le Bernadin

This photo of their menu is really all you need to know about the current status of le Bernadin. A perennial Michelin 3 star stalwart that is simply no longer paying attention to the details. "Slowy" baked salmon? This made their online menu and the PDF version as well.

Last visit, it was carpet that wasn't cleaned. This visit? Let's choose from various options.

That no butter was served with the bread? (We had to ask it 20 minutes later.)

That we overheard the somm chastise servers with "Can we stay focused, please?? Come on!..."

That Teresa's plate was literally (and awkwardly) pulled out from under her while she was still using it?

That the wood divider behind us was so beat up and clearly hasn't been cared for in years? (See the photo below.)

That the first wine was poured and explained while Teresa was at the restroom?

That our chargers were cleared and stacked on top of one another with a loud clank?

That we were promised a menu to take with us at the end and never received one?

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I love le Bernadin. This is my 5th visit in as many years. I find their food to be special and unique and delicious. I always leave feeling I got my money's worth. Their wine pairings are second to none. 

But at some point, you have to call a spade a spade. We are well beyond COVID. These issues are now a native part of their experience. Michelin needs to be honest here. This is no longer a 3 star experience. 

The food has even inched back. My first few visits...every dish was perfect. As my brother would say, "You don't want a single grain of salt extra, or one taken away. You don't want the fish cooked 10 seconds more, or 10 seconds less." No longer. While I still adore the food here, the sea bass and Dover sole were overcooked. The langoustine dish was too salty.

We left not thinking "Wow!" but "That was very good." Sure - perhaps I am influenced by repeat visits and the familiarity it brings (especially with so many repeated dishes year to year...ahem). But wrap this together with such a lacking level of service and poor upkeep of the physical space, the food has a lot of weight to pull on its own. Too much weight to pull. And it's not keeping up.

The lone new dish - salmon, caviar and a horseradish cream sauce - was crazy delicious. It shows the skill in vision, flavors and how to elevate fish to the stratosphere. But the plating...simply spreading a layer of caviar on top of the filet? That's all you came up with? Not even a quenelle? 

le Bernadin is losing me. I don't want it to. I want it convince me to keep returning. I want its dishes to scratch and claw for me to revisit. I desperately want its front of house staff to demonstrate that a return visit is compulsory. I want to feel that this restaurant cares about what it's doing and about the guest experience.

But on all recent visits, the message is quite the opposite. le Bernadin is coasting. It's retreating. It's worsening.

"Slowy" but surely.

This restaurant. My God - what they are able to create. This was my 4th visit and the best one to date. There really are no words to describe what Chef Eric Ripert delivers day in and day out. Food that makes you marvel and beg for more. The gentleman seated next to us reacted to his dishes in a manner Teresa could describe only as "He orgasmed.". And he would be justified. There is little food on earth this good.

Of all of the amazing restaurants in New York City, it is this one that I find myself longing to return to. Even receiving many of the same dishes again, they are so stellar that it is exciting. "Oh! I get THIS again!!" Their signature Dover Sole was the best version of it I've enjoyed to date. The new lobster dish is the best dish they've ever served me. Each visit, I wonder if they can hit it that far out of the park...again. And each visit, the answer is yes.

The wines here are also not to be missed. Always phenomenal and different on their own, and so beautifully paired with each course. Having this menu without the wine pairing will cause you to miss out on the brilliance here. 

There remain some service missteps. Here is the photo evidence:

The floor walking in was dirty. Bad enough? When we left hours later, it was still there.

The menu I received had scratches and marks all over it.

They swept the table after a few courses, but how does a 3 star restaurant place a fresh fork down on these crumbs?

The issues above are shoulder shrugs at most restaurants. At a 3-star? It shows they aren't paying attention to everything. And that is what 3-stars are intended to be. The food here makes these all non-issues, really. (I'm still coming back again!) But they point to some chinks in the armor out front. This is with Chef Ripert in the building - we saw him walking through the dining room a few times. I found these things most surprising.

Alright. Now that that's out of the way, let me get back to gushing.

Come here. It's unique. It's mystifyingly good. And an experience like none other that I have had.

Their food is simply at another level.

My third visit to le Bernadin only endorsed my view that if you are to do one high end restaurant in New York City, it should be this one. Yes, the food is over the top delicious. But moreso, what Chef Eric Ripert produces is so very unique. You won't find it anywhere else. 

The recipe is simple. Fish (prepared simply and cooked and seasoned perfectly) paired with a sauce (which you will beg them to take home by the gallon). Dish after dish follows this pattern. And dish after dish makes you shake your head, trying to understand how these ingredients can be elevated to such a incredibly high level.

Add in amazing breads and top-notch wine pairings and this is always a meal that will blow you away. 

The atmosphere is a relaxed French formal. Enough snoot to know you're at a 3 star restaurant, but not enough to feel pretentious or stuffy. As I have seen at other restaurants, service did suffer a bit. Our initial welcome to the table was so odd and stunted that we looked at each other like "Did that really just happen?" (That server did warm up as the night went on.)

The biggest breach was that we requested they slow things down just a bit, after the first two courses came out fairly quickly. Slow down they did. To the tune of 40 minutes between the next dishes. It was way too much. The wine pairing was poured 20 minutes before the dish arrived. We often had the sommelier or server look over at our table with a face that read "They STILL don't have the next dish??" Something definitely went off the rails.

This was unfortunate because we had a train to catch and therefore a hard stop. With about an hour remaining and 5 dishes to go, I told our servers our time window and that we needed to pick things up if we were to enjoy the full menu. While the rush of the next hour was not the most enjoyable way to experience the meal, I give them high praise for honoring our request and pushing hard to be sure that we were able to enjoy every dish before having to leave.

I'll take some of that blame for requesting a slow down. But no matter how much time we had, 40 minutes between courses is wrong.

The wine pairing was stupendous, with terrific wines and a few pairings that truly elevated the food. The pours were also quite generous. (Glad we took the train!)

Despite uneven service and VERY rushed finish, this is still a meal you will remember for a long time. And delivered two dishes (the tuna and the scallops) which land in my hall of fame. le Bernadin is quite an experience, and underpriced for what you receive, in my opinion. It's not an extremely difficult reservation to get. I would encourage anyone to go at least once to experience what the highest expression of fish is really like.

Dining at le Bernadin puts the focus on incredible fish, cooked to perfection and paired with sauces that fully compliment without becoming the star. The dishes look fairly straightforward, I realize. But it's their simplicity combined with depth of flavor in each element that makes this a true 3 Michelin star experience.

Chef Eric Ripert's jaunt is definitely a place to target as a destination. The brilliance is subtle, not loud. But the expertise in every area can be felt and certainly tasted.

We were fortunate enough to have is reknown sommelier Aldo Sohm wait on us personally, and the wines were divine. One please Teresa (who is not a big wine drinker) so much that she requested I order some for a future celebration. (I did. And it was everything we remembered.)