Per Se NYC ***
I cannot stress enough how fantasitc the food and service was at Per Se. While i would not say the visit was flawless, I'm incredibly pleased with the night.
Critiquing the visit seems like it's in bad taste since overall everything was sublime, however for a renowned 3 star restaurant, I would not have expected so any hiccups. I'll outline what I felt went wrong, but don't let it paint Per Se so negatively – I'll say it again, the night was fantastic and I would certainly visit again.
The hiramasa dish arrived without the wine pairing, we had to wait maybe 1.5 mins before the somm arrived to our table with the wine, my girlfriend and I awkwardly stared at eachother wondering if we should dig in or wait for the wine pairing, on its own I probably wouldn't have taken note but there were a few stumbles between the host who brought the food and the somm throughout the night. Twice the somm (who was great) was interrupted by the host who brought us the paired course while she was telling us about the wine, after the interruption you could feel some sort of tension between them, I felt the somm was annoyed being interrupted, as she should.
The chicken dish wasn't fantastic. The farce covering the breast was incredibly thyme forward, it didn't feel particular refined.
During dessert, we had two teas brought to the table, a chamomile and mint tea. The waitress saw me puring my own water (which I didn't mind doing) and rushed over to pour it for me, while doing so, she topped up my tea glass with the chamomile tea, however it was half full with mint tea already lol.
Lastly, my girlfriend and I were celebrating our anniversary, when reserving the visit we told them this and they congratulated us throughout the night for it. The table beside us arrived 30 mins after us and they were also celebrating their anniversary. However when they arrived they were greated with a glass of champagne on the house. We didn't get anything special like that and I'm embarrassed to say I felt some sort of way about it.
This is my 3rd time visiting a Michelin star tasting menu restaurant, I visited 1* Feitoria in Lisbon and 1* Five Fields in London. I would say both had a more flawless service than Per Se, which is surprising since I hear so much about how great the Per Se service is.
I know I just ranted about all these complaints but truthfully the night was magical and would highly recommend to anyone.
by skiingguymike
9 Comments
Yikes -that’s a bummer. Should expect much better at that level. I’m sure it’s tough to complain because there’s a lot of other great things going on but those hiccups shouldn’t happen.
Obviously you’re being nice. 3* means flawless food, service and ambiance, and it wasn’t.
The food looks nice at least
At least the pictures look good. What’s on picture 4? Is that a brioche with laminated dough?
I’m sorry to hear about that. These are really big hiccups and not something I’d expect from per se. I’ve been to per se twice and both experiences were extremely memorable, and each time the service team went above and beyond, whether it be free champagnes & cocktails or even some free food. I really think you just had an off-night but still this is something I would never expect from them. At least the food looks great though
The food hitting the table before the wine pairing is a pretty big mistake for Per Se. The rest seems like the kind of honest mistakes that just happen sometime. Obviously expectations are through the roof with a restaurant like this one
I would’ve felt the same way about the champagne as well, not that I expect anything free, but just for consistency’s sake!
First food pic looks v phallic lol
Great photos, what camera or phone did you use? And settings, filters, if any?