Is a place really a grill if nobody eats there? Is a place really a lounge if there is absolutely no lounging going on? Regardless of the answers to these questions, Turtle Bay should just whack the Grill & Lounge off its name and admit to being the annoying prepster bar that it is. The bar itself is a pretty standard Irish, midtown pub kind of joint, with the wood and the brass, etc. The Friday and weekend crowd is exactly what you’d expect–the guys with the khakis, brown shoes and button down shirts and the women with the tight turtlenecks and high black boots. It still amazes us how much better the women in NYC dress than the men. Speaking of dressing up, there is an upstairs space that has a “if you are a guy you must have a collar on your shirt in order to enter” policy. You could be wearing a $500 cashmere sweater, but if it doesn’t have a collar, the guy in the Dockers “iron-free” button-down is going to get up there and you aren’t. The funny thing is, the food isn’t half-bad (although it is overpriced), but the lunch crowd draws about four people a day. [MF]
987 2nd Ave.
212/223-4224
turtlebaynyc.com