Little Pearl

It is a great space filled with plants and natural light… the staff were so warm and inviting from the moment we entered. The food didn’t blow my mind like other Michelin restaurants but it also doesn’t have the price of others. Overall, a nice night out and a good date spot that won’t break the bank.

Enjoyed the dining experience here. The service was personable and the atmosphere casual for fine dining. The course meal was quite innovative and well balanced. The dishes were flavorful with great execution and ingredients, and some creative surprises along the way. Because we were sitting next to a heat lamp, the photos obviously didn’t do the meal justice.

Little Pearl absolutely surpassed my expectations. They greet you with a welcome drink and proceed to have their staff guide you through a mix of small starters a take on a deviled egg, a bit of chicken on a fancy chip, etc and larger proteins. So many restaurants fall down on the dessert course but the cheese crumpets and the apple tart-ish dessert were such a treat. This is a Michelin star work going to again. Dinner is $85/ person, cocktails are $14-$16. All in with tax and tip with two drinks was ~$140.

It was a disappointment compared to rose's luxury and pineapple & pearl overall. Cocktails and caciocavallo stuffed crumpet were definitely the highlights for the night. However, for other courses, there were some playful flavor profiles with herbs but nothing very special. Wine pairing was mediocre. Our napkins had many wrinkles, the lights were flickering. Not much fun on the tablewares either.

Edit: I have written a new review on my alternate account to reflect my second experience at Little Pearl after being invited back by the team. Kudos to them for reaching out to me after a less then ideal New Years experience. I appreciate their willingness to make it right and they delivered on that promise. I do understand that the holiday service was most likely extremely stressful and that what I experienced was due to short staff and the extra long service they made available with the 10pm seating. I am fortunate to have had another opportunity to learn what the chef and restaurant was all about and would be delighted to take friends and acquaintances to visit in the future. Thank you again to our waiter and the rest of the Little Pearl team for providing such an enjoyable evening. The food was fine, so that’s not the main reason I’m writing my review. I’m writing because over the overall I experience that I had during their 10pm New Years seating that I don’t feel was up to the standards of Michelin star. To start, they were 25 minutes late to seat us. We had to stand in a small entranceway while we waited. Once we were seated, we went directly to the table and were not seated at the bar for drinks and appetizers like the website stated was the experience. Maybe this was because they were behind schedule, but I’m not sure why the diners should be penalized for the Resturant’s ineptitude. Once we were seated it was another 15 minutes to be served our first course. So it took around 45 minutes from the start of our reservation to start eating. The waiters seemed unorganized and not at the top of their game. Something just felt off for such a fine dining establishment. Maybe it was because of the holiday and this wasn’t their A team. When I asked for them to take pictures of us, they seemed impatient and only took one or two of poor quality. Most resturant staff are now prepared to take photos and make an effort to do a good job and take several. Again it just felt odd. The most surprising part of the night was the midnight toast. The resturant did not do anything special. They did not stop the service to do a countdown, play music, or bring the diners together in any celebratory fashion. In fact, we were being served our dessert and my partner had to stop the waiter in order for us to countdown and do our toast. If they hadn’t stopped him, he would have talked right through midnight. So in conclusion, no special menu for new years, $55 up charge 150 per person instead of $95 then on a regular night, and lackluster service. Just not what Ive come to expect from a Michelin Resturant’s.

My wife and I had our anniversary at the Little Pearl. It came off as super aesthetic and elegant. The drinks were alright, except for the wine. I did a wine pairing where you get 4-5 pours for $65. My first pour was about 4oz. very skimp amount as if it was coming out of the waitress' wallet. It was a 7 course meal for $85 per person. The food was not good at all and the chef was flexing as if it was a 5 star Michelin star restaurant. Portions were skimp and the food was mediocre at best. Our bill ended up coming out to $400 including everything and a few other cocktails. Personally, we are not coming back because we can get better food and larger portions elsewhere for that amount of money.

Great experience from when you walk in to leaving out. They even give you a copy of the menu and milk and cookies. And the cookie is sooo good. It’s a chocolate chip cookie with sea salt. Pleasant and great staff. I definitely recommend for a first date or even a date to catch up with a friend. I loved the experience and I’ll most definitely will be coming back!

The food was very good and it was certainly a culinary adventure that the chefs at Little Pearl took on. Well worth the visit and I’m sure we will go again.

Update: Little Pearl reached out to me shortly after I posted my initial review to apologize for my experience and invited me back for a second chance. I'm happy to say my second dining experience with them was much better! I tried each of the two non-alcoholic cocktails offered 1 pear, 1 rhubarb. Both were delicious– light, refreshing, and not too sweet. We were served all of the offered dishes this time. All of them were lovely– not as greasy nor heavy as my first visit. Any heavier dishes were offset with the right amount of acidity. The course was good mix of lighter vs. heavier bites, and all with seasonal, well-sourced ingredients. It was a really fun tasting. I left feeling satisfied but not sluggish. If you are seated inside, it can get a little loud as seats begin to fill with echoing voices trying to talk over another, but that's not really in the staff's control. The service was on-point and really friendly. They take your dietary preferences/needs into consideration and check up on you just the right amount. I've already asked a friend to come back with me in the future. I send my thanks and gratitude to the staff at Little Pearl! : Previous review: I am a fan of Pineapple & Pearls and Rose's Luxury, so I was excited to give this spot a try for an anniversary dinner. We were very disappointed and will not return. No one was by the entryway when we arrived. The bar area looked really packed, so we stood awkwardly by the door until staff behind the bar invited us in and asked for the name on the reservation. They begin by serving champagne and cocktails from a small menu but no one in my party drinks alcohol so they had to create a mocktail on the fly, which was nice, but I am disappointed there wasn't already one on the menu. Plenty of people do not or cannot drink, so for a fancy/expensive place, I would expect them to be more prepared. They asked for my taste preferences on the mocktail and I said "anything light, fruity, herbal". The beverage I received wasn't bad, but it wasn't any of those things. It was too sweet and resembled dessert, with pandan, lime, and simple syrup. The first course is served during the opening drinks, but we didn't get to try it because they forgot about us. I didn't realize we were missed until I saw the full menu at the end of the night. I find this strange because, presumably, they would make the exact number of bites required for the reservations. They should've had two left to give. We were seated outside on a very hot evening 85-90F and they served us still water without ice, which we had to request ourselves later. The rest of the evening was followed by small plates with well-sourced ingredients, all of which tasted so-so. None were spectacular nor memorable. The dishes were all very heavy or greasy with the exception of the scallop, and missing a much needed acid component. I honestly started to feel full after having half of my mocktail and the first dish: an olive grease cookie and I can eat A LOT. Upon delivering each plate, a staff member would describe the dish, but some did so better than others. I found myself eavesdropping a different staff member at times to understand the ingredients better. The rest of the service performed fine – always clearing our flatware and plates at the right time, filling water when needed, and paid attention to dietary restrictions – for which I am grateful, but this is expected. We left feeling loaded up on fat and unsatisfied. I think some people might enjoy what LP has to offer, but it wasn't for us and I cannot recommend it for the price.

I booked for a nice size group. I've been to over 15 Michelin restaurants and this just didn't have the vibe as any of them. The waiter who also was the bartender was a little snooty and we verified before our time that it would be alright to have our checks split, which they said it would and then when our checks came, he was upset and rolled his eyes that we wanted our checks split. I've never went to a nicer dining establishment that doesn't clean the table before the next meal either and there were crumbs everywhere and the gentleman never came around to pull up crumbs. No one could understand what the guy said as to what was included in each course and we were left perplexed trying to ask each other what he stated. I did enjoy a couple of the courses like the fish which was excellent and the pork which was soft, but overall a more meh experience. Atmosphere also seems more like a business meal environment than a romantic and relaxed one where you'd feel pampered.