As you may suspect Perry St restaurant is located on Perry Street in Manhattan. The Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s place is modern, romantic and inviting. It is beautiful space with clean lines, but you would not expect any less from this famous venue. The restaurant is large, it can accommodate around 80 people at any given time.

Since it was Valentine’s weekend we decided to make an exception and have our weekly dinner on Saturday, which probably was not the best idea. Surprisingly the service was not at its best and I do not mean the service being slow or bad. I mean the opposite, the food was coming way too fast and it felt like the staff was rushing the guests, which killed the atmosphere, especially on Valentine’s Day. Obviously they tried to fit more seatings that night than on a usual night. I understand Valentine’s day is biggest restaurant night, but at a venue with a chef like Jean-Georges it should not matter. The food, the service, and the quality should be consistent.

For our dinner we chose out of regular menu, skipping pre fix Valentine’s Day option. As per usual we were served bread, one slice, which we did not even finish before amuse-bouche and the appetizers started coming.

- Amuse-bouche - potato cream soup with truffle oil - it was so spicy, that we did not finish the tiny glass the soup was served in. Apparently we were not the only ones who felt the soup was uneatable.

- New Zealand Snapper sashimi - I enjoyed this appetizer, simple, clean with mild flavor but nicely prepared.

- House Made Burrata - this is large appetizer, but the cheese was soft and fresh, nicely plated. Toasted pistachios and flavorful beets were excellent addition. After this dish I started thinking the food may redeem overall experience.

- Pan Seared Black Sea Bass - it was served with grilled maitake mushroom and basil broth. Unfortunately the mushroom was cold and too dry. The fish and basil broth were well executed but the dish was not exciting or delicious. Just a fish dish.

- Butter Poached Lobster - nicely prepared and plated soft lobster meat on the top of potato ravioli. This was very well balanced dish, potato ravioli was tasty and cooked to perfection.

- Warm Pear Frangiapne - I enjoyed this dessert, whole warm peeled pear sitting on a thin layer of cake dough, which was a cross between sponge cake and sugar cookie, with addition of candid hazelnuts. As much as I liked the idea and enjoyed the pear I did not care about the dough, it was too dry and too tasteless, almost unnecessary.

- Chocolate pudding - very rich and decadent, well done with fresh cream on the top and crystalized violates. The violets were amazing, the cream was not sweet at all which nicely balanced the richness of chocolate pudding.

The best dish that night was Butter Poached Lobster, it was easy choice and it should not. All dishes should have been excellent. Unfortunately that night nothing was overwhelmingly amazing.

A part of me would like to come back here and give it another try. I almost cannot believe that a restaurant with such as famous chef did not deliver that night on so many levels. Jean-Georges Vongerichten is not only a name, it represents certain standard and quality that you want to rely on. It is unacceptable to rush guests, bring the food too fast or too slow at any given night. Not mentioning the food was not that great, incredibly spicy amuse-bouche, cold mushroom or dry cake are rookie mistakes that should never happen at a place of this caliber.

Cuisine: American

Avg price per person: $80

Attire: Dressy Casual/Casual

Overall Rating: 2 plates