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| - I've eaten there twice now since the place is literally 5 minutes from my house and I am so tired of chain-restaurants, which is all we seem to have here. The first time I went for lunch and had the cabernet burger. The wait was long and the waitstaff not too friendly but for lunch, that didn't bother me much. I did get a bad stomach ache after eating, my guess was that the burger was too heavy with too much cheese-sauce etc (disclaimer: I try to eat fresh and light, dairy free food as on a daily basis so I probably have a lower tolerance than most on the rare occasion that I do indulge). The burger did taste very good but it was pricey. Last night my husband and I went for dinner. I called ahead and requested a table against the back wall. The lady on the phone told me "she wasn't sure but she would see what she could do". Based on that, I was expecting to see a packed restaurant when I arrived, yet we were the only two couples in there (it was early, right after they opened). Since it's BYOB, we each brought a bottle of Chimay. It does look like a wine bottle (its beer), but the waitress' reaction was unexcusable. She said "okay, which one would you like me to open". My husband replied "both", to which she said "excuse me? Both at the same time?!?". Then she looked at the bottles closer and said "oh, it's beer, not wine. I was about to saayyyy..." What the H? I don't care if I bring in a case of wine to drink by myself, such an unprofessional reaction is inexcusable. It gets better. We ordered the pate for appetizer, which was good but too cold. I then asked her if I could swap out the side on the duck breast (bread pudding) for something else since I love duck but abhore bread pudding. Her response was "well, I'm not sure. I'll have to ask the chef if he agrees, he tends to get funny about that". Excuse me? If I happen to not like a side or am allergic to one, you're going to force me to eat it if the chef does not "agree" with my choices? I told her "well, he can either swap out the side dish and sell me a $28 duck, or I will have the $8 soup". She huffed away and came back saying "well, the reason he doesn't want to swap things out is because he orders only so many things for one night, but in this case he has agreed to do it". Wait a minute, you're telling me the chef only stocks so many potatoes based on what? How many people his crystall ball tell him will order it that night? Ridiculous! It soured the whole dining experience for me. Anyways, I ordered the duck medium well, it came out rare. My husband had the halibut and it was drenched in sauce. The "fresh" mashed potatoes were so runny (butter? milk? cream? not sure) they practically flowed off my plate. The duck was bland, I've had much much better in many places accross the valley. We ordered the chocolate pot au creme in an attempt to save the dinner and that fell flat too. I guess they tried to make it "dense and rich" which basically rendered it inedible. To top it off, both myhusband and I got sick (not throwing up sick but a bad stomach ache and lots of bloating about an hour after the dinner, second time for that) Now, full disclosure: I was born and raised in Belgium. I live for an occasional splurge of french food and I've eaten in many small places around the world that honor the french cuisine and work miracles with fresh and rare ingredients. This place does neither. The food is commercial, overcooked, bland and laced in butter and cream. The only thing french is the attitudes of the waitstaff and the chef, which they might want to drop given this is Surprise, AZ and not France and customers are used to choices and friendliness. This is NOT the wonderful experience that French cuisine can be. Go to Christopher's at the biltmore or Vogue Bistro and you will see what I mean.
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