I had been really looking forward to trying brunch at RIME at the St. Regis, and overall I'd say it…read morewas a good experience, but the food itself was a little more hit-or-miss than I expected for the price point.
The brunch is basically split into two parts. There's a self-serve buffet area with things like snow crab claws, shrimp, fruit, pastries, salads, and other cold items, and then there's a separate menu of small plates that you order through your server. I actually tried almost every small plate on the menu except the fava bean toast and banana French toast, so I definitely got a pretty good sense of the options.
The omelet was pretty standard. I did think it was a little strange that you could only choose up to three fillings, although I didn't ask whether they would make an exception.
The duck confit eggs Benedict was one of the dishes I was most excited for, but unfortunately it was pretty underwhelming. The hollandaise didn't have as much flavor as I expected, and the English muffin was a little tough. I also saw a lot of people ordering multiple plates of the chicken and waffles, so I had pretty high expectations for that too, but it was another miss for me. Neither the chicken nor the waffle tasted particularly fresh, both were a little tough, and the whole plate was basically cold. I'm not sure if those are made ahead in larger batches, but it definitely tasted like it may have been sitting for a while.
The St. Regis poke bowl, on the other hand, was really fresh and really good. My only complaint was the ratio of rice to toppings. There was a huge amount of rice compared with the amount of fish, avocado, mango, edamame, and other toppings. I honestly would have preferred a smaller overall bowl if it meant the ingredients were a little more balanced.
The two dishes that completely stole the show for me were the lamb merguez slider and the duck sausage flatbread. Both were excellent. The flatbread itself was nice and crispy, and the combination of duck sausage, goat cheese, apricot, and hot honey worked really well. The lamb slider was also delicious. The lamb, feta, tzatziki, and other toppings all complemented each other really nicely. Those were easily my favorites and were the dishes that actually lived up to, and probably exceeded, what I was expecting.
Overall, I thought the ingredients across the menu were clearly high quality, which made some of the more underwhelming dishes a little surprising. There are a lot of interesting ingredients like duck confit, lamb, poke, and seafood, but not every dish really delivered on the potential of those ingredients.
We also tried the Bloody Mary flight. It was fun and interesting to try, but I thought the two vodka-based Bloody Marys tasted pretty similar aside from the garnishes and rims. The gin-based one was much more distinctly different. Overall, I'd say the flight was fun to try once, but it wasn't a major standout for me.
Where RIME really exceeded expectations was the service. The service was genuinely 11/10. The hostess was incredibly sweet and welcoming, and our server was equally wonderful, attentive, knowledgeable, accommodating, and just overall very pleasant. Everyone we interacted with was so nice, and that definitely elevated the experience.
Overall, I think this is a great brunch option if you're already staying at the St. Regis and want a nice, leisurely brunch experience with beautiful surroundings and excellent service. If I weren't staying there, though, I'm not sure I would go out of my way specifically for the brunch. For the price point, I expected the food to be a little more consistently impressive, especially since a few of the dishes I was most excited about ended up being the weakest ones. That said, the lamb slider and duck sausage flatbread were genuinely excellent, the poke bowl was very fresh, and the service was exceptional.