To continue my birthday celebration, a group of good friends took me to Bad Roman, the new, impossible-to-get-into restaurant on the third floor of the Shops at Columbus Circle. We got in, as one of my friends is a restaurant trade magazine editor.

Bad Roman — part of the Quality Branded restaurant group — is in the former Landmarc space in the former Time-Warner, now the Deutsche Bank Center. It’s one of those fun, fashionably trendy places where you rave about the place more than the food.

We arrived early to grab a drink. With it 3-deep at the bar, that wasn’t happening. We got that drink and enjoyed each other company at Tartinary, a quiet place down the hall from Bad Roman. So glad we could catch up as the noise inside Bad Roman was loud. Deafening.

We started with shared bites for the table. Those included their decadently rich Roasted Garlic Babka ($8), large rounds of cooked pepperoni ($11) along with ranch dressing and black truffle honey whipped ricotta ($18).

I liked the Bad Roman crisp lettuce in the wedge with soppressata and black olives ($21).

After that, everything arrived at once. We five shared the chicken scarpariello rigatoni with hot cherry peppers and sweet Italian sausage ($28), short rib pappardelle with San Marzano tomato sauce ($34), Calabrian rock shrimp chitarra ($34) and a filet of beef ($47) topped with a ravioli filled with cacio e pepe ravioli (+$6).

My birthday dessert was a delicious cheesecake served in a chocolate lemon ($19). I’d recommend that.

Bad Roman
Columbus Circle
10 Columbus Cir
New York, NY 10019
(212) 970-2033
badromannyc.com