Pascal & Sabine — Restaurant in Asbury Park

If you choose to visit Pascal & Sabine and you are African American make sure you are either wearing business attire or accompanied by a white person who can legitimize your existence. Apparently the sight of a black male in a hoodie still instills discomfort for some people. My girlfriend and I (both black) went to the restaurant and were seated outdoors in front of the building in close proximity to another couple. I asked the hostess if we could be seated on the side of the restaurant where there was more spacious, intimate seating. The hostess said there was nothing available, however we saw open tables and couples seated at tables that could accommodate more than two people. Shortly after we were seated the hostess ushered a white couple to the more spacious seating. My girlfriend reminded the hostess that she informed us there was no additional seating available. The hostess said they just had someone cancel and then promptly moved us to the more spacious section, but at one of the smaller tables that had less privacy. My girlfriend inquired about the more intimate eating section to our waitress, who obliged her request and moved us to the areas. As we surveyed the menu, we couldn't help but think about what had transpired. To add insult to injury, the hostess continued to seat other couples in the very section that she said was unavailable to us. We decided to leave at that point and dine elsewhere. As we walked back to our hotel, I decided to stop in Pascal & Sabine to speak with the manager. I explained to him what had occurred earlier. He told us that they seat guests via a system that randomly assigns them. I don't deny that their system is objective, it's the implementation of that system that is problematic. I appreciate him respectfully listening to us, but he never adequately explained why all those other couples were seated in the more desirable areas, couples that arrived later than us. I must also add that we had reservations and arrived approximately 10 minutes before our allotted time. I have included a picture of what I had on that evening. My girlfriend and I saw white males wearing ripped jeans, t-shirts, and shorts seated at the more desirable tables. Apparently the hostess didn't have an issue with seating them in those areas. I ordinarily don't take the time to call out this type of behavior in such a public forum, but it seems for some that shame is the only motivator for change. If you are black or care about discrimination I suggest you...

Let me preface this comment by saying I 100% believe that food needs to be well salted to bring out flavors and taste good. That being said, the chefs were very heavy handed with the salt in multiple dishes…to the point that the food wasn’t enjoyable to eat. We had the charcuterie board…very salty (but you expect that from cured meats. No biggie). Then the romaine salad, my steak, Frites, Pork chops….all so salty that some were almost inedible. And I LOVE well salted foods. But this was excessive and ruined the food.

Really a shame because otherwise the flavor of the food was great. When asked how our food was, we honestly said the flavors are wonderful but would it be possible in the future to ask the chefs to use less salt. We got a condescending reply that no one’s ever complained about that and salt is necessary.

The desserts and coffees were delicious. (Thankfully not salty).

The only other complaint is the live music. The singer had a lovely voice but treated this like a personal concert with the volume too loud for us to be able to have a conversation without yelling.

UPDATE: Had a chat with Emily, the experience manager. She acknowledged some misses and apologized for not making things right when we were there. She also said it was the first night with the singer and they didn’t quite have the volume worked out.

We chatted about the saltiness of the food and she said she would encourage us to try again and let the chef know up front that we want things less salty. Looking through previous reviews I see that there’s a least 5 other reviewers who commented on the food being too salty. Everyone has a preference level, and mine is generally pretty high which is why I was surprised by the food and commented online.

Appreciate the good management for listening to their customers and making things better. I remain neutral on returning. It’s wonderful that Pascal & Sabine would make accommodations (especially given their strict no substitution policy), but I feel at the price point I should arrive at a restaurant and be able to enjoy the food as prepared, vs needing to ask for special...

I came here in late June with a large group of friends celebrating one friend's upcoming wedding. We had a 3-course menu booked with drinks, coming out to $120 per person. I am vegan and while I was aware going in that I would have limited options at dinner, I still wanted to attend for my friend and had been assured beforehand that there would be at least a vegan entree option (the Mr. Smith burger which could be made with a veggie patty).

The evening of our dinner, we received the menu in the attached photo. When our server took our orders, he informed me that the frisée salad could be made vegan but unfortunately the burger, which was labeled on the menu as including a vegan option, had cheese in the patty and could not be made vegan after all. After speaking with the kitchen, he informed me that they would be able to make a special vegetable dish for me instead of the burger, which I ended up ordering. They had no dessert option I could have, which I had expected would be the case and wasn't bothered about.

When the first course came out, my "vegan frisée salad" came out as a massive pile of greens stripped bare of any toppings and dressed simply with olive oil, lemon, pepper, and an excessive amount of salt. The second course ended up being an arrangement of steamed vegetables in a tomato sauce which was unseasoned and bland along with being a tiny portion compared to my friends' dishes. And for the last course I ended up ordering one of the desserts to give to my friend. Needless to say, I was not satisfied at all with my meal.

While I really do appreciate the restaurant trying to accommodate me, given that we had alerted the restaurant about my dietary requirements ahead of time and the amount of money we were paying for our meal, it felt like a disappointing effort and made it difficult for me to enjoy the evening. Apart from that, we had good service from the staff and the rest of the group seemed to like their food. But based on my experience, I would discourage any vegan or vegetarian diners...