Atmosphere review insights for United States

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).

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.

65 dollars for 2 drinks? And they charged the max gratuity on top. The atmosphere is super ghetto like a cantina, mediocre drinks. You can go to a nice rooftop like rosa sky in Brickell and pay half for 2 drinks. This is stupid

$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!

1 hr wait despite a reservation, decent food, service poor, good atmosphere If you just want to be seen but have no interest in good food or good service, this is definitely the place to be. The good: Atmosphere. The "it was okay": Food - good, not stand out, interesting or special in any way. The not so great: Despite a reservation, we had a 1 hour wait, then after that wait, it took over 20+ mins to even get a glass of water. When we got the menus we were immediately asked to hurry because the kitchen would close soon (after having us wait for what was now close to 90 mins). My suggestion is go eat somewhere else nearby with excellent food and service (Truluck's is walkable and fantastic) and then, come here for a glass of wine and some people watching.

I always have bad service here, but this was something else. I went to the bathroom for like 2 minutes, and my hat was gone. I asked the bartender about it, and it was a very combative conversation. She asked if I wanted to check the cameras, and I said yes. She said I can't talk to the manager on the floor, but another manager that I hadn't seen. Eventually, this other manager (I guess?) dropped the hat in front of me on the bar while on the phone, and didn't even look at me. It's a slide back, which I've had for years, and I've never had it go further than like a quarter size over what I set it to. This came back to me a size and a half over what it should have been. Someone was adjusting it until I made a stink about it.

Review rating: 1.0

Spectacular views, overpriced food. We visited here while we were in town for the World Cup, I was looking for somewhere for our anniversary and this place was highly recommended. The setting was perfect and the views were amazing. I requested a window seat when I made the reservation and that’s what we were given, although a was sat right next to a huge pillar which obstructed the view somewhat. The food was good but I would say overpriced. We skipped the appetiser and went straight the the entrees, I ordered the lamb chops and my wife ordered the mushroom tortellini. The lamb chops were cooked perfectly and really tasty. They came with a mint chimichurri but I could’ve done with more of it. My wife’s tortellini were very rich and there were 8 of them on the plate, probably 3 or 4 too many. The pasta was slightly thick in places and there was way too much Parmesan cheese shavings. For dessert I had crème brûlée and my wife ordered the baked lemon cake. My crème brûlée was nice, not the best I’ve ever tasted but it hit the spot. The lemon cake was slightly dense but came with berries, whipped cream and a delicious bourbon ice cream. Our server, Michael, was very pleasant and kept our drinks topped up throughout the meal. We did order a side of mac & cheese which didn’t arrive with the meal but that’s probably a good think as it would’ve been way too much pasta! With a tip the check came to $330. Overall verdict is that the setting is perfect for the occasion but the food is overpriced in my opinion.

Review rating: 4.0

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%

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%

65 dollars for 2 drinks? And they charged the max gratuity on top. The atmosphere is super ghetto like a cantina, mediocre drinks. You can go to a nice rooftop like rosa sky in Brickell and pay half for 2 drinks. This is stupid

Signal: 0.0%