MenuPages

While my girlfriend got the regular tasting menu and I opted for a personally customized vegetarian tasting menu. While we knew it would be pricey, the food we both enjoyed was more innovative than anything we've had before. While she was stuffed, I was quite satisfied with the portions as well. I especially recommend not looking at the menu to be surprised by the next dish coming. The bonus for us at the end of a wonderful night was being given a personal tour of the kitchen and meeting Chef Wylie Dufresne. That was indeed a rare treat!

A poor atmosphere with bright lights leads to a sub-par meal. The restaurant in an effort to be 'different' has missed the mark on nouveau cuisine. Rather than exploring new flavor combinations, they have thrown together different oddities of food that in no way combine on the palette. A chamomile yoghurt overpowers limp shrimp noodles...the artic char was bitter, salty, and came with the most hideous sauce. As the son of a french chef and a family of foodies, we were both dismayed and disappointed.

Amazing. After reading all the reviews on WD50, I must say that I was a little tentative heading there for dinner tonite. While I have always been on the adventerous side when it comes to food, my wife tends to be more conservative. That said, we both fully enjoyed our meals. For apps, we had the eggs benedict and the shrimp noodles....the noodles were intersting, the eggs benedict were one of the best things we have ever eaten. Entrees were the parsnip tart and the wagyu beef...both delicious. We enjoyed 2 desserts, the soft chocolate and the strawberries and banana...both amazing as well. I can understand why people moan and groan about this plate, so I offer the following advice. 1. This is a totally different food experience than you have ever had in your life. This restaurant is about having fun with food...something the chef clearly does. It is not conventional by any means, so you cannot go in there with those expectations. 2. Stay away from the tasting menu. It seemed WAY expensive. Our meal (2 apps, 2 entress, 2 desserts, coffee, tea and 1 beer) ran 180 tip included. The couple next to us had the tasting menu (sans wine), and their check was 395. 3. Service was exactly what you would expect from a restaurant of this caliber. Knowledgable staff, extremely attentive but unobtrusive. All things considered, this meal was less expensive than we anticipated, delicious and very memorable. BTW, Dufresne runs his own kitchen, which is visible to everyone in the restaurant. With all the celebrity chefs, it is nice to see one who actually cooks at his own joint.

I'm blown away by these ridiculous reviews, WD-50 is the real deal. We had 3 appetizers, 2 mains, and 2 deserts. Appetizers included the eggs benedict, the cuddlefish, and the foie gras. For our mains we had the scallops and the wagyu. The deserts included the strawberries and the soft chocolate. The only thing I wouldn't order again was the cuddlefish, not that it was bad, it's just something you only need to try once. The rest I am still day-dreaming about.

I brought my sister here for her birthday, and judging from some of the good reviews, we were really expecting much more. When we arrived we reminded the host that it was my sister's birthday, thinking that she might get something special. Not complimentary, but a special dessert, or something. Nope, not at all. They just forgot I suppose. But the meal started like any other, we had some decent cocktails, but we really needed them to get us through a pretty mediocre meal. I can look past all the 'molecular gastronomy' business and focus on what the food really is. Food? I wouldn't say that. Tasteless, chewy, overcooked... and the portion sizes? for nearly $250?!?!? Puleease. Mr. Dufresne is probably more concerned with presentation than taste. I will give wd-50 some points on originality, but that isn't always a saving grace. The wine and service was ok. But I've been to other restaurants and spent 1/3 the amount of money and got 3 times the quality and effort.

I was taken to dinner here recently. The food was shockingly overpriced, not great, and such small portions I was still hungry after an appetizer, main course and dessert. I really can't figure out what the purpose of this restaurant is, and I still can't believe how much my friends paid for such a ridiculous meal. The service was fine, but who cares when the food is so bizarre and subpar?

My wife and I went to wd-50 last weekend and had a very good experience. I can see where all of the complaints come from: The portions were relatively small, the prices relatively high. Not every dish was a home-run...there were some ground-rule doubles mixed into our meal, but no outright whiffs. That said, most of what we had was delicious and ALL of it was memorable. In my eyes, that's what you're going here for - stuff you won't get anywhere else. On that front they certainly deliver.