Sylvia's - New York

This was an awesome choice for my trip. It came highly recommended and it did not disappoint us. The owner came and took a picture with us and we talked about the restaurant history. I love the generational wealth. The food was wonderful. The manager Mae walked us to the subway station to make sure we made it to our hotel.

Sylvia 's restaurant comes up in many of the 'where to eat in NYC ' lists that fill the web, so i gave it a try. I finally had a taste of southern comfort food and i enjoyed it, i must say. I had the dish with smothered chicken and pork ribs with a side of mac cheese and sweet yams. The chicken was very tasty. The ribs were good but i enjoyed the chicken better. The mac and cheese was comfy and tasty for sure but the sweet yams, too sweet for me. The very nice waitress explained to me that they add brown sugar to the yams which i found kind of weird. In my opinion you don 't add a sweetener to sweet potatoes but hey, who am i to criticize. In my country when you want to make mashed sweet potatoes, you boil them and then you mash them with milk and butter but no added sugar, baby. I enjoyed my stay and the service. Thank you!

From start to finish, Sylvia’s was a wonderful experience! My husband and I had reservations for a date night, and when we arrived, we were greeted promptly by a host who had great energy. When we were seated, the dining room had a great vibe with good music, that kind of gave a lounge type vibe. We started with the Sangria, which was pricey at $20 each for a large, but it was strong and delicious! Next, we received cornbread which was phenomenal! I knew at that point the food was going to be bangin! My husband ordered the Chicken Waffles which was amazing, and I got the Whiting with greens and Mac and cheese which was also delicious. However, the star of the show was the fried prawns!! Babyyyy, if you don’t get nothing else, make sure you get those! We finished off our dinner with the Peach Cobbler which was tasty. The entire experience was top notch, and we can’t wait to go back again!

Being from the south and knowing soul food, I was underwhelmed with the options and flavor. The chitterlings and greens were huge slices, they need to be cut into smaller pieces. Neither one had flavor, it seemed as if perhaps they were cooked in too much water which removed the flavor. The greens had pork, but even that was flavorless. The Mac cheese was OK. The cornbread was a bit gritty, but I suppose the batter was just different. It could also been a bit more sweeter, but it had a decent flavor. The fried chicken was perfectly golden, the skin and meat was good. Sylvia's hot sauce was very spicy, I should've purchased a bottle to bring back to FL. Sylvia's daughter coming around to greet and speak with the customers was a nice touch.

This place was recommended by my aunt. My wife and I were finally able to check it out. Overall experience was 5/5. The long Island was really strong. The cornbread was a great start to an awesome meal. I will return. Our server was Lamar and he went above and beyond!