Been deputized to find a Tuesday dinner for my parents’ anniversary/birthday. Four of us, coming from Kips Bay and Inwood, so Yorkville/UES made sense. Problem is my dad wears hearing aids and half the new places are all tile, music, and open kitchen. Need a place where we can actually talk without shouting.

Not looking for an old-school steakhouse or anything with a prix fixe. Prefer Italian/American, maybe seafood, but mostly needs to be genuinely comfortable. Does that exist above 72nd anymore?

Oh I was just looking for something similar for my grandparents! We ended up at a place on First that looked quiet but then the music came up and my grandpa kept turning his good ear toward the wall.

Curious if anyone has a rec with booth seating too, because he hates bar stools. Not trying to hijack, just following.

Before the recs, one apartment-related detour: if you’re baking anything at home for the birthday, the earlier discussion about storing a half-sheet pan in a tiny galley kitchen (Half-sheet pan in a galley kitchen: oven storage or is there a better trick?) was useful for keeping the oven clear without demoting the pan to the bathtub.

For the dinner itself, the UES is harder now because a lot of the newer Italian places are designed like wine bars first. They look nice but the marble, open kitchen, and high ceilings bounce sound straight back at you. For a quiet four-top, I’d avoid anything with a visible bar rail as the center of the room, and anything that calls itself a “pasta bar.”

The sweet spot is the slightly frumpy places that still have upholstered chairs, a carpet panel or two, and servers who don’t need to yell the specials. In Yorkville, I’ve had better luck near 78th to 86th, east of Second. There’s a Northern Italian spot on Second in the low 80s with a separate back room that seats smaller parties if you call ahead and mention you need a quiet table. It isn’t a destination place, but the food is steady and the pacing is adult.

For seafood without a steakhouse vibe, the older seafood house on First near 83rd is formal enough to feel special and quiet enough to hear each other. It’s not trendy. That’s the point. If you call, specifically ask not to be seated near the server station or the bar. Saying “hearing aids” usually gets you a better table than saying “preference.”

Tuesday is the right move. The only caveat: some of these back rooms are first-come, first-served unless you’re polite but firm on the phone.

Wait, is the quiet one with booths the place that looks like a diner from outside but has a fish tank? My friend mentioned something around 84th but she could not remember the name either.

Also, would any of these be weird about four people lingering? My parents like to sit forever after coffee. Most places I’ve tried in Yorkville get passive aggressive after an hour and a half, even on Tuesdays.

@big_city_beth the fish tank place is the exact vibe I’m trying to avoid. It’s fine for an early solo bite, but the room is tight and I remember the tile making it echo hard.

I think @astoria_arch is right about calling ahead and saying “hearing aids” rather than “we’d like the quiet table.” I’m going to try the Northern Italian spot on Second and ask for the back room. If they tell me it’s first-come, first-served, I’ll report back. Tuesday is looking less cursed than I expected.

Okay so I actually called the Northern Italian spot today and they said the back room is first-come, first-served? Maybe because I asked for two and not four. Let us know what they tell you, @Kingsbridge_K.

If that fails, there’s a little French bistro on 89th—I can never remember if it’s First or Second—that looked quiet, but I think it might be cash only. I didn’t go in because my grandpa only had a card.