Where the Knicks Eat: Inside Sei Less, NYC’s Most Exclusive Athlete Hotspot

Here with Dara, the owner of Say Less, one of the hottest restaurants in New York City and a place that is loved by many celebrities, many Knicks fans, and many Knicks players.

Uh, you guys opened fairly recently back in 2022.

So tell me like how this whole restaurant even came to be.

So, I've been working in the, you know, Asian fusion, Chinese food space in in Manhattan for about 15 years.

Um, you know, this is probably the 4th restaurant that I, you know, ran.

Um, so 3 restaurants before.

This, you know, I learned a lot, you know, the good and the bad, and then, you know, I had the vision of opening a new concept, you know, right through the pandemic, and we opened in January 2022, which was the tail end of the pandemic.

So it's been a little over 4 years and it's been a lot of memorable experiences.

We're 4 blocks away from Madison Square Garden .

Is that why you think this has become like such a hot spot for Knicks fans?

Well, I think it's, you know, definitely the proximity being close to the Garden, you know, before concerts , before shows, even before Rangers games, and then obviously the Knicks games, uh, we, we are a destination before.

Games just the energy.

People want to go out, they want to go somewhere after the games, um, so, you know, they look to say less as a destination and obviously when, when the Knicks are winning, the city is, you know, on fire.

So you know, people that are, are sports fans and, you know, diehard Knicks fans that come here and just, you know, really enjoy the food and enjoy the space together.

So you mentioned that this place is, it's very common for Knicks players to come in here.

Knicks fans.

Why do you think that this restaurant is like so important to the New York community?

Yeah, I think, you know, we established ourselves, you know, right when the pandemic was ending, um.

Um, we launched the restaurant with parties for the Knicks, the Nets, the Giants, um, the Jets, you know, those are, are players that come here all the time from those different sports teams , former players that, you know, I've taken care of over the last 15 years.

So when they come back in town, it's a place that they can call home and that they're, they're comfortable with, um, and then again, the food, the private rooms, um, being able to watch the games, we have TVs in the private room, so they love coming and dining and just, you know, being able to let loose and not anyone bothering them.

They're in, you know, the privacy of a private room, um, and then obviously the.

Food.

Yeah, I was gonna say we're in a private room right now.

This place is really cool.

Like the, everything on the walls is so beautiful, and I can imagine it's really nice for someone who's very recognizable to have a lot of privacy while they're eating.

So why was that so important to you to add this feature into your restaurant?

I think it's just important for people to be comfortable, um, you know, you come to say less to be yourself.

Um, everyone eats the same food, they dine in the same experiences.

So it doesn't matter if you're a celebrity or if you're not a celebrity, we try to, you know, cater towards everyone the same way, um, and give.

One, you know, that upper echelon experience.

OK, so pretty much anyone who's anybody has been to this restaurant, what makes this restaurant such a desirable place for people to come and dine?

I think it comes down to the food, you know, we're a family style restaurant.

You know, the food is vibrant, colorful, tasty.

Um, we have someone for something for anyone's palate, you know, you could be a vegetarian, you could be a vegan, you could like seafood, you could like steak, um, you know, everything's family style, and there's something for everyone.

All right, well, we're going to try some dishes, right?

Let's do it.

I'm so excited.

We have an insane spread of food here at Say Less, um, I want you to tell me about every single dish because it looks absolutely incredible.

Yeah, so we have a a nice spread here, this is pretty um common, you know, when you come in with a big group of people, you try a little bit of everything, so on the shrimp side, we have the salt and pepper shrimp, very popular item here, crispy rock shrimp tempura, the baby lamb chops, it's a new menu item and they've been very popular, chicken satay with the peanut sauce, that's the star of the show, that's a, A fan favorite from, you know, all our customers, especially the Knicks' current players and alumni.

This is the oxtail spring rolls with the spicy mayo dipping sauce, and then we have the lobster spoons again, one of Latrell Spiroll's favorite dishes.

These are the um yellowtail sashimi.

So these are some lighter dishes.

Um, if you don't want to have, you know, typical Chinese food that's heavy, then you could get some, you know, lighter dishes.

These are the crab ragoons.

This is again a new menu item that has been very popular.

This is the Beijing chicken, which is a white meat chicken with, um, Sweet brown sauce with candied walnuts.

And then every meal at a Chinese restaurant you have to have your fried rice.

We have a shrimp fried rice to complement everything.

You have the rice.

Uh, I think we should dig in.

Let's do it.

OK.

What's the best way to eat?

So best way, you know, I see people struggling with it sometimes.

I always like to take the fork and actually slide it off of the stick rather than trying to cut around the stick.

And then just get in there and make sure you get a nice balance of of sauce with chicken.

All right, here we go.

Wow.

Oh my gosh, it's not Cheetos.

No, it's not Cheetos, but it's so like buttery and soft.

Yeah.

How long, like how, how long do you marinate this chicken?

There's a, there's about a 24 hour process that goes into making them, so it's, you know, it's tender.

It's very tender.

Oh my gosh, wow.

OK, this lives up to the hype.

I'm having another bite.

OK, so you have obviously like these amazing private rooms.

Do you ever have events for Knicks players or former Knicks players?

Yeah, so we do, uh, when the Knicks have alumni night at, at the Garden, we host the after party a lot, uh, for the players, and that's an organic relationship.

Players come here because they want to be here.

Um, so that's always exciting, you know, and, and the customers get to see those players coming in the restaurant.

And any given night when the Knicks are playing, um, especially during the playoffs, you'll see a lot of current and former Knicks players here.

Um, you know, Karl-Anthony Towns, you know, loves the food here, OG, um, Tyler Coli, Deuce McBride, you know, those are regulars of ours, and you know, you never know when you when you come to say you might see one of them.

You know, at the end of the day, they have high stress jobs.

And you know, there's a lot going on in the world.

This is a place that's like a sanctuary to them when they're in New York.

They get to come here and and and be themselves.

Well, Dara, I can't thank you enough for having us here at SayLS.

Thank you so much also for showing us all this beautiful food, for letting me try the chicken satay.

It was delicious, by the way, everybody, you should definitely try it, and I'll be back soon.

Wonderful.

Thank you.

Thank you for coming.