Cafe Boulud — Restaurant in Palm Beach

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...

What a disappointment is all I can say. My boyfriend and I are visiting from New York and this would be my first Cafe Boulud dining experience. I was very excited to say the least. Being that Daniel Boulud is a world renowned Michelin star chef we had very high expectations.

The restaurant was beautiful, quaint and elegant. The location is lovely and very convenient to get to. When our waiter greeted us he was pleasant enough but things began to get weird.

When he greeted us he mentioned there were two specials for the evening but one of them was “so good” it had already sold out. That’s fine, I totally get that but when my boyfriend inquired about the other dinner special that sold out just out of curiosity, the waiter replied “doesn’t matter” in a rude condescending way. We were both extremely thrown off by his attitude.

We ended up ordering a bottle of wine with who I assume was the manager. After we ordered the bottle of wine our waiter returned asking if we would like anything to drink and we mentioned we just order a bottle of wine. Again he replied with an attitude, “I know, he told me. We’re one big happy family here. We help each other, pool tips etc.”. Seriously?

We ordered our food. I started with the shrimp bisque and my boyfriend the gazpacho. The shrimp bisque was nice but not delicious enough to eat more than a couple spoons full. My boyfriend did not enjoy the gazpacho one bit. The flavor was there but the consistency was off. He didn’t end up finishing it.

Entrees next. For myself the Organic Amish Chicken and my boyfriend got the Dover Sole. At $70 you better hope it’s damn good. When our food arrived I was bit perplexed by the preparation of the chicken. It looked like a huge chicken sausage wrapped in casing. I took a couple of bites and did not finish it. The mash potatoes I ordered on the side were flavorless.

The dover sole looked great but the waiter could not help but take advantage of the opportunity to insult us again. He mentioned that Dover sole was the “apex” of fish…but of course it’s not that great as it comes in 3rd place after Caviar and bluefin tuna. I don’t recall either of us asking.

The waiter had a way of giving backhanded compliments. He kept doing it all evening until he eventually disappeared and another waiter took over who ended up being extremely kind, accommodating and pleasant to encounter. I wish he was our waiter from the beginning.

All in all the experience was one I wish to forget. I will visit Cafe Boulud again once back in New York and hopefully it will be a...

Worst dining experience I’ve ever had on Palm Beach! We arrived for our 8:30 dinner reservation to an almost empty dining room. This should’ve been a clue as it was during the one of the busiest weeks of the Palm Beach restaurant scene. There were so many open tables but they sat us next to the server’s station where silverware was apparently being restocked. Might as well been sitting in the kitchen. Honestly there shouldn’t even be a table here - it’s diner like! Anyway the bar area is nice but the inside dining room lacks proper lighting and feels cold. Needless to say, we asked to move immediately. This took some time, but they accommodated us and moved us outside. Outside was better despite the charity event going on out there complete with different speakers coming to express their thoughts to the crowd by using a microphone. Felt like someone was going to jump up and yell “Bingo” at any moment. We were eventually greeted by our server who seemed to be straight out of a New York City Pizza Joint. The antithesis of what this restaurant portrays. Still we stayed because of the food reviews. We Started with the lg charcuterie board- terrible! Worst charcuterie board ever. A few slices of pate that tasted store bought; one cornichon- one! Hilarious! One pickled cauliflower floret- one! Hilarious! Next on to entres. They weren’t bad; but nothing special by any means and portions are Very small. We then got dessert, two actually; Grand Marnier Soufflé (hope you like egg because if you order this because that’s all you taste - it’s more like a custard actually) and the chocolate mousse (which was delicious). So to sum it up, worst meal I’ve ever had on Palm Beach! Food- average and way overpriced and you will leave hungry. Service-unrefined and clumsy! Don’t eat here! If you do, you’re sure to feel taken advantage of. There are just too many other fantastic restaurants on Palm Beach to...