La Grenouille
3 East 52nd Street (between Madison & 5th)

I had planned an evening at the well-known La Grenouille for a romantic dinner with my girlfriend. This venerable restaurant has a wonderful reputation and I had hoped it would work its magic with us. At the end of the experience, I was a bit ambivalent about it all, and in the morning I still am ambivalent about this restaurant.

Certainly the restaurant is romantic and quite elegant, with an 'old world' charm about it. The staff works quickly and with the care of any top New York restaurant, and I would say that was complementary. The menu was a little 'old school' -- nothing wrong with that, but I thought it was just on the bland side.

I enjoyed the specials for both parts of the meal. The oysters to start were nice and fresh, and quite enjoyable. The main course was the special rack of lamb. It was tasty, but the portion was terribly small (two pieces?). It was disappointing in that respect.

We shared two desserts and that was excellent and rich. After a nice espresso we were ready to re-enter the cold and rainy evening. Overall it really didn't do that much for me or us, and I think this is a restaurant that could be considered a 'safe bet' but nothing more. There's aspects of it that are tacky -- especially the lamps on the tables. They work well, but when you have power chords all over the place, I saw at least 2 people that came close to tripping on them. That should be changed -- a rookie restaurant mistake, not a fixture like La Grenouille.

So overall, a little disappointing.

Food: B
Atmosphere: A-
For Lone Diners: C (*)