So, I had pretty high expecations for L’Espalier, and most of them have been met. I ordered the pan seared foie gras, which was absolutely incredible. I think the only other place that made foie at this level was Clio.

I ordered duck for the main course, though it was delicious, I felt that the flavors could be pushed further.

The cheeses were amazing, but since I don’t know much about cheese, I won’t say too much about it.

Desert was a bit too big, and felt it was fairly standard fine-dining desert.. so eh..

Overall, I’ll give it four stars because the service was excellent and the foie was out of this world, everything was delicious, but doesn’t warrant five stars.

I had high expectations for this place, and I was quite disappointed on my first visit.

We ordered two 3-course dinner. The first amuse bouche was smoked salmon layered with cream cheese. The second amuse was some smoked fish on top of peach. Both were very delicious and very good combination.

The first course and main course were excellent. Food was cooked to perfection. However, I was told that my tuna would be cooked to medium rare, but it came out almost well done. That didn’t kill the texture though, I was surprised that texture was still plump when fully cooked.

I think we would be happier if the portion sizes were smaller.

We went straight to dessert (skipping the cheeses), and were disappointed. The portion was a bit too big for us, and the cappucino ice cream was way too bitter.

Petit fours were served with the receipt and were a signal of “don’t come back”. They were either old/not fresh, or store bought.

The worst part was, we were seated in a dinning hall of the size of a living room that has 10 tables fitted inside. Six tables were filled with 12 people that night and it became noisy. I’m not blaming the waiter, but I was kind of sick of being forced to hear the same menu descriptions over and over again.

Will I come back? Not very likely. Honestly, their food was worth 4 stars, but the entire experience wasn’t worth what I paid for it.

The food is always amazing and dishes always inventive. If you have lots of money or just want to celebrate a special occasion, you won’t forget your visit here. It’s really top-notch and hard to beat for nouveau French cuisine.

Excellent service, excellent food. 5 Stars!

As the Phantom said, this restaurant is definitely THE break the bank special occassions/proposal location. I went there for my birthday recently and LOVED everything about this impeccable eatery. Chef Frank McClelland is amazing and his 2007 James Beard Foundation Award for Best Northeast Chef is well deserved!