It was decidedly decent. Pretty moist, with a fennel crusted skin, served with cooked tomatoes and a side of underseasoned vegetables. Honestly, it felt like something a decent home cook could very easily cook. Had a $26 halibut for dinner tonight at Gjusta that was way, way better.
thank you so much maccrogenoff for doing all the lifting on this issue
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Was looking for a late-night option last Thursday and ended up at Wally’s (SM). We got there shortly before their kitchen closed (at 11:45). Ended up being a surprisingly good meal.
Purple & Blue Salad ($25)
roasted beets, blueberries, grapes, red cabbage, pickled cucumber, buffalo milk blue cheese, pistachio, balsamic and olive oil
Really great salad, one of the highlights of the meal for me. Except for the few alarmingly large chunks of blue cheese, super cohesive and well-balanced (there were plenty of smaller bits of blue cheese spread around enough for the flavor). IMO this compares favorably to some of the better “salad” options at Destroyer, though it’s not quite as pretty.
It’s also quite sizable; it would probably be more than enough as a meal for a light eater (though maybe a bit lacking in protein).
Wild Mushrooms ($26)
roasted & grilled wild mushrooms, spring onion, arugula, wood oven baked ricotta
Pretty good as a side - I liked that the mushrooms had noticeable textural variation, with some being considerably crispier than others (almost like chips). Not the most wow-inducing mushrooms I’ve ever had, but I’ve had much worse. Nothing to complain about.
Twice Fried Smashed Potatoes ($15)
crispy fingerling potatoes, truffle salt
Basically what it says on the tin, though I didn’t get much truffle from the salt. Maybe a touch on the salty side, though they got the crisp right, and I’ll forgive a lot for that.
Truffle Lentils ($30)
ragout of French green lentils, Engish peas, truffle butter, shaved truffle
I’m not really a lentil person so I can’t personally testify to how they stack up, but the lentil fan at the table said they were very good. The truffle butter had enough truffle flavor to be noticeable without being totally overwhelming. I liked it 
Seems like a pretty good deal if you need your truffle fix without breaking the bank.
Spicy Lobster Ala Vodka ($52)
maine lobster, squid ink rigatoni, spicy lobster vodka sauce, calabrian chili breadcrumbs
Pretty much textbook. Great chew on the pasta, good saucing, properly cooked lobster (& the pieces were big enough to have some bite, instead of the tiny shreds some places will give you). Not greater than the sum of its parts like Republique’s mafaldine, but all of its parts are pretty great. You’re paying a premium for the location but if you like this sort of thing you probably won’t be disappointed.
French Sea Bass ($MP - ???)
wood oven roasted French style seabass, blistered cherry tomatoes, market vegetables, charred lemon
Honestly, I thought the seabass was pretty fucking good. It maybe could’ve been a tiny bit rarer, but given how big it was, they managed to achieve a commendably consistent cook on the whole thing without drying it out. I’m not a huge fan of fennel seeds but others at the table were more than happy to take the skin off my hands.
Worth the price? Who’s to say? Would I order it again? Maybe not, but I don’t really feel like I got scammed here.
It was a lot of food; I don’t remember the exact price but given the final bill I don’t think it’s changed much since 2018 (which makes it a noticeably better deal than it was back then; I’ve definitely been served less impressive fish at worse price/weight ratios over the last year a few times). Add to that the very good blistered cherry tomatoes, and the truly stunning market vegetables (which I forgot to take a separate picture of, though they appear in the background, and were the Market Vegetables ($18) listed as a side dish on the menu: roasted baby carrots, sugar snap & spring peas, market beans, mint chimichurri), and this plus a salad could easily feed three regular eaters (so, you know, not any of us, but…)
Berries and Cream ($16?)
I can’t find a dessert menu on their website, but this was Harry’s Berries strawberries, “honeycomb” (caramelized sugar), (yogurt? sour cream?) panna cotta, and ice cream. The panna cotta was very good, and the “honeycomb” was a nice contrast, though the ice cream was maybe not quite necessary… though it was also good, if not as good as everything else on the plate.
There were four of us, and the bill ended up being ~$110/person (after tip & tax). Given that we each had a drink and took some leftovers home, this doesn’t feel terribly overpriced. Yes, you’re definitely paying a bit of a premium for the location. But you could probably manage a meal here in the $50-75 range (minus alcohol), and if you’re a wine drinker there are some bargains on that side of the aisle too.
I enjoyed my meal here more than my meals at Antico Nuovo or etta (at similar price points), and the fact that the kitchen is open so late, with plenty of walk-in availability at those hours, is a pretty significant upside as well. Not everything was an absolute knock-out but nothing was a whiff, either, and there were enough splashes of brilliance that I do want to come back to try more of the menu - @J_L’s review makes that chicken look incredible.
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