S is for Serendipity 3 in New York City

Caramel Drugstore Sundae, Serendipity 3, New York City, April 2012
Caramel Drugstore Sundae, Serendipity 3, New York City, April 2012

Frozen hot chocolate. The concept is a sweet mug of oxymoron served up daily at Serendipity 3 in New York City. For years I’ve been wearing Serendipitous, the chocolate-scented perfume by Serendipity 3 but last week was my first visit to the popular eatery.

Ecletic Decor in Serendipity 3, New York City
Eclectic Decor in Serendipity 3, New York City

I had read about hour wait times and long lines just to be seated in Serendipity 3. Reservations are only accepted for meals and not desserts. On a Wednesday afternoon around 3 p.m., I rolled the dice and showed up with visions of sundaes and frozen hot chocolate on my mind.

Lucky me! No waiting for a seat in the back where I looked out into the dining area and saw diners slurping up frozen hot chocolate from huge glass bowls. Colorful faux Tiffany lampshades hung from the ceiling adding pops of color in an otherwise white dining area – white tiles, white walls, white tables and chairs.

Entrance to Serendipity 3, New York City
Entrance to Serendipity 3, New York City

Sundae for One

Although I had my heart set on a frozen hot chocolate, I opted for the Caramel Drugstore Sundae – three scoops of ice cream with gobs of gooey caramel, whipped topping and a red cherry. ($9.50) It was presented to me in a large glass stemmed-bowl with caramel and whipped topping oozing over the edges and onto the plate below. I tried to capture the moment with the video below.

Service was OK. Call me paranoid but being a solo diner, I sometimes feel waiters don’t offer the service they should. Although my waiter checked on tables around me, he never stopped by to see how my dessert was.

Despite mediocre service, I’ll probably return to try the frozen hot chocolate and continue to wear their perfume.

Serendipity 3
225 East 60th Street
between 2nd and 3rd Avenues
New York, NY 10022
Tel: 212-838-3531
www.serendipity3.com

A limited number of reservations are accepted for lunch and dinner and not accepted for dessert. Serendipity 3 has a minimum table purchase of $8.95, which is pretty easy to spend, even for a solo diner.

Hours of operation:
Sun-Thur 11:30a.m. to midnight
Friday 11:30a.m. to 1 a.m.
Saturday 11:30a.m. to 2 a.m.

Disclosure: This post contains an affiliate link so you can smell like chocolate, too!

This post is part of the 2012 Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Check back daily for a different letter!

Serendipity 3 on Urbanspoon

Serendipity 3 on Foodio54

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Jenn

Jennifer A. Huber is an award-winning travel and outdoor blogger and writer in Southwest Florida. Originally from Buffalo, N.Y., a hiking trail led her to a career path in the tourism industry for more than 30 years. She spent a decade with a park management company in Yellowstone, Death Valley, and Everglades National Parks. She founded the travel blog, SoloTravelGirl.com with the goal of inspiring others to travel alone, not lonely. The unexpected death of her former husband in 2008 reminded her how short life is. His passing was a catalyst for sharing her experiences with the goal of inspiring and empowering others to travel solo. Jennifer holds a Travel Marketing Professional certification from the Southeast Tourism Society, is a certified food judge, member of the NASA Social community, and alum of the FBI Citizens Academy. When not traveling, she is either in the kitchen, practicing her photography skills, or road tripping with her dog, Radcliff.

7 thoughts on “S is for Serendipity 3 in New York City

  1. Amazing! I don’t do chocolate, but I do caramel and you had me drooling! I too, don’t care for shoddy service. I like good food, but shoddy service will make me not go back. I can find great food elsewhere where they appreciate my patronage. Thanks for dropping by my blog! I love yours!

  2. That looks terrible.. Would never accept anything like that. I’m like you often a “lonely diner” and I would say the opposite – that I always get great attention from the waiting staff – there was been some bad moments too.

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