Bryant Park Winter Village Review: Why It’s A Must Visit

After visiting two booths that primarily featured food items, I decided it was time to try a dessert. I noticed a place called Down the Chimney that was selling desserts in doughy cones that looked really good. I assumed the cones were filled with ice cream and then topped with whipped cream and other assorted sweet fantasies. There was no line when I walked up, just a couple of people waiting for their orders to be filled.

It took about twenty minutes for them to complete my order, which was basically a dough cone filled with whipped cream, marshmallows, Nutella, and graham crackers. It was incredibly messy. I noticed that every single person who had been given their cone came back within a minute asking for napkins. I made sure to grab napkins as soon as they handed me the cone. As far as taste, it was really good, I enjoyed it, but I only took one or two bites because the calories were starting to count and I was basically working here. Is this a place I’d recommend? Yes, because the cone was fantastic, it was delightful, and the people who work there, especially the woman, were incredibly friendly. On the downside, it’s a long wait, but hey, you can’t have everything.

The Shops

After three straight stops at the food shops, I decided to take a break from eating and walk around the park to see what else was going on. There are easily two or three times more booths, stores, or shops, or whatever you want to call them, that are selling merchandise than there are food vendors. It’s pretty much like a street fair, except every booth is in a small wooden lean-to style box. There are, of course, a lot of Christmas items and decorations. There’s plenty of stuff for tourists, but there are also many items for people celebrating the holiday season. Trinkets, T-shirts, you name it, they’re selling it there. If that’s the kind of thing you enjoy, you’ll fall in love with this place.

There’s also the ice skating rink, which wasn’t that crowded and is quite large, much bigger than the one at Rockefeller Center. There’s also a nice spot called The Lounge, which is basically a giant bar with plenty of open seating and a generous selection of draft beer to choose from. There were also a few shops inside selling coffee, pastries, and donuts.

After being there for about two hours, walking around and checking everything out, I was starting to get a little tired. Yet I still felt unfulfilled. I felt like I hadn’t done my job, that I hadn’t ordered enough food items, that I hadn’t found anything truly spectacular. I needed to hit one more spot, one more food place that would be a home run. A place that people would be talking about for centuries, or at least for the next couple of days. And then, lo and behold, as I was walking around thinking this, I looked up to my left, and there it was. Cheesesteaks by the Truffleist. This was a place that I had seen many times on social media. It woudl be the perfect way to end my visit.

Cheesesteaks by the Truffleist

Photo by Brian Kachejian

There was no line when I walked up to the cheesesteaks booth. That was also one of the reasons I decided to give it a try. In the end, that really didn’t matter because it took about half an hour for them to give me my order. Luckily, there was a table open right next to the booth that I quickly ran to and sat down at, put my bag on it, and was determined that no one was taking this table while I sat there waiting for my cheesesteak that seemed to take forever.

These were not cheap cheesesteaks, but I wasn’t expecting them to be cheap either. I got basically the truffle cheesesteak. It was twenty-four dollars. As I sat down and looked at the brochure they gave me, I realized that I had actually not purchased what I thought I was purchasing. In all the videos I had seen about this place, people were showing cheesesteaks loaded with shaved truffle. However, that is a specialty cheesesteak that does not have a price on the menu and actually is listed with “MP” next to it, meaning market price. I have heard that cheesesteak can cost up to fifty dollars. Even if I had known that when I was ordering, I would not have paid fifty dollars for it, so I got the truffle cheesesteak, which really didn’t have truffle on it, just truffle oil. Yes, this is New York City, prepare to be ripped off.

I was not expecting that long of a wait, and at times, even though I had paid twenty-four dollars for the cheesesteak, I have to tell you that I was thinking of leaving. If I had just bought the cheesesteak and was visiting there on my own, not running a review or filming, I probably would have left. But I had to finish the video, I had to write the review, so I had to wait for it.

When it was finally ready, I dashed from my table to the booth and back like the Flash. No one was getting their table, and believe me, some people were hungry for it. When I opened it, the scent was amazing. I was surprised that this wasn’t like a regular cheesesteak I’ve had before. The steak, the meat, whatever it was, was cut up into little chunks, little squares. It had a slightly odd taste to it.

I always try to be honest when I eat food, but sometimes, especially after trying so many different items, it’s hard to give an accurate review of what something tastes like. It’s not until later on when you start thinking about it, was it really as good as I said it was, was it as worth it as I said it was, maybe not. This one is a bit unusual; it was still good. The bread was so soft and fresh, it tasted like it had just come right out of the oven; it was excellent. The cheese, I suppose, was blended with the truffle oil, and it had a slightly odd taste, as did the meat. Was it worth the twenty-four dollars? Absolutely not.

It’s interesting, if you look at their website, there’s a picture of one of their food booths where you’ll see that the same cheesesteak sandwich is listed as fifteen dollars on the sign at the booth, but if you scroll down the website, you’ll see that it’s twenty-four dollars. Would I recommend this place? I would say be aware you’re going to pay a lot of money. It’s a pretty good cheesesteak, but it’s also quite large. If you’re looking to try a variety of different foods, you may want to consider skipping this or sharing it with three other people. It’s also so messy that it just falls all over the place. Watch the video below, you’ll see what I’m talking about.