The other night I met my best friend of over 25 years, Lauren, for dinner at Urbo in Times Square. We always meet somewhere around there since we both want easy access to our mode of public transportation home after.  Normally we go to Carmine’s and split the stuffed artichoke and I get a glass of moscato and she gets a Grey Goose dirty martini, but it’s been annoyingly busy there for some time now, and unfortunately I had a disappointing, undercooked, lackluster stuffed artichoke last time we went, too. It was the first time that ever happened there, they are usually amazing, but it really turned me off. So we decided to check out this place that opened up on the corner across from Port Authority Bus Terminal… which was awesome for me because I just had to cross the street to get my bus, even though the one I went to catch didn’t even show up, haha, what’s new?

Urbo opened up about a year ago or so and is a conglomerate of a coffee shop in the front, a restaurant with an open style kitchen in the middle, 2 bars and a loft style restaurant.  We ate downstairs at the part called Urbo Kitchens.  Lauren had a Grey Goose dirty martini, duh, and I tried out one of their version of sangria, which was infused wine.  I got the mango one and it was really tasty. It had another flavor in the combo but I can’t remember what it was and the drinks that I saw on the menu aren’t listed online.

Lauren had gotten out of a meeting late so she ate lunch really late and wasn’t too hungry, so we just split everything.

To start we had the Chopped Vegetable Salad. It was a very pretty salad, and SO delicious and fresh, but for $14 it was TINY.  Way over priced, not really even fair that it is so much money for the tiny amount it was, but it was definitely very tasty. It was perfectly dressed, and I especially loved the crispy, fried capers.

For the main course we split the pan roasted striped bass, which was served with crushed butterball potatoes, grilled scallions & truffle butter.  This was so freaking bland, it was really sad.  It was all cooked perfectly and the presentation was really nice, but there was no seasoning, and definitely no trace of truffle anything.  We added salt to it which made it a little more edible, but it was really just so tasteless.  There were some drips of sauce on the plate which was really tasty, but it was so little it was gone after the first or 2^nd bite 😦

I would give the place another chance because the food is mostly very well cooked and nicely presented, but I hope they work on the size ratio to price of their dishes and reconsider the lack of seasoning, at least on my main course. The salad was so delicious, but I can’t pay so much for such a little amount again! The girls next to us had sushi and it looked beautiful, so maybe I’d try that out next time.  They are also known for their burgers, or they are self proclaimed at least to be so, so I would like to give one of those a try too.

Urbo is located at 11 Times Square. Check out their website at www.urbonyc.com and reach them by phone at 212-542-8950.