Match Disappoint: Philippe: New York

Our crack NYC team has been postponing reviewing the new Upper East Side restaurant Philippe in the hopes that the initial opening gliches would be corrected. They sent in this report:
"We've ventured a couple of times to Philippe, the new restaurant opened by Philippe Chow of Mr. Chow's fame. Housed in the former Match space on 60th, the restaurant is an interesting attempt at an excellent restaurant and a bad nightclub. The decor is minimal: white walls, dark floors and furniture, and a couple of flower arrangements smattered about. The crowd is a mixture of attractive well-dressed Upper East young socialite types (specifically on Thursday nights when there is a promoted late-night party at the venue) and horribly-dressed Jersey garbage. The food is excellent Chinese: our gang dined on the chicken satay, the lobster spring rolls, the squab lettuce wraps, the Nine Seasons prawns, the crispy beef, and finally the Peking duck (a must) and we were quite pleased with all that we consumed.

The service however, remains awful. The aspiring models they've hired to do the seating and reservations are completely retarded. They're unable to manage the booking computer and jumble all the reservations, and with an attitude to boot. The waitstaff are incompetent as well, screwing up orders and dropping dishes all over the place. There is also a team of Albanian thugs in cheap suits and ties who may or may not be managers wandering around the establishment to make sure "everything's okay" when nothing is okay and they do nothing to change that. Even the goddamn coatcheck girls are mentally disabled! They were unable to figure out the super complicated system of ticket corresponding to coat and lost gloves and scarves in the process.

The only reccommendation we can give to have a less disorganized and more relaxing meal is to sit upstairs preferably in the room on the left. The servers seemed slightly more experienced as no duck was dropped on Boris' Borrelli seven-ply cashmere. Also, the room was infinitely quieter. The underlying problem is that although Philippe is the cook (and an excellent one) the real owners are goons who've owned a multitude of good nightspots which they've managed to destroy. So please messieurs, let Mr. Chow do his job and keep people happily fed, and get a competent staff."

+Philippe, 33 East 60th Street New York, New York +1 212 644 8885.

+Mr. Chow, 324 E 57th St, New York, +1 212 751 9030.
+Borrelli.
+Where is: Albania?
+Match Point.
+Previous W4: Suncrawler Reports: Burbank Blue With Flames.