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High-Concept Restaurant Bathrooms

Fat Guy

By Fat Guy
in Restaurant Life

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MHesse

MHesse

Posted
Posted

The restaurant in the Royalton Hotel (44 W 44th?) has a very interesting mens bathroom.  It's all mirrors with no visible plumbing except for a sink.  Don't pee in the sink though!  Look at the floor and you will see a small area of grating along one wall.  Aproach that wall.  A waterfall commences to flow down the wall.  You've found the urinal!  A toilet is also in there, hidden behind another mirrored panel.

Worth a visit.  Interesting customer mix in the restaurant and lounge too.

--mark

Everybody has Problems, but Chemists have Solutions.

Fat Guy

Fat Guy

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted

My friend and I saw that bathroom for the first time a few years ago, and found it very interesting. Later that day, we went shopping at Barney's and went to use the bathroom there. It has a similar looking mirrored wall and there was a guy there standing in what looked like the position. So my friend and I walked up to the mirror, unzipped, and at that moment the guy let out a, "What the . . . ?!?!" Anyway, we then turned around and saw the urinals. Oops.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

tommy

tommy

Posted
Posted
Quote: from Fat Guy on 12:05 pm on Aug. 23, 2001

and at that moment the guy let out a, "What the . . . ?!?!" Anyway, we then turned around and saw the urinals. Oops.

that's too funny.

Tao in NYC has one of those waterfall wall urinals too.  and they have an attendant, which just adds to the awkwardness the first time you walk in and try to find the urinal.

tao also happens to be a fun place with decent asian food.  so there.

tommy:eats.com
Fat Guy

Fat Guy

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted

This is one area of human endeavor in which I favor standardization. It's just too confusing otherwise. I mean, I've been in parts of the world where the toilets are really strange and should come with instruction manuals or something. Still sends shivers down my spine. Come to think of it, I don't want to talk about this anymore! :)

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

=Mark

=Mark

Posted
Posted

I wondered when this topic would end up on the subject of restroom attendants.  Imagine applying for and being interviewed for that job.  What about when friends and family ask about your career?  They stand around handing out towels and soap and expect a tip!  ####, for a tip I expect them to unzip and hold it for me...

=Mark

Give a man a fish, he eats for a Day.

Teach a man to fish, he eats for Life.

Teach a man to sell fish, he eats Steak

tommy

tommy

Posted
Posted
Quote: from markstevens on 2:58 pm on Aug. 23, 2001

They stand around handing out towels and soap and expect a tip!  ####, for a tip I expect them to unzip and hold it for me...

as i always say, this gesture is hardly tip-worthy.

on a related note, i liked the bogs in paris in some of the bars...a hole in the ground.  not confusing, i'll give 'em that much!

tommy:eats.com
Rachel Perlow

Rachel Perlow

Posted
Posted
Quote: from Jason Perlow on 11:51 am on Aug. 10, 2001

The coolest bathroom I ever saw was at Hunan Dumpling in San Francisco. The inside of it was all painted red, really nice black and white checkboard tiling, and the toilet was made of solid stainless steel. I gotta get me one of those.

Actually, the restaurant was Brandy Ho's Hunan Food.  Jason and I are in San Francisco right now and we returned to Brandy Ho's last night.  First off, it is now in a different location at 217 Columbus Avenue, SF; 415-788-7527.  So, the red, black & steel bathroom is no longer (fire at old location a while back).  However, the food is still excellent and a welcome respite in a sea of contonese cuisine.
Max Robbin

Max Robbin

Posted
Posted

I like tha men's room at Eleven Madison Park.  Very old world.  I really do feel like i'm peeing in the middle of either a stiechand photograph or henry james novel.  The original prints on the walls don't hurt either.

By far the coolest bathroom i've ever been to was a pensione in... ####, somewhere in tuscany, maybe...which was covered with tile, floor ceiling walls toilets urinals sinks.  blue and green as i recall, very marine.

I saw Zagat's now has a catagory fo this.  what do they say about it?

  • 3 months later...
MegArkee

MegArkee

Posted
Posted

I think it's Paradigm here in Philly that has a really unusual restroom feature. The stall doors are clear glass, but when you lock them a layer of mist -- smoke,  maybe? -- rises from the bottom of them and makes it impossible to see through. Holly will correct me if I'm wrong on this!

franklanguage

franklanguage

Posted
Posted
Quote: from tommy on 11:15 am on Aug. 10, 2001

some of my favorites are the "old time" urinals.  

a classic right off that bat is McSorely's Bar in NYC.  at probably almost 100 years old (if not older), McSorely's has some ooooold restrooms.

Well, McSorley's only very recently got women's rooms; when I used to go there, everyone used the common "Toilet".

For that matter, they've been around, what, like almost 200 years? They only started admitting women - and under court order, at that - like in 1970.

tommy

tommy

Posted
Posted
Quote: from franklanguage on 1:02 am on Dec. 11, 2001

For that matter, they've been around, what, like almost 200 years?

more like 150 yrs (if that matters).  and i don't think it has been continously open since then.  maybe i'm confusing it with some other pub.  but by the looks of the bathroom, *it* is 200 years old.

tommy:eats.com
jhlurie

jhlurie

Posted
Posted
Quote: from tommy on 11:15 am on Dec. 11, 2001
Quote: from franklanguage on 1:02 am on Dec. 11, 2001

For that matter, they've been around, what, like almost 200 years?

more like 150 yrs (if that matters).  and i don't think it has been continously open since then.  maybe i'm confusing it with some other pub.  but by the looks of the bathroom, *it* is 200 years old.

They claim it has been continuously open, even through prohibition.  I imagine that in the initial days of prohibition they must have been closed for a short while while they boarded up the front windows, paid off the local cops and arranged the secret back entrance through the flower shop on the reverse street.

The men's bathroom appears to be about 80 years old, but that's just a wild guess.

Jon Lurie, aka "jhlurie"

tommy

tommy

Posted
Posted
Quote: from jhlurie on 12:19 pm on Dec. 11, 2001

They claim it has been continuously open, even through prohibition.  I imagine that in the initial days of prohibition they must have been closed for a short while while they boarded up the front windows, paid off the local cops and arranged the secret back entrance through the flower shop on the reverse street.

Pete's tavern claims to have opened in 1864 (slightly after mcsorely's) but to have remained open during prohibition, making it "the longest continuously operating bar and restaurant in New York City".

in the interest of staying on topic, i have no recollection of the bog at Pete's.

tommy:eats.com
anil

anil

Posted
Posted

Felix bar, Hotel Peninsula; Kowloon, HongKong

I'm surprised no one mentioned it.

As you stand in front of the Urinal, you can see the skyline of HongKong Island. In the ladies bathroom I understand, its it the mirror. So as you adjust your makeup - The skyline yonder.

anil

  • 2 years later...
Jason Perlow

Jason Perlow

Posted
Posted
Bump...because this is an excellent thread.

Who has the latest and greatest bathrooms?

Fiamma Osteria in NYC has some really nice bathrooms. Each stall is an individual enclosed room and is seperated from the main wash basin area.

The benefit of this is you can have semi-discreet sex in it if you're not too loud. Fortunately for me on the occasion I had to use one, the couple in the stall next door was VERY loud.

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Foodies who Review South Florida (Facebook) | offthebroiler.com - Food Blog (archived) | View my food photos on Instagram

Twittter: @jperlow | Mastodon @jperlow@journa.host

Gifted Gourmet

Gifted Gourmet

Posted
Posted (edited)
Bump...because this is an excellent thread. 

Who has the latest and greatest bathrooms?

That is a very long wait .. from 2001!! I thought I hated waiting in line for a nice bathroom but 3 years??? :shock: Thanks for reviving this thread with a flush and a bump up! :biggrin:

latest innovation in Atlanta restaurants since the "outhouse" :rolleyes: and used at my favorite place locally, Slovakia Restaurant in Marietta.

Edited by Gifted Gourmet (log)

Melissa Goodman aka "Gifted Gourmet"

Gifted Gourmet

Gifted Gourmet

Posted
Posted
The benefit of this is you can have semi-discreet sex in it if you're not too loud. Fortunately for me on the occasion I had to use one, the couple in the stall next door was VERY loud.

Did the earth move for you, too, Jason?? :laugh:

What exactly is "semi discreet sex"? :rolleyes:

Melissa Goodman aka "Gifted Gourmet"

JennyUptown

JennyUptown

Posted
Posted
The benefit of this is you can have semi-discreet sex in it if you're not too loud. Fortunately for me on the occasion I had to use one, the couple in the stall next door was VERY loud.

Did the earth move for you, too, Jason?? :laugh:

What exactly is "semi discreet sex"? :rolleyes:

Yeah...it's discreet. Or it ain't.

:blink:

Gifted Gourmet

Gifted Gourmet

Posted
Posted

Might this be considered "high concept" enough for this thread on restrooms?? :rolleyes:

not exactly discreet, you realize, but pretty nonetheless! :laugh:

Melissa Goodman aka "Gifted Gourmet"

Gifted Gourmet

Gifted Gourmet

Posted
Posted

The Detroit Pistons had a pretty funny bathroom promotion during the NBA Finals.

These are not so new ... some of the originals had a picture of Osama on them ... :laugh:

Melissa Goodman aka "Gifted Gourmet"

hathor

hathor

Posted
Posted
Felix bar, Hotel Peninsula; Kowloon, HongKong<p>I'm surprised no one mentioned it.

As you stand in front of the Urinal, you can see the skyline of HongKong Island. In the ladies bathroom I understand, its it the mirror. So as you adjust your makeup - The skyline yonder.

I was looking for a mention of Felix too! The ladies room has these enormous stone slabs as doors for the stalls. Here the attendant earns their keep as they help you open and close the doors! The sink is another stone slab island in the center of the room with no clue that it really is a sink. There is a glass wall between the mens and womens bathroom with the bottom 1-2 feet being clear glass you can see the men's feet. My husband just loves peeing in the mens room. (He's pretty easily entertained.)

-Judith Klinger
World-Eats.org

Aroma Cucina's Cooking Simply: The Italian Way

boaziko

boaziko

Posted
Posted (edited)

There is another pissful point of view:

"My best view, so far, was last week in Spoon (no connection with AD) restaurant, in Budapest, Hungary, in a boat parking on the Danube, (just in front of the Intercontinental hotel).

For clarifying on topic matters, food was presented nicely, waiters were very good, wine was fine, food was made of good produce but generally was so- so.

But, when bladder calls, you go into a door with a very big man's image on it. That got you in a room with a large sink and yet another door. Opening that door and you are in front of a darkened room with 4, rather small chromic urinals, Lit with only the slightest blue neon light. At that stage you are un-packaging and giving you share of liquids in front of the most amazing sight: the Royal palace in front and the Szechenvi Bridge on your right, all brightly lit. Don't miss that piss!

There's also an adjacent lounge/bar so you don't have to go for the food, not that it was terrible, but Café KÖR and Cyrano were better.

Boaziko"

editted for re-quoteing myself

Edited by boaziko (log)

"Eat every meal as if it's your first and last on earth" (Conrad Rosenblatt 1935)

http://foodha.blogli.co.il/

JPW

JPW

Posted
Posted

Zaytinya in DC.

Has wall mounted spouts that are a good foot and a half above the basins.

Stand to the side when you turn the water on or you are guaranteed to look like you did not quite make it to the restroom in time.

Hate the design of the place, but it is still one of my favorite restaurants.

If someone writes a book about restaurants and nobody reads it, will it produce a 10 page thread?

Joe W

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