Camaje

My 2^nd time there and Abby never seizes to amaze, the meal was outstanding and the entire experience was awesome. Food was out of this world, the pairing with the wines and desert left me wanting to return. Pork was perfectly cooked and the mixed berry desert was just enough make you want to come back.

Chef Abby is fantastic! I attended last night for a sushi making class and it was one of my favorite experiences in NY! I didn’t know what to expect since I thought I didn’t love sushi. Well, fast forward to a pretty decent sushi maker and new sushi lover! Special shout out to Radha who also added to the evening with a fun whisky tasting and funny stories about her dad. Worth a trip for good food and a great casual atmosphere.

Came for dinner in the dark. Decent food, some flavors a little over powering. Too much cumin on the main and too much lavender in the dessert. Plentiful refills of wine. Hung out with owner and staff after and thy were lovely! All and all a fun experience, my husband and I loved it.

Dining in the Dark review
Came here with some friends and my mom to experience the dinner in the dark!
The meal itself was brilliant. The blindfolds were alarmingly effective at keeping all things light out! The staff is masterful at getting food, drinks and restroom breaks curated. I don’t want to give too much away, since it’s a unique experience; there IS some sensory stuff involved that invades your personal space, but it wasn’t unpleasant.
Food was served at a temperature that made it safe to touch (yes, you can touch your food to find it haha) and the wine pairings, in my opinion, were nothing short of brilliant.
Few minor misses here. Starting with the logistics outside. Dinner was to start at 8, but really 8:20 was more realistic. Also, some of the guests were incredibly loud making conversation during the event extremely tedious (we’re talking, I had to shout to be heard and struggle to hear my guests). The noise is what keeps this from being a five star review. Lastly, you don’t get to keep your mask, which; hygienically had me a little nervous after the fact (you can buy them though). Your results may vary!
You should be coming here for the experience of it all, Camaje has this down to a science and it’s worth your money. I’m definitely a fan, and would recommend this to anyone.

The service was superb. Our server was Brian and he was attentive and provided anything and everything we asked for. I immediately noticed a slight southern accent he had and being from the south myself, I found it endearing.
When we arrived a little early for our 8pm reservation, Brian was able to seat us immediately. He told us to pick a spot anywhere and make ourselves at home. It was such a beautiful and warm Manhattan night so we chose to dine al fresco. They have these beautiful French tables and chairs outside and we grabbed one. The table felt a little shaky since we were the second row out (on a slightly slanted sidewalk) and decided we would rather choose a sturdier table inside. With the large size of the plates we later found out, this was a wise choice.
We chose a 4 top closest to the kitchen which in no way negatively impacted our dining experience. The kitchen is down a long hallway so heat wasn’t an issue. The décor is adorable and eclectic. Mismatched empty bottles and photos. Red walls with a red chandelier create a romantic and soothing atmosphere. Soft, love inspired music played for the entirety of our meal. Mirrors lined the walls and the French doors in the front were all opened to create an airy, soft ambiance.
Brian was quick to tell us about the specials and offer our drinks. Those were the only part of our meal that came quickly. We ordered our appetizers and entrees. About 30 minutes later we received our cold sliced up baguette. The best part of the bread was the triangle shaped spread served on the side. The bread was tough and chewy, not hard. It seemed to be 2 days old. I disliked the metal bucket the bread was brought in as it is something I would see in a roadhouse, not a French Restaurant. We then waited for what felt like an eternity for our appetizers. Duck fat popcorn with thyme and parmesean. I think they forgot the parm. And Hummus with cumin and red pepper flakes in olive oil. The bread could have been taken out of the oven a little sooner than it was but the hummus was to die for.
We waited a long time for our entrees. Filet Mignon over sliced potatoes with asparagus and Flank Steak over roasted garlic mashed with green beans. Both were served with a red wine cherry sauce. The flavor of the sauce would have been amazing had it not been for the cup of salt that must have been accidentally added. I went through 2 carafes of water it was so salty. I am a person who adds salt to 99% of what I eat and this was the saltiest food I have ever had in my life. We ordered our steaks medium and they were a little more rare than we had hoped but it was tender and we did enjoy it. The green beans and asparagus were not salty so they were a welcome addition to every bite.
For dessert we ordered a Dark Choclate Soufflé to share and it was heaven. It was light with every bite and was cooked to perfection. We should have ordered 2 but I had declined and later regretted it.
Server, service, atmosphere and dessert were the best parts of this meal. I love a good steak and wish that each salty bite wasn’t what I was thinking about as I ate.

Chef and owner Abby was a true delight. She was also our server! Aside from the delicious meal, we enjoyed talking with her so much that we asked her to join us for a glass of wine. Our meal: escargot, duck, crème brulee. It was splendid.
To sum it all up, fabulous food, amazing service, and cozy, sweet atmosphere. What more could you ask for? We will be back!

This place was quite an experience! prior to my visit I’ve read a lot of mixed reviews on this place and i must say that before coming in my expectations were not super high. but I must say that this place exceeded my expectations in every aspects! from the surprises to the staff and the food. def worth an experience and would probably even consider doing the black out dinner again! MY bf and I came on valentines day for our dinner. I am always in search for new things to do every year and this was on my list of to do on this special day. i do not want to spoil the surprise so see for yourself! make sure you reserve before hand tho! on your arrival you are given a blind fold and am guided into the restaurant after a mini orientation of about 5 – 10 minutes. On the day we arrived it was very cold so they told us to arrive only right before the event. The whole event lasted for about a little more than 2 hours and was FANTASTIC!!! we both enjoyed it so much! the food were so good and I def guessed everything wrong lol. i felt so bad that we broke a glass but the staff told me it is quite normal for it to happen. hahaha

I stopped by Camaje for the first time since 2014, and while they didn’t have their couch, they still had AMAZING customer service, food and atmosphere (although we were told the couch is likely to be coming back). =)
Our server Brian was awesome, and his upbeat attitude helped to make our experience at Camaje even better. I don’t know where they find people this great — I’ve never spoken to someone who worked there that wasn’t A+.
As before, I highly recommend Camaje to anyone in the area looking for a bite to eat.

Great service, great food, cozy atmosphere. I do not get like that in NYC often.
They even have cooking classes. The pea soup was absolutely delicious. Dessert and food were all great.
The only downside was small size. Like many other near the village you have to tuck yourself into your seat. Friendly staff.

My husband voted for 4. I voted for 3. That pretty much sums it up. Some items were excellent, some «okay». Had the bream — we are still debating that it was really salmon. Bream is not a pink fish. From other diners’ pictures, the garlic shrimp was supposed to have salad on it. Ours was a sad little plate with 5 shrimp swimming in a garlic sauce that had no discernible garlic taste. The filet with parsnips was great, the lentils less so. Very uneven, but not a waste of time.

My mom and I dined here for the first time using a Groupon. We loved the service – our waiter was incredibly warm, friendly and attentive. The food, taste-​wise, was excellent – fresh, savory, well blended. We ordered the garlic shrimp for our appetizer, the market fish and hanger steak for our main course, and cappuccinos for dessert (ya, a faux pas, but we weren’t in the mood for an even heavier dessert). My only reservation is the portion size, which was small for the price, if ordered without a Groupon, as noted in other reviews here. Would still come back though!

Did dining in the dark here and the experience was awesome. What wasn’t awesome was waiting outside in the cold while they check everyone in.
The food was good, not amazing but def good. Pretty sure the first meal was salmon with chickpea salad and that was wonderful! Overall; we had an awesome time.

The food here is BEYOND!
The scallops were the best scallops I have ever had, hands down, quite impressive for an avid scallop eater. :) All of the cheeses we tried were good, the truffle popcorn was also delicious.
The staff is amazing, the chef is amazing, the ambiance is amazing — even the house wine is amazing.
I came here for dinner on a rainy + cold day, so there couldn’t have been a more perfect setting.
I noticed that there was a cooking class going on and it looked like a lot of fun.
Two things to know:
1. Camaje has been open for 19 years, which is incredible in itself and for NYC.
2. The chef/​owner is female, she’s a certified Sommelier and she runs shopping tours featuring the best Chinatown spots to buy ingredients. YOU GO GIRL!

I had the dinner in the dark, I like the experience and fun thrill of not being able to see. However, I was disappointed with the food served, portion was too small and low quality for the money paid. I am sure they are good on other dinner days but not sure because It was my fist time going there.

Dine in the dark experience: paid $ 90 each for 2. Thankfully the weather was nice, they made us wait outside and lectured us outside about blindfolds. Checked us in on a list and called out names and allergies. A little unprofessional. Food took a long time to come. There were two wines and both were very woody. Red was better than white. There was champagne to start off. 3 course meal was on the cheaper side, they could have done better for the price. It was a small garlic cracker/​toast. One piece of shrimp. Shot of tomato ginger soup. Small plate of veggies, butternut squash and a few pieces of pork. Dessert wasn’t bad, chocolate lava cake with lavender honey over vanilla ice cream. I wasn’t a fan of the lavender honey, tasted like I was eating aromatherapy oil. There’s this weird tickling massage thing (on your head!!) — highly unsanitary, I feel especially with NYC having «super lice» right now. All in all, it’s an experience I guess you might want to try. I have never held my boyfriends hand throughout an entire dinner so that was a nice change. There were a few broken glasses through the night but they were very nice about it. I guess you can expect that to happen if no one can see anything. It was difficulty to know if I finished everything in my plate or even which part of the plate I was stabbing into. I’d recommend to give it a try but keep your expectations low.

Trying to switch up our usual date night routine, my husband & I signed up for a hands-​on cooking class at Camaje. We took the Hearty French Fare for a Cold Winter Class and had an amazing time. Chef Abby was wonderful! Not only was she friendly and made you feel as if you were an old friend cooking in her kitchen, but she also taught very useful cooking skills from different recipe variations to knife skills.
The evening began with the entire class (8 people total) seated around a table in the restaurant– it gave everyone a good opportunity to make introductions and Chef Abby took a few minutes to explain how the evening would go as well as walk us through the recipes. It was unique that the class was held in a working restaurant and everyone worked together to make the meal. On the menu for the evening was Salade verte, Coq au Vin, and Crepes.
We began with everyone standing around a large cutting table at the back of the bistro and we all shared the tasks of chopping the veggies/​spices etc. Initially, Chef Abby demonstrated different knife skills from the proper way to hold the knife to simple tricks to quickly slice and dice. Seriously, the way she taught us how to cut carrots was life-​changing-​long gone the days of my carrots chunks rolling off the cutting board. Next, we made the batter for our crepes. After prep work was done, we went into the kitchen and got to work! It was interesting seeing how much can be done in such a small kitchen. Living in NYC, I constantly complain to my husband that I would cook more if our kitchen was larger, but ours isn’t much smaller than the restaurant’s kitchen, so clearly I can no longer use that as an excuse! My favorite part of the cooking experience was flipping the crepes without dropping them onto the floor, quite an accomplishment for me!
Once everything was done, the kitchen staff plated the dishes and we got to sit down and enjoy the meal together. By the end of the evening, after having cooked side by side all evening, conversations were flowing and it was interesting to sit down and dine with such a diverse group of people. I must admit, this was the BEST Coq au Vin I have ever had– it was SOOOO delicious and I’m not just saying that because we helped make it. It was just SO damn good. Ugh and the crêpe suzette was DELECTABLE.
All-​in-​all, we had a great time and I would take another class in a heartbeat.

Camaje is one of my favorite restaurants in New York. It hosts a cozy, romantic atmosphere that would be wonderful for a date, drinks with friends or even a group meal. Abigail Hitchcock, the chef, is wonderful. She is extremely knowledgeable and loves what she does. Shoutout to Brian, one of the awesome waiters at Camaje. My family and I come here at least a once a week (sometimes more!) for dinner and drinks. I highly recommend Camaje Bistro to everyone.

I randomly picked this place while I was walking around that area today. This place was tiny, but had cute decoration inside and I thought it was nice atmosphere. The waiter was very very friendly. He was willing to help us finding which menu we should try, and explained well about how lunch course worked. So I really wanted to like this place, but the food was not so impressive at all. My son got mac& cheese, but it had not much flavor. I had lunch course. I picked soup, creamy crape with spinach, and peach and cream crape. Soup tasted like what I make, so I did not get impressed. Crape with spinach was pretty good. I liked it. But the peach and cream crape was awful. I think the chef did not put what he supposed to put, or never taste test for that recipe. I never had that bad crape before. It just tasted weird. I could not eat after trying it a couple of bites.
Well, over all, I really wanted to like this place but sorry, I will not come back again.

Omigosh.
So.
Good.
My fiancé and I got a gift certificate here & came to redeem it this evening. At first, I didn’t think much of the place. It’s a little small and not at all pretentious, but it does have a simple charm to it. Our waitress was the absolute best! She was so sweet and very attentive. I really thought she was outstanding. The food was incredibleee. I don’t know how people found anything to complain about.
For apps, we had the garlic sautéed shrimp and the hot crab dip. Honestly, the dip was the only thing I wasn’t crazy about, but it wasn’t something I particularly wanted to begin with (thanks fiancé). The shrimp were divine. My only complaint is that there weren’t more on the plate (that’s my inner fatty talking).
For entrees, we shared the Kobe burger and a seared scallop special of the day. I can’t even explain how incredible the scallops were. Crispy edges with a buttery soft interior and SO tasty. The veggies underneath were equally amazing! Just thinking about it all over again makes my mouth water. The burger, while a little on the small side, was delicious. We added fries (REAL fries BTW.) and onion rings and both were above average. Again … tasty and crispy. Whoever’s cooking back there knows what they’re doing! Everything was cooked to perfection.
We went a little overboard and got dessert too. Why not, right? Everyone was talking up the Banoffee Pie so much that I just HAD to indulge. So glad I did. Worth every single calorie!
Overall, we had a beautiful experience. Such a great meal to celebrate my (belated) birthday. Thanks Camaje! I’m sure I’ll see you soon! ;)

Like everyone else has mentioned, Chef Abby is amazing. Very friendly and approachable. Not at all what you expect from a head chef (if TV shows and books are to be believed).
I took the Knife Skills class, and was initially worried that it would be too introductory. But Chef Abby takes a short survey at the beginning to find out what everybody’s needs are and then does as much customization as she can on the fly.
The lesson started out with a glass of wine and bread, while she explained the different types of knives, and let us get a feel for each one. There was also a take-​home packet for reference.
Once we got slicing and dicing, there was a big cutting table that was comfortable enough for 6 people (though any more would be crowded). We went through basic techniques, and she gave us individual pointers based on what we were doing. It’s so much better than trying to learn from watching TV or YouTube, because she’ll tell you exactly how to perfect your form. Chef Abby also goes out of her way to answer any questions, related to the class or just the restaurant industry as a whole. She has some great stories too.
The course description said we would be making gazpacho and fruit salad. We actually ran over time, so we spent most of the time working on our vegetable cuts. The fruit part was more of a demo, with her just explaining how to cut and how to pick fruit. Then we sat down and ate the (literal) fruits of our labor.
The classes take place in the restaurant. They don’t close down the restaurant, so people can still come in for dinner (they might for larger classes though). I loved the meal I previously had at Camaje, so I can’t blame them even though it might be a bit awkward. But that also means that students can order food and it’ll be at your table when the class is done (the gazpacho and fruit salad wasn’t quite heavy enough for dinner, so this was a tempting prospect).
All in all, this was my second cooking class ever, and I enjoyed it a lot. Chef Abby mentioned that the rest of the courses are more hands-​on and you get to go into the kitchen, so I look forward to the day when I’ll have a need for those classes!

This review is for the Dark Dining meal on June 12, 2013.
It’s not a joke and it’s not like the movies. Camaje takes their Dark Dining very seriously. Till this day I have no idea what the restaurant looks like (much because I don’t care to return). At Dark Dining, we were lead into the restaurant, seated, walked to the bathroom, and walked out blindfolded.
Dark Dining promises a four-​course meal with wine and entertainment. We had a singer and someone who went around the room massaging. All in all, not the kind of entertainment during dinner I prefer. We were asked to sing with the singer quite a few times and the massager went around touching everyone. Gross.
The food was meant to heighten your senses. However, crunching on burnt toast is a bit of a cop out and most of the food arrived cold (including the dinner entrée). It seems that Camaje is unable to time meals for large groups. A lot of the food was dry and less than room temperature as if the dishes had been sitting on the counter for some time. I also found the portions extremely small. Just because you are blindfolded and can’t see your meal, does not mean you should be cheated out of a good one.
This is what we ate and drank:
— Toasted Stirato (Italian baguette) with Extra Virgin Olive Oil & Garlic
— Chilled Avocado & Cucumber Soup with Herbs
— Arctic Char with Garlic Scape-​Arugula Pesto over a Raw Salad of Rainbow Swiss Chard, Tuscan Kale, Napa Cabbage and Toasted Pine Nuts
— Spice-​Rubbed (Cumin, Coriander, Cinnamon & Smoked Paprika) Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Israeli Cous Cous & Lentil Salad
— Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp (oats, spices, dark brown sugar, toasted coconut) with Our Homemade Mint Ice Cream
Wines:
–Creyssels 2010 Picpoul de Pinet, Languedoc, France
–William Cole 2009 Chardonnay, Casablanca Valley, Chile
–Les Violettes 2011 Côtes-​du-​Rhôné, Rhôné, France
–Casa de Sta. Eufemia Tawny Porto
Unfortunately, the experience was not for me and it is not a meal I’d recommend to anyone. And while a fun concept (dining in the dark), the Camaje experience is not an one I’d recommend for a date. Call me a klutz but within 15 minutes I had knocked over my wine glass and spilled wine all over mine. It’s a good thing he still talks to me. Camaje? They were nice enough to calm down my embarrassment and say it happens all the time.
Thanks Camaje, but I won’t be back no matter how many times you refill my glass.