At the Four Seasons, I would expect good food with exceptional service.
Our server in the pool room offered San Pellegrino and poured — not that Italian bubbly — but the French Badoit. Nestle Waters wouldn’t be happy.
As always, I then asked lots of questions about the preparations and ingredients. Instead of saying, he’d find out and get back to me, our server quipped with incomplete, often incorrect responses. When we asked about wine, he offered it by glass.
I wondered if this older gentleman’s attitude was because we were three business women and so I asked to see the sommelier. “I’m your everything,” our captain said, adding the restaurant had no wine professional.
I stopped the next passing server for to assistance … without attitude, and then, everything changed.
We not only got assistance selecting the Puligny-Montrachet, Olivier Lefaive, 2012 ($120) to go with our 
order, but then one order of oysters turned into two with complements from our irascible server. I’d highly recommend those delicately fried crisps topped with lemon grass and pickled shishito peppers ($32).
The portion of steak tartare ($36) prepared tableside was too large for my friends to finish. Also generous was the two-tenacle portion of fork-tender grilled octopus garnished with gochujang ($28), a flavorful Korean chili condiment that our ill-informed waiter had described as a Mexican seasoning.
Both the grilled wild king salmon ($58) and the Dover sole with a butter sauce, filleted tableside, were cooked to perfection — moist and succulent. The day’s special of Nantucket bay scallops were a disappointment, lacking the sweet-saltiness of fresh ones and the wild mushrooms were returned, as they were too gritty to eat. But I do recommend the spicy glazed market-fresh veggies with a subtle kick.
When we couldn’t decide between two desserts, our new server said no problem, offering us the extra one on the house. I’d recommend either the ethereal apple tuile topped with vanilla ice cream all drizzled with Calvados caramel or the Meyer lemon meringue-rimmed tart with lemon sorbet and spiced pineapple. The milk chocolate dome with cinnamon ice cream, just wasn’t chocolately enough for us.
Their finale peace offering for the attitude we first experienced was a whimsical platter of cotton candy, a restaurant staple for decades!
The lesson? Always speak up!
– bonnie
The Four Seasons
99 East 52 Street
New York, New York 10022
212.754.9494
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