Merchants

Tuesday, 2/19/08, 10:15 pm - Upper East Side

The bathroom was trying to be something it wasn't - super luxurious. The 3 stalls had full-length doors, with sea glass panels. Not too shabby. But once inside the stalls, it was really dark - hard to see.

The first stall didn't have a lock that worked. When I found one that had a decent lock, the stalls were so cramped that I knocked the toilet paper off the free standing roll when I went to put my bag on the hook. But the toilet paper really had a hard time staying on the stand.

The sink was better, but I really think the whole room was too dark. You couldn't reapply makeup in there with success.

Here's more about Merchants.

Morton's Steakhouse

Sunday, 2/10/08, 8 pm - White Plains, N.Y.

For the type of restaurant where details matter, there weren't may details in the bathroom. It was cold (temperature- and decor-wise) and sterile. There was no character at all - just black stalls. It was clean, but that's about all it had going for it. I thought there would be some amenities on the sink, but just Morton's paper hand towels. They could do much better.

Here's more on Morton's Steakhouse.

Rayuela

Saturday, 2/2/08, 10 pm - East Village

Thought went into this restroom - making it flow from the restaurant to the bathroom. The entire bottom floor is the bathroom with a few unisex stalls. Even down to the wooden doors with the oversized handles, the decor was carefully selected. Ahead of the stalls there's a cushioned bench in case you have to wait.

The last part I will mention is the single large sink - it had faucets on either side of the basin.
Take a look:
While the design is clever, there's something missing in the function when you have to figure out where the paper towels were (I was surprised they didn't have cloth towels).

Anyway, here's more on Rayuela.