Atmosphere review insights

06/2024 Visited on a weekend evening. Pretty busy but not overly so. I ordered the Hokkaido Scallop, Unagi, and Ika Nigiri, along with the Spicy Salmon Hand Roll and Taiyaki Ice Cream dessert. Overall, it ran me about $50. The food was just "alright." None of the food was morish and the price I paid didn't feel justified. The hand roll was pathetic - I could not tell that there was salmon in there... And the Taiyaki Ice Cream was literally just one of those ice creams you could buy a four-pack of but charged three times more. This restaurant serves Nigiri and Handrolls, but I'd say stick with the regular rolls and save the specialty sushi for a dedicated omakase restaurant. And absolutely skip the dessert... Atmosphere - The restaurant's main appeal is that it runs as a "bullet train" restaurant. However... when I came to visit, it wasn't running! And because of this (or not), service was pretty slow! It took 20 minutes to get my food... The decor of the restaurant was okay... I guess I expected more eating at a Sushi restaurant in San Francisco. Would I eat here again? Absolutely not, lol... Way too expensive for what you get and there are no promises of their marketing draw (bullet train).

1 star for the decor and 1 star for the location. Slow service, it took 30 minutes for our drinks to be served and one hour to get our food. Ok alcohol. Meh food. I dont think I would order them even at half of its price Expensive: I suggest to have one appetizer and one main meal. If not, you might need to grab something else afterwards. And thumbs down for the automatic tips options that start at 18% after tax

10 people at the bar at 8pm on a Saturday night and the bartender was “slammed”. Waited to order drinks for 15 minutes and when she finally came over she refused to make some shots for our group so we asked for something much easier, a lemon drop, and she said “wow, you’re really set on that aren’t you?”. WTH? Yeah, drinks are almost 20 bucks in this town and you weren’t even that slammed in a half-empty bar.

$4500 for 4 people. I was not wrong for expecting perfection. First, we (and everyone else) arrived 15 minutes early - as requested by their staff. 20 people stuffed into their vestibule for 15 minutes not able to move or talk above a whisper. It was hot, awkward and uncomfortable. We were seated on time and led to the Gallery. There were 4 of us, so for the first part of the experience we were 10 feet away from our dinner companions. More awkwardness. The gentlemen next to me and my husband was the 3rd in a party of three, so here he is 10 feet away from his companions waving at them from across the restaurant. We had a laugh about it, but it's strange and we felt bad for him. Then the hostess arrives and gives a speech about the experience. It was overacted, like an irritating theatre kid trying too hard. The food was meh. Not one time the whole night did anyone say "Oh my god, this is amazing". Yes, they use cool ingredients and interesting combinations, but nothing was truly memorable - except for dessert. I opted for the Alinea wine pairing that was $400 extra per person. Again, I was expecting perfection and was disappointed. It was mostly white wines. Of the 3 reds, we really enjoyed one - the Hirsch Vineyards Block 8 Pinot Noir. It's $90 a bottle online. So yes, it was good but for the $400 up charge per person, serving a $90 bottle is unacceptable. You gave me a used Lexus and I paid for a new Rolls Royce. "The most exquisite and rare wine selections" - it wasn't. After the first service, they take you to the kitchen and give you seasoned popcorn. Again, for $4500 I was disappointed with popcorn. They took us back to the Gallery and the tables were set up normally, which was a nice relief. We could finally converse with our friends. The service is good, the servers are friendly, but they rotate all night - the only consistent server we had was the sommelier. The whole evening was more about the theater and less about the food and wine. Again, they use creative ingredients and diverse presentations. But nothing tasted amazing or was memorable aside from the cool dessert. I waited and thought for 2 months before writing this. Overall, I was disappointed with the whole experience based on the cost. It's maybe a $500 dinner per person, not $1150. Too many details are overlooked for this price. The Gallery @ Alinea x 4 $1,740 Alinea Pairing x4 $1,580 Subtotal $3,320 Service Charge (20%) $664 Taxes $468.12 Order Fee $5 TOTAL $4,457.12

$58 Entrees with a Disco Beat -- Ya Want Sound Cancelling Headphones with Your Fries? Being in Boston, why not seafood? And if seafood, why not one that purports to be high end? Well, not here. There was so little to like about this place. Sorry to be so negative, but really...start with the room. It feels like the shell of what was meant to be a lobby bank but they changed their mind. So they put a few (alleged) artworks on the walls -- sort of artworks anyway, and then the decorator called it a day. If you like that company cafeteria look with white tablecloths, this is your kind of place. It wasn't ours. We're from New York. We know what expensive is. But these were not mere Upper East Side prices. These were Upper Upper East Side prices. True, some entrees were in the high $40s, but expect more like high $50s. And even then if its great, why not? But this place is far from great. My wife's salmon was ok, meaning for $30, ok. But not $46 ok. And my paella was very good. At $58, it should be great, I mean great, not very good. But all of this was submerged in the disco beat -- that thump thump thump that vibrates your heart at a dance club. But for dinner? Ugh. Loud. Thump thump thump. Totally incongruous. It made us wonder what "concept" this place was meant to be. Oh, forgot to mention the service. It was diner efficient: the guy shows up, drops something on the table and before you can say "may we have butter" he's gone. There was no one -- no one -- watching the room. You could raise your hand for service but it was more like "if you raise your arm and no one sees it, did you really raise your arm"? So to summarize -- if very large sterile rooms with 30' ceilings, loud disco music, poor service and ok overpriced food is your thing, reserve now! PS -- one good thing to day though, to be fair. The "snow egg" dessert was sublime. And only $17!

A few months ago, in Barcelona, everybody started talking about a local bakery that sells the new trending pastry in NYC: a round croissant filled with pistachio. I have never had the opportunity to try it out and, to be honest, that does not sound too appealing to me: in my opinion, a croissant must be shaped like a 🌙 and, most of all, it must be plain! (or it’s a cornetto…) But again, when we arrived in NYC, we didn't know anything about the city anymore, so we checked on the Internet. I looked for salty food and my wife looked for sweets (well, I did look for ice creams and doughnuts myself, to be fair) and she found Lafayette, the original “inventor” of this round pastry (they call it Suprême, btw, but it’s… a croissant). First, we had to queue (under the rain!) for about 20 minutes to get inside just to order to go... While we were queuing, we could see through the Windows all the "content creators" inside showing a camera how much they were enjoying their Suprême: sad. Once inside, I was amazed by... the darkness of the venue. I couldn't even see what I was ordering. Honestly, I knew what I was coming for, otherwise, I couldn't have known what to order... they don't want us to see what we eat? That's a shame because, when I got used to the darkness, I could guess that the venue actually looked very nice. I sincerely don't know why they don't turn the light on. So the clerk at the counter told us about the 4 flavors available that day and we picked pistachio and the seasonal: Suprême de Noël. I must say that the pistachio Suprême was very good, at least the half where there was cream. The other half was just like a regular croissant, a good one but nothing from another world either. The Suprême de Noël was not that good, the cream was too thick, I guess to make it seem like an actual "bûche" but that didn't fit the Suprême so much. Don't get me wrong, it was not bad, but for $10 a piece and a 20-minute rainy line, I expected way more. I would trade this for a good croissant or a pistachio cornetto anytime. Quality & taste: 7/10 Quantities: 9/10 Atmosphere: 5/10 Originality: 7/10 Ratio price / quality: 2/10 Service: 1/10 How I felt afterwards: 3/10

My wife and my daughter visited this place, and the experience was truly disappointing. My wife asked a waitress, in Spanish, if she could bring us some sugar. The waitress’s response was rude and xenophobic. She stood right in front of her and said, in a harsh tone, that only English. My wife, shocked, tried again in English, but the waitress left angrily and never brought the sugar. It’s a shame, because the atmosphere is nice, but this behavior made us feel very uncomfortable. We will not be returning.

Review rating: 1.0

The Location and atmosphere was nice, but the cost of the food, taste and service was terrible. You’re better off going to the rusty pelican.

Review rating: 2.0

06/2024 Visited on a weekend evening. Pretty busy but not overly so. I ordered the Hokkaido Scallop, Unagi, and Ika Nigiri, along with the Spicy Salmon Hand Roll and Taiyaki Ice Cream dessert. Overall, it ran me about $50. The food was just "alright." None of the food was morish and the price I paid didn't feel justified. The hand roll was pathetic - I could not tell that there was salmon in there... And the Taiyaki Ice Cream was literally just one of those ice creams you could buy a four-pack of but charged three times more. This restaurant serves Nigiri and Handrolls, but I'd say stick with the regular rolls and save the specialty sushi for a dedicated omakase restaurant. And absolutely skip the dessert... Atmosphere - The restaurant's main appeal is that it runs as a "bullet train" restaurant. However... when I came to visit, it wasn't running! And because of this (or not), service was pretty slow! It took 20 minutes to get my food... The decor of the restaurant was okay... I guess I expected more eating at a Sushi restaurant in San Francisco. Would I eat here again? Absolutely not, lol... Way too expensive for what you get and there are no promises of their marketing draw (bullet train).

Signal: 0.0%

1 star for the decor and 1 star for the location. Slow service, it took 30 minutes for our drinks to be served and one hour to get our food. Ok alcohol. Meh food. I dont think I would order them even at half of its price Expensive: I suggest to have one appetizer and one main meal. If not, you might need to grab something else afterwards. And thumbs down for the automatic tips options that start at 18% after tax

Signal: 0.0%

10 people at the bar at 8pm on a Saturday night and the bartender was “slammed”. Waited to order drinks for 15 minutes and when she finally came over she refused to make some shots for our group so we asked for something much easier, a lemon drop, and she said “wow, you’re really set on that aren’t you?”. WTH? Yeah, drinks are almost 20 bucks in this town and you weren’t even that slammed in a half-empty bar.

Signal: 0.0%