The recipe for a New York restaurant that diners will return to?

“Super simple, high impact flavors, food that people want to come back for, a few moves that are unique,” says restaurateur John McDonald a few days before opening Seahorse inside the recently renovated W Hotel in Union Square. 

And beyond the food, a little bit of je ne sais quoi. “It’s very challenging to get people to come back to a restaurant that they even like. And a lot of that has to do with how they feel,” he adds. “How do you feel in the room? How do you feel after you leave the restaurant? It’s not just delicious food. It’s this amalgamation of the atmospheric influences, the energy and the environment.” 

McDonald’s Mercer Street Hospitality, which includes Lure Fishbar, already has a reputation for opening the sort of restaurants that become beloved repeat stops on the New York dining scene. After much anticipation and several delays, McDonald finally opened the doors to Seahorse this month. “It definitely took longer than expected, but it’s nice to get it right,” says McDonald, describing the delays as a “luxury” that enabled the team to fine-tune the concept and open during the prime fall season.

Seahorse is located across the street from Union Square, on the northeast corner of the park. “It’s such a remarkable vortex of energy and traffic and people,” McDonald says of the area, adding he was instantly sold on the idea of teaming up to run the landmarked hotel’s food and beverage programs.

The menu at Seahorse is led by executive chef John Villa, who has been part of the New York City dining scene for decades and formerly ran the culinary division for Tao Group. Villa’s global menu for Seahorse is coastal seafood with an oyster focus, inspired in part by the nearby Union Square greenmarket. 

“ Being right there is gonna make it easy for John Villa to be able to tap into that,” McDonald says. “The philosophy that he has with the menu is really to use the absolute best fish, best oysters, best everything, best of class, which allows you to keep the food a tad bit more simple and clean.”

Dishes like crudo served with a drizzle of oil and a little salt reflect that approach of letting the protein shine, while mains inspired by traditional French dishes include duck a l’orange and seared tuna served with fries, in the style of steak au poivre.

“We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel,” McDonald adds. “We just want to make really delicious food.”

The 125-seat dining room aesthetic was designed by the Rockwell Group, which aimed to create a space that would become an “instant visual classic.” Historic design details create a level of familiarity and warmth to the room, while new additions — like the room’s large mural, a fantastical ocean scene painted by Brooklyn-based art studio En Viu — bring new visual touchpoints to the space. The central bar features mermaid-scale tiling, and rich yacht-style wood finishings throughout and other maritime details speak to the overall nautical theme.

“ It is remarkable the way he incorporated the materials, the mural, the overall feel,” McDonald says of the design led by David Rockwell. “It’s beautiful during the day with the incredible daylight, and then at night kind of transforms into this darker, more ambience-heavy room.”

Later this fall McDonald, who is also overseeing F&B for the hotel’s living room lounge, will open the W’s rooftop Guardian Bar, a new space created during the renovation that features a retractable glass roof.

Just a few more reasons to keep diners coming back.