Cafe Boulud

01/22/09

Hope you're not hungry!

by bagsamoney

If you are in a rush and not hungry then this is the place for you! I had lunch here and ordered ravioli as the main course. What I was served was ONE ravioli, total. Seriously! Oh and if you are looking to fill up on their dessert, think again! I ordered the chocolate cake and I use the word "cake" loosely. What I was served was mmmmmmm imagine a chocolate mini muffin and then imagine it cut in half. That was the size of it. Oh I almost forgot, I also got a tablespoon of ice cream. The waiters were attentive but we felt hurried. So if you plan on coming here to eat then you better plan to grab a bite after your time here because you're going to be hungry. In conclusion: If you think you might enjoy eating a 3 course meal here in 6 bites then this is the place for you.

• Pros: attentive waiters
• Cons: portions are so small that they are insulting!

10/21/08

Everything was amazing

by lesterslls

Everything was amazing. I was taken here with my friends for a birthday dinner and we each had different dishes and couldn't stop raving. The kicker might have been the price, but for a splurge this is a great place.

• Pros: food,ambiance

05/12/08

Totally worth every $$$

by pffff

Arrived this past Saturday (5-10) with my wife to a busy and energetic dining room. I have lived in New York for about 6 years and been to Cafe Boulud once before and I love it then...so now how was it with the new Chef and new team....amazing. The experience from start top finish was not only what I was hoping for but it was what was delivered. The front of the house took care of us in a way that made us feel like we were the only ones there. I would highly recommend this restaurant, it is also fun to people watch being on the UES and all! We will be back soon.

• Pros: Everything
• Cons: Hard to get reservation

05/10/08

Please Don't Make the Same Mistake We Did! Run, Don't Walk Away!

by LarrySF

One lacks the words to illustrate the concept of "rip-off" when referring to this restaurant.

Sunday evening afforded us a good reservation slot. The atmosphere was extremely stuffy, but not unexpected. The service was polite and formal. We chose the biscuits and gravy appetizer with Foie Gras, truffles, etc. It was good, not much too it, but good.

We ordered the roasted rib eye. It came with Pomme Port Neuf, ie French fries. The steak was OK at first but the more I soaked up the Bordelaise sauce, the madder I got. This was not the Bordelaise sauce I loved so much in the past. Then, I came upon a large piece of gristle. My wife turned with a sly grin and said, "How's the steak?" At that point, I realized it wasn't that great at all. In fact, for $55, it sucked! And come to think of it, for $20, the supped up Egg McMuffin sucked as well! At that point, we both just laughed at our foolishness. How silly we were to think that a meal for, at that point $275, would taste three times better than an ordinary night out. I just shook my head. What a great lesson learned. We didn't order dessert and left as quick as we could.

This place is like a white on white painting in the Museum of Modern Art - just stupid and a great way for Daniel to separate money from the rich and naive. Someone should tell this emperor he has no clothes but I suspect that won't happen.

• Pros: Elegant
• Cons: Small servings, tasteless and unbelievably overpriced

05/07/08

Definitely over priced

by charlie2123

We made a reservation three days before and were only able to get 8:45PM as the earliest time slot available. We were right on time and table was quickly available, which was good. However, our table was next to the walk way leading into the kitchen, so there were people walking by the entire time, which somewhat ruined the romantic atmosphere and beautiful decor as we noticed when we first walked in. The food was okay, but nothing like ?WOW!!?, overpriced for sure, presentation was beautiful though. Our servers were polite and nice.

• Pros: Beautiful decor, romantic, good service
• Cons: over priced, food average

11/16/07

Not worth the money

by phoebejoy

From the moment I walked in the door I had the sense that this was not going to be the restaurant for me. I was with a small group (3) one of whom was about 10 minutes late arriving. The waiter rudely asked when did we expect our party. He then went on to tell us that our table would be required for the next seating. I didn't realize at these prices we were on a cruise ship! Keep in mind there were a number of empty tables around us. Our bill was brought to us three times without our request. Another cup of coffee at the end of the meal too much to ask for? I struggled to find something appealing to my palate on the menu. I had a mixed green salad - too much balsamic vinegar. Nothing special - and believe me I have had excellent simple salads around the world. I also had the mushroom risotto. I've had better for 1/3 the price. The wine was wonderful but that didn't make up for the poor , almost condescending attitudes and average food. There are too many other wonderful four star restaurants in Manhattan to waste your time and money on this one.

• Pros: Wine List
• Cons: Condescending Staff

10/15/07

Good food, but nothing extraordinary

by olsanchez

After I read the review of this restaurant here we decided to check out this place as my wife wanted to have French food for lunch. We like to eat well and good food. We eat out usually 10-12 times per week. We like to explore new places. We equally like "cheap" tiny restaurant and expensive fancy ones. The only thing what counts for us is the taste of the food, the service and the atmosphere. I'm not native English, so sorry for my grammar.

We went to this place for lunch on a Saturday. On thing we have noticed right away that this place is not our age group. We are in our 30s, but the restaurant more seemed like a place for elderly people. So we felt a bit as outsiders with our age group. Due to the older crowd, the place was not noise, which is good.

The staff is well-trained and kind. A nuance might be that we had to wait a little bit before they made our drinks order. But generally for the staff I would give 5 stars.

We get a complimentary something as a starter bite, but it was horrible. I took a salmon appetizer, my wife something liver. Both was good. For first course I took a steak, which I liked a lot. The food in general was good, tasty, but nothing extraordinary. Don't expect your mouth to have a flavor explosion. I have paid something like 140 or 160 bucks with tips.

As I'm not being an American I have appreciated the size of the dishes. It's just correct size, something you only get in a French restaurant or in Europe. You have to eat full menu to feel okay. With all this said this place won't cause you extra calories for sure. If you are a lover of big American size meals, this is not your place.

Generally recommended, but I don't think that we will re-visit this place in the close future. There are so many great places to explore in NYC.

• Pros: friendly staff - good service, right size of portions, good flavour
• Cons: ambiance

09/19/07

Good Service, Passable Food

by tadevosy

Inspired by Chef Boulud's fame as a chef, went there on a Saturday evening for a romantic dinner. I thought that the reviews trumped up the place undeservedly. It was cramped, loud, with tables placed too close to each other. The service was attentive and yet not intrusive, we got good advice on the wine (although I did get my purse knocked off the chair by the waiting staff a couple of times). The food, on the other hand, was not as great as I thought it would be. Too pretentious to discern the primary ingredients, great halibut completely overpowered by middle-eastern spices, overcooked Atlantic sole, tuna tartar (very nicely done) next to what was grandly termed fava bean salad but was really a sequence of five (5!!!!) fava beans coated in green tastless oily dressing. Decent but not great by any stretch; definitely not a place to which we will return soon for a refined dining experience.

• Pros: Service, Wine List
• Cons: Food does not match the reputation

09/12/07

Fantastic service, friendly and attentive staff

by marathongirl

Went there for a friend's birthday--the service was fantastic, very attentive waiter, and the staff was pleasant. Nice adult crowd--no screaming children, which was wonderful. The food was PHENOMENAL. My friend really enjoyed the chilled carrot soup, I had the beet salad which was delicious. My main course was the Lemon Ricotta Ravioli--unbelievable, and my friend has the Monkfish--which she raved about. Dessert to top off our fantastic meal--a chocolate cake to die for! WIne selections that the waiter suggested went perfect with our top-notch meal. We had an early reservation, 6:15, and were promptly seated, but what I did notice was as the evening progressed it got much louder and rather crowded--we were there for a couple of hours. But other than this, it was a fantastic evening, and I plan on returning very soon with my husband, and am looking forward to trying the other Jean Georges restaurants in the city, like Nougatine and JoJos.

07/16/07

fabulous

by theresax

Just got back from a restaurant wk lunch and had a fabulous meal. I have to admit I was a little on the skeptical side before going as I am for all restaurants for Rest. Wk. bc a lot of places tend to skimp on their offerings, i.e. a soup or salad, and a pasta or roasted chicken, blah, boring. I was happy to be proved wrong by Cafe Boulud.

Appetizer choices:

Chilled pea soup

Duck terrine

Heirloom tomato salad

Entree choices:

Beef Ravioli

Diver Sea Scallops w/ sweet corn (3)

Cornish Hen

Sorry I couldn?t remember details but I had the duck terrine, Cornish hen, and a blueberry dessert which all tasted delicious. I also tried my friends scallops which was really good, I would go back just for that. I will admit, I am still a little hungry but that?s just bc I am a greedy pig and I didn?t expect large portions bc of Rest. Week anyway. Lastly I would like to point out that the service was very courteous as well.

• Pros: food, service