Marea
“No Michelin star since 2022 and it barely matters: the fusilli alone justifies Central Park South prices. Book it to impress clients.”
About Marea
Michael White and Ahmass Fakahany opened Marea at 240 Central Park South in May 2009, and within a year it had taken the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant. The idea was new to New York then: an Italian seafood house with the polish of a French dining room, a crudo bar instead of a caviar cart, and pasta treated as the centerpiece rather than the warmup act. Seventeen years later the formula still fills one of the most expensive rooms in the city twice a day.
The fusilli with red wine braised octopus and bone marrow, $54 on the current card, remains the most imitated pasta in America, and the casarecce buried under crab and sea urchin runs it close. Whole fish arrive salt baked for two, the crudo section sells by the piece, and white truffle season pushes a single plate past $275. Plan on roughly $200 a person with a fair bottle; the room prices like its address and makes no apology for it.
The Michelin record deserves honesty, because plenty of guides get it wrong: two stars in 2012, one by 2020, none since the 2022 guide. What survived matters more. Executive chef Lauren DeSteno, a veteran of the opening kitchen, runs one of the most consistent lines in the city, and the floor staff work at a level most starred rooms would envy. Reservations release on OpenTable, and the early evening slots facing the park go first.
The Room
Rosewood panels, cream leather and a bar cut from honey colored onyx, with windows onto Central Park South. The acoustics stay civilized even at full Friday tilt, tables are spaced for privacy, and the dress code is unwritten but real: suits at lunch, polish at night. Ask for the window side when you book; the park view does half the hosting.
Why book it, occasion by occasion
The reservation is the easy part to explain. The occasion is the part that decides the memory.
For the client who measures rooms by their address
Central Park South does the first five minutes of work before the bread arrives, and the crudo bar does the next ten. This is the room for a guest who wants recognizable luxury rather than a chef's experiment: the menu reads clearly, the wine list goes deep in Barolo and coastal whites, and nobody needs three hours. Book the window side on OpenTable and order the fusilli for the table without asking.
For terms that need a quiet corner and a serious bottle
The spacing between tables is the feature here: conversations stay private without the hush that makes negotiation feel staged. Lunch is the professional's slot, two courses inside ninety minutes with the room half full of people doing exactly what you are doing. The sommeliers can land a bottle at $90 or $900 with equal grace, which keeps the signaling entirely in your control.
For the anniversary that wants glamour without a tasting menu
An anniversary dinner should let you order what you love, and Marea is the rare grand room that stays à la carte. Split a crudo flight, share the fusilli, take the whole fish for two carved at the table, and finish facing the park. Note the occasion on OpenTable; the kitchen marks it quietly. The onyx bar pours well if you arrive early enough to toast twice.
What to order
The card is à la carte and the classics never rotate off. These four calls build the meal.
- Fusilli with octopus and bone marrow
The $54 signature since opening night: red wine braised octopus, marrow richness, a sauce copied on three continents and equalled nowhere.
- A crudo flight to open
Three or four pieces from the raw list before anything else. It is the section that made the restaurant's name in 2009 and it still sets the standard.
- The whole fish for two
Salt baked, carved tableside, priced by the day. The most generous main in the room and the right anchor for an occasion table.
- Coastal whites over trophy reds
The list rewards Etna, Campania and Liguria far below the Barolo pages. Tell the sommelier your ceiling and let the coast argue its case.
Practical
- Address
- 240 Central Park South, Columbus Circle, New York
- Reservations
- OpenTable · window tables go first
- Prices
- Fusilli $54 · about $200 a head with wine
- Hours
- Lunch and dinner daily
- Dress
- Business polish · jackets common, not required
- Wine
- Deep Italian list · strong coastal whites
- Dietary
- À la carte flexibility · shellfish heavy card
- Chef
- Lauren DeSteno, with the group since opening
Questions diners ask
Does Marea still have a Michelin star?
No. Marea held two stars from 2012, dropped to one in 2020 and has been unstarred since the 2022 guide. The kitchen under Lauren DeSteno has not fallen apart; the guide simply moved on. Judge it as a grand Italian seafood room with a James Beard pedigree rather than a Michelin pilgrimage and it delivers.
What should I order at Marea?
Start with a flight from the crudo bar, then the fusilli with octopus and bone marrow at $54, the dish that built the restaurant's reputation. For a table of two, add the salt baked whole fish. The casarecce with crab and sea urchin is the regulars' alternative to the fusilli.
What does dinner at Marea cost?
Pastas run in the $40s and $50s, crudo sells by the piece, and whole fish for two prices daily. With a starter, pasta, a shared main and a mid list bottle, expect roughly $200 a person. White truffle season adds a plate that can pass $275 on its own.
How hard is it to book Marea?
Straightforward by fine dining standards. Tables release on OpenTable and weeknights stay available a few days out; the window row and Friday and Saturday nights need a week or two of planning. Lunch is meaningfully easier and the same kitchen cooks it.