Raclette
“My bf and I tried the Lolotte croque and The big Suisse raclette, we shared everything and we loved it!!”
“It's BYOB, so i would suggest popping over to the Bee Liquors (on Ave B) for a funky chilled white wine to go with your amazing cheesy dinner.”
“Beautiful presentation, incredibly complementary flavors, and you get an extra scrape of cheese halfway through your meal!”
Raclette
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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YES YES AND YES!!! Let me tell you – the hype is REAL from what y'all saw all over the internet! It took me almost 2 months to make a reservation. I highly suggest making a reservation as the wait is 2+ hours for ANY day. This spot is SUPER SUPER tiny and legit ONLY fits 14 people at a time. Be prepare to have a meal sitting very closely to your next table.
My boyfriend and I arrived promptly at 3:00 PM on a Saturday and did not have to wait to be seated. We ordered the Méditerranée Raclette and Suisse Raclette w/ prosciutto di Parma.
Méditerranée Raclette – this came w/ thyme roasted asparagus, cherry tomatoes, topped w/ roasted garlic and feta cheese served w/ fresh baguette. This was a VERY fresh dish. Ingredients were amazing. My boyfriend really enjoyed this dish!
Suisse Raclette w/ prosciutto di Parma – this came w/ roasted potatoes, cornichons, pickled white pearl onions, sliced baguette, arugula salad with champagne vinaigrette. This was a LITTLE too heavy for me but I thoroughly enjoyed this dish.
Each of the Raclette dishes came with TWO scrapes of cheese! They give you one scrap in the beginning then comes back 15 mins later to give you a second scrape! This was such a pleasant surprise!
The service here was AMAZING as well! Although there was only one server – she was SUPER attentive. I'm pretty sure she's tired of hearing "wait, let me take a video before you scrape that cheese!" but she waits anyways. I forgot to ask for her name but she made my first experience here really great!
Overall, I would DEFINITELY come back here if I can make a reservation in the near future!
Raclette
NY Manhattan: Alphabet City
8:30pm Tuesday 5th July 2016
Four Stars
My first experience with Raclette was in the Swiss Alps while skiing on the French Side. It was like fondue with less dipping and more melting. It was like assemble your own bite and then top it with cheese and melt it under a mini broiler. I was glad to experience food like that again at Raclette.
As a warning this is place is really small and will probably have to wait 45 minutes regardless of when you go. Inside the Restaurant, there were 2 four-tops on the left and 2 two-top tables on the right. We (Alyssa, Tiffany, and I) were able to squeeze all 3 of us into one of those very small tables. The space is almost uncomfortably warm because they two industrial cheese melting devices displayed right in front of you. It is BYOB but they will supply you with glasses and wine opener. We drank a chilled Sancere Rose from the wine store on 10th. We decided on and shared a Fig Tartine ($12), Swiss Raclette with Prosciutto ($18) and Mediterranean ($20) *Price definitely went up from the menu shown on previous Yelp Pictures.
The Tartine was a baguette topped with Brillat-Savarin which is a soft, white-crusted cow's milk cheese similar to a triple cream brie; disks of black fig; mini pin wheels of prosciutto, toasted hazelnuts, and lamb lettuce or "mache." It was surprisingly good, hearty, and well balanced.
The Swiss had prosciutto, potatoes, cornichons, and white pearl onions and then topped with melted Grand Cru Raclette Cheese. The cheese was warm, salty, fatty, and super delicious. You cannot beat potatoes and cheese. We even got a second helping of cheese!
The Mediterranean had Asparagus, Tomatoes, Garlic, Feta, and Arugula. Again, the cheese was wonderful. All of the other items were well cooked, beautifully seasoned, and very delicious.
Overall, it was a good experience but I can't wait for winter to go back.
This is a change your life food experience. It is totally worth the hype. This place seats only 14 people and that's with your back against the door and your head hitting the wall. It's also about 1,000 degrees. Who cares though, because you are about to get a pile of cheese scraped right from a wheel onto a plate of goodies right in front of your face. We went with the prosciutto plate which had potatoes, arugula, & pickles on it. They came by and scraped a pile of cheese on top of it. It was delicious. Then they came back and scraped another pile of warm, gooey, melted cheese on it. It's an incredible and totally worth it experience.
Make reservation 1+ month in advance, and preferably at a time of the year when it won't be 90 degrees. On the day of, bring your own bottle of wine and order any of the cheese plate.
You get two servings of the raclette cheese, so gorge on the cheese before it gets cold and solid! You can't go wrong with any dish as long as the cheese gets scraped onto the food, just enjoy.
Arrived at 11:35am for reservations for 2 at 12. Why so early? With all the hype around this place I definitely didn't want to be standing in the 85 degree scorching sun on a line. Good call. By 11:40 there was a line, fortunately there are some very comfortable benches located right in front of the place.
We were seated by 12:04 in what is definitely a tiny location. Previous yelpers have mentioned the number14. Absolutely correct. The place seats 14. When we were there it was five 2 seaters and one 4 seater. Honestly, I didn't think it was as tight as some claimed and I may be short but I am far from skinny.
My sister and I lucked out cause we got seated right underneath some sort of ventilation. Yay me! Anyway, onto the food….
Byob or byo drink cause you get nothing here but water. We opted for 2 cafe mochas from Caffe Bene down the street. We ordered:
2 Suisse Raclettes with ham
Totally lived up to my expectations and all the hype. Large serving of roasted potatoes, cornichons, arugala salad and a baguette. Then came the coup de grace:
Oooey, gooey cheese goodness slowly scraped onto your plate in slow motion splendor! Truly a memorable performance for the true foodie!
Not only was the presentation awesome, everything tasted wonderful. I would totally recommend this place to others. You have GOT TO try this if you live in New York or are just visiting!!
Serving size:
To those who claim to have left hungry…wtf? No way!
I had rhe one raclette, my small cafe mocha and 2 glasses of water and I was stuffed. Both my sister and I had to have our plates packed up. In all honesty I was done before the second cheese scrape, but they're really serious about giving you your money's worth, which I love.
Environment:
I came here on a hot summer day, 85 degrees, burning sun out when we were seated at 12:04 pm. Nobody was sweating, nobody was complaining. The waiters were helpful, friendly and polite from the host greeting us at the door and directing us to our seats to our cheese scraping goddess of a waitress. Don't let the naysayers keep you away!
All in all …. 5 stars!
Between passing Raclette on the street daily and seeing it's infamous cheese videos all over social media, we finally got a chance to experience it up close. Booked a reservation online, and we were granted a table for four in a cramped little space. It's BYOB, just don't remember if they charged us. If they did, it wasn't that big of a deal. We started with the Americain which is probably the richest and tastiest grilled cheese I've ever had in my life. We then had the Suisse Raclette which we chose to get the prosciutto de Parma. It really is a cool show to watch all that cheese poured on top of your meal. Everything lived up to the hype, and I'm excited for my next visit to cheesy wonderland.
By some stroke of luck, Mr. Joy managed to get a same-day reservation. I knew this place was generating serious hype, but I wasn't expecting it to be THIS cramped… or THIS small. Oh NYC, this city's capitalist dreams overrides any concerns over space issues… unless of course, the fire department happens to intervene.
To squeeze us in, the hostess had to pull the small table all the way out towards the doorway, and asked which one of us would like to be trapped in the corner. ('Trapped' is me loosely interpreting the situation.) Given my small frame and the fact that I am vertically challenged, obviously I said I would sit there.
To give more color, the space is more suited for a takeout sandwich counter than a trendy cheese & charcuterie restaurant with waiter service. Actually, you can purchase takeout, but only their sandwiches. Raclettes are only for those who dine in, so you can enjoy it hot and fresh. Otherwise, the cheese would seize up and become tough.
Aside from lack of space, it is also very, very warm in here. Luckily, we had the good fortune to eat here when it was still about 70 degrees outside, but I don't think I could handle it during a heat wave. First of all, it's hot because it needs to be. The wheels of cheese need to be heated under heat lamps. Secondly, there is no AC or fans. Thirdly, they don't serve ice. Our water glasses were nearly warm. An elderly lady asked for ice for her water and the waitress apologized and said they don't have ice.
I don't blame any of the staff. They're doing their best to accommodate the guests and it shows. I don't intend to complain, but anyone that plans to eat here should be aware that you need to be okay with the idea of being somewhat uncomfortable. In fact, I'll have to take away a star for the level of discomfort.
As for the food, it was delicious!
The Raclette comes with cured meats, and you can choose from Viande sechee (dried beef), Prosciutto di Parma, Jambon de Paris. We opted for the Jambon de Paris. It ended up being not as good as the prosciutto, but it was good to try considering our tartine already had prosciutto.
$15 Savoyarde Raclette – melted & scraped tableside; roasted potatoes, cornichons, pickled white pearl onions, sliced baguette, arugula salad w/ champagne vinaigrette:
Glancing around our table, I wasn't sure how the server would even have room to scrape the raclette tableside. We were shoulder to shoulder with the people next to us. Our server actually managed very well by positioning herself over Mr. Joy's shoulder.
The beautiful, gooey cheese plopped down over the roasted potatoes. They step away for a few minutes before providing you with a second scraping of cheese. It was hot and stringy with a mild, nutty flavor. It's best if you eat a little bit of everything together – some cheese, a little ham, and arugula on top of the baguette.
I also really like cornichons and pearl onions, but I would have liked it more if they had left the pearl onions sweet instead of pickled, since there was plenty of acid from the cornichons.
It's also a good idea to eat quickly, because the cheese cools and can solidify & toughen pretty quickly.
$12.40 Fig Tartine – Brillat savarin, figs, prosciutto, toasted hazelnuts, mache, balsamic reduction on toasted baguette:
Not only did this tartine taste amazing, but I also appreciated the work that went into it. It looks like slices of prosciutto were rolled up, sliced, and meticulously positioned with the figs onto the baguette. It was an excellent balance of salty and sweet with plenty of prosciutto. The baguette was also toasted perfectly, just nice and crunchy.
I might have enjoyed the tartine more than I did the raclette.
Afterwards, I was once again reminded of the lack of space in here. The hostess was busy taking a phone order, so Mr. Joy maneuvered the table, so that I could maneuver myself out of the restaurant. I raised my eyebrows when I overheard the waitresses say they were prepping a table for a party of 7. (o.O) ??? Um, yeah, this place ain't right for groups.
I'm curious to try their Havana Croque in the future, but I'd definitely order it to go. Now that I've tried their raclettes, I wouldn't go through the trouble of trying to book a reservation or waiting for a table again, but it is worth a try. I hope their success allows them to obtain a larger space more suitable for their operations.
We were told we had over an hour wait, so we gave our phone numbers and prepared to be hungry for a while – but got a call about 15 minutes later saying our table was ready.
This was on a Saturday afternoon and it had been raining – so maybe someone cancelled their reservation and we were the beneficiaries.
The space is really small and they put the maximum amount of tables in there, but the food was yummy – I got the mediterranean and substituted the tomatoes for roasted cauliflower. It was delicious with the cheese (and they did come back a second time to top off the remaining half of my food with new warm gooey cheese).
I was left feeling very full after my meal – probably because of all the fat. I anticipate one meal is about 1000 to 1100 calories, so this was all I ate for the day and I wasn't hungry at all!
My bf paid a bout $40 for both our meals – quite steep for vegetables and cheese, but we got some good video and pics of our experience. My only wish is that they had sweet potatoes as an option for people like me who do not like regular potatoes.
Despite this flaw, we will definitely be returning!