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| - Not sure how to structure this review because I have a lot to say, so bear with me. How about getting to the point first...
Ambiance: 2 stars
Food: 3.5 stars
Service: 10 stars
Value: 10 stars
Total: 3.5 stars rounded up
I took my wife here the Saturday before Valentine's Day since, alas, I travel for business and wasn't going to be around for V-Day itself. :-(
Upon walking in, my wife remarked that it smelled like her grandparents house. You mean like chicken soup and death? I had the same reaction. It made sense, the next youngest patron there was a good 40 or 50 years our senior. You could smell the formaldehyde.
Now to a word of warning. ***THIS PLACE IS NOT ROMANTIC**** I can't stress that enough. I don't think people in the valley know what a truly romantic French dining experience is. This place is cozy - as in the NYC definition. Meaning that it is small, cramped, loud, you will hear all the conversations around you (which in OTS can get pretty ridiculous), and it is guaranteed that you will either ask the table next to you what they are eating or be asked what you are eating (both happened to us). To top it off, there was a very bright fake candle on the table in an absolutely horrid candle holder. Lastly, they had the most ridiculous music playing. Seriously, I heard the Canne Canne blaring out of the speakers and all I could think of was the old Shoprite commercial with the dancing cans. A real romantic French dining experience is quiet, reserved, sophisticated, and of course has real candles on the table and classier music (if any at all).
We had a 7:00 reservation and wound up getting there 15 min early and the table wasn't ready. Which was totally fine, we could just grab a glass of champagne at the bar. There were two open seats but the bar top had place settings in front of them. So I asked the bartender if we could grab a quick drink there while our table was being prepared. He informed me that those spots had been reserved and unnecessarily relegated us to a tiny spot at the corner of the bar. Our table was ready in about 7 minutes, in that time the "reserved" seats at the bar were never filled. Ugh.
The food was good but not the best French food I've had. I was expecting more classical French and this was definitely more Provencal. We went with four courses - first we shared the escargot, which was ok (anything drowning in butter and garlic is going to be...) but the pastry dough on top was hard and chewy and not flakey. Next, I had the foie gras which again was good but not the best I've had, it was unfortunately a little flavorless. I really like to taste the nuttiness of foie gras. My wife had the steak tartare and had the same remark that it was basically flavorless. For our entree we split the bouillabaisse, which was quite good. However, it is served with a few pieces of toasted bread with a roasted red pepper sauce that was just totally unnecessary - the whole point of the bread is to soak up the broth of the bouillabaisse! So I had to ask for some plain toasted bread which was happily provided. To finish, we had the cheese plate which was again pretty unremarkable - a gruyere, a bleu, a brie, and I forget what the last cheese was (see...unremarkable).
Onto the service. Firstly, the reason why a real classy French restaurant would not survive in the valley is because people are too impatient. A four course meal can and should be a 2+ hour experience. Eat a little, drink a little, gaze lovingly into your partner's eyes, have deep conversations about life. Many of the patrons here complained that their food was taking too long. To the point where our waiter kept apologizing to us without our saying anything, and I had to reassure him that we actually appreciated the pace of the meal. Our server, Chad, was fantastic. He recommended a great by-the-glass wine that was not on the menu. When our second course arrived (after the escargot), I had to ask for a change of plates and utensils, to which he exclaimed "of course!" and hurried to get. After that, the plates and silverware were changed after every course. Chad was very attentive to us without being overbearing, even though it appeared he was the only server for half of the restaurant. He may have been a little too apologetic at times, but I will take that over totally obnoxious and uncaring.
Lastly, to the value - our 4 course meal (well, a split first and last course) + 2 glasses champagne + 3 glasses wine came to $145. To me, that is a great value for French food. Of course, I may be a little out of touch, as our last French cuisine experience was at Joel Robouchon in Las Vegas which came to $600.
In all honesty, I probably won't ever return to Petite Maison. It is definitely a "special occasion" type of place, and there are nicer/better places that I like more.
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