As a longtime resident of Palm Beach and a regular patron of Café Boulud, This is the first negative review I've written about any of Daniel Boulud's properties. I want to share with you the most disappointing evening we had on Saturday evening (12/12) as clearly it was not up to Daniel Boulud's standards by any means.

We arrived for our 7PM reservation, the restaurant mostly empty and we were promptly seated at a quiet table for two as requested when I made my reservation via Open Table. Drink orders were placed, but failed to arrive in a timely manner. Our waiter, a charming young man, asked twice for our appetizer orders before we ever received our drinks. We had to request bread and butter, usually offered immediately and always delicious. However on Saturday evening it was stale and hard as a rock. When this was brought to ourbread servers' attention, we were told in a dismissive way “it’s all the same”.

Our order of Parmesan Risotto with truffles arrived luke warm and a pile of glop—this is the only way to describe risotto with the consistency of wallpaper paste. Dover Sole, a house staple that we’ve ordered many times, arrived after a prolonged wait. I had finished my cocktail, and twice had to ask for a glass of wine which finally arrived after the sole was being prepped. No one asked if we wanted another cocktail so our glasses sat empty. The prep of the sole was a complete failure. The server took so long to prepare the fish under the A/C duct that it was completely cold—even the butter sauce was cold, along with the sauteed greens and plain rice (not basmati as described on the menu). The fish was so cold we sent it back—however, reheating Dover sole destroys the delicate texture of fish so we were left with a warm mushy fish. As one of the most expensive entree's on the menu this totally unsatisfactory performance by the kitchen.

As if the meal couldn’t have gotten worse, it seems like the pastry chef also took the night off! Our waiter failed to mention the special Maple Pecan Soufflé earlier in the meal as we would have ordered that but at this point, didn’t want to wait another 20 minutes since it should have been preordered. Nothing exciting, one chocolate selection and very mundane choices. Lastly, we specifically requested decaffeinated espresso to end our meal. When we were both awake at 2:30AM, it was apparent that we were not served decaf.

Lastly, the lack of interest in hearing this kind of complaint from a regular customer was apparent when the Maitre D’ heard every detail of this horrific meal and service, gave me his card and said “call me next time”.

At this price point and level of competition in Palm Beach, I expected more from Café Boulud. I’ve just reconsidered our plans of bringing our whole family there for New Years and will reserve elsewhere