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| - We went to Jules Restaurant last night excited about having good, simple, hearty French bistro fare. The restaurant interiors made it appear as though our expectations would be met. The lighting was appropriately dim, the special on the blackboard looked like tantalizing (they had quail! And rib-eye steak!), and we had a very nice French hostess greet us and lead us to our table. A quick look at the menu was further exciting. Aside from standard bistro fare, they offered crepes, quiches, different types of sandwiches, salmon, chicken, and steak (both flank steak and steak tartare!)
After much indecision, the three of us opted for the prix fixe: we all ordered the french onion soup, and the steak frites, while two of us opted for the creme brulee and one decided that the chocolate mousse sounded too good to resist. The other person in our party decided that she would rather have a lighter dinner and thus ordered the asparagus and goat cheese quiche.
Upon receiving our food, we realized that maybe - just maybe - we should have ordered a sandwich or a crepe, which our neighbours in the surrounding tables were eating and enjoying. In sharp contrast, the three of us felt that we got suckered into ordering a prix fixe meal thinking it was good value for money but which actually had substandard quality.
The French onion soup was supposed to be deconstructed but which looked lazy. Rather than having bubbling cheese on top, we instead got a thin broth of onion soup and had to scrape the bottom of the bowl to get to the cheese; someone in our party said that it tasted like pho leftovers, which I thought was an apt observation.
Our steak frites were, in a word, pathetic: the flank steak was barely a steak and more like a very thin, flavourless hunk of indeterminate beef. It WAS well-seasoned but the appalling quality of the meat didn't make up for it. The fries were horrific too. Someone downthread mentioned its resemblance to McDonalds fries but to say so would be to do a disservices to Mickey D's fries; Jules Restaurant's version were COLD and were chewy, and the garlic mayo that accompanied it didn't add anything to the fries (and I say this as a mayo lover).
My friend who got the quiche was similarly unimpressed. The pie crust was made out of what looked like several sheets of philo pastry, thereby resembling spanakopita than standard quiche. She also said the flavour combination felt a bit bland.
The desserts were a highlight but came a little bit too late. The creme brulee was fine and what you can find in any good French restaurant. The chocolate mousse was exquisite and elevated their rating from one to two stars. It was succulent, rich, and delicious: not too light and not too heavy. If you can come to Jules just for the dessert, do so: there were other people who ordered the chocolate crepes, which looked AMAZING.
Another matter worthy of consideration is the good service. Our server was constantly checking in on us and was cheerful and considerate. Perhaps they had a recent staff change but we simply did not experience the poor service other Yelpers did. For that reason, I also thought that Jules deserved two stars rather than one star.
Bottom line: come for the dessert, skip the prix fixe and the quiches, and don't expect too much! If you want a better prix fixe deal, why not go to La Palette a few blocks away?
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