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| - Came here for their Valentine's menu special back in February. I had very high hopes for this place. However, it fell way short of expectations. To begin, they must've double-booked or maybe the kitchen was slower than usual, but there was a 45-minute wait for a table, despite everyone making reservations for the restaurant. We were all just waiting around, twiddling our thumbs. I've never had an issue when reserving tables for Valentine's at popular restaurants. They've always had a table ready at least 5 minutes before you get there. Here though, was another story. When my girlfriend and I left the restaurant about 2.5 hours later, there was a woman causing a huge scene at the front over wait times; this was around 9:30pm when we left, and there were about 14 people still waiting.
The wait staff were cordial and nice. It was busy of course so it took a bit longer to get their attention but they were knowledgeable of the menu and had suggestions for wine pairings. The decor is also beautiful. I'm not a big fan of it being on the second level above a bar playing loud music, but if it was quiet it would've been perfect.
The food was good, though the portion sizes were a bit small. They had price-fixed menus. You can get an app, a mushroom linguini (no choice on this one), a main, and a dessert. I had the quail torte, duck filet, and a "Surprise Raspberry". The quail app was filling in its pie and gravy. The mushroom linguini with black truffle was okay.. It arrived cold and the sauce was far too runny, the noodles didn't absorb the sauce very well... It could've been much better. The duck was stellar, it was tender and didn't have a gamey taste to it. They really cooked that dish well. The quail and the duck Lucerne's this review from being a 1-star. The " Surprise Raspberry" presentation was cute because hot syrup was poured over a chocolate heart, which then melted away to show a raspberry heart underneath. Unfortunately it was way too sweet and the raspberry to sour. It just didn't work well at all. If I'm paying $132+tax and tip for a nice Valentine's dinner, I'm expecting everything to be up to par, but Café Boulud fell way short of expectations. My girlfriend and I both left very disappointed.
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