Best Restaurants for Outdoor Dining in Union Square

We booked a Saturday reservation and were seated immediately which was nice. We ordered the dumplings, Branzino and Pas Thai. The dumplings came with truffles on top and were excellent. The sauce could have been a bit more exotic than just the soy sauce and vinegar for a Thai place. the Pad Thai has very good taste with very tender shrimps. The fried Branzino was great with spicy mixture with hot pepper, papaya and other flavors. At $45 maybe it was a bit pricey. Service was great with right amount of taking empty dishes away and asking how the food was. Overall vibe was great because the tight space and antique look of the dining room. The decor is not fancy but has a certain style of its own. We also ordered a Thai iced tea and a beer which were tasty as well. Next time I will try curry dishes and Tom Yom Soup.

We were so pleased with our first visit to Carmine's. My husband and I usually travel to NYC alone, and have never gone before because we heard how large the portions are - and they are NOT kidding. There were 7 of us for dinner, and we shared a Caesar Salad, Cheesy Garlic Bread, Rigatoni Bolognese, Eggplant Parm, Veal Scallopini, and Tiramisu and it was perfect portions. Only thing we took home was the Garlic Bread (which the 19-year-old scarfed down likely before it made it to the hotel fridge.) Paul our server was fantastic - happy to see our family reunion the day after Christmas with family from Myrtle Beach. The restaurant is crowded and loud, so expect that - but it's a fun environment and you can tell it's mostly families just having a great time. This dinner capped off a perfect day celebrating the 19-year-old's first Broadway Show.

We had an amazing dinner experience last night. Our waitress Kathy, from Venezuela, was one of the best parts of our evening. She was in tuned to our needs, knowledge of the menu and drinks, and very charismatic. Our meal was delicious, I got the spaghetti and the addition of baratta cheese was fantastic. The atmosphere was the icing on the cake. I felt like we were in some far away land. The twinkle lights, the trees, it was magical.

Our entire experience was amazing! We took our 3 teenagers and they all tried several foods they had never had before. The server was so kind to explain things to them and walk them through the menu. Service was amazing, the food was amazing, the open kitchen made it a more relaxed environment and so cool to watch the chefs. We had such a great night!

All very good, positive highlight for the seafood spaghetti.