DUO Restaurant & Lounge

first time at Duo this past Saturday. We had high expectations seeing the restaurant is thoughtfully decorated, chairs was very comfortable, the ambience and service was overall pretty good. But when our dinner was served… i would say it tasted a bit better than the suburb neighborhood diner, thats about it (we had the Tuna tartar, Calamari salad, Entrees are Salmon, Braised Short Ribs & Filet Mignon). We all said WOW, the food is BAD !! for this kind of price, its just down right disappointing! we can easily go elsewhere for Quality food at this kind of price.

We went there on a Living Social deal. Like others said there was a separate menu, which we both thought had some interesting choices, so we were optimistic.
We started with a purred carrot soup and tuna tartare. The soup was delicious and the tuna tartare was very good. Our mains were organic chicken and short rib dishes. Both very good as well as the parmesan fries we chose as a side dish. We shared a Tiramisu for dessert which was light and tasty. The bottle of red wine was a good choice which we both enjoyed.
Why only 3 stars? Well, ½ star was lost because the main courses while enjoyable were a tad too small for what the menu price is. The short ribs for example was simply overpriced at $ 33, especially for the portion size. Another ½ star was lost because the they inflated the value of the meal at the end for tipping purposes. No way was the true value $ 206 as stated on the bill we thought. Soooo… I decided to calculate the the real food amount that we ordered from the online menu. It totaled $ 103 before the wine. Realistically, it was a 2012 bottle of Argentinian wine… No way could that be $ 103.Maybe $ 35 at most and that was what I decided to tip on… $ 138 instead of the stated $ 206.

Looking for a Ladies Night Out? One of those nights when you and all your girls get dolled up and head to the city to sip wine and catch up on life? Well that’s what me and my girls did at DUO Restaurant and Lounge.
I highly suggest the Grilled Atlantic Salmon, the Creamy spinach with cheese, Parmesan truffle matchstick fries and the Chocolate Mousse cake.
Please visit my blog
for a more detailed review and great pictures!

Came here with a LivingSocial Brunch Prix Fixe for two. The place is beautifully decorated, and the seats are super comfortable. They even have little stools they bring out to allow you to place your purse on it so it isn’t on the floor. The server was middle of the line to inattentive. It was everything that was needed, but nothing above that.
Came with two coffees, fine, and two brunch type drinks, also fine.
The food was unimpressive. We ordered the Classic Eggs Benedict and it was exactly that. Served with delicious diced potatoes. The second meal was Fontana Biscuits and Sausage gravy. This was not good. The biscuit was dry, there was next to no gravy and then each biscuit had a poached egg with hollandaise sauce. Overall it just wasn’t good and the components of the dish didn’t go well with each other. In addition, the dish was served with a ‘crisp apple” but it was 2 paper thin slices of a limp, unseasoned dried apple. Not visually appealing and didn’t taste good.
Total bill was just the additional tax on the meal, but they said the original total was $ 69, with deal price of $ 29. I would say it was a deal at $ 29, but I would NEVER have paid $ 70 for the size or quality of the food.
Will probably not be going back.

We had a great Groupon deal for this place. When we got there we could tell it wasn’t our type of restaurant. It just seemed snooty & stuck up. The appetizers were decent but I didn’t eat any of my entrée (even forgot what I had because it wasn’t anything to go crazy over and was so long ago). We ate at Acqua at Peck Slip earlier that day and that was cheaper than DUO and tasted amazing. Service was great, too… I remember that.
So many places are hit or miss these days, it could just be that we went on an off day/​time. I don’t like to bash anyone, but I also want to be honest! It’s also very pricey, so be prepared!

Surprised by all the negative reviews. I honestly had a pretty good time at DUO and yes I bought the (Time Out NY) voucher for $ 79 prix fix dinner for 2. Granted, I came on a Tuesday evening but the place was EMPTY besides 1 or 2 other couples. One guy was actually, literally, laying on one of the couches during his meal. Seemed… awkward.
Anyways, I thought the food was delicious and actually with good portions. The tuna tartar was beautiful, the calamari salad was outstanding. We ordered the chicken and spare ribs with truffle matchstick fries for an entrée. Chicken was just OK but the spare ribs were a bit too sweet for my liking. Matchstick fries were addicting — Remember those potato sticks that came in the little can when you were little? DUO’s fries were kind of like that but obviously gourmet and you can never go wrong with ANYTHING truffle, in my opinion. Obviously for dessert we went for the red velvet cake. Perfection.
Now, for the «meh» …
Like another Unilocaler mentioned, they do not open the wine at the table. Can’t seem to understand why… We got the red and it was tasty (my boyfriend liked it so much he actually buys it now on a pretty regular basis. Found it at our local wine store for about $ 10…)
And also, our waitress, although accommodating, did not smile once the whole time we were there. I couldn’t help but feel like we were inconveniencing her night or something.
I don’t think DUO is as bad as some of the reviews, but I can definitely see how the service could effect your experience here…

We purchased a groupon for a prix-​fixe meal for two including a bottle of wine, and we were really disappointed. Although the atmosphere is nice (swanky, modern and artsy), and the food is actually pretty good (which prevented me from giving this place one star), the service just made the experience really unenjoyable.
First of all, when we arrived, the waiter came over with regular menus (which is fine, we didn’t explain yet that we had the groupon). When I told him we were actually there for the prix fixe, he made us get up and go tell the hostess. We thought this was really unusual — THEN he brought us the prix fixe menus — why couldn’t he just tell her? We were already seated!
We were given the choice between one red and one white wine — so we went with the red. It was mediocre at best (but I wasn’t honestly expecting much from a $ 79 prix fixe including wine), so it was okay. But, our waiter opened the bottle away from the table (it really bothers me when they do this, especially since the restaurant was really not crowded), and we had to ask for the cork (which was synthetic, by the way).
I ordered the potato leek soup and my husband ordered the tuna tartare, both of which were delicious, although the soup was just a tad on the salty side. For entrees, he got the braised short rib (which was heavenly), and I got the chicken (which was good but nothing terribly spectacular), and we split the parmesan truffle matchstick fries (which were tasty). We shared the raspberry mousse for dessert, which was very pretty — definitely got points for presentation throughout the whole meal.
Our waters remained empty for 90% of our meal. We had to ask for refills twice, and our waiter seemed really indifferent throughout the entire meal. Again, in New York, it happens quite frequently, but they were really not crowded (as in, three other tables were full).
This was our second time visiting, and I’m not sure I’ll ever go back. Very disappointing.

It’s more like a 3.5 stars experience overall…
Well, what can I say? You gotta trust Unilocal ratings. They never lie, they are consistently reliable, accurate, they are time tested and do contain a fair distribution/​representation of different groups of people (what I mean is that you do have crazy people giving crazy scores, but overall its accurate).
So after that lengthy explanation let me tell ya why it is only a 3.5 star rating… THE FOOD SIMPLY DO NOT STAND OUT!
Yes the place looks fancy, but tiny, but the food do not live up to the same standards. Need proofs? I was there with a group of 6 people on a Friday night and the place was already half empty by the time we finished our dinner at 9pm-​ish. I will not go into the details of various dishes, they are okay. some mediocre, but nothing really tasted good (the presentation was good though).
Overall, you can find better value else where.

classy and upscale but not stuck-​up, Duo is a good choice for a dinner date or a small group gathering. the inside is chic, but not stuffy. it’s good to go somewhere nice every so often. we came here with a Bloomspot deal in hand and decided to live it up a bit; $ 80 for two three-​course meal, a shared side, and a bottle of wine.
the tomato bisque soup was probably my favorite part of the meal. creamy, flavorful, and served in a big bowl, it was perfect for a cold night. the fresh bread brought to our table — it had some herbs and spices which jazzed it up — served well to clean the soup bowl with. yes, I do that.
the osso buco tortellini — it was good, though I felt the size of the offering could’ve been a bit more; in a few bites, it was gone. vanished. kaput. damn!
the side dish options were kind of slim pickings — we chose the onion rings, though most of them were fried vegetables of some sort. the onion rings were crisp, though the breading fell right off. they went well with the port sauce from my tortellini, actually.
as for dessert, the tiramisu was a solid choice. not the best I’ve had, no, but pretty good.
since I’ve been on a Malbec kick since returning from Argentina, we enjoyed a great bottle of Malbec to wash it all down with.
the regular non-​deal menu is actually fairly affordable. service is friendly and fast, though things on a Friday night seem to be, predictably, a bit hectic. would probably be better to check it out on an off-​day or afternoon.
did it wow me? yeah. did it Sham-​Wow me? no. I’d probably return to Duo at some point, though it isn’t a pressing need for me.

Impressed? I think not. The food is simply mediocre. The presentation is nice but that’s pretty much it.
I came here with a few girlfriends and was not impressed by neither food nor the ambiance. I was so unimpressed, I didn’t even order a drink (NEVER happens!)

Inspired to plan a romantic date night, we came to Duo for dinner last night with a Bloomspot deal that included a three course meal for two plus a shared side dish and a bottle of wine. We arrived a few minutes early but the hostess was happy to check our coats and have us sit in the lounge area while we waited for our table. The service was friendly and helpful all night. The restaurant is absolutely gorgeous. I felt like I was sitting inside a jewelry box, esp. with the large crystal chandelier that resembled an over-​sized diamond bangle bracelet. There are beautiful paintings on the wall and you can tell that every inch of the room was designed with such care. Even the flatware we used was pretty and light-​up menus are always fun to see.
For our bottle of wine, we ordered an Argentinian Malbec which was quite good and even served in a wine coaster. I loved the attention to detail. The white wines apparently come in ice buckets.
To start, we both ordered the tomato bisque soup which was one of the options on our prix-​fixe menu. The soup was probably the real stand-​out of the meal but the other courses weren’t a let-​down either! We were also served freshly-​baked miniature loaves of bread with herbs in them that complemented the soup nicely.
I had a difficult time picking out an entrée. The options on the prix-​fixe menu were a chicken dish that the woman at the next table ate and looked quite good, homemade osso buco tortellini, short ribs with cous-​cous and salmon which happens to be my favorite food. I ended up ordering the salmon after much deliberation and was not disappointed. I also ended up trying a bite of the tortellini which was superb.
The shared side dish options were mostly fried things. I kind of wish they had had something less oily on there since everything else was pretty rich, but the Vidalia onion rings were a good choice.
We ordered tiramisu for dessert which was not only delicious but beautifully presented with blueberries.
Because we had the Bloomspot deal, this feastival was a little less than $ 80 plus tax and tip. Ordinarily, it would be much more costly however Duo is the perfect place to go for a special occasion dinner. I would be delighted to return. Also, the people-​watching is first-​rate.

Very disappointing experience. Went for a Saturday brunch. It should have been a clue that the place was practically empty.
I could talk about the not-​particularly-​friendly attitude of our server, but I don’t want to blame her for what seems to be the culture fostered by management.
Just wish we had read the Unilocal reviews BEFORE we went… well, we wouldn’t have gone there. Just like other Unilocalers have noted, the manager decided not to honor our groupon.
The groupon was for two prix fixe meals, however, we had missed the deadline, the groupon expired for the prix fixe meals.
No biggie because the groupon also stated explicitly that the originally paid $ 29 value never expires.
Nowhere did it say that the only way you can use the $ 29 is if you order a prix fixe meal… except perhaps in the mind of the manager.
He was adamant that the only way we could use our $ 29 if we order a prix fixe meal. The reason this is particularly ironic is because we weren’t presented with an option to order this, the brunch/​lunch menu we got did NOT even have a prix fixe option.
He also said that he didn’t get our $ 29 payment and wouldn’t get it from groupon, which again makes no sense to me because how would this work then if we DID indeed order the non-​existent prix fixe item?
Anyway, don’t want to go on and on. The bottom line is: DO NOT GO HERE!
The food is okay, but not worth the service.
Lastly, to the waitress, please accept our apologies for the lack of tipping. We were pretty upset and felt this was the only way to send a message (other than Unilocal reviews), but in retrospect, we should have tipped you. It’s not your fault that your manager is unreasonable. And also, your lackluster attitude is also probably a result of your manager’s work culture. So… sorry.

TIP :
Don’t let there be a natural disaster and have any sort of voucher expire … they will not honor it.
1. during sandy hurricane had a bloomspot that expired they did not honor it. but stated I could use the amount I paid for it.
2. had a travel zoo voucher and the blizzard happened. I called to see if they would still honor the expiration after all I was stuck in my home for 3 days in LONG ISLAND… Was told that since they were still open in the city they wouldn’t honor it.
I prob will go and use my vouchers for the value I paid to give a review on food but customer service is negative stars for me, especially when I’ve been to other businesses more than happy to accommodate for the inconvenience.
After all isn’t the point of these vouchers is to get your name out there and having a customer to return ???

Amazing.
Came here for Restaurant Week with the boy and it was an awesome meal from the moment we walked in, to our very last bite. The atmosphere is modern and trendy with an air of elegance and romanticism, great for a date or to grab dinner with some close friends. While the tables for two are placed relatively close to each other, making it slightly awkward to be seated at first, I found that I didn’t even notice our neighbors or the lively environment throughout our meal.
The menus are really cool – they light up when you open them, so prepare to be somewhat blinded at first. Service here is great. They are prompt, attentive, and extremely friendly.
Each course we ordered was extremely impressive. We both started with the crispy calamari salad, which I highly recommend. There are very few places from which I have had a good salad and I happily add Duo to that list. It was light, refreshing, and loaded with calamari that had been prepared with perfect texture and seasoning. For my entrée, I ordered the veal with market pasta and veggies, and he ordered the salmon. My dish was so delicious and really filling without being heavy, as pasta can often be. The veal almost melts in your mouth and was not too salty; it was well complemented by the various veggies. For dessert, we both ordered tiramisu (my favorite dessert). While I felt that it could have used some more espresso powder or liqueur, it was light and fluffy — not too rich even with all the cream.
This was a great place for a city date or even for drinks — they have a roomy bar/​lounge area at the front of the establishment. Highly recommend!

this place is fabulous darling!!!
Me and my honey got a living social deal and went for our anniversary. $ 79 bucks for three-​Course Dinner for Two with a Bottle of Wine.
we started off with appetizers, I had the tuna tartare, presentation was like a work of art, taste was awsum… mango and wasabi avocado. Nice size and super fresh! My honey had the crispy calamari salad, which also had amazin presentation and tasted fresh and crispy.
For entrees we both had the braised short rib which was DELISH! gruyère fondue spread so amazingly across the plate, decoration and amazingness all in one. we also had parmesan truffle matchstick fries, which were delish!
Wine was good, we had white. What we really super luved was these shots we had called «sippers», grey goose vodka and your choice of mixers (raspberry, mango, passion fruit OR pear, cantaloupe, peach, kiwi OR lychee, strawberry, blood orange) I got the lychee, my honey got the passion fruit at $ 15 bucks a pop, i dare say they are worth a try… the flavor is amazing!
They have these cool electronic menus, that are bright and kind of look like an ipad. Beautiful living room like chairs, ultra-​trendy. huge paintings of beautiful pin up like looking women on the walls.
I really like the ambience in this place, the service was great, altho i will say it is kind of pricey. I thought the living social deal was great!

Had brunch here and it was meh. The whole experience was kind of weird. The décor is a bit over the top and gaudy imo — lots of dark velvet. And the service was very… robotic. It felt weird having brunch in such a dark space with the servers wearing all black — like the matrix or something.
Anyway. The food was just OK. My friend and I both had the biscuits with sausage gravy with a poached egg. It was like eggs benedict but over a biscuit. Which sounded delish, but the biscuit was pretty dense and dry and the gravy wasn’t very flavorful. The eggs were poached perfectly though.
It’s generally pretty hard for places that only do dinner — and if you’re going to start doing brunch, you have to commit. And make the food worth it too.

Overall… I was not terribly impressed. Duo has great qualities and there were definitely highlights to the experience, but there were a number of lows as well.
My friend and I arrived at Duo last night for our 9:00 reservation and took a seat at the bar while we waited a bit for our table to get ready. The bar area is lovely, a large circular shape with plush seats and ample space. They were out of cocktail menus so I didn’t get a peek at their creations, but the wine list was adequate and we got a delicious bottle of their malbec. The single coolest thing about Duo is that their menus are all backlit, so when you open them the menu lights up immediately. Bonus points just for this.
The atmosphere is trendy and the music is hopping, exactly what you would picture for a hip NYC spot. The crowd varied from older groups to 30 somethings, but the bar area definitely got younger and more crowded as the night went on.
Service was what you would expect for this type of place. Attractive servers who are friendly enough and efficient but not overly nice or pampering, which was just fine with me.
The food is where we definitely had some hits and misses. After ordering, we were served some bread which may have been the worst bread I’ve ever had in my life. I have had boring bread and unmemorable bread, but this was overly salted and tasted of seaweed salt or some other flavor that was too overpowering.

We started with the black truffle pizza and the Duo two types of tuna. The pizza was much larger than I was expecting, a good 10 inches in diameter instead of a tiny flatbread. It was tasty and truffly but nothing extraordinary, and we each had a piece before having the rest packed up so we could save room for other items.
The two tunas were very tasty. Seasoned well and both types were winners. This was probably the highlight of the evening.
For the main course we shared the Chilean seabass entrée, which was… not good. It seemed cooked well, and had a semi crisp edge while soft and tender in the middle. But the taste was overly fishy. For such a mild tasting fish to have such a fishy after taste means either the piece was not super fresh or someone messed up in the kitchen. Either way, we both had a couple bites and then had to let the rest go. The accompanying sauce was also an odd selection and had a sweetness to it that did not go well with the fish.
Lastly, we got a side of the truffle mashed potatoes which was creamy and delicious. Quite honestly, their sides all sounded delicious, so if I ever return, I might just go with the tuna and a couple sides.
If Duo can improve the food quality and taste, I think they have a lot of potential. The space is impressive, the atmosphere and service are already there… they just need to get to that next level with their cuisine.

I joined my girlfriends for dinner at Duo last Friday evening. Usually I do my research on a restaurant before I go by reading reviews here on Unilocal,but I decided this time I would go in blind. And I wasn’t disappointed.
The décor of the restaurant is very chic… there is a sitting area in the front with couches/​big chairs as well as a bar area. The décor of the restaurant is nicely done and gives the patron a comfortable feel to it. I would definitely recommend it for a date night.
Now…for the best part, the food. My girlfriend had purchased a living social coupon for four — one appetizer, entrée, side (to share), dessert and two bottles of wine for $ 149. The thing with the coupon is that you have a pre-​selected menu to choose from. We all started with the calamari salad — only one word sums up this course… DELICOUS!!! The calamari was nicely fried and crisp, accented against the coolness of the greens and the viniagrette dressing — I really wanted another serving it was so good!
For entrees, three of us order the Bordeaux Braised Short Rib and Pearl with mushrooms, pearl onions served over cous cous with carrots in a wine sauce. This entrée again was delicious! The Short Rib was tender and moist and the wine sauce was not overbearing. I didn’t quite care for the cous cous but I’m not really a fan of cous cous to begin with. My other girlfriend ordered The Grilled Atlantic Salmon with vegetables and she said it, too was deliciious. I know it certainly looked good. While I’m thinking of it — the presentation of all the courses were nicely done and very appealing to the eye. We all shared a side of creamed spinach with Gruyère cheese and Parmeasan truffle matchstick fries. If you go there you must order these two sides — I could have had them both just as my entrée they were so good. The fries were to die for.
For dessert two of us shared Red Velvet cake and two shared the Tiramasu. I wasn’t that crazy about the red velvet and I was a little disappointed as Red Velvet is my favorite cake — it wasn’t dry but I felt it was lacking something, although I can’t put my hand on it. I didn’t try the tiramasu as I’m not really a fan but my girlfriends said that it was good so I trust their opinions.
The wines served were a Malbec and Pinot Grigio. I have to say the Malbec was really good as I’m not a fan of dry wines but in fact it wasn’t too dry with a hint of sweetness. It was a nice full-​bodied wine to accompany my meal. My girlfriends said the Pinot Grigio was good as well.
Overall, I enjoyed Duo’s atmosphere, food and service. It is definitely a place I would like to visit again. Maybe I will check out their brunch one Saturday morning.

So i came here with my brother for dinner as my brother got us a living social deal. Well, we didn’t realize that the living social deal was for specifically couples. So you had your own entrée and appetizer but shared a side dish and a dessert — you know — how you’d do it on a date.
Yeah…my brother and i weren’t on a date.
Sooo we split up everything before we ate like men and no shared a plate together because we’re MEN!
So what did we eat — as per the limited menu that we tried — the Calamari Salad, I had the roasted chicken and my brother had the braised beef, and we shared the appetizer, which was cream of spinach, and lastly the tiramisu.
The highlight of the meal (the one dish that was above the others) was the calamari salad. It had a strong balsamic vinegar dressing but there was only so much to give you that potent flavor flash while not taking away from the calamari and arugula salad. it was how you would say… balanced very well.
The Cream spinach was good — as well as the roasted chicken thing. Nothing special note of either. The braised beef was tasty, and a little sweet. The amount though was upsetting. It wasn’t enough of any of the portions.
Lastly the tiramisu was spot on. It’s very easy to mess up a tiramisu (i’m probably spelling it wrong) and they didn’t mess it up. with a nice coffee flavor and a good cream it was tasty. Was it amazing… not sure about that.
What filled us and made us both full was sharing the bottle of wine. Not a bad red wine, but it too was unremarkable. All in all a good dining experience, but nothing to write home about.

This place is decadent for sure… and way over the top and they don’t know what simple means… We went when it first opened and they overstaffed the place, so all eyeballs were on us (party of 6 – 8?). the menus here light up when you open them… yeah it’s THAT type of place.
while the cocktails here are very good… i found the food to be difficult to eat. NOT good. too salty and overcooked.
if you are going to charge THAT much for food… it better be cooked properly at the very least. this is not a place i would EVER come back to. STOP trying so hard.