Description: Melisse is an elegant French restaurant in downtown Santa Monica with two Michelin stars.
The exterior looks rather plain but inside the white, cream and purplish taupe colours exude understated elegance. The tables are each decorated with a different paperweight like piece of glass.
We had the four course tasting menu with wine pairings. I liked that there weren’t too many courses.
We each had a different item. We started with lobster boglonese, and beets and avocado mousse. The fish course was a white fleshed fish with a name I can’t recall and salmon. Main course was lamb and veal. Dessert was lemon cherry millefeuille and sticky toffee pudding. Each course included fresh produce and was beautifully presented on the plate. The flavours were excellent.
Service was good but I felt a tad rushed. More time could have been allowed between courses. The sommelier also seemed a bit abrupt as he described the wine pairings. I repeatedly asked questions to get more information. By the end of the meal, he seemed to loosen up a bit and was a bit more friendly.
The food was flawless but the staff made the experience somewhat less than ideal. Expensive but not wildly so – $105 for the tasting menu.
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