For a restaurant in a prime upscale location that has been open since April, it is striking to see only (as of this writing) ten reviews. Is this just not the sort of thing Marcel's crowd "does"?
Given that they discourage walk-ins on the ground that they're mostly booked up, it was striking to spend most of the prime lunch hour there and never see the place more than half-full.
This is a proudly pricey restaurant, so the main question is how much it lives up to its relative rank.
Some here praise the decor. I found it quietly elegant without being so striking as say at the eateries in Au Printemps; but perhaps if I was more alert to art I might have appreciated the pieces around me.
I had a cold zucchini soup that was very nice but above all beautiful to look at, followed by a lobster salad which was good enough - fresh bits of lobster in leaves of greenery - but not to my mind so satisfying as the (much cheaper) lobster roll at MOMA's Terrace Cafe. This said, it's probably not a flagship product for Marcel's; if I went back, I would probably have something more distinctly French like the onglet.
For dessert, I had a kind of vanilla mousse which didn't wow me. It included disks of meringue which I found a little hard.
After, I had a hot chocolate with a nice dollop of chantilly on the side. The chocolate itself was not so memorable as, say, that at Angelina's or Maison du Chocolat, but it was served in porcelain which my sister later pronounced "to die for".
One test of a top restaurant is that indefinable quality, "graciousness". And one test of that is how mishaps are handled. In this case, I ordered a Sauvignon Blanc only to have my server bring me - without comment - an Entre-Deux-Mers. When I pointed out the discrepancy (did he think I wouldn't notice?), he blandly stated that this was mainly made with Sauvignon Blanc. Maybe, but in years in France I never had an Entre-Deux-Mers I would mistake for a Sauvignon Blanc. After hunting around, he brought me a Sancerre, which, yes, is a Sauvignon Blanc, though it's generally considered in its own class. I rather naively assumed that, since this was replacing the wine I'd actually ordered, as a courtesy I would get it at the same price. Nope - I was charged full price for the upgrade. Not a big deal (one doesn't go to Marcel's to count pennies). But overall the whole moment was clumsily handled.
On the way out, I stopped at the (take-out) patisserie, got a chocolate covered madeleine and a "window Marcel" which mimics one of the distinctive windows on the Breuer Building. The madeleine was OK. The "window" cost $20, high for a pastry, but it is provided in a very elegant box with some paper filling; a great visual if you're looking for a gift. And it really was sublimely ethereal.
Overall, a pleasant enough, but hardly unforgettable, experience. read more