My journey to Amuse began at Meetup.com, where I joined The New York City Dining Out group, a collection of like-minded individuals who enjoy eating out in the city at restaurants. The hostesses were extremely helpful as they tried to decipher where I was from and who I was with. "I come from the Internet," I mumbled. See, that confusion comes from meeting up with strange people from the Web.

We were seated in the back, which might be considered their private dining area. From a sign or two outside, it looked like they had even more space available for private events. Private or not, the area was extremely cozy and well arranged/maintained. There were approximately 30 of us, and we sat on two separate rows of joined tables. It did not feel crowded by any means.

Since it was Restaurant Week, we had all of our meals from the prix-fixe menu. There were three courses and three types of items to choose from in each. For appetizers, there was the tomato soup, salad, or cod cakes. For the main course, there was the chicken, pasta, or salmon. And for dessert there was a chocolate item, vanilla ice cream, and buttermilk cake. I'm probably butchering the names of the entrées, since their descriptions were long and elaborate, but I hope you get the picture.

I had the cod cakes, chicken, and buttermilk cake. The cod cakes were actually like overrated fish sticks. Don't get me wrong, though, as it was extremely tasty and the tartar sauce was awesome. But, yeah, they're fishstick balls.

The cut of the chicken was great. I hate it when restaurants use low-grade or the less-desirable parts of chicken or beef in their food. In any case, the chicken was seasoned well, and it was accompanied by a few greens, mashed potatoes, and a brown gravy. The one thing that sticks out in my mind about this dish though is how tasty it was, almost too tasty, or salty even. I imagine chicken dishes to be initially bland, which are then aided with a hint of flavor from the spices, gravy, etc. I dunno. Maybe it was just me, but the chicken was fine with its own seasoning. The gravy was just so much extra. I could have easily just applied the gravy in moderation. Either way, the chicken was a solid choice.

The dessert was supposed to be buttermilk cake with ice cream and blueberries. I had to dash out of the restaurant to catch a bus, so I asked the waitress if I could get it to go. She withheld the ice cream, since it would probably get messy on the way home. The cake itself was nice, but I’m not a fan of blueberries, so oh well.

Amuse was a great place to dine out. The staff was extremely quick and helpful the entire time, especially our waitress Rosa. She rocks.