75 replies to this topic

[Wilfrid]

True dat, but this is still not in Chelsea as it's east of 6th Avenue.

[yvonne johnson]

True dat, but this is still not in Chelsea as it's east of 6th Avenue.

Ah, ok. I pictured b/w 6 and 7th even though I knew in my head Aldea is b/w 5 and 6.

[Wilfrid]

The clam croquettes and striped bass aren't news, but the pork loin sounds pretty good too.

[StephanieL]

Early dinner here tonight. The menus have changed a little. There are more offerings, and they tilt overall in a more wintery, hearty mode. For example, the striped bass is completely different from the version Wells had. It no longer comes with leeks, but rather an artichoke and root vegetable barigoule (a southern French braised stew) and a fried ravioli with a potato-bacon filling. The skin on the bass is still very crispy and the flesh moist. I enjoyed the vegetables but I'm not a big fan of fried ravioli in general. I started with a (just-added) French onion soup with a side of frisee and small bits of smoked bacon. The broth was rich with sweet caramelized onions, and instead of a full blanket of Gruyere the cheese was just on top of the bread in the soup. I was instructed by the server that per the chef, one is supposed to take a mouthful of frisee and then a spoonful of soup, all at once. The mix of tastes was interesting, but it was awkward to execute and I abandoned that tactic after a while.

The desserts were really tempting. In the end, I went with the chocolate mousse, which is rich enough and large enough to share. It's served in a large glass with a layer of toasted marshmallow on top and a small piece of caramel in the center. There are crispy nuggets in the mousse (of what I'm not sure), and at the very bottom of the jar is another layer of marshmallow. The mousse itself was not super dark but not too sweet either, and it was both rich and light.

I got there just after it opened, and when I left at 6:45 it was almost totally filled (tables and bar) and quite loud. One odd service note: the place was practically empty when I arrived, yet they tried to sit me at a table right next to the bar and a heavily trafficked aisle. I lobbied for another table and was eventually seated in a booth by the wine cellar. When I left the original table was still open, and I'm glad I said something because it would have been unbearable to have had the loud party at that spot at the bar be practically right on top of me.

[Sneakeater]

This should give Oakapple the opportunity for a nice rant.

Unless he's given up already.

[oakapple]

This should give Oakapple the opportunity for a nice rant.

Unless he's given up already.

I've given up, at least where Platt is concerned.

[rozrapp]

We had lunch today at La Promenade. Everything was delicious, including the burger. (We had read Platt's review which mentioned it.) But, then, it's no secret that we're huge fans of Alain's food.

We arrived at 2:30 to find a sparsely populated dining room, this despite the fact that they are participating in Restaurant Week. Alain told us that while lunch is slow, dinner and brunch are doing extremely well. As you may have heard, he's opening a restaurant in the new Revel Hotel in Atlantic City in April.

[yvonne johnson]

Absolutely horrible experience and we had nothing to drink OR eat.

A party of three of us [Entire party--we were not waiting for anyone.] arrived a couple of minutes (literally) early for our 8PM reservation. There were 2 at the lectern, and they decided that we must wait at the bar. We could see from the entrance that it was not busy at all but, who knows, and it's sometimes hard to take all in, maybe it was really packed around the corner and off we went to the empty bar at which we briefly lingered, during which time it became obvious that the place was 1/4 full, if that.

The bartender was in no hurry to serve us, despite only one couple sitting there.

I returned to the m'ds and asked for us to be seated as the restaurant wasn't busy at all and I could see at least 6 four-tops available. The male m'd turned to me and said something like, "The world doesn't revolve around you when you arrive, and I'm busy on another task". I could not believe it. A female junior was next to him and just looked on. I returned to see G waiving down a waiter and asking for us to be seated. He showed us to a table in the middle and we wondered if we could have one of the booths. No, came back the reply. I asked if Allegretti was in the house. No, he wasn't.

I'd had it by then, and we decided to leave. By this time, a manager was at the lectern along with the 2 previous staff. I explained to the manager what had transpired whilst the other 2 staff looked on. The male m'd said, looking at his so-important computer screen: You arrived at 7.59 and you were early and your table wasn't ready yet. The manager said: You were seated at 8.02; the manager added, "No-one on my staff would speak to a customer like you say". Both female and male m'ds stood around: I asked point blank to the male m'd: Are you going to stand there and say you didn't address me that way; you didn't say the world didn't revolve around me? He stood stoically and all eyes were on him and then he said sheepishly, "What I said was 'The world doesn't stop when you walk in here'".

Well, maybe it does for Promenade. If you're 3/4 empty on a Sat night and the only way you're going to earn money is getting bar money, good luck to you.



PS: Off we went to Grand Sichuan, and we had a lovely dinner.

[Lippy]

Too many people without the appropriate temperament are entering the "hospitality" industry.

[splinky]

Too many people without the appropriate temperament are entering the "hospitality" industry.

android waitrons are the only answer, that is until they develop into sentient beings and become our overlords

[yvonne johnson]

And just to finish, the garbage about "Your table wasn't ready yet": We were shown to a table set for 4 (in a room full of tables and booths set for 4). So it's not like they were so busy removing a 4th table setting from "our" table. I'm still disgusted.

[FoodDabbler]

I blame this "G" (if that's his real name) you're hanging around with.
They clearly took a justifiable dislike to him.

[Sneakeater]

They wouldn't seat me at the (empty) Palm last week when I was waiting for "G", either.

[yvonne johnson]

Oh dear, is there a pattern here?

[Wilfrid]

What a pity. Allegretti's such a nice guy, I hate to see his staff letting him down.