The Polo Bar

"Verdict: The Polo Bar is so preppy, their tap water tastes like seersucker. Ralph Lauren’s tartan-filled, subterranean Midtown country club has cornered the market on equestrian paintings and parquet ceilings, and it’s the closest you’ll get to a guaranteed celebrity sighting. Is the food good? Who cares? You’re here for the scene. (But yes, the food is good. Try the corned beef sandwich.)" - bryan kim

"Swift first visited Polo Bar a long time ago, but well before that, the Polo Bar from Ralph Lauren, had been an impossible-to-get-into restaurant for mere mortals. There’s always the bar, “and the A-list crowd is reliably entertaining,” according to New York magazine." - Melissa McCart

"Ralph Lauren’s preppy, wood-paneled Midtown bunker is indescribably annoying to get into. If you do manage to land a table, you may even arrive a little disgruntled. But wait, what’s that? A flaky popover that looks like an ice cream cone? And it’s free? Well played." - bryan kim, neha talreja, sonal shah, willa moore, will hartman

"“We like sitting in the lounge upstairs for an Old Fashioned and the fried olives before we go downstairs for dinner. One thing we like about Polo Bar is that you can make it what you want. If you want to have a healthier night, you can order fish; if you want to lean in, they always have an amazing burger special. We love the fries, and their onion rings are crazy. We always get the reuben to share—they cut it into six little pieces so you each have just enough. Their aesthetic has perfect synergy with the Ralph Lauren brand, down to the wooden polo [bracket] stirrer in their Old Fashioned. And their wait staff always deliver top-notch professionalism—warmth and familiarity that most restaurants this difficult to get a reservation at can’t replicate.”" - brennan carley

"You might be skeptical of a sceney restaurant run by the guy who’s single-handedly responsible for millions of popped collars, but the food here is surprisingly good. A trio of things made with beef—the burger, corned beef sandwich, and strip steak—happen to be some of the best dishes. If you’re lucky enough to snag a reservation (taken over the phone), you’ll earn the right to sit in a subterranean dining room with a massive collection of equestrian art and play the “who can spot a celebrity from SNL or MSNBC first” game." - bryan kim, sonal shah, kenny yang, carina finn koeppicus