Meli Melo

Keep walking. Don’t stop here. I travel all over the country, I live in Chicago, I love food. The décor was lovely. The food was remarkable… in a bad way. My Penne Marinara tasted like they heated up a frozen dinner. Beet salad was presented beautifully but had odd taste. I sent it back. I love beet salad and was quite disappointed. My companion asked if they could put together Fettucini Alfredo. The chef came out and talked to her. She said she would like it also with chicken. The dish presented to her was chicken in cream sauce, with bacon which she does not eat, and no pasta. Really??? They took it back. She ordered lemon chicken off the menu. It was way too lemony. Two bites and she could not eat it. The tiny pieces of bread were hard like they had been sliced hours ago. The presentation of the food was impressive.
We also must note that they removed all charges of my companion’s inedible meal; nice touch. What a huge disappointment! Such a shame…

When will I learn not to walk into a restaurant off the street without 1) checking a few reviews or friends’ recommendations and 2) looking to see how empty the place is?
I cannot recommend Meli Melo.
First, things that were good: I found the service to be just fine — friendly and attentive. I found the atmosphere comfortable. Some wouldn’t like the giant TV behind the bar showing CNN on mute, but since I was dining alone, it was good for me.
I had a glass of the house Cabernet and only found out after I got the check — my bad — that it was THIRTEEN DOLLARS. I found this particularly outrageous because the wine tasted BAD. I’m no wine connoisseur, but I know when it just doesn’t taste right.
The bread that came before the meal was just sad. Tiny slices of dry baguette with a little pat of butter. The raisin bread baguette slices had decent flavor, but the french bread baguettes… let’s just say they could have tried a little harder.
I had the lobster ravioli, which weren’t bad. I liked the sauce. The ravioli themselves were so-​so; the filling was an uneven texture, so there were a couple of times when I found myself chewing on awkward chunks of lobster. What was most odd about the dish was the plate, though. It was effectively a small bowl with a wide rim around the edge. It made it difficult to cut the ravioli.
For what I got, I felt like it was overpriced (especially, as I’ve already said, for the wine).
So sad. I wanted to like this place, and I don’t like writing negative reviews on Unilocal.But Unilocalers should know what to expect.

I can’t say anything about their dinner menu since I only had their skinny french fries which remind me of the lanky, slim French men or their slim cigarette. I could get better fries, but I’m not here to fry Meli Melo, they had a decent cabernet sauvignon and a nice after work, austere atmosphere, donc je pense que je voudrais revenir pour le dîner. That vertical fishbowl has to go though.

A year ago I had a nice meal and a pleasant experience there, but tonight:
cold and drafty (ladies room positively freezing) Slow service even though the place was half empty. we ordered champagne which was served warm but in wet glasses to compensate. My duck was mediocre at best. All in all quite forgettable.

I’d give zero stars if I could. I’m really surprised this place is still in business — that is how horrible my experience was. I came here 4 years ago for valentines day and the service was just horrendous. They had a valentines day 3 course pre-​fixe and were charging something ridiculous. about $ 120 a head? Even with reservations, it took us quite a while to get seated. Once we were seated, nobody even came over for another half hour until we flagged someone to get water and order (v-​day menus were already on the table). No explanation on the menu, the waitress was just glad to take our order and move on. Had to ask again for bread. Took a really long time for the appetizers to come out — fois gras and shell-​less escargot in butter sauce, both were ehh. They didn’t clear our plates for at least 20 mins after we were done with the appetizers. Entrees didn’t come after that — I think the owner/​manager finally saw that we were sitting there for the longest time with. nothing at all and got someone to bring out our entrees. Entrees were not memorable. And after the horrible waiter service, we asked for the desserts to go because we couldn’t stand sitting there anymore (and getting those doggy bagged took a loooong time too). We tipped the waitress $ 5 and hopefully she got the hint that she was just absolutely useless the whole night. I really should have tipped her nothing. Ehh food and horrendous service ruined my valentines day. I understand that the restaurant was crowded on valentines day, but wow… I have never experienced worse service. And others around me seemed to be experiencing the same thing — saw a couple having to practically beg a waitress to come over just to get water. I think they only had 2 waitresses for the entire restaurant. I don’t know if they were short staffed due to the «holiday» or the snowstorm from the day before, but it is totally unacceptable to run a restaurant this way. Especially when you are charging extra just because of v-​day. I realize this review is 4 years old — but that is how horrendous it was! I still remind my boyfriend about that sh-​tty valentines day we had at the cr-​ppy french restaurant. I have never experienced worse service, even dining out on other v-​days, or other holidays. Don’t come here and I hope they go out of business so something new and better can take it’s place.

There aren’t too many places left like this. A nice neighborhood French restaurant with few pretensions. Flowers and candles on the table at night made this restaurant super romantic for Franny and her bf.
We wandered in as we were considering where to eat strolling around– The Ace was packed on Friday, used to be my hangout spot.
The menu was reasonable and the room, SEDUCTIVE.
We each chose fish. Myself, a buttery cod with tomatoes, olives on a bed of spinach $ 16.50. The presentation of the fish plus a circle of mashed with a crispy homemade waffle. Beautiful and delicious. BF’s salmon with lentils was lemony and tasy. Bathrooms could use an update, otherwise a lovely meal. Can’t overstate this is not a restaurant pandering to the masses and that is what I liked.

I work across the street and frequently eat here, sometimes at the table with clients but mostly at the bar with my co-​workers and friends. The owner is extremely friendly and talks to me everytime I go in there. I always get a drink on the house and the food and its presentation is very good. Anything from the Penne Ala Vodka to the duck con fit. They have very nice pinot noir wine and my vodka mixes are always stiff, just how I like them. Meli Melo means a mix and their cuisine is mediterranean. The staff is quite international, Eastern European, Indian, you get a mix of people in there. Friendly enviornment where I always feel at home.

It’s random. We went in there randomly after failing to find Subtle Tea (closed and grated on Sunday evenings).
There are huge bowls full of pecans to crack. We just had some tea and a caprese salad to split, as we hid from the rain that night. The waitress was nice enough, although we had to ask for sugar, then cutlery, then oil (for the bread), etc.
Seems more like a spot for the owner to watch TV with his pals than a restaurant.

haiku:
meli is mellow
home of the free friendly french
gotta love the lamps
Melli has a good bar, a decent happy hour ($ 6 wine) [update no longer ] but most importantly you are not in a crowded atmo you are in a great atmo. Good food, great atmo and service. I do not like to be contrary; I go along to get along, that’s right… but here i must be. What’s with all the poor reviews? This place does not deserve the Ones and Twos it is getting.
Great happy hour but also, I’ve come to many a lunch here and found the food delicious. I’ve had the steak, the swordfish linguini and clams. The owner friendly and talks to you. The Great Recession has been tough on Many a Murray Hill place, but this one is ready for a comeback.
Love the lamps!
It does suffer from having Les Halles nearby. of course but its got charm.

Amazing midtown gem. Try the Caesar and the Hanger steak. Amazing value and great service.

I have nothing good to say about this place.
The service was bad and the food was most horrible.

This place will be out of business in 3 – 6 months.
Décor is dilapidated. Service was attentive, but not professional. I think they are eastern European– not French.
My soup was out of a can. My chicken and my partner’s entre was mediocre.
Wine list is non existent, but they make a very stiff drink.
Then I was over charged.
With Les Halles, Park Bistro and Olana within 2 blocks, there is no reason to go to this restaurant– ever.

One word: disappointing.
Bad wine selection… couldn’t drink any of the wines by the glass. So resorted to getting a bottle… which that selection was totally over-​priced and bad as well.
The food… totally bland… really nothing good to say about it. First of all, the bread basket was filled with end pieces of the sour dough or baguette or whatever it was meant to be. And obviously, since those are left overs. they were hard and inedible.
The foie-​gras appetizer… lacked flavor and the sauce over-​empowered the foie. the duck entrée… lots of meat but what’s up with the barley risotto… it was basically a spoonful of mush… the bouillabaisse… eh… looked good… tasted ok but ingredients weren’t fresh or anything.
That meal for $ 70/​person… one of the biggest waste of money spent on food in NYC to date…

Food was ok, I could have made the same, if not better at home, the restaurant is lovely, thats why it gets a star. We went in, got a nice table and we waited and waited, eventually a server came over, he only job seemed to be forcing bottled water on us, I saw her do this to several tables. I asked for a menu… and waited. Got the hard sell water, still no menu. ask again. Finally get it, when another server comes bounding over for our food order. She gives a moment, standing there… She never came back to check on us. When she cleared our plates, I asked for the check, was surprised to see she added a nice gratuity on to it. Guessing she heard my accent, and assumed I was a non tipper from Europe, wrong, I live in Chicago and manage a restaurant. Auto grad on a table of 2, is a shaddy shaddy practice.

I walk past this place daily on my way to the dog park so I thought it’d be a great place to bring my husband. I went home and checked out their menu first so we knew what to expect. They seated us anywhere we wanted, right up front and we were immediately taken care of with water and menus. No it wasn’t crowded but we were happy it wasn’t. We’re tired of hitting the places that are loud and over crowded… there are the pluses to not being crowded. We ordered the house wine since it was the only wine by the glass and we’re not big drinkers. I was really surprised by how good it was. The tomato, mozzarella and basil salad was awesome but it’s hard to mess that up. The presentation of it was lovely. Then my hubby ordered the talapia special which he really enjoyed and I ordered the lobster ravioli. Personally I liked mine better. It came in a cream sauce but it wasn’t like one of those heavy cream sauces that make you filled after 2 bites. We also ordered the sorbet for dessert and it was delicious. The waitress brought us small glasses of peach chardonnay and a plate of small/​cute little bite size desserts «on the house.» How rare is that?! The owner came over and chatted with us for a bit which was really nice as well. We come from a city that has nothing BUT restaurant chains so the personal touch of an independent restaurant owner is such a pleasure. We’ll be back for sure. We’ve lived here for 4 months now and this is up there as one of our favorite dining out experiences.

Wouldn’t bring my enemies to this place.
I found this Meli Melo on opentable, two days before Valentines day. Obviously since they had reservations at 7:30, 8, and 8:30, I knew this was not a killer place.
I gave one star because the food was edible, and they did at least try: they gave my girlfriend a rose when we sat down at our table. However, every aspect of the meal from finding a hostess to ordering, to FINALLY getting water (after asking our waitress three times) was a complete chore. And the food is very over-​priced.
The food was edible though… I think the basic problem was only having two waitresses for a packed dining area– and for some reason they closed off the back room, which would have given everyone more room (we were packed like sardines).

I went here two nights ago for my birthday with my boyfriend. Unfortunately it was quite a let down. I should have read the reviews on here before going, but since all I checked out was the restaurant’s website, I was pretty pumped for some gorgeous french food.
Like others have said, the presentation and the scene were beautiful but the food was seriously lacking. My salmon entrée dish was really hard to stomach because the sauce and bean salad was served cold while the salmon was hot. My boyfriend’s monkfish dish was so flavorless.
Also, the waitresses all seem to be Russian (weird for a french place?) and none of them know how to reccommend anything off the menu– in fact, they claim never to have eaten the food! The only positive thing I have to say is that we got a complimentary shot glass size of champagne with dinner! But it was hardly worth it considering I think I got food poisoning from the meal– I was seriously stuck in bed the entire next day and I couldn’t stop dry heaving.

It is pretty shocking to eat in a restaurant where the price is high, the chef is advertised so heavily, yet they serve flavorless pasta entrees! Here’s the complete picture:
1.) The ambience, table setting, and décor are all quite nice.
2.) The drinks are attractive and tastefully served in nice glassware, (even a decanter on the side with a cosmopolitan)
3. The app/​salads are abundant and tasty enough. But, now, are you ready for this? (drum roll. .. .)
4.) THE PASTA ENTREES (and the Paella dish) ARE MEDIOCRE, AT BEST! dry and flavorless.
So, go figure! I would never eat here again, but I might go to the bar for a cosmo served from a chilled decanter.

Ick. This place really sucks. I don’t have anything to say about the food because we left 15 minutes after entering this restaurant.
Let me start by explaining my reason for wanting to go to this restaurant in the first place: My name is melodie and my sisters is melissa. So meli-​melo, get it? Not the best reason to check out a place but I’ve got a lot of time on my hands.
We were seated promptly on a Friday night and it was pretty empty. We then looked around and noticed that several tables had not been bussed. We waited and after 15 minutes of waiting for server or even busboy to come around, we decided it was time to split. That is totally unacceptable. I don’t even want to know what kind of lack of attention is displayed in the kitchen.

My duck was not great and my friends’ main dish was rather avarage. They tied to hush us out of the place even if there were some people still eating! The wine that they recommended turned out to be nothing special at all. Overall– not a disaster but do not expect much.