The fresh smells wafting from the stage are mouthwatering, and when Esparza opens the second act by creating a new salmon concoction, the extended wordless scene works the same way a flashy number would in a musical.
The star has great fun playing the kind of guy tough enough to sport a tattoo of pig parts, and sensitive enough to experience rapture while slicing an onion with a handcrafted Japanese knife. More important, he resists the temptation to make Harry more sympathetic than he should be.
--New York Times--

With a combination of muscle memory and creative instinct, Esparza's Harry smoothly navigates his cramped quarters, washing, pouring, squirting, slicing and, yes, searing, with unbroken concentration, before using the dish before him as a canvas with which to settle his wild salmon creation into an aesthetically pleasing design. He is as enraptured with having performed the task as we are in having witnessed it. 
It's a bit of a longshot, perhaps, but given the organization's tendency to honor less-than-traditional terpsichorean achievements, don't be too shocked if Raul Esparza is named as one of this season's Chita Rivera Award nominees as Outstanding Male Dancer in an Off-Broadway show.
--Broadway World--

When we meet Harry, he’s whizzing around a small restaurant kitchen. Esparza gets to use some of his musical-showman’s grace here, spinning from fridge to working stove (Tim Mackabee designed the detailed set), and sliding tasty-looking things from pan to plate.
 Even Esparza—who shouts a lot and throws a naughty Salt Bae pose during a silent scene—tries to give us a bit of acting at the end. He subsides into a soberer, sadder, realer mode, and while he’s good at it, it has nothing to do with Seared. 
--Vulture--
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Delivering a wonderfully intense performance as a deranged chef is Raúl Esparza, an excellent actor who always is best when acting intensely. Wielding a wicked knife and shooting death-ray stares at the three other people in Rebeck’s comedy, Esparza frequently gets all fired up as Harry, a mad genius at cookery whose tiny restaurant in Brooklyn just nabbed a nice blurb in a New York mag food page. .. The occasional whiff of actual cooking from the stage lends verisimilitude to everything, as do the impressive knife (and acting) skills demonstrated by Esparza, whose bristly Harry gets orgasmic over high-grade fish and similar luxury items.
--New York Stage Review--

​The four-time Tony-nominated Esparza —  who's been acting up a storm on New York City stages since the conclusion of his multiyear stint on Law & Order: SVU and who exudes intensity even at his most seemingly relaxed — proves perfect casting as the high-maintenance Harry, delivering a virtuoso performance.
--The Hollywood Reporter--

​Two things count as the main draws.  There is the rapid-fire dialogue, largely comic bickering, handled masterfully by the four actors, who are also adept at physical comedy. And then there is an unusual treat — the ballet of meal preparation that occurs right before our eyes (and our noses), using real food in Tim Mackabee’s working kitchen of a set. Esparza either had a day job  that we didn’t know about, or he spent a lot of time training with a real chef for this role. It is a surprisingly mesmerizing experience to witness the long wordless scene at the top of Act II in which Esparza meticulously prepares and cooks a wild salmon dish.
--New York Theatre--

For Sondheim, Raúl Esparza Protects His Voice. For ‘Seared,’ His Fingers.

“The audience will never see it, but all of those details will help me think like the character,” Mr. Esparza said of his time spent studying a working kitchen