Bar Boulud

I went to Bar Boulud this past weekend. The food was very good. Had the swordfish. The portion was not very big, especially in comparision to my husbands steak Frites (btw - they have excellent fries!) but the swordfish tasted great! Not many wines by the glass offered, which is annoying for me since my husband doesn't drink wine. Overall a very good place. expect to pay at the minimum $150 for 2 people.

We arrived at 5:50 for a 6PM reservation and the hosts suggested we wait at the bar. We opted to use the restroom and then we waited in the front for a bit. The door continually opens so the front of the restaurant is barely air conditioned. About 6:10, we inquired about our table and were told that there is a large party and they should be done soon. At this point we headed to the bar (as it was too hot in the front), but there were no seats. The host directed us to seats at the back communal table and was not too pleasant. He was actually annoyed that we were annoyed that there was no table when we had a reservation. I then suggested to him that he might offer us a complimentary glass a wine while we were waiting. He continued to be somewhat argumentative, telling us it was only 6:10, it was already 6:15 (and no table in sight) and then reminded us that we arrived early. Finally after much ado, a glass of wine for my husband and I was brought over. We were finally seated at 6:30. Most of what we ordered was good, not great. The waitress was polite, but very per functionary. We had to ask for water and we needed to ask twice for their popovers, which everyone around us seemed to get. This was not what I consider an enjoyable dining experience. We stopped on the way home at Hummus Place to pick up dinner for our kids. Certainly not the same kind of restaurant, but always warmer and more efficient service!!

if you are looking for great food - you cant go wrong at Bar Boulud. forget everything you think you know about French Bistro food and give it a try. a great secret is the weekend brunch. the croque monsieur and duck has are absolutely unreal. and i promise that i dont say this lightly.

Rarely do I have a dish where I am so focused on what's in my mouth that everything else disappears. It happened with the Tourte De Canard. Every bite was a joyous experience. The flavor, texture, balance, arrangement... consumed me. As I neared the end I got a little sad. I would have paid $100 for that dish because (at $15) its memory will live on long past the thousands of merely "very good" $25 dish's I've had. Which brings me to my next point. Why do all these reviewers who clearly care more about price and cheerful waiters than they do about impeccably sourced ingredients and world class (as in Gilles Verot) technique bother dining at a place they'll never appreciate for what it is? And it's NOT even that expensive. My advice would be to open your mind rather than being ready to be offended by a "fancy" French joint. For a lot of people, being a foodie is all about how hard to please and adept at criticism you are. For me it's about appreciating the beauty in (almost) everything I eat. Sorry for the rant.

we live on the UWS and have a bunch of go-to restaurants that are not amazing, but are good and fun. my husband's parents were in town tonight so we thought we try a more "special" place. bar boulud did not deliver. our waiter sucked---he was rushed and snippy, albeit with an affected french accent--and the food was just ehh. I had an appetizer salad and a side dish as my entree, as did my mother in law. My husband and his step dad both had mediocre, over cooked steak. the frites were great, but what french place can't make good frites? only the guys drank (2 glasses of wine and 1 beer) and it was $230. ridiculous. I mean, if the food was amazing or the service was out of this world, fine, but I could have gotten better food, service and atmosphere at Cafe Rhonda up the street and spent half that much....not to mention 20 other great UWS places. My vote: don't bother. If you must, go for a glass of wine. Otherwise, keep right on walking.

We passed Bar Bouloud after a concert one Saturday night and thought we'd have some post event drinks and small plates at the outdoor cafe. It was past dinner hour and there were plenty of empty tables but we were still treated to raised eybrows and gallic smirks for not ordering a full meal. The food was good, but from Bouloud you would expect great. It wasn't. All in all a disappointing experience, except for the location location location. But next time we'll go next door to Fiorello's.........

If you're eating inside, you definitely want to be in a booth; the tables at the front are loud and uncomfortable (esp. the chairs), feels like you're eating in an airport cafeteria. Outdoor patio is very nice but the service out there is below the service inside for whatever reason. Pates there are great. Had a specific very bad experience recently -- my wife ordered an egg-white omelette with gruyere and the kitchen forgot to put in the cheese. We mentioned to the waitress who came back and said they did in fact put in the cheese and we were wrong, but, treating us like children, they gave us a small bowl of grated gruyere on the side. No one tasted the omelette, no one looked at it, they just told us we were wrong about the non-cheese (I mentioned this, and the waitress just did not seem to want to look or take the omelette back to the kitchen!). Now, gruyere is a pretty distinctive tasting cheese, not really something you could miss. In essence, the entire episode was incredibly snobby and insulting.