Had confirmed reservation for 7 pm sitting and no one opened the door or even entertained the guests. Strange and if you are stranded you have no way to communicate with them. So please do avoid this one as it seems to be going downhill.
Kristi W.
I would give zero stars if I could. The absolute worst service I've ever experienced. I made a reservation for a dessert tasting for when my family was in town AND THEY WERE CLOSED. No notification. I tried to call the number for the place and all I got was a message on repeat. If they are going to be closed they shouldn't accept reservations. They should also have someone to answer the phones if they are supposed to be open. The absolute most ridiculous experience I've ever had at any restaurant. I hope you go out of business because you don't deserve to continue in the service industry with such a pathetic excuse for service.
Ben J.
Made a reservation here for two weeks in advance because we had out of town visitors. We showed up for our 9:15 reservation to a locked door and nothing from the restaurant indicating whether it was open or closed. We stayed there for 20 minutes periodically knocking on the door and trying to call the restaurant, which just resulted in the same recording on loop. Eventually, we just gave up and decided to leave. Emailed the restaurant afterwards and never heard anything back. Overall, just an astonishingly poor level of customer service demonstrated by this restaurant and, while I am sure their food is probably good, I can't possibly recommend going there because I have no confidence they are actually going to honor their reservations.
Kristina K.
I came here for my birthday for the tasing menu. It is indulgent and very filling! My favorite course had A chocolate mousse, I believe, and thin/hardened candy element. My boyfriend liked the play on cereal French toast. The tasting menu is a fun experience! You can have an optional cocktail pairing, which I didn't love as some of the Tastes didn't hit me right. Great place to take someone with a sweet tooth for a special occasion.
Ji Hwan C.
I reserved the dessert bar 2 weeks ahead for a special occasion. It was our anniversary. We were so excited, but when we got there at 6:55pm for our 7pm reservation. The dessert bar door was locked. I never thought that the restaurant was closed because we got a confirmation message 30 minutes before the reservation. We waited in front of the door for 30 minute, constantly calling their number, which they didn't respond. There should be at least a sign that the bar is closed, and they should have contacted to the people who made a reservation. We ruined the day that supposed to be wonderful. Thanks a lot. Hope u don't charge us $50 for 'cancelling' our reservation that we couldn't even enter. I can't believe such customer service can exist.
SaraJane D.
This was my second time to the Dessert Bar and I have to say the first time was better. I had high hopes given I took my husband this time to celebrate our anniversary. I was hoping Chef Rory would be there but he wasn't. Then we didn't have anyone greet us or provide any celebratory happy anniversary during the whole experience. Lastly, the menu completely shifted which would have been ok but since the theme of the month is "berries", not a single piece of chocolate was on the menu. How can it be the dessert bar without chocolate. I was disappointed that this month's menu wasn't as engaging or as tasty as previous visits. Other guests sitting next to us felt the same way. However, the vibe of the location is still pretty cool and a fun nyc experience.
Lauren K.
A lot of hype. A little silly. Cool experience, but I was ready for dinner 2 courses in.
Dina D.
Service amazing. Food deliciously out of this world. I would highly recommend to visit this place if you want quality
Dessert Correspondents O.
The only thing we love more than dessert is... dessert in plural. Desserts. Multi-courses. We have had the opportunity, and certainly privilege, to have been able to sample multi-course dessert-only experiences across the world. During the day, Patisserie Chanson operates as one of our favourite patisseries in Manhattan. Traditional yet contemporary, reliable yet creative. When twilight falls however, its basement opens up as a sleek, dimly-lit speakeasy. And when we heard that said speakeasy space offers six courses of dessert at one of two reservation-only sessions on a Friday or Saturday evening, we waited until work finally cleared up and booked asap. On our visit, Patisserie Chanson's dessert bar experience commenced with three amuse bouche. The first, a bowl of popcorn burnished an amber brown colour by slightly salty caramel. This was followed by an eye-catching arrangement of salted figs, carrots and porcini doughnuts skewered into a potted plant. You can eat it all in one go, before the sweet course commence, but we highly recommend keeping the pot by your side throughout the multi-course experience as palate cleansing intermissions. The third amuse bouche was a playful prelude - a bubble of gin & tonic tightly wrapped in a sheaf of cucumber. Flavour explosion redefined in one gulp. The first dessert course was a miniature cone of olive-oil ice cream, nitrogen-ice-smoked with the scent of lemon and pine. The second dessert course arrived in a beehive-shaped porcelain pot, inside which a creamy concoction of rice pudding was swirled with honey, honeycomb, pop rocks, and kumquats. The third course was probably our favourite of the evening - a passionfruit tromp l'oeil. Here, cheesecake was squeezed into the shell of a passionfruit, and infused with its tangy tones. It was accompanied with a hard jelly-like cake of sunset ombre hues. These Dessert Correspondents could not partake in the fourth course due to a food allergy, but our dessert companion did. The fourth course was a tear-drop of peanut butter chocolate mousse served on a circular disc of Himalayan pink salt. As an alternative, we were offered a tropical coconut/mango mousse-cake embellished with pink bleeding heart florals, one of the signatures of the upstairs daytime patisserie. Presented and set-up like a chemistry experiment, the fifth course was our second favourite of the evening. A coffee maker was re-purposed to percolate a terrarium of pears, apricot, and cinnamon sticks into a glass cup of aromatic pear tea. A rustically-plated creation of poached pear with sorbet accompanied the tea. And finally, the sixth and final course featured a line-up of whiskey-flavoured gummy bears on a perspex glass slab. We are no whiskey connoisseurs, but the softly alcoholic epilogue of the experience was most welcome to cut through the preceding courses. ..... For the sake of health (and budget), multi-course dessert degustations are not to be undertaken on a regular basis. Indeed, so many courses of sugar, even for dessert addicts such as ourselves, it can leave us feeling rather nauseous. Perhaps it was the inclusion of savoury items, but most unexpectedly, the all-dessert experience at Patisserie Chanson did not leave us feeling as though we had potentially induced early onset diabetes. Rather, we found that the profile of the desserts were very well-balanced on the sweet spectrum. We have previously reviewed the casual dessert-only spots in the East Village, and the ultra-rarefied Michelin-starred dessert-only experience at Jungsik. The dessert bar at Patisserie Chansons falls within the middle. Visit for a magical night-out, where the pastry chefs and service staff make the time and effort - (and oh, isn't that such a precious thing in New York!) - to not only connect you to a multi-sensory, globe-trotting and seasonally-varying array of dessert textures, flavours and even fragrances, but also to connect with you over a mutual love for desserts.
Seelia C.
We made a reservation for 7PM which is when they open. They sent us a text saying to arrive early because they start on time and they do not stop for latecomers. We arrived a little earlier than 7PM and went into Patisserie Chanson to wait. The host then came up and led a few parties down at a time. Inside, the area is small and dim. You get to drop off your coat at the coat check-in which is usually manned by one of the bartenders. If you bring a purse or a bag, there are hooks under the bar so you don't have to worry about that. Our host led us to our seats at the bar. If you don't want to sit at the bar, there's booth seating as well, but you won't be able to see the chefs making the desserts. We were greeted and asked if we had any food allergies or if we wanted their wine pairing which we did not get. The host told the entire room not to use flash photography, but photos are still encouraged. The night started off with miso caramel popcorn with was the tiniest bit salty and mostly sweet and sticky. Then the planter with skewers of porchini doughnuts, caramelized figs, smoked pastrami, and chili oil rubbed carrots. This was interesting to see and eat, but the taste wasn't anything special. The gin&tonic dessert wrapped in cucumber and garnished with a flower petal. It resembled a large popping boba and surprisingly it didn't burn or taste like alcohol and was one of my favorites of the night. The olive oil gelato with lemon zest, pine, and liquid nitrogen was super cool to see. The gelato was smooth and had a light olive oil flavor, but I feel like making this an olive oil and lemon gelato would help increase the flavor. The gelato was placed on top of a cannoli-like cone that was stuffed with sponge cake to prevent the gelato from melting all the way through, but mine still managed to melt through. Like many others, we got the honeycomb dish in the beehive container. It had candied kumquats, rice pudding, yogurt pop rocks, honey, honeycomb, and ice cream. This dish was supposed to focus on texture, so they gave us a silver spoon with a weird fuzzy cozy on the handle (like a cup cozy, but for the handle of the spoon). It reminded me of matted pet hair. We had a passionfruit cheesecake that was served in the husk of the passionfruit with a blood orange and banana jello-like cake on the side. The host reminded us that everything but the husk was edible. Apparently, people have eaten the husk before. It was refreshing because of the sharp passionfruit. Next came the peanut butter with raspberry jam that looks like a quenelle of chocolate. It had candied peanuts and it was served on a slab of pink himalayan sea salt. It was supposed to be sweet and salty, but you only get the sea salt flavor if you scrape the slab, but then it's too salty. Next was one of the coolest things of the night. It was a siphon coffee maker filled with pears, apricot, star anise, and cinnamon. Kate let us smell the pear-spice mixture before they made the tea and it was very winter-y. They made the pear tea for us first and then pulled the poached pears out as a dessert. I asked for the apricot and Kate was more than happy to get it for me. The pear dessert is pear-ed (thank you Charlie for the pun) with the pear tea. The dessert is served with a lemon-pear sorbet with a slice of pear chip. The pear itself is soft. The chip was sweet and crispy and the sorbet was too sour. The tea was light. Lastly we got the boozy bears with different kinds of whiskey. First was jack daniels, then johnny walker, monkey shoulder, and finally suntory distillery. Suntory was by far the best boozy bear. The others had a very strong whiskey taste, while Suntory was smooth Throughout the night, the music would be loud for a few dishes and then soft again for the next. It would have been nice to just have soft background music so we could hear the chefs/bartenders when they explained the dishes to us. Also their flash photography rule is not a hard and fast rule because a party kept using flas
Definitely worth the reservations!! Amazing performance/ staff/ drinks/ and of course desserts! Great back story and walk through for each. I got the cocktail pairing and although all the desserts paired EXCELLENT-ly with the desserts most of them were wine pairings and I kinda wanted to see the bartender do his thing.
Eric C.
Great experience overall. The desserts were varied, unique, and all delicious. The atmosphere is wonderful and they prepare the desserts in front of you, making it a bit of a show in addition to your food. Probably most impressive though was the service and attention to detail that went into it. All the staff and chefs were incredibly friendly, and very knowledge about all of their ingredients and what each dish was meant to accomplish flavor wise. It was clear that they had a passion for their craft. Lastly, a special commendation goes to Jeff, one of the hosts, who was nothing short of spectacular in providing us with a wonderful evening. Would highly recommend going.
Lara C.
For my birthday gift, my husband took me to the dessert/cocktail tasting here- an experience I've been dying to try for months. Guys- if you are looking for a truly unique, curated, welcoming, DELICIOUS tasting that won't break the bank and you'll never forget- visit Jeff and his amazing staff. It was unreal. Top five culinary experiences ever.
Stephanie L.
Great experience. We so enjoyed our time and the people at The Dessert Bar. I think if you changed to 4 course and kept price the same you'd still have a good turnout!
Jason A.
I just wanted some dessert after dinner and stumbled upon this amazing spot. It starts with an quote about pursuing one's dream's on the wall down and past a velvet green curtain and you are immediately transported to another place. The bartender's are well groomed and polite. The drinks are made exquisitely and the desserts ( coconut mousse and strawberry cheesecake) will satisfy anyone with a sweet tooth. It was a bit empty but I attribute that to a door that you can literally walk by. You won't be disappointed!
Had confirmed reservation for 7 pm sitting and no one opened the door or even entertained the guests. Strange and if you are stranded you have no way to communicate with them. So please do avoid this one as it seems to be going downhill.
I would give zero stars if I could. The absolute worst service I've ever experienced. I made a reservation for a dessert tasting for when my family was in town AND THEY WERE CLOSED. No notification. I tried to call the number for the place and all I got was a message on repeat. If they are going to be closed they shouldn't accept reservations. They should also have someone to answer the phones if they are supposed to be open. The absolute most ridiculous experience I've ever had at any restaurant. I hope you go out of business because you don't deserve to continue in the service industry with such a pathetic excuse for service.
Made a reservation here for two weeks in advance because we had out of town visitors. We showed up for our 9:15 reservation to a locked door and nothing from the restaurant indicating whether it was open or closed. We stayed there for 20 minutes periodically knocking on the door and trying to call the restaurant, which just resulted in the same recording on loop. Eventually, we just gave up and decided to leave. Emailed the restaurant afterwards and never heard anything back. Overall, just an astonishingly poor level of customer service demonstrated by this restaurant and, while I am sure their food is probably good, I can't possibly recommend going there because I have no confidence they are actually going to honor their reservations.
I came here for my birthday for the tasing menu. It is indulgent and very filling! My favorite course had A chocolate mousse, I believe, and thin/hardened candy element. My boyfriend liked the play on cereal French toast. The tasting menu is a fun experience! You can have an optional cocktail pairing, which I didn't love as some of the Tastes didn't hit me right. Great place to take someone with a sweet tooth for a special occasion.
I reserved the dessert bar 2 weeks ahead for a special occasion. It was our anniversary. We were so excited, but when we got there at 6:55pm for our 7pm reservation. The dessert bar door was locked. I never thought that the restaurant was closed because we got a confirmation message 30 minutes before the reservation. We waited in front of the door for 30 minute, constantly calling their number, which they didn't respond. There should be at least a sign that the bar is closed, and they should have contacted to the people who made a reservation. We ruined the day that supposed to be wonderful. Thanks a lot. Hope u don't charge us $50 for 'cancelling' our reservation that we couldn't even enter. I can't believe such customer service can exist.
This was my second time to the Dessert Bar and I have to say the first time was better. I had high hopes given I took my husband this time to celebrate our anniversary. I was hoping Chef Rory would be there but he wasn't. Then we didn't have anyone greet us or provide any celebratory happy anniversary during the whole experience. Lastly, the menu completely shifted which would have been ok but since the theme of the month is "berries", not a single piece of chocolate was on the menu. How can it be the dessert bar without chocolate. I was disappointed that this month's menu wasn't as engaging or as tasty as previous visits. Other guests sitting next to us felt the same way. However, the vibe of the location is still pretty cool and a fun nyc experience.
A lot of hype. A little silly. Cool experience, but I was ready for dinner 2 courses in.
Service amazing. Food deliciously out of this world. I would highly recommend to visit this place if you want quality
The only thing we love more than dessert is... dessert in plural. Desserts. Multi-courses. We have had the opportunity, and certainly privilege, to have been able to sample multi-course dessert-only experiences across the world. During the day, Patisserie Chanson operates as one of our favourite patisseries in Manhattan. Traditional yet contemporary, reliable yet creative. When twilight falls however, its basement opens up as a sleek, dimly-lit speakeasy. And when we heard that said speakeasy space offers six courses of dessert at one of two reservation-only sessions on a Friday or Saturday evening, we waited until work finally cleared up and booked asap. On our visit, Patisserie Chanson's dessert bar experience commenced with three amuse bouche. The first, a bowl of popcorn burnished an amber brown colour by slightly salty caramel. This was followed by an eye-catching arrangement of salted figs, carrots and porcini doughnuts skewered into a potted plant. You can eat it all in one go, before the sweet course commence, but we highly recommend keeping the pot by your side throughout the multi-course experience as palate cleansing intermissions. The third amuse bouche was a playful prelude - a bubble of gin & tonic tightly wrapped in a sheaf of cucumber. Flavour explosion redefined in one gulp. The first dessert course was a miniature cone of olive-oil ice cream, nitrogen-ice-smoked with the scent of lemon and pine. The second dessert course arrived in a beehive-shaped porcelain pot, inside which a creamy concoction of rice pudding was swirled with honey, honeycomb, pop rocks, and kumquats. The third course was probably our favourite of the evening - a passionfruit tromp l'oeil. Here, cheesecake was squeezed into the shell of a passionfruit, and infused with its tangy tones. It was accompanied with a hard jelly-like cake of sunset ombre hues. These Dessert Correspondents could not partake in the fourth course due to a food allergy, but our dessert companion did. The fourth course was a tear-drop of peanut butter chocolate mousse served on a circular disc of Himalayan pink salt. As an alternative, we were offered a tropical coconut/mango mousse-cake embellished with pink bleeding heart florals, one of the signatures of the upstairs daytime patisserie. Presented and set-up like a chemistry experiment, the fifth course was our second favourite of the evening. A coffee maker was re-purposed to percolate a terrarium of pears, apricot, and cinnamon sticks into a glass cup of aromatic pear tea. A rustically-plated creation of poached pear with sorbet accompanied the tea. And finally, the sixth and final course featured a line-up of whiskey-flavoured gummy bears on a perspex glass slab. We are no whiskey connoisseurs, but the softly alcoholic epilogue of the experience was most welcome to cut through the preceding courses. ..... For the sake of health (and budget), multi-course dessert degustations are not to be undertaken on a regular basis. Indeed, so many courses of sugar, even for dessert addicts such as ourselves, it can leave us feeling rather nauseous. Perhaps it was the inclusion of savoury items, but most unexpectedly, the all-dessert experience at Patisserie Chanson did not leave us feeling as though we had potentially induced early onset diabetes. Rather, we found that the profile of the desserts were very well-balanced on the sweet spectrum. We have previously reviewed the casual dessert-only spots in the East Village, and the ultra-rarefied Michelin-starred dessert-only experience at Jungsik. The dessert bar at Patisserie Chansons falls within the middle. Visit for a magical night-out, where the pastry chefs and service staff make the time and effort - (and oh, isn't that such a precious thing in New York!) - to not only connect you to a multi-sensory, globe-trotting and seasonally-varying array of dessert textures, flavours and even fragrances, but also to connect with you over a mutual love for desserts.
We made a reservation for 7PM which is when they open. They sent us a text saying to arrive early because they start on time and they do not stop for latecomers. We arrived a little earlier than 7PM and went into Patisserie Chanson to wait. The host then came up and led a few parties down at a time. Inside, the area is small and dim. You get to drop off your coat at the coat check-in which is usually manned by one of the bartenders. If you bring a purse or a bag, there are hooks under the bar so you don't have to worry about that. Our host led us to our seats at the bar. If you don't want to sit at the bar, there's booth seating as well, but you won't be able to see the chefs making the desserts. We were greeted and asked if we had any food allergies or if we wanted their wine pairing which we did not get. The host told the entire room not to use flash photography, but photos are still encouraged. The night started off with miso caramel popcorn with was the tiniest bit salty and mostly sweet and sticky. Then the planter with skewers of porchini doughnuts, caramelized figs, smoked pastrami, and chili oil rubbed carrots. This was interesting to see and eat, but the taste wasn't anything special. The gin&tonic dessert wrapped in cucumber and garnished with a flower petal. It resembled a large popping boba and surprisingly it didn't burn or taste like alcohol and was one of my favorites of the night. The olive oil gelato with lemon zest, pine, and liquid nitrogen was super cool to see. The gelato was smooth and had a light olive oil flavor, but I feel like making this an olive oil and lemon gelato would help increase the flavor. The gelato was placed on top of a cannoli-like cone that was stuffed with sponge cake to prevent the gelato from melting all the way through, but mine still managed to melt through. Like many others, we got the honeycomb dish in the beehive container. It had candied kumquats, rice pudding, yogurt pop rocks, honey, honeycomb, and ice cream. This dish was supposed to focus on texture, so they gave us a silver spoon with a weird fuzzy cozy on the handle (like a cup cozy, but for the handle of the spoon). It reminded me of matted pet hair. We had a passionfruit cheesecake that was served in the husk of the passionfruit with a blood orange and banana jello-like cake on the side. The host reminded us that everything but the husk was edible. Apparently, people have eaten the husk before. It was refreshing because of the sharp passionfruit. Next came the peanut butter with raspberry jam that looks like a quenelle of chocolate. It had candied peanuts and it was served on a slab of pink himalayan sea salt. It was supposed to be sweet and salty, but you only get the sea salt flavor if you scrape the slab, but then it's too salty. Next was one of the coolest things of the night. It was a siphon coffee maker filled with pears, apricot, star anise, and cinnamon. Kate let us smell the pear-spice mixture before they made the tea and it was very winter-y. They made the pear tea for us first and then pulled the poached pears out as a dessert. I asked for the apricot and Kate was more than happy to get it for me. The pear dessert is pear-ed (thank you Charlie for the pun) with the pear tea. The dessert is served with a lemon-pear sorbet with a slice of pear chip. The pear itself is soft. The chip was sweet and crispy and the sorbet was too sour. The tea was light. Lastly we got the boozy bears with different kinds of whiskey. First was jack daniels, then johnny walker, monkey shoulder, and finally suntory distillery. Suntory was by far the best boozy bear. The others had a very strong whiskey taste, while Suntory was smooth Throughout the night, the music would be loud for a few dishes and then soft again for the next. It would have been nice to just have soft background music so we could hear the chefs/bartenders when they explained the dishes to us. Also their flash photography rule is not a hard and fast rule because a party kept using flas
Restaurantji Recommends
Definitely worth the reservations!! Amazing performance/ staff/ drinks/ and of course desserts! Great back story and walk through for each. I got the cocktail pairing and although all the desserts paired EXCELLENT-ly with the desserts most of them were wine pairings and I kinda wanted to see the bartender do his thing.
Great experience overall. The desserts were varied, unique, and all delicious. The atmosphere is wonderful and they prepare the desserts in front of you, making it a bit of a show in addition to your food. Probably most impressive though was the service and attention to detail that went into it. All the staff and chefs were incredibly friendly, and very knowledge about all of their ingredients and what each dish was meant to accomplish flavor wise. It was clear that they had a passion for their craft. Lastly, a special commendation goes to Jeff, one of the hosts, who was nothing short of spectacular in providing us with a wonderful evening. Would highly recommend going.
For my birthday gift, my husband took me to the dessert/cocktail tasting here- an experience I've been dying to try for months. Guys- if you are looking for a truly unique, curated, welcoming, DELICIOUS tasting that won't break the bank and you'll never forget- visit Jeff and his amazing staff. It was unreal. Top five culinary experiences ever.
Great experience. We so enjoyed our time and the people at The Dessert Bar. I think if you changed to 4 course and kept price the same you'd still have a good turnout!
I just wanted some dessert after dinner and stumbled upon this amazing spot. It starts with an quote about pursuing one's dream's on the wall down and past a velvet green curtain and you are immediately transported to another place. The bartender's are well groomed and polite. The drinks are made exquisitely and the desserts ( coconut mousse and strawberry cheesecake) will satisfy anyone with a sweet tooth. It was a bit empty but I attribute that to a door that you can literally walk by. You won't be disappointed!