Not seeing a general thread like this, and without devoting a whole thread to a single place, i wanted to start a thread on “nice” dinner options in Manhattan that are not crazy expensive.
To tee us up, I recommend the Commerce Inn, a mid-range, terrific dinner option in Manhattan.
https://www.thecommerceinn.com/The Commerce Inn is getting a lot of buzz for being a Shaker restaurant. One critic noted it was protected from authenticity complaints because there only like 3 Shakers left and they are all in a nursing home in Maine and unlikely to call the restaurant out for not being genuine Shaker.
The food is genuinely terrific. Its in the “West Village,” entrees are between $22 and $46, and is in a very pleasant part of town. I especially recommend the chicken, mashed potatoes and carrots. Service was good. People watching was fun. When I did not like my cocktail, they replaced it and did not charge me.
I will only add the caveat that the noise level can be intolerable and recommend going off-peak.
This was a really great dining experience and I highly recommend.