10 Out of 10 for Style

I left work somewhat late this past evening and had dinner with a colleague on Madison Avenue at a place called Meli Melo. In general the food I had there was enjoyable; however, I found that I was definitely in the minority as all the other diners around me were almost completely dissatisfied with theirs.

The cod was tasteless. The octopus was tough as shoe leather. The salmon appetizer tasted like an old box of Arm & Hammer. The Caesar salad tasted like it was dressed with Miracle Whip. This was the running commentary I heard throughout the meal. Okay, that last one was me, but really, it wasn't so bad and I liked everything else. Nevertheless, the complaints were numerous and freely expressed enough so that a discussion of the various grievances broke out between us and the party at an adjacent table.

After returning home, I did a little checking at the restaurant web site, and was surprised to see that it actually seemed to have a fair amount of acclaim and respect from press reports. The chef seemed to have pretty good credentials. I'm not sure whether our experience was typical, but it would certainly give the impression that they are in somewhat of a decline.

Most of the discussion revolved around dessert, which was impressively presented (looking at the web site press photos, I see that posing the dessert items as birds and animals is a standard approach here). A diner at another table insisted that her cannoli was frozen, and all agreed that there was a certain Sara-Lee quality to the desserts. They all looked very appetizing and were presented well, but the impression you got when eating them was that they were assembled out of off-the-shelf components. I didn't see any mention on their web site of a pastry chef, and certainly would not be surprised if there were not one in residence. On reflection, it seems like the primary focus at Meli Melo (and thus both its weakness and strength) is the presentation of the dishes. It's all about the superficial visual aesthetics, and not nearly enough about the taste of the food.