If you know me, you know that Donette and I love going to restaurants. We recently moved from the UWS to the Financial District, so we don’t know the restuarants down here well. I’ve worked in the area for three years, so I know lots of lunch places, but I’m not so well informed about dinners. We’ve found some good restaurants, but have never been very good about writing reviews. However, our recent experience at Secession inspired us to start sharing our thoughts. Here’s what happened.

Secession
30 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10013

It was a Sunday night, and we were simply looking for a new place to try that we could walk to. We found Secession on Open Table. It’s the reopening of a David Bouley restaurant, formerly called Danube. They are known for their decor, which features reproductions of Gustav Klimt paintings, and it was beautiful. It’s a large space, and although the long bench-style seat along the window makes for tables that are a bit close together, it was a Sunday night, not crowded, and quite comfortable.

Donette had their signature roast chicken and I had the wild salmon. The service was very good and the meals were tasty–good flavors (others have said the food was bland, but we didn’t find that). The coconut cake for dessert was very nice. Overall, the meals were good and it would have been a solid, but not particularly memorable dining experience. But then, something happened that completely ruined it for us.

We were about to leave when a couple sat down next to us. They looked over the menu and the waiter (who also served us) asked if they had any questions. They asked if the wild salmon (that I had) was really wild. The waiter said “no, it’s farm raised.” So, we just paid $150 for a nice dinner at a restaurant run by a well known chef and found out that the meal we had wasn’t the meal they advertised. We feel taken advantage of, and we won’t be back.

Was the waiter joking? Was he misinformed? We did not confront the waiter or the manager, so to be fair, we don’t know for sure. But, it seems to us there are so many valid health and ethical reasons behind the dining choices people make that nothing less than complete honesty on a menu should be tolerated. If a restaurant lists Maine Lobster, it should be that. If they can’t get Maine Lobster that day, and that’s what I order, no problem. Just tell me so I can make an informed decision about what I want to eat.  Now, we read menus and wonder if the New Zealand lamb is from New Zealand or Long Island. There’s nothing wrong with Long Island lamb. I just want to know what I’m eating.

Now, we’re heading to what has become our favorite local place so far, Harry’s (we’ll blog about that soon), and we’re looking for other restaurants to try. Got any suggestions?