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Overlooking Central Park from the second floor of the Helmsley Park Lane Hotel, The Park Room comfortably provides the expected: Tourist-heavy clientele, stately floral arrangements lit by giant chandeliers, and inoffensive cuisine employing restrained flourishes. An appetizer of quail garnished with blue and yellow flowers is a small dose of richness. The miniature honey-glazed legs may look dainty but there’s no delicate way to extract the dark, gamey meat without using your hands. Razor clams are presented dramatically with four tubular shells protruding from the bowl like spokes. However, the roughly chopped mollusks have been cooked in a broth that relies more on salt for flavor than the intended coconut and chile. Seafood features prominently on the menu, but grilled meats like the rosy veal chop are more exciting. Served atop a surfeit of rustically mashed skin-on spuds, squiggles of aioli add garlicky punch and tiny morels covered in Japanese breadcrumbs keep the dish from being too meat-and-potatoes. It’s really just the giant picture windows that set the restaurant apart. The view is quintessential Manhattan. — Krista Garcia

The restaurant is currently not serving dinner, but the bar is open until midnight daily.