Pascal's Manale Restaurant & Bar

Pascal's Manale is a misleadingly amazing restaurant that delivers just about everything that could hope for. It is a delightful New Orleans-style Italian restaurant housed in an unassuming building in the heart of uptown. Inside, customers are greeted with a fully stocked bar, as well as a fully functional oyster bar, where customers can comfortably await their table. My husband and I ordered a Manhattan and a Cosmo respectively, and both were top drawer. The restaurant is elegant without seeming pretentious, and provides a very comfortable atmosphere within which to receive a high quality meal. My husband and I ate here not long after moving to the city, and were unaware of its local prestige. Unfortunately, due to this, neither of us ordered their signature dish, the barbecued shrimp, but we were both more than satisfied with what we ordered. I enjoyed one of the daily specials, a crab cake fettuccine Alfredo. This creole take on a classical Italian dish encapsulates the fusion theme of Pascal's; it was phenomenal. My husband enjoyed a classic strip steak with pasta, which was cooked perfectly, and as my husband put it, "was one of the top five steaks" he has ever had. In addition to what we ordered, the menu offers some very creative interpretations of some classic dishes, like the Veal Gambero, which is a veal cutlet with their signature shrimp. Pascal's offers the basic New Orleans appetizers, salads and dessert, which do not disappoint, but are not particularly unique. The staff was extremely friendly and very attentive, and left nothing to be desired. The bill was impressive, but not prohibitive, and the food was certainly worth the price. Not knowing how nice a restaurant Pascal's is, we brought our daughter. While she was received warmly and made to feel at home, we would have been more comfortable had we gotten a baby-sitter. Overall, having gone in with no expectations, our experience was extremely positive; the food, service and atmosphere were all terrific. I give Pascal's Manale 4 stars.