Le Bernardin
“And bravo to Chef Ripert for crafting a broth that encompassed both the veal cheek and striped bass during the surf-and-turf course.”
“Seared Yellowfin Tuna was stunning with marinated fennel and capers, roasted Monkfish with mustard greens, daikon and an Adobo sauce was a triumph of flavors.”
“They actually gave us two lobster tails, and I even slurped the sauce because of how tasty it was.”
Le Bernardin
Takes Reservations: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Coat Check: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$$$ Price range Above $61
8 reviews
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Summary: Likely the best restaurant that I've been to so far in my life. There's a reason this place tops many best restaurant lists every year. Without a doubt the best seafood that I've had.
Went here for dinner while visiting NYC. Of all the meals I had in NYC and across the globe, this place is probably the best. Seafood prepared with the highest quality ingredients and executed perfectly.
The food:
We did the three course price fixe menu. Everything we had was absolutely delicious. I won't mention everything we ate because it was a lot, but I will point out the things that you must try.
SEAFOOD TRUFFLE PASTA – order this without hesitation. This is probably the single most delicious thing I have ever eaten in my life. Fresh pasta, perfectly al dente, with generous portions of crab, scallop, lobster, and black truffle. They finished it off with some black truffle butter. So rich, so delicious. Impossible to convey how good this was.
Black bass "surf and turf" – Crispy black bass with braised cheek. Perfectly crispy fish skin, seasoned to perfection. The smokiness of the braised veal cheek gave a great balance to the dish.
All the desserts – So we ordered three desserts and they brought out five. Awesome. They said the other ones were on the house. If memory serves correct, we had:
PERUVIAN CHOCOLATE – Warm Chocolate Cake, Caramelized Fig, Spiced Chocolate Ice Cream
MANGO – Mango Parfait, Hazelnut Dacquoise, Thai Basil-Mango Emulsion
MATCHA – Green Tea Custard, Preserved Lychee Jasmine Ice Cream
EXOTIC FRUIT "PAVLOVA" – Roasted Pineapple, Guava Jam, Yuzu-Coconut Sorbet
We were also served a chocolate bourbon box dessert that was not on the menu. In addition, they serve petit fours at the end. Everything was so incredible and it was so nice of them to give us all of these desserts to try.
The service: exactly what you would expect from a three michelin star restaurant. Service was impeccable and absolutely top notch in every way.
Overall: possibly the best restaurant that I've been to. Can't wait to go back. If you go, you must order the seafood truffle pasta. It's the real deal.
KenScale: 9.0/10
After checking out countless fine dining establishments throughout New York and beyond, there were moments that I would tire of haute cuisine. Sometimes, simplicity pays off way better with faithfulness to freshness of ingredients and solid execution when I visit restaurants. All this use of emulsion, exotic ingredients and fancy cooking techniques may look great in picture, but not all restaurants delivered quite the way that I had anticipated. One exception to this evolution of my taste is Le Bernardin, and it shows why this perennially famous and rightfully acclaimed restaurant has been in the ultra-competitive New York dining scene for the past 30 years. Chef Eric Ripert doesn't play safe; he surveys the world for more inspiration (last year's NY Times article about his visit to a tiny Buddhist temple in Korea to learn more about the temple cooking from a female monk there is Exhibit A), and brings what he has observed to the table. While the seafood-oriented dishes at Le Bernardin are ostensibly French, they draw influences from all over the world. On my last visit for lunch with summer interns at my firm, I learned yet again the boundary that the kitchen is willing to push for another spectacular meal.
In Le Bernardin's cooking, emulsion is the central part of most dishes but that doesn't mean that the kitchen pays less attention to the main seafood. They care deeply about the quality of ingredients and make sure that the texture of seafood, combined with the surrounding emulsion, work together harmoniously. The barely cooked scallop had one of the most memorable textures in scallop as far as I can remember, and combined with roasted bone marrow and calamansi-butter emulsion, had impeccable elegance to flavor. As I tried bite after bite, there was always something new to my taste bud that I couldn't quite pinpoint but was nevertheless stupendously wonderful. When you see seared cod coming from the kitchen, you see all these cute little pieces of daikon-green papaya salad followed by Japanese nori-hijiki emulsion that may distract your attention. Yes, the dish looks absolutely beautiful, but better yet the cod was just cooked to perfection and again the balance of flavor and texture was something that I would not forget for a long time. After capping the meal with mango parfait accompanied by Thai basil-mango emulsion, a delightful treat that had the right amount of sweetness to it without overpowering my palate, I walked out of the restaurant an extremely happy man. The three-course prix fixe at Le Bernardin, which has now gone up from the $70s per person from my previous visits to $85 per person, is still one of the best lunch bargains in town if you want to explore the depth of chef Ripert's philosophy to his cooking.
Getting the reservation at Le Bernardin is still extremely challenging for dinner, but the lunch reservations tend to come by more easily. Too bad it was lunchtime for work functions so I couldn't get a glass of wine to complement this wonderful meal. The dining room still oozed the classical beauty that I remembered on my previous visits. I'm so glad that Le Bernardin is still going as strong as ever; with the passage of time, the quality of food at a restaurant tends to suffer as the head chef expands his or her businesses or the insanely fickle New York diners move on to the next hot places. There is a reason that this place remains one of the best dining destinations in the greatest food city of the world.
I had a 1045pm reservation, but there was still a lot of people here just about to or just started eating as well. It's one big open space with the dining area and bar lounge area so it's loud. I'm sure you can make this an intimate night but don't count on it.
Either way, I still had a great time here. I did the tasting menu and it was fabulous. My favorite was the halibut with mushroom and the "Apple" dessert.
Le Bernardin really lives up to their reputation. Even dining by myself at 1045pm, I didn't feel rushed or anything. There was no feeling of I can't wait to go home kind of feeling from the staff…especially when it's past 1am.
And as for the bar…they have some really top shelf stuff. You can get fancy drunk here.
This review is for the group private room experience for larger groups that is held a bloc away. Food didn't remotely compare to th quality of the main restaurant which is impeccable. I literally almost got sick from the fishy and rubbery poor excuse for a white tuna. Would give it fewer than three stars but being generous.
My first Michelin starred dining experience! It's also #24 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants list. I was super excited to be dining here, even though our reservations were at 10:45- the last time slot. My friend and I came here after watching a play that ran a little long and practically ran here before they closed at 11:00.
We ordered from the prix-fixe menu- 4 courses for $147. At the beginning of the meal, we were served bread. I know I shouldn't fill up on bread, but the rosemary olive focaccia was really good with the soft butter. Then we were given three different amuse-bouches. For my courses I had tuna, scallop, white tuna-Japanese wagyu, and matcha (dessert). My favorite was the tuna. At the end, we had petit fours. Even though it was four courses+, it was a light meal.
Service was great from beginning to end. We were well taken care of, and were also given an extra dessert. I also love that the restaurant offer a variety of menus in the dining room and lounge, so more people can get the opportunity to dine here without breaking the bank.
*Seven James Beard Awards since 1998 including "Outstanding Restaurant of the Year," "Top Chef in New York City," "Outstanding Service," "Outstanding Chef in the United States," "Outstanding Pastry Chef," "Outstanding Wine Service," and "Best Restaurant Design."
[As Seen on Best Thing I Ever Ate and No Reservations]
Came here spontaneously with a friend one night. We weren't sure if we were going to get seated since we were dressed down and after all, this is a 3 star Michelin restaurant. We wanted to sit in the lounge area and lucky for us, it was not a problem 🙂 I was super excited, I never been to LB before. Upon walking in, the restaurant is beautiful, spacious and intimate.. let's just say we were really under dressed especially for the dining area.
The service was exceptional, definitely one of the best experiences I've had in a really long time (I need to fine dine more). They really make you feel special here and everything is timed perfectly (when the food comes out, when they take your plate and etc). We ordered a few items off the menu – the Lobster Cappuccino, Peruvian Style Scallop Ceviche, Kanpachi Tartare, Apricot dessert, and the Tres Leches dessert. Everything was unique, flavorful and presented beautifully. Each plate really brought out all the flavors in every ingredient and dining here really expanded my palate. The Apricot dessert had roasted apricot, caramelized honey cremeux and osmanthus blossom sorbet. The Tres Leches was my favorite dessert – crisp cashew sponge cake sphere, caramelized goat's milk mouse and clementine sorbet.
The Lobster Cappucino was earthy tasting but in a good way, and it really was like drinking a cappuccino with Celeriac Soup and Perigord Truffle, topped with Lobster foam. I had to order the scallop ceviche because I love scallops and I never had it in a ceviche and was probably my favorite food item of the night. Served in a beautiful shell, it was really refreshing and light. My friend and I have actually tried to replicating this recipe at home since dining here since we loved it so much. The Kanpachi was topped with wasabi tobiko with an emulsion of ginger and coriander was very enjoyable as well.
What I love about this Le Bernardin is they switch up the menu, so it gives me all the reason to come back to try new items. If you love seafood, you absolutely need to visit Le Bernardin. Every bite tastes better than the last and you want to eat it very slowly to enjoy it for as long as possible. Definitely expensive but it's about the quality here, not the quantity and places like LB just makes me appreciate food so much more. Can't wait to come back and next time, I'll be checking out the dining area.
Before this meal, I have never been to a 2 or 3 star Michelin place. I opted for the alcohol pairing, which was also my first time. Attire is dressy and jackets are mandatory.
The pre-meal starter was a chimichurri, tuna tartare, and avocado vegetable roll. Excellent way to begin the meal.
King fish caviar – sake pairing. Sake really enhanced the fish flavor and the fish itself was fantastic. Caviar flavor is very settle and hard to taste.
Lobster – This sauce is amazing and best lobster I've ever had. The champagne really brought out the flavor in the lobster. 5/5
Langostine and foie gras paired very well with the Riesling. Langostine and foie gras were very soft. I tried each one individually and then together and it tasted fantastic. Riesling brought out the flavor in both. 5/5
Salmon was slightly fatty and very tasty although the Chardonnay didn't pair very well 4/5.
Halibut was so soft and moist throughout. The mushroom soup paired very well with the halibut. 5/5
Pinot noir pairing was odd. Didn't think they would pair a red wine with a fish.
Wagyu beef and white tuna was very tasty. Wagyu was pretty fatty and the White tuna was medium soft. Barolo paired alright
Roasted pineapple guava jam Yuzu coconut sorbet was so airy and very light. This dessert paired quite well with the wine. 5/5
Coffee caramel almond mousse had a wafer that was so tasty. Almond mousse wasn't too sweet which is just the way I like it. The highlight of this course was the dessert wine that was paired with the meal.
Service here is top notch and didn't expect any less. They even bring out little stools for holding bags and purses. Overall very enjoyable meal. Excellent food with great company is always a recipe for a fantastic time.
AHHH, possibly the best seafood restaurant I've ever been to. The food was so delicious, so pleasing to the eye and the palate! We were expecting a lot from this place based on all the reviews and it being a Michelin Star recipient and we were not disappointed. As soon as we entered we were aware of our ages as the crowd seemed to be a bit on the older side, lol. More of a reason for us to feel and act a little immature. Nonetheless, after a drink (strong one), we seemed to fit right in (or so we thought). It was a group of 4 so we ordered different drinks from the menu and they all were pretty good. Our food didn't take long to be prepared and served. Every single thing we ate from the beginning to the end was immaculately prepared and exquisite!
This is sort of a late review and I'm sure the menu has changed from when we had it, about a month ago. I specifically remember all the dishes and the way they tasted, it was quite a memorable experience. One thing we were not a fan of were the desserts! We ordered 4 different kinds and none tasted as great as they sounded. The complimentary dessert they give you towards the end (Bonbon, Macaroon, and this sugar candy) was AMAZING!!! AH I was such a fan of the macaroon!! I could have a bunch of them even after all that dinner!
Service & ambiance were great. I've read the previous reviews regarding service being not up to par with the restaurant's standards but I guess they worked on that and we were left with no complaints! Definitely worth going to and worth the money!