Megu (Tribeca) - Review

Megu
62 Thomas St.
New York 10013
Btwn W Broadway & Church St
Phone: 212-964-7777
Fax: 212-964-7776

This is the type of place where you go to entertain people from 'out of town'. And more importantly, with the corporate card.
It's the New York Restaurant Scene in fifth gear.
I suspect there are a good amount of Megu 'regulars' out there, but off the top of my head, I can point you to 5 other places in the city that serve better Modern Japanese Cuisine.
Dining here once is good enough for me.

On any given night, you will see a row of chauffeured Mercs lined up outside the joint. On the inside, you have a lot of entertainment people, and wallstreet guys with their girlfriends/mistresses dining, with the music bumping and alcohol flowing.

So much for the scene... as for the food...

The food is hard to explain. It's definitely not simple food and by no means is it fine dining.
The highlight of this place is the quality of their ingredients. Simply second to non. They spare no expense when seeking out the best. Any chef in the city would be happy to work with Megu's fresh fish, beef, mushrooms, and vegetables. It's absolutely amazing.
But the execution is something I would encourage the management to re-think.

There were one or two dishes that were cleverly put together, but for the most part, the food is for the novice palate. Perhaps I'm being overly critical, but I thought the chefs were not very skilled. In addition, I noticed too much garlic in many of my dishes.
It's almost like taking any typical Japanese dish and throwing some garlic into the mix.
It just wasn't pleasant and/or entertaining to me.


My menu : Chef's Omakase Tasting

Deep Fried Beef Skewers in Panko (Amuse Bouche) *
Hot oil blistered Madai on Finely Julienned Vegetables & Mixed Nuts Salad *
Sauteed Wild Mushrooms
Popcorn Rock Shrimp in Chili Sauce *
Fried Asparagus Crusted with Chili Panko and Ground Nuts *
Oven baked Salmon with Sweet Miso Sauce
Hot Rock Seared Skirt Steak with Fried Garlic Chips *
Sushi Assortment with Freshly Grated Wasabi
Hirame (Fluke),
Saba (Mackarel),
Salmon,
Madai (Red Snapper),
Tuna
* designates garlic in the dish
Raspberry Mousse Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream
Dassai 50 - Sake of the Night

Chef's (Omakase) Tasting Menu
Food
Taste/Texture 30/40 Average execution. Not much to write home about.
Presentation 18/20 A lot of effort placed here.
Aroma 10/10
Price 5/20 Expensive!!! Well over $1,000 for the 6 of us.
X-Factor 0/10 Not for me... but, if you like to check out celebs or just look at really really rich people... then perhaps there's something here for you.

Total 63/100

Overall Experience
Food 38/50
Service 25/30 Pretty well trained Server. Bus-boys need work.

Atmosphere 8/10 It's a beautiful and cool restaurant, but just too noisy.
Price 3/10 Too rich for my blood.
Total 74/100