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| - 2 stars for one of the most famous chefs ever? I know it sounds sacrilegious but hear me out. While most of food was very good (except for the chocolate soufflé, which was pretty awful), the experience overall was not what I would expect for the price.
My husband let them know it was my birthday when we made the reservation, and called them again a few days before to remind them, and they did literally nothing to acknowledge it. I don't expect a free dessert, though that certainly would have been nice, but I frankly find it shocking at a restaurant of this price point that they could not even write "Happy Birthday" on the plate, stick a candle in the dessert I ordered, or wish me happy birthday in person. Apparently they told my husband he could pay $30 for a mango cake for me (which he didn't do because I don't really like mango), and if he didn't do that, they would write a birthday message on whatever dessert I ordered. It's bad enough they didn't do anything, but it's even worse that they told my husband they would and then didn't follow through.
I know you can't really think of fine dining in terms of value, but this is absurdly expensive by any definition. The prix fixes are $127 or $169 for just 2 courses (depending on which two) and go up from there. The degustation is $445, way more than the French Laundry. I don't think its unreasonable to have sky high expectations for these sky high prices.
The famous bread cart was good but not great. All the bread was tasty but it all tasted pretty similar. It's nice that they have small portions so you can try tons of kinds without filling up. Contrary to what others have said, we weren't offered bread throughout the meal. After the first visit, we asked for more bread once and they brought some, but they never wheeled the cart around again. The amuse was probably my favorite part of the meal - a strawberry/tomato gazpacho with burrata and pistachios that was both creative and well-executed. My husband did the appetizer/entree menu and his soft-boiled egg with mushrooms and asparagus appetizer was great.
For our entrees, I had veal that was very good and my husband had the beef, which he loved. Both entrees came with the famous Robuchon whipped potatoes which look like mashed potatoes but have a very different texture. They were excellent.
I did the entree/dessert menu, and I broke my "never pay supplements" rule and spent an extra $10 for the famous and supposedly fantastic "bitter chocolate soufflé." What a mistake. It was neither fantastic nor bitter. It was overly sweet and had almost no chocolate flavor. It was huge though, so I asked to get it go and was told the chef "does not do that." What??? This is not a buffet. I had already paid for it and the soufflé is going in the trash if I don't eat it. How unbelievably wasteful (and unhealthy - it encourages overeating).
The mignardise cart is beautiful and has at least 25 things on it, but they weren't great. The macarons were extremely stale. We weren't told there's a 5 item limit per person, like some reviews say, but we also didn't ask for one of everything. We ordered about 6-7 pieces each.
We called to ask for the limo pickup and were told they have discontinued it for the month of May. Admittedly, this isn't something the restaurant really advertises and I only knew about it from Yelp reviews but it was a big part of why we chose the restaurant and it was too bad that we couldn't have it.
Many restaurants put the bill in front of the man by default, but the sexist attitudes in their service went way beyond that. They asked just my husband if we wanted wine and took away the wine list after he said HE didn't want wine. And after I handed them my credit card with MY name on it to pay, the same guy then handed my husband the signature slip and a pen and said "Monsieur, s'il vous plait..." It probably wouldn't have bothered me so much if the service during the rest of the meal had been better, but it was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.
My husband thinks 2 stars is too harsh because we had a pleasant meal and the food was great until the dessert course, but 3 stars on Yelp is "a-ok" and I'm sorry, we paid a ton and weren't satisfied, that's not a-ok. (Also the dessert course was literally half my meal, so the fact that it sucked was a big factor). Obviously a lot of Yelpers (and Michelin) disagree, though I do wonder if it's gone downhill recently, because many of the recent reviews seem lukewarm.
The dining room is absolutely beautiful, I'll give them that.
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