Per Se NYC: Fine Dining Tasting Menu and Booking Timing

Per Se charges $425 per person for its nine-course tasting menu, and every table for the following month goes live on Tock on the 1st. Thomas Keller's New York restaurant sits on the fourth floor of the Deutsche Bank Center at 10 Columbus Circle, where the windows look straight down Central Park South. For anyone weighing fine dining near me on the West Side for a once-a-decade dinner, the useful questions are when to book, which menu to pick, and whether the $185 Salon is the smarter door.

Per Se opened in 2004 as Keller's New York interpretation of The French Laundry, his restaurant in Yountville, California. The kitchen today runs under chef de cuisine Chad Palagi, with Elaine Smyth as pastry chef and Michel Couvreux as beverage director, and Keller remains chef and proprietor. The restaurant holds three Michelin stars in the 2025 New York guide and a Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star rating for 2026.

Two nine-course menus change every day: the Chef's Tasting Menu and the Tasting of Vegetables. The restaurant's own menu notes promise that no single ingredient is repeated across the nine courses, which is the rule that keeps a three-hour meal from feeling like variations on one theme. Both menus are priced at $425, and the restaurant states that service is included in that number, though wine and tax are not.

Oysters and Pearls is the dish people come for. It pairs Island Creek oysters with Regiis Ova caviar over a sabayon of pearl tapioca, and it has been the opening statement of Keller's tasting menus for decades. Before it, most meals start with the salmon cornet, a tiny cone of salmon tartare that Keller once described as a test of whether a guest still has a sense of humor.

Later courses rotate, but two other Keller signatures turn up often. The torchon of Élevages Périgord Moulard duck foie gras is the savory one, a cool, silky slice that tends to come with its own warm bread. Coffee and doughnuts is the sweet one, Keller's upscale twist on the classic New York pairing, and it is the dessert most first-timers ask about before they even sit down.

Adam D. Tihany designed the two-tiered main dining room, and Forbes counts 64 seats at only 16 tables. The tiers mean that nearly every table faces the long windows, so you get Columbus Circle and the park whether you sit by the glass or one step up. Ask for an early booking in October and November if you want the last daylight over the trees with your first courses.

The Salon, a lounge with sofas and low tables by the entrance, serves a four-course tasting menu for $185 per person, and Forbes notes that it accepts walk-ins. The private East Room seats up to 10 and is priced at $500 per person. Groups of 12 or more are booked by the restaurant's Private Dining Team, not through the standard Tock calendar.

Reservations run through Tock, and the restaurant releases bookings on the 1st of each month for the following month. Tock collects a deposit up front, starting at $200 per person for the dining room and $150 for the Salon, which is applied to the final check. Changes are allowed until 72 hours before the reservation, after which the payment becomes non-refundable and the table can only be transferred to another guest through Tock.

The main dining room takes parties of one to eight. Solo diners do get tables here, and a weeknight 4:30 seat is the easiest to find after the first-of-the-month rush. If November's dates are gone by the 2nd, look again in the days before your target date, since the 72-hour change deadline is when other guests make their final decisions.

The wine list runs past 2,000 bottles, and the sommelier team under head sommelier John Jansma is used to guests who want one great bottle rather than a full pairing. Per Se allows up to three bottles of outside wine that are not on its list, with a corkage fee of $200 for each 750 ml bottle. Bringing a bottle that is already on the list is not allowed, so check the list online first.

At the bar before dinner, the Per Se Tonic and Gin is the house favorite. Our honest advice: skip ordering a second cocktail and save the budget for wine, because the nine courses run long and the kitchen sends extra bites. One aperitif, one bottle and water is the pace that most regulars settle into for a three-hour dinner.

Per Se asks for business casual. Jackets are recommended but not required, and the restaurant lists loungewear, sweatshirts, short-sleeved shirts, shorts, tennis shoes and flip-flops as not permitted. On a typical night the room holds anniversary couples, wine collectors talking vintages with the sommelier, and visitors from out of town who planned the trip around this one meal.

Arrive on time. The kitchen paces nine courses from your first bite, and a late start squeezes the end of the night. Tell the restaurant about allergies when you book on Tock, because both menus are written that morning and the kitchen plans substitutions before service starts.

Arrive 20 minutes early and walk the circle itself. Gaetano Russo's Columbus Monument, a 76-foot column installed at the center in 1892, is the fixed point every taxi swings around. From there it is a short crossing to Merchants' Gate, one of Central Park's major entrances, where the USS Maine National Monument has stood since 1913.

After dinner the 59th Street–Columbus Circle station is directly below the building, with the 1, A, B, C and D trains. If the night is mild, walk east along Central Park South for a few blocks before heading home, because the park side of the street is quiet late at night and makes a calm finish after a long, rich meal.

Address: Per Se, Deutsche Bank Center, 10 Columbus Circle, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10019. Dinner: Monday through Sunday 4:30 pm to 9 pm. Menus: Chef's Tasting Menu or Tasting of Vegetables, nine courses, $425 per person with service included. Salon: four courses, $185. East Room: $500 per person.

Bookings open on Tock on the 1st of each month for the following month, with a 72-hour change deadline. Corkage is $200 per bottle, up to three bottles. If you cannot land a table, ask the Karpo APP for another Columbus Circle dinner nearby, or for a quieter bar on the Upper West Side for a nightcap.