So a couple of years ago DS decided he wanted to eat here because he was taking French at the time and thought it would be interesting. It turned out to be the surprise meal of the trip, in the same way Portobello was this trip. So of course he wanted to eat here again.
Chefs de France
So we checked in about 15 minutes or so before our ADR time and were seated not long after our time. My hearing isn't great (too many years in a chemical plant and listening to loud music), but all of us had a terrible time hearing the hostess call out names. Every time she would call out a name DH and I would lean in to make sure we heard her. But we didn't miss our name and got seated.
I was pleased to see that we were seated in the glassed in atrium part of the restaurant. We weren't next to a window but we could see out. Our ADR was for 8:10 and I wondered if we would be able to see part of Illuminations from our seat. So onto the meal.....
French Onion Soup
I went with one of the priced fixed menus that are available here on the
DDP. Mainly because I wanted to try the onion soup. I don't think I've ever really had French Onion Soup so I don't have much to compare it too, but this was really good. You may not be able to tell by the picture but it was a HUGE bowl. It had a bunch of bread and cheese in it. It was very, very hot and had to wait for it to cool down some, I actually burnt my tongue trying to eat it. I ate all I could, DH and DS also ate a fair amount of it too.
Bagette
This came out the same time as my soup. I could make a meal on a couple of loaves of this bread, some of that tasty butter, and a bowl of that french onion soup. Seriously. The bread was wonderful. Kind of hard and crunchy on the outside but soft and chewy on the inside. I don't know what kind of butter they use, but I hope I never find it in a store anywhere. We ate that loaf fairly quick and asked for another one.
Braised Beef Short Ribs
I got this as part of the price fixed menu. Last time we ate here the short ribs came with pasta and that's what the menu on allears still shows. The option we had was with polenta and carrots. I had that lovely experience with polenta at Portobello, so that with the option of getting onion soup talked me into getting the price finxed menu. This meal was just OK. I think part of it was I had filled up on soup and bread. The meat was very tender and had a nice brown gravy on it. The polenta was OK but not anything like what I had at Portobello. It was thicker and set up enough so they could cut out a little triangle. It also just tasted like grits to me, where the polenta at Portobello had a different flavor. I loved the presentation of the carrots. I'm not a carrot fan but I ate some because they were so cut.
Grilled Beef Tenderloin
DH and DS both got this. Both ordered the Peppercorn sauce on the side because they didn't know if they would like it or not. DH tried it and said it wasn't for him, mainly because of the wine flavor (neither DH or I care for wine, we are more beer drinkers). He said the beef was good. The green beans were a little crunchy for us, we are southerners and we like our beans cooked down a little. The potato gratin had an odd flavor. It had a strong onion flavor and the cheese in it was strong too. DH ate his but DS didn't, whereas DS ate his beans and DS didn't.
We had wondered if we would be able to see Illuminations from our seat. So sometime between the end of the main course and waiting for dessert, Illuminations started. I was please to see we could see most of it pretty good.
Not a great picture but you get the idea that we could see pretty good.
So now onto the good stuff.....
Fresh Strawberry and Creme Cake
So this is what I ordered. It's a fresh strawberry and creme cake with a raspberry sauce and raspberry sorbet. I was a little disappointed when they brought it out. I don't know what I was expecting but this wasn't it. I kind of looked like a dessert I used to get at Pepper Market, and honestly kind of tasted like on. It was just a white cake with a few slices of strawberry on it. I may have had one whole strawberry but I doubt it. I think there was three slices on mine an they weren't half a berry each. The cake to me was good, but just tasted like a good white cake. There was some strawberry glaze on top that was decent. The raspberry sorbet on the side was good, I wish there had been a little more. And the sauce was good too. This wasn't a bad dessert, though it was just OK at best. I was expecting more though, especially more strawberries.
Puff Choix
THis was DS's dessert, he really liked it, mainly because it was covered in chocolate. It was basically a cream puff with ice cream in the middle and covered with chocolate sauce. He said it was good.
Creme Brulee
This was just a basic creme brulee. DH didn't really comment on it so I assume it was fine.
Overall Thoughts and Opinions: I went back and reread this review and from the things I said you probably think I will say I didn't like our meal. We DID like our meal. I've read on the DIS about poor service here, but ours has been fine both times. The onion soup was excellent. All our meats were good but the sides weren't great. I was a little disappointed in my dessert but no one else was. I think we enjoyed it more last trip because we were expecing not to like it, but this time we knew we liked it, if that makes sense. The view of Illuminations was an unexpected treat. I would eat here again.
. I hope to be back on my reviews by early next week. I only have a few left and I hope it won't take long to get them done.
Surgery went fine. I'm able to peck this post out with my left hand, but hope I'll be able to post some more pictures in a few days 
