Dream Midtown NYC A Hyatt Hotel: Review

If you are hell bent on finding some of the best bars in New York City, you won’t have to move around too much. Three are all in one place – a place you won’t even have to leave after you’ve imbibed a bit: the Hyatt flagged Dream Midtown NYC. 

Living Wall PHD Terrace Dream Midtown NYC
Living Wall PHD Terrace Dream Midtown NYC

Choose between a classic watering hole (The Rickey), one of the largest rooftop bars in Manhattan (PHD Terrace) and a retro game room with free bowling and Skee Ball in a dark basement infused with azure light from a floor to ceiling cylindrical fish tank (FishBowl).

If you count the bar at connected restaurant, Serafina Broadway, with a private entrance from the Dream Midtown lobby, there are actually four fantastic cocktail lounges within steps or an elevator ride of each other.

Serafina Broadway NYC
Serafina Broadway NYC

The first of what was to be many Dream Hotels to come, this one, on 55th and Broadway in Manhattan, a couple of blocks from Central Park and Columbus Circle, opened in 2003 “to provide a richer, bolder, and more vibrant experience” to midtown Manhattan travelers.

Dream Midtown NYC - a Hyatt - lobby with fish tank.
Dream Midtown NYC Lobby

To that end, Dream Midtown installed a massive salt-water fish tank. A statement pillar front and center in the lobby, it became the hotel’s drawing card. This illuminated aquarium brightens up the lobby and extends into the basement tavern.

Dream Midtown joins several other NYC hotels in the Getaway Mavens Great Romantic NYC Hotels That Are Sexy As Hell Post.

First Impressions of Dream Midtown NYC

The lobby is all off whites and golds, with of course, that blue, glowing cylindrical floor to ceiling fishbowl for punch.

Dream Midtown NYC Reception
Dream Midtown NYC Reception

Reception staff is unpretentious, friendly, and on the ball. You’ll find out in quick order about all three bars and the Dream Midtown’s in-house restaurant, Serafina. Then, you’re dispatched, post haste, to your mod-stylish room.

Rooms at Dream Midtown NYC

Guest room, Dream Midtown NYC
Guest room, Dream Midtown NYC

All 211 rooms and suites flash in blazing white-royal purple Holly Golightly- chic. The legendary Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany would feel right at home here.

Dream Midtown NYC Guest Room
Dream Midtown NYC Guest Room

Room 1012, a corner Platinum Suite – is a contemporary minimalistic fantasia of violets on snow. This color palette is broken only by a charcoal throw at the base of the bed, plum and chartreuse accent pillows, and a Charles Burchfield-like flower print.

The latter dresses up a cushy textural wall that curves up over the bed, like a canopy. A large floor lamp, with amethyst hued pillbox shade, arches over a small white desk.

Dream Midtown NYC Platinum Suite Bar
Dream Midtown NYC Platinum Suite Bar

The living room, overlooking Broadway, contains a semicircular royal purple couch and a white laminate bar, set to entertain. Bottles of premium spirits are at the ready (for purchase).

Dream Midtown NYC Bathroom
Dream Midtown NYC Bathroom

Bathrooms, though small, are Carrera marble posh, with glass showers and Euro-style fixtures.

Food and Drink at Dream Midtown NYC

Dream Midtown sure doesn’t stint on drama.

View from PHD Terrace Dream Midtown NYC
View from PHD Terrace Dream Midtown NYC

PHD Terrace

You can gaze down at Stephen Colbert’s Late Night Theater from PHD Terrace – Dream Midtown’s newly expanded triple-decker rooftop bar. There’s a boffo view of tops of NYC buildings, canyons below, and floral specimens both potted and on living walls around every corner.

Truffle Fries PHD Terrace Dream Midtown NYC
Truffle Fries PHD Terrace Dream Midtown NYC

Service is terrific. Craft cocktails are inventive. And small bites – like the Truffle Fries – are definitely worth ordering.

Covered Roofdeck Dream Midtown NYC
Covered Roofdeck Dream Midtown NYC

When it’s raining, PHD’s lower level affords views complete with a roof over your head. And part of it is enclosed when the snow flies.

With over 6,000 sq ft of space, and lots of nooks and crannies to choose from, the mood atop Dream Midtown ranges from corner cozy romantic to high-spirited group mingling. With one of the greatest shows on earth unfolding all around.

Fishbowl Dream Midtown NYC Bar
Fishbowl Dream Midtown NYC Bar

Fishbowl

Meanwhile, below ground, down a spiral staircase, get a gander of the bottom of the lobby’s fish tank at Fishbowl, with a completely different vibe.

Knock back some brews in a space that resembles the inside of a pinball machine.  Remember those days when you had to leave the house to play arcade games with friends? Fishbowl brings that back, with Skee Ball, 2-lane bowling, and 80’s video-game cocktail tables. All complimentary to play.

Bowling Fishbowl Dream Hotel Midtown NYC
Bowling Fishbowl Dream Hotel Midtown NYC

The Rickey

Just off the lobby, The Rickey is your standard, classic bar. Low lit, in masculine grays and black, tufted leather bar chairs, it’s a place to meditate on your Gin and Tonic.

Serafina Broadway Dream Midtown NYC
Serafina Broadway Dream Midtown NYC

Serafina Broadway Restaurant

There are Serafina’s the world over, from L.A. to New York, Dubai to Japan, India to Turkey. But this one, attached to Dream Midtown and stylized by David Rockwell, has got to be the most glittery. Certainly, a Fellini-cinema spectacle of metallic mosaic murals.

Though very good fish, chicken, and beef dishes are on the menu, devotees of Serafina’s pizza go for the pies. But when I dine there, it’s always a homemade al dente pasta dish for me; either the Rigatoni Bolognese ($19.90), or the heart-shaped lobster ravioli in lobster bisque sauce ($25). Both are downright excellent.

Dream Hotel Midtown NY Pin

Author

  • Malerie Yolen-Cohen

    Malerie Yolen-Cohen is the Author of the cross-country travel guide, Stay On Route 6; Your Guide to All 3562 Miles of Transcontinental Route 6. She contributes frequently to Newsday, with credits in National Geographic Traveler, Ladies Home Journal, Yankee Magazine, Shape.com, Sierra Magazine, Porthole, Paddler, New England Boating, Huffington Post, and dozens of other publications. Malerie’s focus and specialty is Northeastern US, and she is constantly amazed by the caliber of restaurants and lodging in the unlikeliest places.

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