I have been looking forward to eat at Alinea for t...

I have been looking forward to eat at Alinea for the longest time, after mostly trying all of the 3 Michelin star restaurants in the US and overseas (Eleven Madison, French Laundry, Chef s Table @ Brooklyn Fare, Lung King Heen, Le Bernardin, Per Se, etc, etc.). Unfortunately, the experience was not even close to 1 star, let alone 3 and all the accolades the restaurant received.
This review also takes into account that this was not the original Alinea location given renovation, but it was at Alinea in Residence temporary location, so this review completely ignores the fact that it was set in a tent used for catering events and weddings.
So here is the round up of some the 11 courses with wine pairings, although sadly for a restaurant of this caliber, there was no specific dish that stood out.
Hamachi: overcooked and dry (when we provided feedback we were thanked for it, but no further effort was made to improve the experience i.e. offer a replacement, etc)
Beef: was chewy and arrived cold, although it was wagyu and super marbled. Needless to say that cold fat part of medium rare beef is anything but gross and ended up not finishing it. No one bothered to ask why I sent back a plate that still had food on it or if there was anything that I did not enjoy.
Wine pairing: to our dismay, after the first wine pairing (which was a Chablis), the waiter wanted to pour sake in the same white wine glass!!! My husband was in shock but managed to ask: is this a clean glass, aren t you going to change it from white wine to sake?! Unacceptable for a 3 star Michelin restaurant.
Side note: all wine glasses were the same (stemless water glasses), no specialized glasses were used to match the wine to the appropriate glass, so clearly the perception of aromas was hindered. Again, for a fine dining molecular gastronomy experience, one would expect that every single note and flavor would need to revealed, but guess that s not the case at Alinea.
Waiters would show a bit of an attitude (especially the lady waiter), would mumble the dishes unintelligibly under their mask and upon us asking to repeat some part of the food description, you would get a higher pitch, slightly annoyed voice, which would only discourage us from further posing any questions.
However, Stuart and the sommelier deserve a shout out for the thorough explanations and descriptions, and for the impeccable service. I throughly enjoyed when the sommelier (sadly did not catch his name) immersed us into a dreamy artsy world, explaining what the moving art blocks in the restaurant are in reference to and how some deserts in the original Alinea location were inspired by the works of Joao Miro.
Lastly, and the only personal comment I will make pertains to the fact that we were celebrating our 9-year anniversary. The team was aware, we got congratulated, and... that s pretty much it. No other acknowledgement was made in the form of anything. Eleven Madison made a big deal at our 3-year, prepared a special cake with a candle, even gave us a gift to take away. We were particularly disappointed as the restaurant just went on to their pre-set dinner sequence and did not make the slightest attempt at personalizing our experience and making us feel like we were acknowledged and celebrated.

Overall, the experience was mediocre and disappointing, food was anything but outstanding, and even worse, everything had the feel of a catering hall, where the food is pre-made, pre-heated and definitely not worthy of a Michelin nod, let alone 3!