Restaurant in New York City, United States
OAD-ranked room that earns its price.
Clocktower earns its OAD ranking (#176, 2025) with a serious wine program and a room inside the landmarked Metropolitan Life Tower that outperforms most New American restaurants at this price. At $$$ cuisine pricing with easy booking, it sits well above typical hotel dining — a practical choice for food and wine enthusiasts who want substance without a tasting-menu commitment.
Dinner seats at Clocktower fill faster than its Flatiron-area peers — the combination of a Stephen Starr-backed room, an OAD-ranked kitchen, and one of the more serious wine programs in the $$$+ New American tier means availability moves quickly, especially Thursday through Saturday. Book at least a week out for weekday dinners; for weekend evenings, two weeks is safer. The good news: this is still an easy reservation compared to the city's tasting-menu-only rooms, and breakfast slots are reliably open if you want to experience the space without the evening competition.
Clocktower operates out of 5 Madison Avenue in the New York Edition hotel, which means the room itself does real work before the food arrives. Housed inside the landmarked Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower, the dining space gives you something most New American restaurants in this price tier cannot: genuine architectural presence. That visual context — the proportions, the materials, the height , is part of what you are paying for, and it makes the room a more persuasive choice for occasions where atmosphere carries weight.
The kitchen runs under Chef John Kim, with the program positioned as American with a British accent , a combination that, within Stephen Starr's portfolio, sits closer to the serious end of the operator's range. Clocktower has earned consecutive recognition from Opinionated About Dining, ranking #176 in Casual North America in 2025, up from #213 in 2024, and Highly Recommended in 2023. That upward trajectory is a useful signal: this is a kitchen that has been getting sharper, not coasting.
For food-and-wine enthusiasts, the wine list is the secondary reason to book. Wine Director Ken Sistrunk and Sommelier Yumilka Ortiz oversee a 700-selection, 1,330-bottle inventory with particular depth in Burgundy, Rhône, and Bordeaux. Pricing sits in the $$$ tier with many bottles over $100, so this is not a value list , but the breadth and the French-region focus give serious drinkers genuine options. Corkage is $65 if you bring your own. That fee is on the higher side for New York, so unless you have a specific bottle in mind, the list is likely the better path.
The hours structure is worth understanding before you book. Monday through Friday, Clocktower runs breakfast service (7–10:30 am) and dinner (5–10 pm). Saturday and Sunday add a lunch window (11:30 am–2:30 pm), making the weekend the most flexible visit option. There is no weekday lunch, which rules it out as a Midtown business-lunch alternative for most schedules. If your itinerary only allows a daytime slot on a weekday, breakfast is your entry point , and given the room's visual impact, a morning visit is not a compromise.
Clocktower is not a delivery or takeout play. The setting , a landmarked hotel dining room with architectural scale , is central to the value proposition. A kitchen running $$$ cuisine pricing with serious wine infrastructure is optimized for in-room experience. If you are weighing whether to order in versus go in person, the answer is clear: go. The food does not need to travel; the room is the point. For comparable New American cooking that translates better to off-premise formats, ABC Kitchen or Craft are more practical options.
Clocktower sits in a productive middle ground in the New York dining map. It is more accessible than the city's tasting-menu rooms and more serious than most hotel dining in its price range. For food and wine travelers covering the broader New York scene, it pairs well with a visit to The Four Horsemen for natural wine contrast, or Beauty & Essex or The Dutch for a more casual Starr-adjacent evening. If you are building a wider New York itinerary, our full New York City restaurants guide, bars guide, hotels guide, wineries guide, and experiences guide cover the full picture. For comparable New American ambition in other cities, Lazy Bear in San Francisco, Alinea in Chicago, The Inn at Little Washington, Bayona in New Orleans, Emeril's in New Orleans, Single Thread Farm in Healdsburg, The French Laundry in Napa, and Providence in Los Angeles offer useful reference points for the category.
The venue database does not confirm specific dietary accommodation policies. Contact Clocktower directly before booking if restrictions are a factor , a kitchen operating in the $$$ tier with breakfast, lunch, and dinner service typically has the range to accommodate common requests, but confirming in advance is the practical move for anything beyond standard preferences.
Group bookings at hotel restaurant spaces in New York's $$$ tier usually require advance coordination, and Clocktower is no exception given its location in the New York Edition. For parties of six or more, contact the restaurant directly rather than booking through a standard reservation platform , larger groups often have access to semi-private or dedicated spaces, but availability and minimum spend requirements are not published in current data. The Flatiron location makes it a workable option for groups gathering from across Midtown and Lower Manhattan.
Bar seating at hotel dining rooms in this tier is generally available for walk-in guests, and Clocktower's structure as a full-service hotel restaurant suggests bar access is a realistic option , particularly at off-peak hours. That said, confirmed bar seating policies are not in the current venue data. If you want the room without a reservation, arriving early in a dinner service window (around 5–5:30 pm) gives you the leading shot at bar or walk-in availability.
For New American at a similar price point with strong wine programs, Craft is the most direct comparison , Tom Colicchio's restaurant covers similar $$$ territory with a wine-forward approach and a more downtown feel. ABC Kitchen is a step down in formality but covers the American-leaning dinner occasion at a slightly lower price threshold. If the Flatiron hotel-dining format specifically appeals, Clocktower's OAD ranking (#176 in 2025) puts it ahead of most hotel restaurants in the area. For a completely different register , natural wine, Brooklyn-centric , The Four Horsemen is the contrast worth knowing about.
Yes, with the right expectations set. The room inside the Metropolitan Life Tower gives you visual scale that most New American restaurants at this price cannot match, and the OAD #176 ranking (2025) and the wine program depth give the meal genuine substance. At $$$ cuisine pricing, it is accessible compared to the city's $$$$ occasion restaurants. The trade-off: you are in a hotel dining room, which some guests find less intimate than a standalone special-occasion restaurant. If the room's architectural presence matters to you, Clocktower works well for birthdays, anniversaries, or a significant dinner out. If you want something more private and tasting-menu-oriented, the $$$$ tier , Atomix or Eleven Madison Park , is the better path.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clocktower | New American | Easy | |
| Le Bernardin | French, Seafood | $$$$ | Unknown |
| Atomix | Modern Korean, Korean | $$$$ | Unknown |
| Eleven Madison Park | French, Vegan | $$$$ | Unknown |
| Masa | Sushi, Japanese | $$$$ | Unknown |
| Per Se | French, Contemporary | $$$$ | Unknown |
What to weigh when choosing between Clocktower and alternatives.
The kitchen runs a New American menu with documented American and British cuisine influences, which typically allows reasonable flexibility for common dietary needs. check the venue's official channels before your visit to flag restrictions — a Stephen Starr-backed operation of this scale (OAD-ranked, full dinner and brunch service) generally accommodates with advance notice. The extensive 700-bottle wine list means non-drinkers may feel less of the value proposition, so factor that in.
Groups are manageable here, but larger parties should book well ahead given how consistently the room fills. At $$$ per head for cuisine and a $65 corkage fee if you bring your own bottle, group costs add up fast — check whether a private arrangement is available for parties of 6 or more. The hotel-anchored setting at 5 Madison Avenue gives Clocktower more physical flexibility than a standalone restaurant, which helps.
Bar seating is not confirmed in the available venue data, but the New York Edition hotel format typically includes a bar area adjacent to the dining room. If counter or bar dining is your priority, call ahead to confirm availability and format before booking — at $$$ pricing, arriving without a confirmed seat is a poor gamble.
For comparable OAD-ranked New American at $$$ pricing in a notable room, Clocktower sits in a productive middle tier. Eleven Madison Park is the obvious step up in ambition and price, running a full tasting menu format with significantly longer lead times for reservations. For a more casual Flatiron-area dinner that doesn't require the same commitment, the neighborhood has solid options — but Clocktower's wine program (700 selections, Burgundy and Rhône strengths, $65 corkage) is a genuine differentiator that most alternatives don't match.
Yes, with the right expectations. The combination of a landmarked hotel dining room at 5 Madison Avenue, an OAD Casual North America ranking (#176 in 2025), and a 1,330-inventory wine list with director Ken Sistrunk makes Clocktower a credible special-occasion pick at $$$ pricing. It works best for occasions where the room and the bottle matter as much as the food — if you want a pure tasting-menu experience for a milestone dinner, Atomix or Eleven Madison Park are better fits.
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