New York’s Long-Planned Buddha-Bar

Hot on the heels of Morimoto and Buddakan, another cavernous Asian-inspired restaurant bar and lounge debuted on the West Side in late April: Buddha-Bar, sister to the famed restaurant of the same name in Paris. Guests enter through a rounded slate hallway to find the vast 175-seat main dining room with a cross-shaped skylight and presided over by a 17-foot-tall Buddha statue. To the left is the lounge, seating another 150 (with 24 at the bar), and to the right is the 165-seat sushi dining room that has an 18-seat bar with illuminated tanks of jellyfish behind it. On either side of the Buddha are the Pagoda Rooms (pictured). Each has two round tables for eight suspended over koi ponds—diners sit on cushions with chair backs; their feet tuck under the table over a glass bottom with a view of the fish, and curtains provide a little privacy. —Caryl Chinn
Posted 05.05.06