Family Meal at Blue Hill — Restaurant in New York

I am saddened to report that my wife got food poisoning here. I got it too, but to a way lesser extent. It's a shame, as we had been looking forward to dining at Blue Hill for a long time. We were in town on vacation and celebrating our friend's birthday. We think the poisoning was caused by the greens from the carrot, which was the first course.

I will say that our server, Mary, was awesome. She was friendly, fun, informative, etc. The experience as a whole was good, although we've definitely had better food for more reasonable cost. But when my wife started violently throwing up about 6 hours later, our view understandably changed.

It got so bad that I had to take her to urgent care the next morning to get treated by a doctor.

It was then that I called Blue Hill to tell them what had happened. To their credit the manager I spoke with, Cole, seemed to take our situation seriously, telling me he would inform the chef, etc. and expressing sympathy for my wife's situation.

At this point, if you were in our position what would you expect a high-end, Michelin-star rated restaurant to do? Give your money back, right? I mean, it's not like it's Chili's and you spent $50. We spent almost $500... to get food poisoning!

At first I didn't say anything about the money, thinking that of course they would offer to refund at least part of our bill. Cole, who was also very nice, said they had a 48 hour procedure to follow and they'd need to see if anyone else got sick that night, etc and that he would call me back in two days. I said I totally understand and I look forward to speaking with him again.

He never called.

Again, a restaurant of this caliber... I felt like it was adding insult to injury. I called him five days later. But I don't want to paint this as dealing with nasty people or having a big screaming fight. It wasn't. Cole was very polite and apologized for not calling. We had a very civil, respectful conversation.

However, he said my wife was the only person to get sick and therefore they felt that maybe she got sick from somewhere else. Now, is this possible? Sure. From our perspective though, there was nothing else she or I ate that day that would be a suspect for causing food poisoning. It does seem highly more likely that carrot greens from a farm could have not been washed thoroughly. And that just because no one else got sick doesn't mean that the greens on HER plate didn't cause HER to get sick.

Cole then told me there was nothing else the restaurant was willing to do for us because they felt sure the food poisoning wasn't from them. Although, he did say he hoped we'd come back and give them another chance. Ha!

The thing is, it's not about the money. We chose to go there, as we have many other expensive restaurants over the years. We knew what it would cost and we decided to go. Not that we can afford this kind of dinner more than maybe once a year, but still. It's about customer care. A person comes to your restaurant and believes they got sick from your food. If I were the restaurant, especially a high-end one like this, even if I thought you may have gotten sick elsewhere, I'd say, “let me at least refund your wife's meal. I'm sorry your experience here was tainted.” I mean, what does that really cost them? All it does is make them look good, make me feel cared for as a customer, and de-escalate the situation.

Again, I do understand where they are coming from and their point of view. I just think in terms of customer relations, PR, whatever you want to call it, there's a right way to handle these kinds of situations where with minimal output you can make everyone walk away feeling better. Instead, they chose to make my experience even worse.

UPDATE: After contacting upper management and posting this review, the owner of the restaurant emailed me personally to apologize and provide compensation. He was very gracious and he handled the situation as it should have been handled from the start. So for that, I...

Good but not elite. Missed the mark a few times. Ordered 2 of the Famer Feast Extended tasting menues with wine pairings. Let me first say not worth it, would avoid, just go with the regular Farmer Feast. The extended menus comes with 2 extra dishes and is also an upcharge on the wine pairing.

First dish was baby carrot, turnip with lard, and speck ham all paired with a sparkling wine from Long Island. Dishes were good but nothing great, which is exactly what I would say about the sparkling wine. The second dish was exceptional, a pork liver sandwiched in a type of savory chocolate cracker that tasted like a foie gras sandwich.

The next dish is a lobster dumpling and honestly I hope they drop this dish from the menu. East coasters know lobster is made to taste purely with butter and have the texture of claw or tail when enjoying. This is a mortal sin what they did, chopped lobster with what I assumed is a lot of carrot and other nonsense that doesn’t belong. The resling that came with the paring was amazing but lobster prepared in this manner honestly ruined the dish even with the wine pairing. Also that resling is one of the best I’ve ever had.

Next was the scallop which was delicious but could have used a second scallop. The wine paired with this was another white that honestly had a home brewed taste to it. The wine got mixed reviews.

After the scallop was a cabbage dish with caviar (forgettable) and a pastrami dish which is a total miss. It’s bold to make a pastrami in NY, because honestly that tradition is so cherished but also so rare in the world today that coming out with a dish like that has to be bold in a high end restaurant. That dish is so mediocre it was embarrassing. Seemed like an instagram ad. Sad thing is the original menu said lamb from the farm and then I get mediocre pastrami instead for dinner 🤨.

Next was the retired dairy cow, cooked rare which I love but the grain side dish it came witlh was way to acidic and killed a lot of taste of the cow. Retired dairy cow seems to be trendy which I’m down for because it taste great. Weirdly they decide to serve bread, artisanal butter, and popovers in the middle/end of the meal.

Last savory dish was the steak carrot. It’s just a carrot (no steak) but honestly it taste great. The spinach served alongside the carrot was really salty on its own but played well when eaten with the carrot and the juju beans puree tasted like a sweet steak sauce. They served a Rioja along with a couple of California red wines during these last few dishes. The Rioja was a winner, the other two were good.

Next came the first of two desserts. The first one didn’t come with a wine pairing even though there’s an upcharge for wine 🤔. The first dessert tasted like a jet blue terra sweet potato chip sitting on lemon sorbet aka it sucked.

The next dessert wasn’t great either, it tasted like melted ice cream mixed with Irish full grain oatmeal. The port wine was really good though. Finished off with an espresso and left.

Overall it just isn’t there. Love the farm to table angle but execution isn’t there. We waited a long time between dishes, the pairings were off, and some dishes need work. At this price point and reputation, I assumed more out of...

This was THE spot my adult son wanted to visit on his birthday trip to NYC with me and his sister. He had seen the Netflix documentary on Blue Hill and it totally inspired him. He planted it in his mind that he wanted to visit Dan Barber's restaurant one day. When I told him I wanted to take him to NYC for his birthday, the first thing he asked to do was to visit here. He raved about the restaurant all the way to NYC. He even had us watch the documentary so we could understand why he was so excited about it. Before we came, we all had super high expectations. I was kind of worried that our expectations were too high. As the first dish was served and we bit into the raw veggies, we didn't know exactly what we were to expect - after all, how different could a radish be? But we thoroughly enjoyed each bite. When it came to the turnip, we hesitated - raw turnip? After we took a bite, we looked at each other and almost at the same time said: "That's a turnip?!" It was incredible - sweet - juicy - perfect. We ate everything - greens and all - it's that good and that fresh. With each dish that was served, we found ourselves transported to a time and place where food was alive - where simple foods tasted incredible all on their own, and where food could be enjoyed without punishing you later. When we made our reservations, I indicated that my daughter and I were gluten-free and dairy-free. We always avoid those because we don't do well with the glyphosate found in most wheat products (from Round-up being used on the crops) and the hormones and antibiotics pumped into dairy cows that make their way into the milk. After we watched the documentary, we decided to drop the restrictions. My daughter was almost in tears as she bit into bread and butter that was so incredibly delicious that she was wishing she could find a way to have it every day. We all enjoyed the dairy, bread, and every part of each course. And, hours later, we didn't have to "pay the price". The price had been paid ahead of time by sourcing ingredients that both taste delicious and deliver proper nutrition to the body without any harmful additions. We couldn't have been happier. We enjoyed our meal so much that we decided to change our plans and go back for the Sunday lunch 2 days later. That was an equally wonderful experience. And, what meal out is complete without incredible serving staff! The staff here are wonderful and went out of their way to welcome us and help us celebrate my son's birthday in the perfect way. Thank you to everyone at Blue Hill Restaurant. And thank you to Dan Barber for your commitment to a vision. We see it with you. Our only regret is not being able to meet the chefs who created such fantastic food. Your talents were greatly enjoyed...