The New Centurion New York Has A Secret Room

The New Centurion New York Has A Secret Room

by Gary Leff on March 11, 2023

Early in the year we learned about American Express’s plans for a bar and restaurant in New York with food by Chef Daniel Boulud on the 55th floor of One Vanderbilt, about a block from the Hyatt Grand Central (former Grand Hyatt). I’ve been up on the 91st through 93rd floors of that building and the views are truly stunning.

The space is now open, and it’s not only available to Black Card customers. There is an open Salon with complimentary coffee and (3) distinct areas with separate reservations:

• The Gallery: fine dining with dishes selected by Daniel Boulud
• The Studio: casual dining, light fare
• The Studio Bar: bites and cocktails

A reader shares his visit to the brand new Yabu Pushelberg-designed space. Here’s how entering the space works,

When you get to the space they have someone in the lobby. Last night they had several people. Checking if you have a reservation or a Centurian member. They let the greeters upstairs know you are coming then take a photo for the security badge used to get to the elevators. Once upstairs your coats are taken and you are directed to where the restaurant area you are supposed to go.

Just past the greeters [upstairs] there is an open area with tables where you can order drinks and bar bites if you do not want to use the restaurant.

And his description of the spaces,

First they seem to have the full floor with event rooms, special rooms for small parties. A bar at one end they call the Chrysler bar because of the view. The large dining room they serve a three-course meal.

…The view from this room is the Empire State Building. You are 55 floors up and the view is perfect, you can almost see into the windows of the Chrysler bldg..

This is the bar menu:

My correspondent shares,

Long hall way One side is a small bar with 8 seats 2 small table areas. Looks like even rooms are in this area. The other side looks like the restaurants. I did not go there i do not think i was welcome there. Now i was just told we could not order the bar bites because we are in the welcome area. They almost would not let us up they said it was too busy.

…I had the Centurion team speak to the manager here due to some problems with the reservation system. Now that we are sitting the food is excellent and the service is perfect.

This was the casual dining area. with “a long bar and the view is of Manhattan and you can see many of the lights of Times Square.”

There is also a secret room,

I have more of a story to tell including the secret room which they want to keep exclusive but at the same time I think they want some people to know about it. They said I could take photos but asked if I please not share on social media so since I would be tempted to share I chose not to take the photos.

The service was excellent, once you got past the confusion the people were what appeared to be genuinely friendly. It was not inexpensive either and when the check came it was not itemized.

An unitemized bill! I’m not quite sure what to say to that, other than they seem to be going for ‘if you have to pay attention to the details of something like money you shouldn’t be here’?

Information about the American Express Centurion Card is neither provided nor reviewed by its issuer.

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