The Windsor

189 West 10th Street, West Village, NY

5.8

map & more

Neighborhood
West Village

Cuisine
American
Bar Food

Nearby
Blue Note
Le Poisson Rouge

212-206-1208

Official Website

By Andrew Steinthal
December 15, 2011

Sports bars in NYC usually aren’t filled with females, unless, apparently, you’re The Windsor. These aren’t Eli Manning jersey wearing females either. The women of The Windsor rock Birkin bags, big glasses and knee high leather boots. They work at major fashion magazines and sometimes weekend at Canyon Ranch. Behold the power of Urban Daddy.

Being that it’s football season, I spend a good amount of time in sports bars attempting to track down a respectable chicken wing (never happening) and an ambiance which magically turns Mark Sanchez into a mistake free quarterback (also never happening). Generally speaking, Manhattan sports bars cater to the easy-to-please sports fan who believes that a bar like Nice Guy Eddie’s actually has good wings (they’re gross) and doesn’t smell like dirty feet (it does). The Windsor is the complete opposite. This sports bar doubles as a hot celebrity hangout. Not only do Cameron Diaz, Gwyneth Paltrow and A-Rod all hang out here, The Windsor takes reservations on OpenTable. Suck on that McFaddens.

The Windsor is in the perfect West Village location, the nexus corner of W. 4th and W. 10th, for non-stop foot traffic. It’s always slammed, even when there aren’t games on. For a huge game where I need to be zoned in on the TV, I wouldn’t come here. Too many distractions and not enough well placed TV’s. However, for the majority of games where I can take a more passive approach, this isn’t a bad option at all. The food is barely better than average for sports bar fare, but it’s the service that keeps us coming back. One of the Sunday waitresses is awesome and judging by all the hugs she gets from regulars, we’re not the only ones that approve.

Food Rundown:

Wings
Inconsistent. On our first trip here, they seemed to be passable – reasonably moist, plump and well sauced. However, on our second trip they were close to inedible. I hate when restaurants serve barely spiced buffalo wings with a side of Frank’s Red Hot and believe they’re getting the job done. They’re not.

Burger
Average. It’s a little on the small side and comes with a couple of sad pieces of lettuce, slice of tomato and raw onion. After a couple beers though, this will soak up a significant amount of booze, while leaving enough space in the tank to continue drinking heavily.

Nutella French Toast
We really enjoyed this and would definitely order it again. French Toast with a touch of chocolate and a heavy serving of caramelized bananas and mixed berries. Delicious.

Tuna Tartar with Wonton Chips
A nice chunk of fresh tuna tartar with a little bite thanks to chopped up jalapeno. We enjoyed this, but would have liked more than three chips to eat it with.

Slider Platter
Two mini cheeseburgers, two mini turkey burgers and fries. Nothing special, but a solid dish for the table to share.

Mac & Cheese
A popular favorite at the Windsor…you’ll see mac & cheese on pretty much every table. It’s another pretty straightforward option, and, not surprisingly, they offer a truffle version for an extra $25. Come to think of it, there are a lot of truffle options on this menu. No wonder why there are so many girls here.

Traditional English Breakfast
Eggs however you like them with bacon, sausage, toast and more. Very average, but also very doable before a 1pm football game.

Tuna Steak BLT
Not bad. This would have been better if it was served on something other than thick cut white bread, as the toast kind of overwhelmed the big chunks of tuna. It was definitely good though and we’d order it again. We liked the pickled jalapeno and avocado mousse tomato jam that came on it.