La Grenouille, New York NY

Took my kids to see Christmas lights. Walk by and there’s a sign that says hot chocolate. Great. Go in to order some. A maître d comes out asks us for our reservation. We say no we just want the hot chocolate. This host turns to a waiter and starts insisting we give this person a credit card. Keeps telling the guy do not take their order without their credit card. Seems sort of like a staff training. I’ve promised kids hot chocolate so kinda gotta go with it. I’m now stuck paying some undisclosed amount for two hot chocolates. How bad can it be? They then wrangle us into an outdoor seating area that is closed off like a pen and tell us it will be ten minutes. I tell them that would have been great info to give us BEFORE we ordered. Now we’re stuck waiting. These two hot chocolates were almost $40. And undrinkable. I mean. Disgusting sweetened brown hot water. Absolutely unconscionable. And obviously a total rip off. Which they knew, or would not have played this whole give the credit card first game. Horrible.

HORRIBLE experience.
When we walked in, the owner was screaming at his staff in front of everyone which is incredibly unacceptable and unprofessional. We spent $400 at the bar and when our group was making friends with other people, the OWNER came over and shushed us. When we told him that he was being rude he said “I don’t care. ”

Do not give this man your money. The food or attitude is not worth it.

Understaffed. Very very slow service. Food was mediocre relative to the inordinate cost of the experience.

I had a really wonderful time here. One of the most romantic restaurant in nyc! Recommend here for a special day.

DISHONEST BACKSTABBERS. I had dinner here with my husband before a show. I had dined here before so I thought it was a safe bet. We walked in, the room as usual was beautifully decorated with fresh flowers. We ordered our food: split pea soup, onion grantinee soup, a seafood medley, minute steak and a passionfruit souffle. First, the onion soup was lukewarm and tasteless with a scant amount of onions. My husband's soup was good. His seafood medley was very good. My minute steak was beige and cold. Thoroughly unappealing. The onion rings were cold as were the potato strings. Finally the passion fruit souffle, which didn't resemble or taste like a souffle at all. Maybe custard powder? Doesn't matter. The kicker was when the bill came. Now, I had checked many of the reviews prior to arriving so I paid careful attention to the bill, to ensure there were no "discrepancies ". Sure enough, an overcharge appeared for the souffle, $45 instead of $33. I whipped out my phone to check the menu on Google to confirm my suspicions and I was correct: $33 for the souffle. We discretely pointed this out to the waiter who scurried off with our credit card. It took way to long to come back, but sure enough, he came back and told us he "adjusted the price". To $31. We paid the bill and I went to the restroom and as I was coming out I could hear two of the staff talking about us looking at the menu and checking the price. Really? Do not go here. The food has gone down, and there is a vein of dishonesty/snobbery and slickness running through this place. There are far better choices in NYC than La Grenouille, trust me.

I'd definitely recommend bringing your own bottle, given the limited selection and price. First, selection is a pity - there're several young Bordeaux that are way too young to be enjoyed (good thing is that those are the cheaper ones and you don't find 2019 Margaux etc.). Second, price. 2012 Cheval Blanc for $2350? That's pricey, considering you can find them under $600 from wine stores, let alone the tipping on top of it.

Another limited thing is space. Tables were dense, and we had to rotate the table to get in/out. There was only one men's room for a moderately-sized restaurant, hence some wait.

And the good things. Jacket is required and the atmosphere is old school. We merely saw anyone under age 50. Feels like an old 1950s movie.

Food is good. Pricey but I'd consider it a premium for the atmosphere.