Pigalle

03/24/09

Pigalle did not disapoint!

by lsarao at Citysearch

Pigalle did not disappoint for Boston Restaurant Week . The portions were generous, the drinks strong, the setting intimate and cozy and the food and service impeccable. The steak tartare appetizer was a divine beginning to our meal. It was followed by an unbelievable crispy duck confit with spaetzle, creamed brussel sprouts and cherry sauce. The finishing apple and rhubarb crisp left little to be desired from an incredible meal. Well done Pigalle!

• Pros: Great food, great atmosphere
• Cons: Pricey

08/01/08

Elegant rustic French dining in the Theatre District.

by Eric Grossman at Citysearch

The Scene
One of the city's most inviting French restaurants, Pigalle is a favorite among upscale theatre-goers. The small, dimly lit dining room is constantly patrolled by several competent waiters and busboys, ensuring that you'll never have to wait long for a water refill. The bar mixes some inventive house drinks (try the champagne and peach puree), as well as an impressive, mostly French wine list.

The Food
Described by the restaurant as "French country" dining, the menu offers up faithful interpretations of standards like steak frites and cassoulet while also serving several unique creations. The remarkable tuna phyllo roll appetizer, served with an assortment of pickled vegetables and a tangy soy-wasabi sauce, wouldn't be out of place in the finest Japanese restaurant. Among the entrees, braised short ribs are the definition of succulence. Desserts include rich "fallen" chocolate cake and creme brulee. Most impressive are the homemade fruit sorbets.

10/16/07

Best Food and Service in Boston

by 02lambs at Citysearch

Pigalle is an outstanding restaurant! The food is the best I have ever had and the service is fantastic. Every time I have dined there, it has always been great. The appetizers, entrees and desserts are mouth watering and I have never received better service. The menu has something for everyone and changes with the seasons. The owners (husband and wife) and their staff make you feel very special and deserve every compliment. Parking is right next door and is validated. It will be only a matter of time before the James Beard award is given to its owner who has been nominated for it. Do yourself a favor and go to this restaurant. It is a winner!

• Pros: food, service, location and parking
• Cons: none that I saw

10/16/07

One of the best places in town!!!

by pixie_lated at Citysearch

A great night from the second you park your car. Pigalle makes having a great meal before a show a piece of cake. With easy. validated parking (within walking distance of your theater and the Common), you're immediately assured a spot for your car all evening. But the real show starts the second you approach the restaurant. With a sweet, urban patio set up outside?full of seasonal touches reminiscent of a French bistro ?you immediately imagine yourself on the Left Bank, enjoying a stroll along the streets of Paris. Step inside to be greeted in the cozy bar area by the gracious and knowledgeable hostess, Kerri. It's a popular place?and tiny?so you might need to wait a moment or two before you are seated. The staff will kindly take your coat and umbrella. Once you are seated (we tend to enjoy dropping in early in the week to have a glass of wine and a plate of the delectable steak frites at the bar, and do a little people watching), you'll be challenged to select from their seasonal menu. We have a hard time getting past the steak frites?a perfectly seasoned, perfectly cooked hangar steak with authentic, crispy, sea-salted pommes frites and creamy spinach served in a seperate copper dish. The other items on the menu are not to be missed either....we had a roasted chicken that was the juiciest and most flavorful around, with a tasty treat on the side of pate-stuffed "french toast." It was melt-in-your-mouth creamy inside with a crispy, buttery outside. Chef Orfaly wields some sort of magic with common ingredients like turnips, pork belly and eggs?turning them into mouth-watering delicacies, with textures and flavors that you'll be contemplating well through the second act of your show, and talking about all the way home and at the office the next day.

There is a reason chef Marc Orfaly was selected as one of Food and Wine's Best Chefs in 2004, and he's just gotten better since then. Do yourself a favor and put Pigalle on your short list.

• Pros: Mouthwatering menu; friendly service
• Cons: Small waiting area ? eased by having an aperitif!!

06/10/07

Terrible Service, Bland Food

by jomou at Citysearch

On our arrival at Pigalle we were asked to wait near the bar area until our reserved table was ready. The hostess then asked the waiter to come over and set up dining places for us on what can only be described as a 'shelf' in the vestibule of the restaurant. I immediately told the waiter that we had reserved a table for two and were waiting for it. This was a clear attempt by the hostess to keep us out of the restaurant for some reason and try to make us eat in the bar!

Finally we were seated at a 'corner' table next to the kitchen. Our waiter showed us what appeared to be an interesting and imaginative menu. After ordering the parmesan risotto and phyllo tuna rolls to start, my partner and I waited FIFTY MINUTES for them to show up! In the meantime a group of affluent looking men who were seated a good 10 minutes after us recieved their appetisers before us. The risotto was creamy and bland...no taste of parmesan.The exotic mushrooms saved the dish from being distinctly average.

After such a long wait for our appetisers we were sure our entrees would be with us in good time. We had to wait a further 30 MINUTES for an average crab stuffed chicken and sea bass. My partner commented that his dish was not too far away from the sea bass we cook at home. Our side order arrived when we had almost finished our entrees and so served no purpose.

During dessert the hostess circulated the room speaking to each table but for some reason failed to visit us. Pigalle claims to embody the ambience of a Parisian restaurant but felt very little like any of the restaurants my partner or I have visited in Paris. Our bill came to $200 for a very average meal in a very un-Parisian place. To add further insult to injury on our departure the hostess failed to acknowledge us...and none of the wait staff wished us good night. We are completey puzzled at why we received rude and ignorant service all night...maybe because we are under the age of 50?

• Pros: Good Wine
• Cons: Long waits for bland food, Rude Hostess

03/17/07

A Disappointing Restaurant Week Dining Experience

by johnse5 at Citysearch

I went to Pigalle during restaurant week, excited to try this highly reviewed restaurant. In the end the overall poor experience clouded the quality of the food. I made reservations thru opentable and we seated twenty-five minutes after our original reservation in the corner of the restaurant. Ten minutes later our server arrived to take our drink and meal orders, it took another twenty minutes for our drinks to arrive, a painful wait for bottled beer considering we were seated 15 feet from the bar. A total of thirty minutes of waiting to get a bottled beer from an empty bar with two bar tenders working is inexcusable. It should be noted that they do have a good foreign beer selection. We were offered a single piece of subpar bread during our lengthy wait for the appetizer, a request for more bread was ignored. Our server was not only absent in person but indifferent. Our seats were noisy from the kitchen noise, but also from the restaurant itself, with a room design and low ceilings that seemed to carry the noise. The food was good, but considering the preset menu options it was too long a wait to be as enjoyable as we knew it could be. My dining partner is a vegetarian and found that their entree was uncreative, one thing French food never should be. While the food was good, one does not go out to eat just for the food. The dining experience cannot be recommended with so many wonderful restaurants in the area.

02/12/07

A Disappointing Experience

by localgirl49 at Citysearch

Having made reservations in advance and read all the great reviews we were looking forward to our night out which would include our first visit to Pigalle. When we arrived we were greeted quite nicely at the bar, however it all went horribly downhill from there. We were shown to a cramped booth in the far back corner of the restaurant, and almost completely ignored. Our waiter was neither warm nor welcoming. It took quite a while just to order a bottle of wine, then another long while before we could order food. When an hour had passed there was still no sign of salads or appetizers, or our waiter for that matter. Someone did finally come by and toss a couple of rolls on our breadplates. Regrettably, we left without ever seeing, or tasting, any of the food.

09/21/06

Excellent French country food

by JAH123B at Citysearch

Very imaginative French country style dinner. We like both the appetizers and main courses design. Staff very friendly and noise level low enough to carry on a conversation. Extremely good wine list at moderate prices. We will return for future meals.

08/23/06

Fabulous Dining Experience

by debmauro at Citysearch

I can not recommend Pigalle enough, the food and the service are great. My family just took my mother there for dinner to celebrate her birthday and everyone was extremely pleased with everything.

I also took note of the very affordable bar menu which I definetly plan on checking out as well.

05/22/06

Good but not that good

by treeboy at Citysearch

I enjoyed our visit to this place. However the price is far too much for the food and ambiance, and merely reflects its position in theatre district and the captive market that offers. I had the salmon entree which was cooked to perfection.

• Pros: Food
• Cons: Value, Seating