Blue by Eric Ripert

My spouse and I ate dinner at Blue by Eric Ripert in early July 2011 over the Independence Day holiday weekend. We love Eric Ripert’s restaurant Le Bernardin in New York City, and so we had high but tempered expectations for our meal at Blue at the Ritz Carlton. The Ritz property is classy and chic and sophisticated, and Blue is located on the ground floor (the floor below the lobby, Taikun Restaurant, and the Silver Palm Lounge). The size of Blue is expansive, with plenty of room between tables. Despite the fact that we booked as far in advance as we could (which I believe was one month), we didn’t have the most desirable table. (We originally had planned to stay at the Ritz, and had been staying there when we made the reservation; as a hotel guest I would have been more disappointed with our table than I was as a non-guest.) The hotel has a nice bar area, and also seemed to have the possibility of dining outside in cooler weather. One of our two waiters had an off-putting attitude about him, and gave my spouse a difficult time when he inquired as to the beer selections. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to serve him beer, but he didn’t want to recite the list, even after telling us that it wasn’t extensive. The food was amazing! One of us had the Eric Ripert tasting menu, and the other had the Blue Tasting menu, both of which contained the same number of courses, but one of which was slightly more expensive than the other. (The restaurant also has an a la carte menu.) We sampled every one of each others dishes, and agree that although it’s a close tie, we preferred the Blue menu to the ER menu. The food was every bit as good as Le Bernardin, which pleasantly surprised us (perhaps snobbishly, we didn’t think that food on a Caribbean island could be as good as food served in Manhattan). Service was polished and professional, though a little more informal than NYC service. Overall, if this restaurant had been open again during our short stay in the Caymans (it is closed on Sundays and Mondays), we would have gladly returned, even though it was a bit of a splurge.

Butternut squash ravioli was the hit of the table, service was great and table outside topped it off, good wines were choosen by our waitress.

We loved our meal here and actually enjoyed it more than our experience at Riepert's signature restaurant, Le Bernadin in NYC. The service is outstanding, the ambiance was excellent, even with no outdoor seating available that night, and the food was very good.

My girlfriend and I were just here and we were both incredibly dissapointed. The dishes were uninspired and repetitive by fish standards. The tasting menu included yellowfin tuna carpaccio with foie gras, crab salad and the rest of the courses were yellowtail, mahi mahi and red snapper. Ohh, and some heavy sauces and broths. The best dish was the pork belly -- which we added to our tasting menu -- but it was sadly mis-matched with a heavy, low acid Palo Cortado Sherry that we pushed aside. The rest of the wine pairings were equally so-so. Three whites and two reds... The two reds: a big Central Coast Syrah and a spicy Carmenere started to taste the same. The Grand Old House (Chef Tell's first restaurant) was far better and half the price making it still expensive. The price at Blue was stupid for this meal. We asked if Eric Ripert is ever there and the answer was maybe six days a year. Sellout!

My first impression was very good: excellent service, lovely atmosphere and a very promising tasting menu. My dishes were absolutely delicious but I must have been lucky. My boyfriend's main course was way too salty and Shelly's fish was still raw in the inside. The 2 people who were sitting next to us also confirmed their fish wasn't cooked properly. Out of 8 dishes, 3 were poorly cooked. This is unforgivable for such a highly-ranked restaurant! I would strongly recommend Blue to hire better cooks.

Average at best. We ate much better elsewhere for much less.

My wife and I came here on our second night on the island. No other restaurant could touch it for the rest of our stay. The entire staff was super friendly and Eric our server was the best we've seen since we were married. The food lives up to Ripert's reputation ( you must try the Tuna Fois Gras). If you are coming to Grand Cayman this is an absolute must.

Chef of La Bernardin! Very disappointed. We both had different fish dishes which sounded fabulous, but the fish was so over salted we couldn't even taste the delicate sauces. Or barely eat it. Then they gave use dessert because the dinner was so bad and the ice cream was grainy. A mess! They need to have Eric there, not just his name.

My husband and I went in July of 2006 for our anniversary. It was our favorite part about our trip to the Caymans. We still tell people how great it was. We talk about going back to Grand Cayman just to eat at Blue again. Pricy, but TOTALLY worth it!