Bistro La Promenade

Food was good but nothing rememberable and that I haven’t had before. I took my girlfriend here to get out of the East Village. Ambiance was nice and chill.

Using a Groupon Deal ($ 160 of food for $ 80), my group of four friends ordered four mains, two apetizers, and four glasses of wine. We still ended up shelling out an additional $ 115 (of which only $ 40 was for tip). So, a $ 195 dinner for four people.
The roasted cod was pretty good but didn’t come with sides, necessitating an order of fries.
The seafood risotto looked unappealing — and the taste did not redeem it. It was way too salty! Also, the consistency wasn’t like some of the best risotto I’ve had. And the presentation was as if someone had thrown up semi-​disgested paella on the plate. Maybe, if you order the smaller portion with a glass of stiff red wine (Malbec), it could work.
The lamb chops were fine but nothing special. The accompanying butternut squash purée was plain.
The whipped ricotta with honey was probably the best thing. But for $ 11, I could take it or leave it.
The service was hit or miss — lots of false smiles and changing of silverware. I will say the food and drinks came promptly. Also, the waitress did not disappear on us.
The ambience was loud (we were seated at a table next to a bar space full of thrity-​somethings.
Based on the foregoing, I am giving it 2 stars, when it deserves 2.5. The reason I am rounding down is because it seems like a restuarant in its last throes. Nothing really great about it. The price-​quality realtionship is all out of whack. And it doesn’t have a sincerity or charm factor.

I feel like this place is a hidden gem in Chelsea. We almost walked by the restaurant, well actually we did walk by it.
The atmosphere was so cute and romantic. The people that greeted us were so warm. The whole staff was very welcoming and made our experience very homey. Our waitress was great too! We had a million questions for her, and she gave us great advice/​answers (I hate when the waiter/​waitress knows nothing about the menu and what the restaurant offers)
The food was very eclectic and plated nicely.
Overall this is a great, especially for a romantic outing, or even an intimate dinner with a friend.

Kind of an odd place.
Service: Very, very nice — unusually warm and welcoming, in fact. But kind of like watching a strange dance among the various service people. They brought us silver, they took it away (unused, in many cases). They brought more, they took it away. In one 5-​minute period we received 3 sets of silverware. They took the silver but NOT THE USED, EMPTY DISHES. What’s that? It was so strange that we teased our waitress that they bussers were hazing her.
Food: the burgers and frites were good though the frites cooled quickly and once cold were stiff. The risotto dish looks terrible, tastes pretty good, but leaves a pool of tomato-​stained oil in the bottom of your dish. Dessert was flavorful but everything was dense. Why can’t desserts be airy?
Overall, pretty good but occasionally wacky. Go there, but bring your own fork.

Onto the food:
The cocktails that took a century to arrive
–Lavender Lemonade lavender infused reyka vodka, lavender honey, fresh lemon (Not good at all; I now remember why lavender does not belong in food & beverages, it makes both taste like spray starch!)
–Amaretto Sour (that was the worst amaretto sour I ever had in my life, it was more sour than amaretto)
–Lamb Chop olive lemon crushed potato, sweet pepper ragu, lamb jus (This was OK but there was very little meat on them chops)
–Canard Roti roasted duck breast, potato gratin, fig roti apple wood bacon, honey balsamic reduction (This meal did not even come with potatoes so I can’t speak on those, the duck was very fatty & greasy, the fig was gross and added no value to the dish, I didn’t even taste a soupçon of the honey reduction and the bacon was OK but it was just two tiny bacon-​strip-​ettes)
–Steak Frites dry-​aged 12oz ny strip, rosemary pomme frites, sauce au poivre & salsa verde (The presentation was nice, the fries were phenomenal!!! — they were crispy and well seasoned but the steak was not good — it was supposed to be medium-​well and it was pretty pink and unappetizing; it stayed on my plate and I ended up throwing it away)
–Roasted Chicken israeli couscous, ramps, peas & la francaise chicken mustard jus (This meal was OK but certainly not worth $ 26; the chicken was moist and the veggies tasted good together but again, not worth the price!)
–New York Cheesecake almond linzer cookie, roasted pineapple caramel sauce (This was good but would have been better if the cheesecake had a creamier consistency and the pineapple not been so hard to cut through with a fork)
–Strawberry Short Cake vanilla whipped cream, chocolate copeaux (This was the best dish on the entire menu!!! This dessert and the pomme frites are the stars of this restaurant’s menu items)
After recounting my meal above, I also see that I was over-​charged on my bill by over $ 80 (and that was after the bill was recalculated twice by our server)! Maybe I came here on a bad night but considering we went on a slow Tuesday night, I would hate to see the tragedies that ensue on a Friday or a Saturday.

My bf and I came here after finding this spot on Groupon ($ 80 for $ 160 deal). The menu was interesting enough, and we were really impressed with the chic yet quirky interior of the restaurant. We let the host know we were using a Groupon, and he had us wait for our table at the bar. Surprisingly, despite all of the open two-​top tables, he sat us at a large banquet built for four. commenting that he thought it would be better if we waited for a nicer table. SERIOUS brownie points. As for the food…
Cuisses de Grenouilles: Three frog legs lightly fried with a very mild garlic aioli. Yes, it tastes like chicken, thought the texture is very slightly rubbery. The dish could have used a more pungent aioli, but I equally found the simplicity to allow the subtle flavors of the meat to shine.
Steak Tartare: Hands down the tastiest dish… a really lovely combination of mustard, capers and spices that was bold, but didn’t overpower the meat. The fries were great, and the simple salad a nice palate cleanser.
Risotto aux Fruits de Mer: Great flavors, but for the price, they really skimped on the quantity of actual seafood. It was all chopped up into nondescript bits, and it would’ve greatly helped the dish to have some lovely pieces of seafood in there.
Lamb Chop: The lamb was cooked to MR perfectly, and the au jus was DELECTABLE. The sweet pepper ragu was too sweet for the dish, and the mashed potatoes were a murky black with some undertone I despised. Turns out they were mashed with olive — not a huge olive fan.
As everyone else has said, the service was really spot-​on, but the food fell short in more areas than one. If we didn’t have the Groupon, the entire bill would have been $ 220 (including a $ 44 bottle of wine), and we would have been much less satisfied with our meal.

I went here for restaurant week. I had the corn soup, which was served cold. It tastes fine, but I’d rather have had hot corn soup. My entrée was a fish dish that was just ok for me. It was well prepared but the flavors of the dish were just ok. I had a cobbler for dessert and I found it to be overly sweet and found myself wanting some vanilla ice cream on the side or some whipped cream to even out the sweetness.
My boyfriend had the chicken liver pâté for an appetizer. That was yummy but wish we had more crusty bread to eat it with. He also had the special for that evening, pork chop with mashed potatoes. The best pork chop I’ve ever tasted in my life.
It was challenging to figure out who our server was. He kept disappearing and we had many different people serving our food. Different servers came to our table three times asking if the plates they had were our meal. Very confused staff. Also, the restaurant was so loud from everyone’s conversations. I felt like I had to shout to be heard by my friends.
I would only go back for the pork chop.

The food was great. The escargots persillade was the best I’ve ever had. The frog’s legs were just ok. Had the loup de mer (branzino with a lemon olive oil) for the main course which was amazing.
Nice ambiance also.

The Wine Was good. The service was NOT. The waitress seemed to rush things though I thought we were not on a FAST food line. It most certainly felt like one!
I had the mussels and I have had much better. The fries were good. My husband had a fish dish. It was restaurant week. His dish was just okay, nothing spectacular.
I am a kind person and usually leave good reviews when I feel they merit this.
The staff needs to change their overall vibe. I would not visit this restaurant again or recommend until I see at least a dozen reviews stating that service was above and beyond and then again, the food is not phenomenal.

Came here for my daughter’s birthday. We tend to like fresh and simple (read less salt and sauce) dishes so these are hits with us: Steak Tartare, Chicken Liver, Risotto De Mer, Branzino, Steak, and Duck.
The service was good. The manager kept checking on us to make sure everything was OK. The restaurant itself is located right off Highline in the meatpacking district so it is not touristy (yet). The interior is elegant and pleasing.

Girlfriend and I were in for Restaurant Week, cute location right next to the high line!
A light mood was set inside with ambient lighting, at first glance you felt like the tables were a little too close together, but once we were seated it really was no problem at all. Our pre-​fixe dinner :
Appetizer:
New Jersey Corn Soup (Crabmeat, peppers & jalapeños)
Arugula & Fennel Salad (Peaches & toasted hazelnuts, balsamic vinaigrette)
Entrée:
Wild Seabrean (Basil mashed potatoes & marinated heirloom tomatoes)
Pan Seared Angus Steak (Israeli couscous, caramelized onion, peas, Applewood bacon)
Dessert:
Chocolate Fondant with Whipped cream
Passion Fruit Mousse (Mango coulis)
Food was actually great and came out surprisingly fast! The seabrean and the angus steak HOLY CANNOLI so good
The waitress had a thick french accent (which I am still skeptical of its authenticity).
It’s the kind of restaurant where when you leave the table someone comes immediately to fold your napkin, or else they get in big trouble or something.
How I see it? I’d go back, I’d ball out and go back, and I’d expect to see that waitress there trying a different accent out, and we will make eye contact and she will know that I know, but I will be quiet about it

We were in New York for the 4^th of July weekend. We made reservations here, spent the afternoon at High Line Park, got completely drenched right before we walked through the doors of this nice, fancy French Bistro.
They looked at us, smiled, and warmly welcomed us in. They even brought us extra napkins.
We got seated at our table, and our awesome French waitress, Aude helped us order for my boys, 7 and 9. All our food was delicious. The drinks were unusual and good!
It was a busy night at the restaurant, but my water glass was always full!
Delicious meal, great service and good night!

I had some insane Groupon for this place– something like a bazillion dollars worth of food and alcohol for only 5 bucks.
ALCOHOL: When you have a kickass Groupon like this, you clearly order wine. The waitress was super sweet and helpful and brought us tastings of different kinds of wine until we found the perfect one. This made me feel like an adult. I appreciate that and I appreciate free samples. I also appreciate that she did not make me feel like some sort of plebeian slob because I was using a Groupon, as so many fine dining establishes are wont to do.
APPS: We ordered the steak tartar, because that is clearly something you order when you’re trying to be fancy and money is no object. It literally was a giant pile of chopped raw meat doused in so much horseradish and mustard that my sinuses nearly went numb. Isn’t the point of steak tartar to taste the subtleties of the meat when it’s at its most fresh? Isn’t the point of a fine-​dining appetizer to be small and dainty? It was an *obscene* amount of raw meat. We had the chicken liver pâté which was extremely good, but again, a ridiculously large heart-​attack sized portion. Both appetizers could have passed as main dishes. They were «out» of the zucchini flower beignets which is why I bought the Groupon in the first place, since apparently they are their specialty and are mind-​blowingly good. Sadness. Disappointment.
MAINS: My boyfriend got the duck which was literally raw and tough. He could barely cut through it with the steak knife he was given. He is a man and therefore refuses to complain about this egregious error, so I had the «pleasure» of watching him wrestle with the beast. I got the skate which was perfectly cooked, though somewhat bland.
DESSERT: Instead of getting chocolate which I normally choose hands down on any dessert menu, my boyfriend convinced me to get the Baba Au Rhum. Perhaps my senses were blunted by the horseradish hammer they were smashed with during the steak tartar escapade, but this literally tasted like store bought dry poundcake in sugar water with some orange slices. There was no rum flavor to be found.
The service was perfect, but with so many errors in both preparation, presentation, and flavor, I can’t recommend this place to anyone, nor would I ever return, even with a second Groupon.

Good thing I didn’t read Unilocal reviews in advance. This was a memorable place. Food was flawless in taste and preparation. Wine matches were spot on. Service was French-​friendly and the Whipped Ricotta appy is not to be missed.
We sat at a table near the bottom of the stairs to the back mezzanine. While the kitchen and hallways were appropriately screened, we felt like we were constantly in a traffic aisle.

Again, a Zagat lame recommendation from the new places list. Boring, the food didn’t taste of anything. The music was bad, the food didnt have any charm. The space looked empty. A special mention to the host that seemed to come from Newsies the musical.
I ate raw oysters, the taste of two or three was horrible. The escargots were tasteless, dried, with a potato or something that took all the flavor out. I couldn’t eat the tuna crude, it was like a used chewing gum, oily and fishy. The duck was boring. The crowd was boring. Sad and uneatable. Not coming back. Don’t pay attention to Zagat new places if they aren’t rated.

Food is very good. But, so many restaurants in NYC have great food.
Problem with this place is the service and staff. Waitress was nice and knowledgeable but pushy and annoying. The guy who worked the front desk gave attitude like he was at Four Seasons.
The reason I’m writing this review came at the end of a lovely business dinner with a client. Check arrived, we paid and about 10 minutes later the guy who works the front desk signaled to the busboy to clear the rest of the table. whoosh, everything was gone — water glasses and napkins. So incredibly rude.
We just finished paying a $ 300 bill for 3 people. Can’t we even get someone to stop by to say, «hey, we just got slammed, would you mind moving your conversation to the bar?» or even, «we need the table, i’m sorry». But instead, the guy who has nothing but attitude doesn’t even have the decency to say something to us. He has to tell the busboy to be rude.
I’ll never go back. And, the major media company I was with will never go back.
Too bad. The food was good.

This week it was French Restaurant week in NYC. My buddy told me there was a menu update at La Promenade and I should try the roasted duck breast.
So I swing by after work and not only has the menu changed, the restaurant is called Bistro La Promenade. Still the same owners, Same Jazz Brunch, just a fresh updated menu.
The menu is the same as well as the chef. I keep seeing this guy on my radar. Chef Alain Allegretti was on Iron Chef America vs Bobby Flay, he was on TV where the dopey news woman called him ALAN and I even saw him on an American Express print ad. Martha Stewart called this guy an Adonis. Damm, Marthas getting frisky!
Me? I just wanna eat a nice meal and have a cool cocktail. Regardless of all his TV things going on, every time I come here, I see this chef in the kitchen working.
I saw Jonathan Waxman from Barbuto on TV, big deal. His food sucked when I went there for restaurant week and was no where to be found. This chef seems to be… a chef!
I ordered a cool drink, a Lavender Lemonade. Made with lavender infused Purity vodka, it was just what the doctor ordered after a long day.
So I see the chef coming out of the kitchen and I wave him over. I ask him how the Shrimp and Sea Urchin is a French dish? He said its more Mediterranean and he recommends it.
Damm, its spot on. Black Tagoliolni spaghetti with fresh shrimp and pesto. Tasted incredible! This is really an elegant dish. I’d go far to say its Iron Chef good.
And this Chef/​Owner? It seems he’s in the zone, he’s taking NYC by storm with all the TV spots. As for the Adonis, Lets see what happens when he passes 40 and gets a beer gut. My favorite spot in Chelsea

So glad that I finally made it to a Restaurant Week restaurant! We arrived and the manager charged my phone for me while I was eating! He also came over and offered to pair each of our courses with wine for $ 50 per person instead of the Restaurant Week menu of $ 35 per person which was a great deal considering he filled the glasses pretty high!
For dinner, I had the kale and red cabbage salad with duck prosciutto, candied walnuts, pomegranate and shaved cheese which I gobbled down in about three minutes. The duck prosciutto was inventive and delicious! The second course was gargarnelli pasta with fennel pork shoulder ragout which was also tasty especially since the pasta was homemade. The finale was warm chocolate fondant with stracciatella ice cream which was just the right size. The restaurant was warm and inviting and obviously the customer service was impeccable. I’m happy to find another great restaurant close to home for me to frequent.

I came here with my parents on a Friday morning. My parents (bless them) are very cheap, so I was extremely surprised when they suggested we go here. Then I found out about their Restaurant Week deal. It’s a great deal for the restaurant in terms of business if they generate the income for it. The Week deal is from July 16^th-​August 10^th, lunch is $ 24.07; and dinner is $ 35. You choose an appetizer, an entrée, and a dessert.
Huge bar area, which is nice I assume for nights. The ceiling art is ridiculous in my opinion. Since I am here at noon, there weren’t that many people. So service was fast and reliable. This fact can always change depending on the time of day.
To the most important aspect, the food. The food was excellent. I got the shrimp ceviche for an appetizer, steak frites for an entrée, and berry soup for the dessert. Each dish was excellent; but I would have to say my favorite was the steak frites. The steak and the fries were amazingly seasoned. I got my steak done medium rare. Both are salty though, if that is a problem for anyone. I would come back here, if I ever went to Chelsea. Great place, the Week deal is excellent. Amazing food; get the steak frites!

Brunch review! Restaurant Pet Peeve #8. When you are the third party in a restaurant res. or not– seat us in the booth we want– thank you hostesses!
Otherwise, food redeemed all. Brunch starts with bread– really good bread w/​good olive oil. For brunch I like butter and butter was served and was good.
They did not have hot chocolate and our wonderful waiter made me some.
Note to restaurant owners– Hot chocolate — dense and dark for non-​coffee tea drinkers is a must at brunch!
White omelet w/​applewood smoked bacon– $ 15
Blueberry pancakes w/​lemon curd w/​poppy seeds– $ 12
Choc. mousse w/​salted caramel and marshmallow $ 10
The pancakes were the first star– light w/​fresh blueberries and blueberry syrup– lemon curd was amazon’ White omelet was very good. OH, THE MOUSSE. Insane dessert w/​n crunchy bits, marshmallow, caramel and chocolate… OH MY one of the best desserts I have had in months– will be back for brunch… HOLD that Booth PLEase!