Palatte

A new Belgian place just opened up last month near us on Madison Avenue. I’ve been loving mussels lately so this opening really excited me. Mr. T and I went over for dinner a few weeks ago and easily got a seat on Friday night around 7.

The space was interesting. It was very dark with little candles on each table and some flowing white curtains in the back. It felt very Middle Eastern quite honestly. There was some weird ambient music in the background and there wasn’t one thing about the place that reminded me of Belgian.

I was also surprised to see a somewhat limited menu of beers. They don’t have any taps- just bottles- and the selection they offered was a little weak. The same could be said about the food menu. There were only about 10 different items on the menu. Luckily mussels was one of them and Mr. T and I both got an order.  The first thing I noticed when they put down my meal was the dish. Usually mussels come out in a pot or some sort of bowl. These mussels came out in a deep square dish with all of the mussels sitting uniformingly upright. Why would someone spend the time to do that?



But look at the size of these mussels! They were huge! And definitely delicious. Each mussel was super plump and moist. The white wine sauce could have had a little less celery and rosemary however. At points I felt like my mussels were in some sort of jungle with all of the rosemary sprigs.

The only thing I didn’t understand were the two sauces they put on the side for us? Were we supposed to dip the mussels in? Neither was very good so we just ate the mussels on their own.



The frites on the other hand were absolutely horrible. Each one was a big, soft mushy mess. I was shocked by how awful they really were and Mr. T and I left almost the entire cone.

Service was a little slow, but that’s to be expected at a brand new place. At the end of the meal the waitress asked us for honest feedback about our experience. I always want a new restaurant to make it so I told her everything was fabulous except for the fries- they need to be cooked much more. For some reason she looked shocked and even a little angry when I told her this. I was confused. Hadn’t she asked for an honest opinion? I wasn’t being rude about it. I actually said it in a very pleasant and helpful manner.

Oh well it was kind of strange place over all. The mussels were wonderful but I’m not sure if we’ll be running back anytime soon. It was kind of a small portion for the price. The mussels were $20 and the frites were $8 extra. Usually it's around $20 for both together. I think this place has potential but it really needs to figure some things out. For now I'll be keeping my distance.

Comments

Anonymous said…
food is not fresh. would not reccomend. people are careless.
Anonymous said…
tiny plates not worth the price. The muscles were old, u can tell by their size, and the waiter was really rude and seemed under trained. horrible experience, wouldn't recommend.
cheers
Anonymous said…
hell no , no one goes there. empty as fuck