Bar Pigalle — Restaurant in Detroit

I wanted to "love this place", but it fell short. We've been to most restaurants in the city that we love. From the onset, we sat nearly fifteen minutes before our server approached the table. This was only because I mentioned to one of the staff that no one had engaged with us. It was a Monday. They weren't busy at the time. I understand there were only two servers, but one consistently walked by our table at least five times and did not acknowledge us. A simple "Has anyone taken care of you? Or someone will be with you in a moment." would have sufficed. That didn't happen.

Greg took care of us, and was apologetic regarding the wait. All forgiven. He was attentive, knowledgeable and passionate about the food. Appreciated him guiding us through the menu choices. We started with the baked oyster in french onion soup, thyme and comte. I chose the roasted carrot salad with fois gras. The salad had wonderful flavors. Knowing we would order the recommended bay scallops and bison- Greg suggested the Herrenreben 2017 Pinot Noir.Seemed surprised we wanted to order a bottle. A nice compliment to the dishes. The Coquiles St. Jacques in the curry and cauliflower gratin was tasty with the first bite, but the flavors never came together with every bite thereafter. We were excited try the bison short rib boeuf bourguignon which was served with a chick pea polenta. Flavors were perfect in the first bite, but the entire dish was cold. Greg was apologetic and made it right by placing another order -which again came back cold. I can understand things happen in the kitchen, but it happened twice. We had waited for the second order for a bit, at which time we no longer were endeared to enjoying our dinner. While Greg took the bison off the bill we still wanted to try dessert. The couple who sat next to us recommended the flourless chocolate cake which was more like a mousse- perfectly light. The hit for dessert was the corn financier in brown butter with sweet corn ice cream. It had me at brown butter. Delicious.

While I appreciate our server taking care of dessert and after dinner drinks ( we did not expect nor were looking for anything comped). It would have been more fitting to have the chef or owner address our table( he visited the nice couple next to us) - considering we were unable to enjoy the most expensive dinner on the menu. Thanks though to Greg, for salvaging the birthday evening ( and we always take care of our server), but with so many restaurants in the city that are vying for patrons, Bar Pigalle left us feeling empty in many ways - not...

To start the atmosphere and the aesthetic of the place is very welcoming. You feel like you know you are about to walk into something amazing. The bar is extremely well split off by a window wall to truly give all of us bar fans separation from a dining room.

The highlight seating in my option is the bar due to the open kitchen, the beautiful display of all the variety of liquor they have to offer (they have one hell of a collection)

Music was absolutely top tier and while watching the kitchen work the music just vibes and really made the kitchen into a show and a performance. (Extremely clean and well up kept very comfortable eating food from this kitchen.

Service: the original bartender didn’t introduce himself, when asked about the cocktail menu his very i don’t care attitude and extremely basic description of the cocktails he was recommending (for example: when describing a drink that had teq, and some sort of peppercorn component we were told yea that is basically an old fashion. The build isn’t even remotely close to an old fashion) the second bartender Matt was a different story and if I am being honest Matt is honestly the final element we needed to make the choice to come back. Despite my raves about music and setting and food if service sucks then why would I come back?

My drink sat empty for a few minutes as the two bartenders were talking and hanging amongst themselves. No follow up to see how things were tasting between food or drink. Extremely dry personalities and not very inviting. The bar guests were more inviting and suggesting things before the bartenders.

Matt wasn’t our original bartender but did a very good job of coming down and talking to us and explained how the restaurant works over all and was extremely informative and was up to date about fun date ideas including on sun or mon for certain specials that might not have actually seen a menu and was a product of creativity.

Sorta wish we had Matt to begin with and for the entire time probably would have had a different outlook on service but because of Matt coming in towards the end and saving it we will def be back.

I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining by any stretch just feel like for a place that provides such a caliber of ambience and food your service would follow as well.

We will be back to see Matt otherwise we will most likely just grab a table to...

Two years ago I called it the best restaurant in detroit. This weekend, the disappointment was painful.

Bar Pigalle was once our go to for a nice dinner out. Some of our favorite meals of all time were had here. My girlfriend and I both agree that the best dessert we have ever had was at Bar Pigalle. We hadn't been back in a while, so I booked a dinner to celebrate a birthday. We were so disappointed in our dinner, and I want my old Bar Pigalle back!

The oysters were the high point of the meal. Perfect.

The Red Snapper Crudo is just a flawed dish. The heavy vinegarette and blood orange completely overwhelms the fish. The inclusion of jalapeno is just wrong...another example of a flavor that overwhelms the meal. There is no subtlety at all.

The Brussels Sprouts were underwhelming, nothing that couldn't be made at home easily, and too heavy on the maple.

The Crab Gratin was fine. We didn't love it, and didn't hate it. Like the Brussels sprouts, I feel like it was just thrown together without much thought. A simple dish with nothing to make it stand out.

The Marble Potatoes were a disaster. A pile of baby potatoes dumped on a heap of cream cheese and a bit of ham. When they put the plate down on the table, potatoes rolled around, one fell off the plate. It was something I would expect from a diner. When it was presented it made me laugh a bit, it was so out of place. The creme fraiche was 70% of the plate, and looked like it had been slopped on with a giant serving spoon. It was cold, all of the heat sucked out of the potatoes by the ice cold creme fraiche.

The Duck Confit was pretty good. The meat was well cooked, the presentation nice. The sauce was a bit overwhelming for the subtlety of duck, but it was fine.

The drinks were good, the bar always being a strong point of the restaurant.

The service was great, as usual. It has always been the high point of the restaurant, and we were very happy with everyone who came to our table.

We are sad that the quality has dropped. There is just no care, or love, in the food. To drop from what i called the best restaurant in Detroit to...this...is just so disappointing. We will likely not return, there are plenty of great...