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| - 4 of us showed up for dinner - with a reservation - decked out and feeling a little out of place amongst the senior citizens with the Hawaiian shirts and the shorts. We were dressed for the place - they were certainly *not*.
I shared the pate with everyone at the table, got the leg of lamb, and shared the cheese plate with everyone too. My girlfriend got the roast chicken which was delectable (and arguably more food than my more expensive lamb.) My other friend got the confit de canard. We split a carafe of wine -- the total came to something over $200... To be expected, I suppose.
The waiter was very nice, and trained in French style waiter-ing, involving the classic "bread crumb scraper" at the end of every course. He was also understanding when we had a bit of a spill - he covered it up very nicely with a couple napkins.
In all honesty, I did enjoy coming to this place, in the moment...
But, later, when the food had been digested and I'd thought some more about it, I realized it wasn't as good as I was hoping it to be. I thought about my local French go-to place, Liaison in Berkeley, and they had much better food, and a much larger variety. The only thing that Bouchon has over Liaison is that it is a much more rustic, much more "Paris in the 19th century" kind of place, while Liaison is decidedly modern looking.
I give Bouchon what I consider a solid 3 stars. I can't shake the feeling that Bouchon is a place that people go to to be *introduced* to French food - it isn't a great place for those who appreciate it in its entirety already.
P.S. Why the hell are you all raving about French fries? At a French restaurant? You know they're not actually *from France*, right? Get a grip on your menu choices!
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