Intermezzo

202 Eighth Avenue

(between 20th and 21st Streets)

www.intermezzo-nyc.com

Went for two birthday celebrations at this restaurant.

First, a birthday Lunch celebration.

Intermezzo offers a great $8.95 lunch special. You can select an appetizer and a main course.

I chose their Caesar salad. (I was a little disappointed as they used to serve it with anchovies in the past.)

And for my main, I chose the fusilli della casa (bacon, sweet corn, and scallion in a creamy parmesan cheese). Absolutely delicious! For those with lactose issues, the creamy parmesan is a very light sauce.

My friend decided to go off their lunch special menu. She went instead for the traditional linguine and clams. It hit just the right spot for her craving for seafood and Italian pasta.

Lunch also comes with a basket of warm, fresh breads. Their garlic and tomato bread is the best! And it goes great with sopping up the sauces of your pasta dishes.

As it was a celebratory lunch we had to have a drink. And since it was a hot, summer day, we decided to go for sangria. Plus, they were offering a two-for-one drink special on the sangria. Their choices were: peach, white, and red.We tried the peach (not so good). The white (not pictured) was delicious.

Salud!

I then went to this restaurant for a birthday Brunch celebration.

If you are looking for a fun, campy (with a drag queen show!), boozy time with truly bottomless drinks, then Intermezzo would be a perfect go-to choice.

Their $20, brunch drink special is a real deal as they continually top off your drink. It’s for 90 minutes, but we were there for almost 3 hours and they never stopped filling up our glasses. They offer champagne, mimosa, bloody mary, raspberry or peach bellini. And as with their sangria special, they allow you to switch out.

We all opted for champagne (and we stayed with champagne throughout) as it was a celebratory brunch.

For our food, I went for the classic eggs benedict. Perfect accompaniment with the drinks.

My friend chose the Caesar salad with grilled shrimp.

As the restaurant knew that it was a birthday brunch, they surprised us with a comp dessert—tiramisu!—along with all the waiters singing “Happy Birthday!”

And with a DJ playing thumping club music, a drag queen show—which was actually pleasantly surprisingly good, clean fun—and patrons getting up to dance and show off their club moves, Intermezzo was absolutely the perfect party place to go.

Do NOT go if you want to have a conversation with your dining companion as the music is quite loud!

Go for their weekday lunch special instead if you’re looking for a quiet, dining experience.