feel light and easy to eat.
The poached eggs were perfectly cooked.
When I broke into the first poached egg, a beautiful cascade of jammy and gooey egg yolk emerged. This dish was simple but still extremely delicious. I’d definitely come back just for these eggs.
My only complaint with the eggs Norwegian was with the English muffin it was served on. It was on the thinner side, which didn’t necessarily ruin the dish, but it didn’t add to it, either. For more than $30, I expected more.
The salad was a simple spring mix, but it was well-dressed and complemented the richness of the smoked salmon and the eggs.
Grand Brasserie was by no means a cheap, grab-and-go lunch. But it was still worth visiting around the holidays.
I ended up paying $71.53 for my brunch, including tax and tip. Don’t get me wrong — I rarely, if ever, pay this much for a solo breakfast. And for many, this would be completely unaffordable.
Still, for others, the prices may not be that far-fetched for an appetizer, entrée, and specialty coffee at an iconic location in New York City. Pricing is completely subjective, though I did think the eggs, although delicious, were slightly overpriced.
As a special treat, I enjoyed getting to experience dining in one of New York’s most famous locales, and if you’re visiting New York City around the holidays, sometimes spending more than you normally would is part and parcel of that.
I enjoyed the food, the festive decorations, and seeing some classic New York architecture combined with the Parisian elegance I’ve come to love through traveling. For me, that was priceless.
Business Insider reached out to Grand Brasserie for comment but did not receive a response.
The post I dined at Grand Central Terminal’s new restaurant, Grand Brasserie, and I felt transported to Paris at Christmastime appeared first on Business Insider.
