Ellington is an elegant, rustic-chic tavern that serves elevated pub dishes and drinks. Nice interior with exposed bricks, lots of large windows, beautiful wooden tables and mismatched chairs (which I love), old ceiling that is more of an art, and the lighting fixtures are really nice too. They have nice size sidewalk seating as well. The staffs are inviting and accommodating, and servers are polite and professional.
Since we were not overly hungry, we decided to order small plates and share, tapas style. Watermelon Salad , Pan Seared Scallops, Carnita Sliders, Crab Cakes, and Grilled Cheese Bites.
Watermelon Salad ($11) came with feta cheese, arugula, and cucumbers with a lime & olive oil dressing. BUT, they forgot to put the dressing on our salad, which we though it actually taste better without any dressing…! It was refreshing, and the watermelon was perfectly sweet, the feta was great with the salad, it was a great Summer salad! Pan Seared Scallops ($14) were wrapped in Prosciutto and served over Arugula and balsamic. They didn’t forget the dressing on this one! The combination of scallop and Proscuitto was excellent. I have seen scallops wrapped in bacon more than Prosciutto, but I felt that the nice thin Prosciutto worked better with scallops, it didn’t overpower the scallop, so you can taste both ingredients nicely.
Carnita Sliders ($12) came with pickled slaw and guacamole. They were the perfect little pulled pork sandwich! Super tasty, juicy, and the picked slaw added extra flavor that complimented the carnitas. The sliders were nice size, not too small, easy to eat without making too much mess… Crab Cakes ($12) came with roasted corn salsa, and it was awesome. juicy, packed with flavor. The corn salsa was great addition to the crab cakes, making it even tastier.
Grilled Cheese Bites ($8) came with tomato basil dipping sauce. This stole the show, it was incredible! Id didn’t really look much when it was brought to the table, but once you had a bite, it was soooo good! And the tomato sauce, which was more like dipping your grilled cheese into tomato soup, really made it all more perfect than it already was. It was grilled cheese and tomato sauce marriage in heaven. I don’t know what made this dish so incredibly delicious, but it simply was. I would definitely go back to get this one again. And again.
We ended our delicious dinner with coffee ($3). The interesting part was, we were charged for the milk also, which I have never really seen before at other restaurants. We ordered 4 coffees, and they charged $2 for milk (total), so I assume they charge 50 cents per coffee for milk? It would look better and simpler if they just make it $3.50 per coffee… but hey, it is their restaurant. The coffee was nice, good way to end the dinner.
All in all, the dinner was great, we were really glad we ordered small plates, since we were all full at the end of the meal. The server was very nice and brought everyone a small plates once we told him that we are sharing these dishes when we ordered. Great neighborhood spot in UWS, I heard they have a pretty good burger also, which they had 5 different burgers on their menu, I am very interested in trying one sometime soon!
The Ellington – 936 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10025