The room and the building
The building is the Met Life Insurance Building, completed in 1909 to a design by Cass Gilbert (the same architect who would, three years later, design the Woolworth Building twenty blocks south). The ground-floor ballroom that EMP occupies has a coffered ceiling, ten-meter pilasters, and tall arched windows that look directly into Madison Square Park's tree canopy. Daniel Humm and his team took over the room in 2006 and built the restaurant into a four-star New York Times review by 2009, three Michelin stars by 2012, and a number-one ranking on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list in 2017.
In 2021, after the pandemic shutdown, Humm reopened the restaurant on an entirely plant-based menu — the first three-Michelin-star restaurant in the world to do so. The Bar Room shares the same kitchen and pastry team, the same room's architecture, but operates a different model: a la carte, smaller, walk-in seats at the bar, and an alcove of small tables to the side.
How the Bar Room works
Reservations for the Bar Room are released on Resy 28 days out at 9:00 a.m. The 6:00 p.m. seating is the easiest to land; 7:30 and 8:00 disappear quickly. The smarter move is to walk in for a seat at the bar itself. There are roughly ten bar stools, kept on a first-come-first-served basis. From 5:30 to 6:15 on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, you will get a seat within twenty minutes; on Friday and Saturday, plan to arrive at 5:00 and wait.
The menu is a small-plates structure: roughly eight savory courses and three desserts, plus a tighter list of bar snacks. The discipline is to order one snack, two savory courses, and one dessert per person, share a side, and let it last ninety minutes. The cocktail program is one of the best in the city — Leo Robitschek's old team runs the bar, and the non-alcoholic 'spirit-free' list is as serious as the cocktail list. The wine glasses are large. The pours are generous.
What to order
The menu rotates roughly every six weeks. The fixed points: a savory snack version of the famous beetroot tartare (the dish that survived the menu transition from foie gras tradition in the 2010s) is almost always on the bar menu. The whole-roasted celery root, sliced at the table, is the centerpiece course. The cured-and-grilled mushroom 'steak' over a sauce of toasted yeast and koji is the dish that converts skeptics. For dessert, the milk-and-honey ice cream sandwich (now reformulated with oat milk) is the only end.
Expect to spend roughly $80 to $130 per person at the Bar Room with two cocktails, three plates, and a dessert. That is roughly one-quarter to one-third of the main dining room's $400-and-up tasting menu, in the same room, off the same pass, with the same servers. The trade is portion size and ceremony — you do not get a multi-hour parade of canapes and a tour of the pantry. You get an excellent two-hour dinner.
The dress code, the service, the small etiquette
There is no formal dress code at the Bar Room, but you will feel underdressed in a t-shirt. Smart-casual is the floor. A jacket is the ceiling. The service is precise without being chilly — the bar team is trained alongside the main-room team and will pace your meal for you if you signal you have a curtain at 8:30 or a Penn Station train at 9. Tip generously; the tip is included on some checks and not others, and the wait staff is hourly.
Phones face down on the bar. Photographs of the food are tolerated but quietly discouraged; nobody asks you to put your camera away, and nobody at the table next to you needs to know what your beet looked like. The pace of the room is meant to be slow.
Before and after
Before dinner, take a slow lap of Madison Square Park — the park reopens at dusk after the lights of the New York Life Tower across the avenue come on, and the view of the Flatiron Building from the southwest corner of the park at 7:00 p.m. in summer is one of the best free views in the city. The Eataly entrance is one block south on Fifth, if you want a quick aperitivo at the rooftop SerraFiorita bar before walking back.
After dinner, a nightcap at The NoMad Library (one block north at 28th and Broadway) is the closest civilized stop. Or take the R or N at 23rd Street six stops downtown and walk it off through Soho. The Flatiron and NoMad blocks at 10:30 p.m. on a clear night, with EMP's ground-floor windows still glowing behind you, are why the dinner is worth the trouble.
Practical notes
- Address: 11 Madison Avenue, at East 24th Street, Flatiron / NoMad.
- Reservations: Bar Room reservations on Resy, released 28 days out at 9:00 a.m. ET. 6:00 p.m. and late-night windows are easier than 7:30/8:00.
- Walk-ins: roughly 10 bar stools, first-come, no list. Arrive 5:00-5:30 on weekends, 5:30-6:15 weekdays.
- Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 5:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. (last seating 9:00). Closed Sunday & Monday.
- Order: 1 snack + 2 savory + 1 dessert per person; share a side; two-cocktail pacing.
- Cost: roughly $80-$130 per person at the Bar Room (vs. $400+ in the main dining room).
- Dress: smart-casual minimum. No formal jackets required but a collared shirt or equivalent is appropriate.
- Closest train: R/N/W to 23rd Street, then one block north on Madison.
Pull up a chair under the 1909 ceiling and eat three plant-based plates from the kitchen that has held three Michelin stars for fourteen years. The Bar Room is the back door — same room, same chefs, smaller bill, and a free walk around Madison Square Park afterward. The reservation is easier than you think. The check is not what you fear.
Sources consulted: elevenmadisonpark.com · en.wikipedia.org · resy.com · theworlds50best.com · ny.eater.com
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