Review: Aman New York

Published Apr 25 2025, 12:03 PM, Updated Apr 28 2025, 7:34 PMAman New York consists of 83 hotel rooms, as well as restaurants, a Garden Terrace & Bar with 7000 ft² of outdoor dining space, a private members club, a three-floor Aman Spa, a Jazz Club, and a Wine Room.

Location

Aman New York can be found in Manhattan’s iconic Crown Building, at the crossroads of 57th and 5th Street and a stone’s throw from Central Park. Perhaps the most magnificent feature of this property, and the reason to stay here, is that it offers peace and zen above the congested roads below.

Whether relaxing in the pool or sitting out on one of the numerous terraces, surrounded by greenery and views of Central Park, these settings transport you to a place of serenity and calm, far away from the hustle and stress on the streets below. That is surely the magic of an Aman. They take you to somewhere better…

Style & Character

Designed by renowned architect Jean-Michel Gathy of Denniston to pay homage to the Crown Building’s striking architecture, with its copper-clad tower and Neo-Classical façade, Aman New York has been an enormous restoration project. The hotel is gobsmackingly good and stunning from every angle. Four Seasons New York certainly has some competition from this Asian-styled gem.

Gathey picked a muted, minimalist color and material palette, giving a calm ambiance enhanced by natural oak, walnut, and cinnamon woods, finishing floors, doors, and custom-made furnishings. Metals add shine to the matt textures, and Japanese influences reign in the stone floors.

The hotel’s entrance doesn’t give this luxury palace away and sits behind some healthy, lurid green bushes that wind their fronts along the top of the doorway. The Aman sign and doormat give a clue to where you are, but this discreet entrance on the corner of the Crown Building on 57th Street whispers “excuse me” to street folk who are blissfully unaware of what they are walking past.

Beyond the doors, the hotel’s intimate ground-floor lobby doesn’t reveal the luxury and serenity above either. Instead, you enter a dark spa-like lobby that is fairly empty except for a few chairs and some dark-leaved potted plants.

Two elevators whisk you to the 14th floor, where a soaring double-height lobby breathes calm as the bustle of Midtown Manhattan fades into the background. A stunning rust-colored flower light fitting, which arguably looks more like an enthusiastic swirly mushroom, hangs above this gargantuan atrium, and a number of lounges with warming fireplaces that sit in the centre of the room dribble off this majestic space.

From here, you can also access the stunning wraparound outdoor terrace, a reflective pool, a dramatic fire pit, and a retracting glass roof, so you can sit outside or inside the conservatory area, depending on the weather. This garden terrace is framed with greenery, including green bushes and a red, wispy Japanese Maple tree.

This terrace extends into all sorts of areas, including a high seat area outside where you can sit on bar-style stools overlooking the edge of the building to maximise views.

Guests and residents have access to three principal dining venues, a jazz club, the 2,300 m² Aman Spa, and an Aman Members Club.

Service & Facilities

Open to guests, residents, and Aman Club members, Aman’s Urban Wellness concept is quite something, extending over three floors and including three rooms dedicated to consultation, examination, and therapy. There are seven spa treatment suites, and two Banya and Hammam Spa Houses, designed for half and full-day experiences. Each Spa House has its own private outdoor relaxation terrace with hot and cold plunge pools.

The highlight is the dramatic and reflective 20-meter indoor swimming pool lined with double daybeds and fire pits. The decor here, like the rest of the hotel, is Asian in design with metallic gold hues on the walls and light fittings. The surrounding padded cream day beds are decorated with numerous comfy cushions, offering an irresistible invitation to relax.

Other facilities include a spa boutique and lounge, the Aman Fitness Centre with the latest Technogym training equipment, a yoga studio, and a hydrotherapy facility with saunas, steam rooms, ice fountains, and sensory showers.

A barber, hair, and nail salon on-site ensures you are presentable for the day ahead.

Rooms

The hotel comprises 83 elegant suites, which start at 70 m² and are linked by generously sized and dimly lit corridors. Each has a functioning fireplace, which is a unique selling point. This is a fairly rare feature even for the luxury hotels in New York.

The decor is sleek with a cream and oatmeal color scheme and an Asian style. Dark wood floors are softened by luxurious rugs. Relaxed seating has been placed by the window so you can stare down at the street below, and around the modern fireplace, offering a comfortable place to relax and contemplate.

A Japanese-style mural lines one wall with a black and white forest theme, and the bathroom walls concertina open and close like shutters so that you can integrate the bathroom into the bedroom, or now, as you wish.

Food & Drink

Not many of Aman’s restaurants are open to non-guests. Currently, you can only dine at its restaurant if you are a hotel guest or an Aman Club Founder (with the exception of The Jazz Club).

For authentic omakase washoku cuisine in Manhattan, you won’t get better than Aman’s signature fine-dining Japanese restaurant, Nama, which serves sushi and sashimi at its live-cooking counter and on its outdoor terrace. The Wine Library, Aman New York’s wine cellar, sits adjacent to Nama and is available for private wine tastings and events.

Exclusive to guests and Aman Club Founders, the signature restaurants Arva and Nama celebrate global culinary heritage—Arva with its rustic Italian soul. Arva, Aman’s signature Italian restaurant, provides all-day dining both within the restaurant and on the wraparound garden terrace, which offers views of Central Park and is pictured above.

The Bar offers cocktails, as well as craft beers, and a global selection of fine wines. The Cigar Bar provides an alfresco terrace.

Perhaps the highlight for me is the subterranean Jazz Club on the property, offering an atmospheric way to end the night with music for your soul.

Conclusion

Aman’s bedrooms and bathrooms are among New York’s largest and are far larger than most hotel suites in the city. Before booking a suite elsewhere, it is worth considering a suite here, as even though prices here usually start over $2,000 per night, you might find these suites are comparable in price to suites at other lesser hotels.

The dining venues are ultra exclusive as they are reserved for guests and residents, and the entire space, the lounges, numerous bars and restaurants, both indoor and outdoor with their alfresco views, and the stunning pool, make this sumptuous hotel a must-try in New York. The only bad thing about this place is its price, but you get what you pay for.

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Image(s) courtesy of Aman Resorts.

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