Bar Boulud — Restaurant in New York

I had dinner there about a year ago and truly enjoyed the experience. However, my recent visit was rather disappointing. There was a pair sitting next to me, one of them was some sort of blogger. She was so loud that I was forced to listen to her conversation the whole time (besides, the seating was tight). She brought up the fact that she had many many followers many times. They got the VIP service, free food, food not on the menu, wine, constant greeting and checking either by the manager or the waiter. While I, sitting next to her, had to wait for half hour, just to place an order. It was a rainy Sunday afternoon and there were not many customers so I don't understand why the staff just failed to notice me sitting there waiting. I finally had to ask the hostess to bring me a staff member to place the order. After placing the order, I basically gave up seeing any staff except for receiving my food. The food was OK, a bit overpriced but decent. The blogger next to me was using a big flash light to take photos of the food which was rather disturbing. Would you like to have your lunch with a professional-grade flash light goes on and off next to you all the time? But apparently the priority of this place is to make the blogger as happy as she can be so she can write glowing review. Us commoners just don't count? I am so glad Google still gives us this platform to voice our thought. Also, to the followers of this blogger, would you trust a review that was generated by free, not on the menu food, unlimited wine, and accommodating staff only because they know she has many...

My wife and I went to Bar Bouloud for the first-time during New York restaurant week. We had a lovely dinner. Pâté for starters, she had the coq au vin and I had the trout. For dessert I had mango profiteroles and she had crème Basque. Overall we had a fantastic time, and the food was delicious. The fish was something else, came with crispy mushrooms and it was fresh, tender, and perfectly prepared, really respecting and enhancing the trout itself 10/10. My wife loved the chicken also, very tasty - to note, the portions were more generous that we expected from a French restaurant, ended up being quite a meal. The desserts were also great, the pastry in the profiteroles was crispy and light, the mango cream cut the sweetness and made it a wonderful thing to finish the dinner with. Beautiful! The atmosphere at the place was relaxed and relatively quiet, which I prefer. We think what made the whole thing a wonderful evening was the staff and the service they provided. Sometimes you go to a nice restaurant during restaurant week and you are treated differently, like they are quietly making the point that you do not truly belong there. It has happened to us in other places when we do NYC restaurant week. This was not the case, the staff were amazingly warm, polite, and helpful. They treated us lovingly and were on top of every detail. We were celebrating an occasion, and they came with a nice surprise from the kitchen. They were also genuinely friendly and helpful. They did such a wonderful job that we both commented that we would definitely come again during regular season. Very much...

My daughter and I went to Bar Boulud to celebrate the New Year with a four course pre-fixed dinner. We've been to BB before and always found it to be a great place for dinner. The evening did not disappoint. The staff was very friendly and attentive (a special thank you to our server Eilish D and the restaurant manager and the sommelier who stopped by to check on us and wish us a Happy New Year.). The fluke mille-feuille was a nice start. We both chose the black truffle beef tartare with hazelnuts. To be honest this was our least favorite dish of the evening. The beef lacked flavor and was overwhelmed by the hazelnuts. This was followed by the wonderful duck lasagna. The pasta was cooked perfectly and the duck was front and center. The main course for me was the black sea bass with pistachio, blood orange and sunchokes. The fish was wonderfully tender and I enjoyed it thoroughly. My daughter had the beef duo, consisting of a beef tenderloin, red wine braised short rib, with a chestnut puree and celery root. My daughter raved about the dish and after taking a bite of both, the short rib and tenderloin, I have to agree. The main course was so good we forgot to take a picture of the dishes. We finished the meal with a brie de meaux (cheese course) and a guanaja chocolate tart. Both were great choices. The brie was laced with black truffle and accompanied by candied pecans and apple sauce. Rich and creamy, the cheese was amazing. The chocolate tart was paired by the tart and fragrant raspberry sorbet which cut through the super chocolaty tart. We had a wonderful time! We...