Just called and booked for Sept 18th -- she said the whole month of September was already open.
We were only able to get the dessert counter -- has anyone who has been have any reviews/comments on the dessert counter vs the main counter? I was kind of hoping for the main counter, but Sat the 18th works best for us so trying to figure out if I'll be disappointed with the view from the dessert counter, etc.
I've done the main counter twice and the dessert counter twice. I don't know-- it's always been a good experience in different ways. I think I enjoyed the view of the main counter for more of the whole kitchen action. The first time way back in 2008, I was there with my DD13 over to the left-- I believe it was the appetizer side? Chef Sutton was super nice to my daughter and really made a point of making her feel welcome, telling her about her entree, etc. Also the sous chefs on that side were awesome and friendly, and talked to us telling us what they were doing, joking around, giving little tastes of things. I think that was pretty early on in the whole "chef's counter" thing, and it's gotten a lot more standardized, or something, since then. However, on the occasion where I was solo in 2015, Chef Sutton was in a foul mood and taking it out on a sous chef, and there was very little interaction with any of the chefs; it kinda put a damper on the experience for me.
In 2016, DH and I had a late dinner, 8 p.m., and the dessert side was all that was available by the time we made reservations (we got into Club 33 for lunch that day and revised our time-- long story). The patisserie chef was clearly "done" for the day. She was tired and non-communicative, though not rude. However when she was on her break, the relief chef was so sweet and created a special off-menu dessert for my birthday that was gluten free. Chef Sutton wasn't on that night, though the head chef was super nice but only appeared once to talk to us about our preferences.
The last time was our whole family in 2019, party of 6 on dessert side, and DD17 was the only one who was too young for the wine pairing. That was a really great experience all around. Nice chef interactions.
All that said, the food has always been fabulous, and the service impeccable. My only other small annoyance had to do with the wine pairings; no matter what I said about my preferences, the waitstaff always seemed to want to pour me sweet stuff. I sent a few pours back, like where they'd pour my husband a big bold chardonnay and then pour me some sickly sweet vouvray like I was a soccer mom. I mean, I was nice about it, and they were nice about making a little more effort to hear me after that.
Glad you were able to get your date, and hopefully you'll be able to get all 6 of you in by then!
