Gridskipper

Morimoto's stalls offer an optical illusion of endless flowers

​When the Royalton Hotel opened in 1988, the Philippe Stark-designed urinals doubled as a waterfall. It was one of the first times a bathroom was meant to upstage its venue. (The waterfall is gone now, done in by the hotel's redesign.) But in the last two decades, the city has filled with restaurants where you might abandon your date at the table for the siren song of the bathroom.

But of course, bathroom preferences are personal. Everyone can agree that they should be clean and private. But do you like attendants? (We don't, they make us nervous, and we can grab our own paper towel for free.) Do you enjoy tinkering with the remote on those amazing, gadget-filled Japanese toilets? (We do.) And do you enjoy voyeurism while peeing? (To a point.)

Read on to see our 10 best restaurant bathrooms--and don't forget, it's all about the bathrooms here, folks, not the food.

Tabla's restroom is pretty, but simple good looks aren't going to cut it

​Presenting the runners up in no particular order...

Glass Lounge (Two-way mirror from sinks up to the street), 287 Tenth Avenue, 212-904-1580; Old Town Bar (Gigantic, vintage urinals), 45 East 18th Street, 212-529-6732; Fatty Crab UWS (Love Asian porn? Go to the bathroom.), 2170 Broadway, 212-496-2722; 21 Club (Luxe, comfortable, murals, attendants if you like that), 21 West 52nd Street, 212-582-7200; Buttermilk Channel (Ultra-clean, perfumed, motherly bathroom), 524 Court Street, Brooklyn, 718- 852-8490

Up next, our 10 best...