Lever House Saturday

On Saturday night, Ach and I went to the Lever House Restaurant for dinner to meet two of her friends who are visiting from Tokyo. It was great seeing them again, and we were both very excited to go to the Lever House because A)the restaurant is designed by a very famous product designer, Marc Newson, B)the building that it's in (The Lever House) is a very famous modernist building designed by Gordon Bunshaft of SOM and C)it received a star from the Michelin Guide, giving it a very elite status as a culinary destination.
Let's cut right to the reasons why I was disapointed. A)While the architecture was very cool and trendy (filleted hexagonal forms EVERYWHERE), it was very obvious that it was designed by a product designer and not an architect. Very few elements which related to the human. Very few points of stabilization in the design. No windows. Poor, fairly uninspiring lighting. Overly distracting and forceful graphic motif throughout (see above: hexagonal forms, filleted) B) Equally uninspired menu if not ordering the prixe fixe. C)The food was very good. I repeat, VERY GOOD. Exceptional, but not entirely memorable. It wasn't as good as the price suggested. D)While the waiter was nice with me, it seemed like he took offense that two of our party didn't speak english too well, and he actually had to WAIT for two seconds as they collected their thoughts and we translated before they ordered. Poor thing.
I enjoyed it, but definitely not as much as Jean George or the Four Seasons. Jean George's food was leaps and bounds better than the Lever House, and still, the atmosphere at the Four Seasons cannot be matched anywhere that I've been.