Wednesday night my family had dinner at Per Se for my father's birthday. My dad managed to score the much-coveted reservation exactly 60 days ago and was given a 6 p.m. time. Though my dad would have preferred a 7 p.m. reservation I was plenty glad to eat early - there was nice light by the window and because the dinner was just over three hours, we weren't done until a little after 9 p.m. There was a lot to digest after that! Knowing that I was about to have something of a semi-exclusive experience (one of only 16 tables each night, though there is also a private party room in the back) stoked my excitement.
In summary: The dinner was a sensory-stimulating, fun progression of a wide range of food including seafood, meat and cheese. The food was outstanding and certainly nothing was bad. While the service was good, we've definitely had better at other top NYC dining establishments (Le Bernardin, Jean-Georges), but the atmosphere at Per Se was a tad more relaxed and we had a beautiful view of Columbus Circle and Central Park as we were seated right at the window. Was it worth the money? Well, let's wait until we get to the end.
