Bonfire Bistro - April '08

Another ladies night, this time prior to a wedding social we decided on Bonfire Bistro for supper and drinks. They don't accept reservations (thumbs down) so make sure you're not on a particular schedule when going as it's usually busy.
http://www.cafecarlo.com/Bonfire%20Bistro.html

Rating: 1 Poor - 5 Great
Atmosphere................4
Music ........................N/A
Food............................4.5
Service........................4
Menu Selection..........4.5
Wine Selection ..........4.5
Price...........................4.5*
*price is based on quality of food

Three of us basically met at the door around 7pm and were advised it could be about a 40 min wait for a table, however we could sit at the bar (order and eat) until a lower table was available. We thought about it and since we were already there awaiting our fourth guest, we'd go with it.

My initial reaction to the service was a cool one. No warmth, more of a matter of fact, take it or leave it type attitude. I kept an open mind.

Atmosphere is small, but not crowded, and very bistro like with small tables and blackboards for the specials. It's very clean and well kept and I liked the (wood burning?) oven in the corner used for cooking pizza - nice touch!

Wine selection is quite good, they offer specials and seem to be fairly knowledgeable and quick to offer suggestions. A mistake was made with my wine selection, however quickly fixed without hesitation.

A few specials for the night included Atlantic Salmon, AAA steak and a pasta dish, each with very reasonable prices. We had heard so much about the pizza, we just had to try them.

I chose a side caesar salad as a starter with a friend having the mixed greens. Both were quite tasty! In time for a our main course to be served we were quickly moved to a lower table where we could visit much easier.

About a dozen choices for pizza, however a tough call as they all sound delicious. We each chose one so we could share. The Wild Mushroom, in my opinion, was the best of our 4 choices. Next would have to be the Italian sausage, with the spicy pepperoni coming in a close third. I had selected the seafood, which was good, but I likely wouldn't order it again.

The service had picked up by this time and I was content with our server and eager to leave a tip. We likely would have stayed and sampled the array of desserts, but we knew the social we were attendign would provide more than enough sweet stuff.

My overall rating = 4.25. The lack of reservation has me rating this slightly lower than it might deserve, but as an organized punctual person, I like reservations.

Bistro 7 1/4 - April '08

To celebrate a birthday we decided to try Bistro 7 1/4 on Osbourne. We've tried to go here a couple times without reservation, so the times available were rather limited. This time we were smart and booked a few days in advance.
http://www.alexanderskitchen.com/

Rating: 1 Poor - 5 Great
Atmosphere................4.5
Music .........................4 (we only noticed the music last minute, so this may not be a fair rating)
Food............................4.5
Service........................4.25 (see below)
Menu Selection..........5
Wine Selection ..........4.5
Price...........................5*
*price is based on quality of food

Upon arrival we were promptly seated not far from the open kitchen - which I loved to watch the chef cook in! Our server was very friendly and made some suggestions for wine, which we gladly accepted and enjoyed!

We started with the Pita Bread served with a trio of dips as an appetizer (white bean dip, red pepper and a spinach type dip); And were also given a crusty roll with butter, salt and a relish by another server - not sure this was meant for our table, but it was good.

I chose the Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin with mushroom cream sauce - mmm!!! Very tasty! My husband selected the Wild Salmon with some sort of potato pancake type thing. His was tasty as well, a touch on the dry side, but only noticeable and not enough to complain about.

For wine we had an Australian Cabernet Sauvignon - Black Swan. Quite tasty, we'd have it again.

Something we noticed was all the tables ordering mussels, me not being a mussel lover wasn't keen to have them, but they did look good along side the homemade frites!

For dessert we had the dark chocolate espresso cake, it was soooo good! One thing I really liked is you can order 1/2 portions of dessert, and that is plenty to share.

The menu had plenty of options and the prices are very reasonable for the quality and quantity of food ($20-25 on average for main course).

My only comment on the service was one server, I think the bartender, didn't seem to have much for customer service skills and I didn't think her attire was appropriate for the restaurant. Our primary server was very friendly and accommodating and also very gracious and thankful when we pointed out something was missed on our bill.

We will surely return here as I need to try those delicious looking frites and may even venture to try the mussels (eek).

Overall rating = 4.5. Highly recommend Bistro 7 1/4 to all - but make sure you call ahead to reserve!!