Artisanal

Oompa and friend were curious to try Artisanal. Oopma fondly recalls lingering over Fondue in years past with a special friend. Oompa thinks Fondue is a very romantic meal! As you may have guessed, Oompa also has a soft spot for cheese! Girlfriend gets a hankering for cheese all the time! Also, Oompa also had heard several recommendations for Artisanal, so when Oompa thought of where to go for a special dinner and Artisinal crossed her mind, Oompa said to herself, "Oompa go!!" Oompa arrived draped in her special Zebra skin silk scarf and had a glass of wine at the bar while waiting for her friend. The bar was very crowded, but Oompa had no trouble getting the attention of the bartender. Perhaps it was the scarf! Once Oompa's friend arrived, Oompa walked over to the young hostess to let her know Oompa was ready to be seated. Despite being on time and having a reservation, the young hostess told Oompa that there were a few parties ahead of her. Hmmph! Did not Oompa see empty tables? Oompa and friend stood for a moment or two and waited, and after a couple of minutes the same hostess indicated the table was ready. Once settled into a soft banquette, Oompa reviewed the menu. The cheese options were mind blowing! Behind Oompa was a large case with more cheeses than Oompa had ever seen, and the stinky frangrance embraced Oompa. Our waitress arrived soon after, but made a pushy and bad impression on Oompa. Her greeting was curt, and she seemed pushy about getting an order together. Oompa has seen other reviewers on this web page complain of a waitress and wonders if perhaps it is the same one! Oompa wanted a cheese flight paired with wine, and when the waitress recommended one with Champagne, Oompa indicated she would prefer wine. Rather than take this into account and making another cheese plate recommendation suited to wine, the waitress showed impatience with Oompa and told Oompa she would "find a wine Oompa would like". But were there not other options with wine on the menu? There were, but Oompa did not think the rude waitress knew of this. Oompa herself selected such a cheese plate and it was accompanied by wine. Later, Oompa had some chilled seafood and Oompa's friend asked for Fondue. Both were delicious! Oompa very much liked the food, but the waitress was brusk on a few more occasions which does not sit well with Oompa. However, Oompa would not hesitate to go back! Oompa just hopes she gets a different wait person!

It is the second time I go to Artisanal and it is the second time I am disappointed. We called them to make a reservation and had to give them our cc # because we were 5 people. We told them we had a baby with us and they were really unfriendly about this. It was very loud service was not good and if the gougeres were good, the fondue was not so great...We had two different kinds of fondues for our table. The taste was all right but we really did not have much to eat... The waitress was very rude. I guess they just don't care as they automatically charge their 18% tip to the bill... It is not the worst place to go in NY but honestly, there are many much nicer/ friendlier restaurants to try first!...

You must be kidding here. Awful place to take clients for dinner. Embarrassing Service and food. Go elsewhere if you want to impress anyone. And...what's with the smell?? That's not cheese.

I've only ever been here for brunch but it's one of my favorite places. Eggs benedict are the best. They have a great selection of wines and cheeses and the staff are very good at making recommendations if you are not very knowledgeable. Hot chocolate is amazing- it's like pure melted chocolate (super heavy!) My only complaint is that the waiters seem to become less attentive after they've taken care of your initial order (this has happened pretty consistently each time I've been there.) But otherwise this place is great, and I will continue to go back.

Balthazar? They are both very loud...and look similar in decor! However, the waitstaff were exceptionally attentive here (somewhat overbearing at times) We did a restaurant week here. My dinner companion had the Morrocan Glazed Scottish Salmon of which she thought was excellent. I had the Black Angus Hanger Steak Frites which was probably one of the best Steak Frites dishes I have had in NYC. What was truly superb was the green pea soup which started off our meal. The tastes and textures were just wonderful! We concluded our meal with the Cheesecake Pecan Praline & Caramel Sauce. This was very good but a little too much for me (too sweet) My dinner companion had the Summer Berry Soup of which she enjoyed. All in all a good dinner BUT was heavily annoyed by just the loudness of the place. I could speak/hear normally to the people on either side of me but had to sort of shout/yell at my dinner companion across the table from me. I had a bit of a sore throat upon leaving. I would still say its worth a try.

Went to the cheese section and tried a few cheese. They were great and the Maître Fromager had great knowledge about all the cheeses. Servers were very nice and made sure we had a good time. Definitely try the Pecorino Tartufo cheese if you like truffles. I love it.

Artisanal is a fave of mine... but i would encourage people not to go for dinner, as it is very crowded, the wait staff is too busy, and many delicious items are NOT on the menu at dinner!! It also gets crowded at lunchtime, but if you go around 1:30 PM the place is thinning out and the lunch staff are much more friendly and helpful. Whatever you do, the Fondue is obviously a must. The standard regular fondue is totally delicious. I have not tried the others because the regular is so reliably good. two things that are not on the menu at dinner, are there at lunch, which is why i go. 1. Homemade mac and cheese...that is so absurdly delicious one cannot describe it adequately. Gourmet MAc and cheese, browned on top and totally awesome. 2. The Best sandwich around: Order the Grilled Cheddar sandwich. It is so obscenely good, and is made with three different things to give three distinct different flavors... Sharp but tangy Irish white Cheddar, smoky thick sliced sliver of what i believe to be danish bacon. a sweet, thin slice of granny smith apple. all this is put on two delicious pieces of buttered and grilled to perfection balthazar sourdough bread. It is beyond belief, and the stuff of addiction. For desert, many enjoy the chocolate fondue, but that is not my thing...they have seasonal sorbets which are homemade, and if you can get it, the green apple sorbet is the most delicious thing i have ever tasted. so much so, i asked the maitre D how often they have it and he said it depends. I asked him if they could possibly sell me some to bring home...after a couple of minutes in the back he came back and said "we can sell you a quart for $20"...so i said "give me two quarts" :) so while it was twice the price of normal supermarket sorbet, it was worth every penny. they wrapped both quarts up for me in plastic, with ice packs and taped it all up, and i looked rather absurd clinging to my package of sorbet riding uptown in a cab urging the driver on faster so it would not melt. Needless to say it lasted about a week. Was well worth it!