The Fulton by Jean-Georges — Restaurant in New York

Great place to come for a special occasion only since you will be seated with the best table with a view. The first time I came, the waiter took us right up on the elevator. However, this time, the hostess took us up by stairs. Strange outcome for both times. The first floor is loud. However, the 2nd floor is much quieter if you want a nice, secluded and romantic even experience. It has better views than sitting on the 1st. The hostess tried to seat us on the 1st, actually, but my bf was not having it. The hostess did not seem easy to get along with she was not trying to please customers right away. My bf had mentioned he wouldn't be sitting on the first floor, and then the hostess sat us on the 2nd. What an unpleasant start off, actually. The first time I came, the host was professional and easy. This is our 2nd time coming here at this location, and it is the only Jean George restaurant that I've been to that has a brunch menu, Jojo was below average, however, I thought The fulton Jean did it right so we came back 2nd.

My bf and I came here for Xmas Eve brunch. As requested, they sat us on the 2nd floor by a side facing view of the bk Bridge. The first time, we both were able to see the bk bridge. This time, only I was able to view it. Lol Our waiter was kind but spoke so fast with the drink menu, tbh I had no idea what he said and asked him to repeat it. We ordered the shrimp tacos and warm octopus, I really loved the shrimp tacos, which was a bit on the spicy side, My bf, however, said it was very spicy for him and took out the sauce lol that they spread in them lol. The octopus we had it the first time we visited was so amazing, so I had to order it again, and this time, I did not think it tasted as zesty as it did our first. For our main, I ordered lobster tail, and the presentation was perfectly laid out. However, it was served cold, and it came with in-house made chips. I usually do not eat all the chips, but these were so tasty I ended up eating all. Lobster Tail was just good lol but not great since it was served cold. Clearly, the bun was not toasted, and there was no attention to detail. My bf had the cheeseburger that came with fries and dipping sauce. The only thing was he asked for medium, but he said it was well done and was too dry. Lol. my bf is an amazing chef, so he knows immediately what's off. There were no customers in here for Xmas Eve bunch now we know...

Almost, almost ... first the good: the view - like everyone says, the view is lovely. the service - nearly flawless. Water glasses and wine glasses stayed full. Wait staff was ever-present. Even when they got super busy they made sure we stayed well attended too. east coast oysters - yummy! sashimi with ponzu - sublime king crab lettuce cups - not to be missed fried hopper shrimp - yes, more please! Diver scallops - love them Apple tart tartin - swapped out the sorbet for the ice cream, perfect chocolate peanut cake - good to the last bite fig tart - I wish we ordered two! Wine prices were 2.5-3.5x retail which is quite good for an upscale restaurant in NYC but see "the ugly" below

As to the bad: fresh tagliatelle was so over salted it was inedible. I think someone dropped the salt shaker in and rather than remake the dish, just sent it out. (yuck!) Ice cream selection - it was more like soup. I think they must have put it under the keep warm lamp while they were making the other dishes. Really, at these prices ($200/pp plus wine) the server should have never delivered it to our table. They say they "spread out" because of cv19, but every table in our section was occupied and busy. They share the space with Pearl Alley, which is less than 1 star (see my review on them)

And the ugly: I was trying to decided if I wanted to pay the $65 corkage fee and bring something from my cellar, or if there would be something interesting on their wine list. They don't publish their wine list and despite twice being promised they would "email me" a pdf copy, they never did. It seems if you make a promise, you should keep it. despite it being a NYC requirement, there was no checking of our vax cards. It makes me wonder, what other shortcuts they are taking with what they say they do on their website? on their website they recommend a parking garage and when you use the link (from their website) there is a pull down of what restaurant and their is only one choice (the fulton). However, it only would let me book a two hour times slot. I called the restaurant to ask them how this works or to find out how to contact the parking garage and was told that "management has no idea what you are talking about..." seems like someone at the restaurant should give "management" an overview of what is on...

After reading most of the reviews on here I was a little nervous about going to the Fulton. However, for the person who goes because it’s food by Jean George, you have nothing to worry about. As one of the best chefs in the world the menu is nothing less than superb. My dining partner and I had 2 appetizers, 2 main courses, and 2 desserts. Each bite was perfect. Perfectly cooked fish, to well seasoned sauces, with luxurious freshly made desserts. I don’t have enough words to describe the food. There are however small things that might annoy different kinds of customers, but I attribute to them getting up and running. We were almost the first to sit down inside and we received our menus within the first couple minutes. After clearly deciding and putting out menus down our waiter took another tables order, who had arrived after us by a considerable amount of time. Slightly frustrating. Food came at a reasonable pace, but again small hiccups like the fact that our appetizers got to the table long before our glasses of wine did. We were also looking around the restaurant (while waiting for appetizers) watching other customers eating bread while waiting for their appetizers. We weren’t offered until we had finished our first course. It took time for our waiter to see we had finished our dinner (even though both plates were totally empty). On a whole these things while mildly frustrating will not deter me from visiting again. I hope given time things will get ironed out. We spent between $150 and $200 on the meal with the food we got plus two drinks. Definitely a special occasion kind of meal for those who aren’t affluent, but it is worth the price in my opinion.

For those who would like recommendations on what to order, here’s what we got: Soft shell crab (the sauce with this is really amazing) Octopus and mozzarella salad (sounds odd, but the lemon used really pulls it together) The salmon (perfectly cooked and the broth was 10/10) Longevity noodles (expensive but there is a ton of lobster) Chocolate mousse (passion fruit ice cream is the star on that plate in my opinion) Apricot pie (everything you could ever want in pie, plus as somebody who generally doesn’t like marzipan, I ate all of the...