When my parents come into town, I want to show them cool NYC restaurants, but like…appropriate ones. You know? Some of my favorite restaurants have tiny stools to sit on, or a too-loud dining room, and I just don’t want to hear the complaining. So, I recently discovered the perfect place to take your parents to dinner in New York City. It’s quiet during dinner, it’s an extremely cool conversation-inducing setting and the immensely flavorful yet classic food is handled with extreme care and skill. It’s Bill’s Townhouse.

Bill’s is a warm, friendly and intimate 3-story brownstone-turned-restaurant in Midtown Manhattan. I went on a Friday night with both of my parents, courtesy of the restaurant, and the two of them couldn’t stop talking about it.

You can explore all three stories at Bill’s, climbing up the old, narrow staircase. The ground floor is a vibrant piano bar with checkered floors and an old red telephone booth. The next floor is the massive dining room with dark wood and blue hues. There were masculine touches like brown leather booths and taxidermied animal heads on the walls. It was rustic lodge meets Boardwalk Empire. The top floor is a private bar and meeting space for events. The place used to house a REAL speakeasy back in the day.

The menu is charmingly old school. It has dishes that I literally have never seen at any restaurant in this time period. I felt like I was ordering off a business lunch menu during the Mad Men era. I mean, Lobster Thermidor? Scallops Newburg? WHERE ARE WE? That being said, we ordered the Beef Wellington.

What we Ordered & Shared:

Grilled Oysters: with herb butter and lemon, these were something I felt were missing from my life before this moment.

Bill’s Housemade Buttered Egg Noodles: with lobster. The toppings change daily, and we were excited to see that it had the lobster element that night. Warm, homemade noodles drenched in buttery goodness and topped with fresh lobster – this is definitely the dish to get here at Bill’s.

Beef Wellington for Two: The three of us could hardly finish this, it was so rich. Have you ever had Beef Wellington? It’s the dish I always see people messing up on Gordon Ramsay’s shows for being too dry. This was anything but dry. It was some of the most moist (moistest?) meat I’ve ever had. A Beef Wellington, if you’ve never had it, or if you need a reminder is; filet steak, coated with pate and duxelles (a mushroom/shallot/butter paste), and wrapped in puff pastry. This one had black truffle sauce. I wanted to cry with joy after eating this.

The Madison Cocktail: Domaine de canton, Lejay and Prosecco. My mom ordered this and I had a couple of sips – it was very refreshing, and best of all she really liked it! Phew.

Flourless Chocolate Cake: with strawberry coulis. The perfectly indulgent end to a perfectly indulgent dinner. This is the kind of cake for those who aren’t into super sugary desserts – it’s very dense and has that light bitterness of dark chocolate.

I felt so accomplished after taking the ‘rents to this place. It was everything I wanted it to be; under the radar, classically New York and delicious. The steaks are expensive, but worth it, but the drinks and entrees are on par with usual NYC prices. This is why you need to bring Mom & Dad here – maybe they will offer to foot the bill…ahem…

Check it out if you’re in the ‘hood! I hear lunch during the week is quite busy, but dinner or drinks is very chill.