|
Review content:
The night we tried Liaison, we were tired. It was late. We were reminiscing about a recent trip to France. And then we were there: the menu, the decor, the layout, everything screams French bistro. We settled into a shared meal of mussels, frites, salad nicoise, and toasts w/goat cheese and tomatos. Everything was marvelous, the mussels were terrific, the fries were hands down the best in the East Bay, the salad nicely composed with fresh ingredients, though we tend to shy away from the now-uniquitous cold, seared tombo. And then we waited. And waited. Our server had disappeared, and our goat cheese toasts were nowhere in sight. Finally, one of the three new people serving us showed up and only when asked, informed us that it takes 10 minutes to prepare the toasts. Hhhm. Okay, shouldn't we have been told that before? But when the toast arrived, it was so good, I just couldn't be mad. And you can't imagine a couple of pieces of toasted bread w/ hot chevre and a roasted tomato on it being this damn good. So okay, I get it now: and I'd gladly wait 20 minutes for more. Oh, and it turned out that we got there just in time for shift change, tho no one told us. In the end, I can't wait to go back. The place is relaxing and warm with enough French country kitsch to be amusing, and the food is really, authentically good. I'll give the service issue another change, but unfortunately, the drinks are extremely expensive, and ours was a little watery, so I'll not do that again. The wine list is quite good, with many good reasonably priced choices. I overheard someone say that on Wednesdays they forgo the corkage fee, if you want to bring your own, but I can't verify that yet.
Pros: Excellent bistro fare at mid-range prices, the best frites ever, great atmosphere
Cons: Over priced cocktails.
|