Bistro Liaison
Berkeley, CA 94709
Phone: (510) 849-2155
- Cross Street:
- Hearst Avenue
- Hours:
- Mon-Thu 11:30am-3pm, 5:30pm-10pm, Fri-Sat 11:30am-3pm, 5:30pm-11pm, Sun 10am-2pm, 5pm-10pm
Editorial Review for Bistro Liaison – by Lea Jacobson
The Scene
A gleaming wooden bar curves between the open kitchen and the seating area, while burgundy, sage and butter-yellow walls capture the glow from Beaux Arts-style light fixtures. With waiters in long aprons and the tempting aroma of shallots sizzling in butter, diners might just as well be in Paris.
The Food
Classic dishes benefit from quality ingredients and minimal handling. Mesclun salad has a snappy mustard tang; salad nicoise, with fresh sashimi-grade tuna and crispy vegetables, is an unfussy winner. Dosed with extra bechamel sauce, the croque monsieur is Paris on a plate. Blanketed in spinach and bathed in a wine and garlic sauce, the mussels make a perfect accompaniment to a side of crispy fries. For dessert, a plumped-up shingle of puff pastry cradles melt-in-your-mouth caramelized apples. Seeking a lighter finish? Try the fruity, bracing blood orange sorbet.
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Insider Tips
Where to SitOutdoor seating is available on the patio.
Save MoneyA prix-fixe menu is offered Monday through Thursday.
User Reviews for Bistro Liaison
06/07/2007 Posted by cafe_hound
Great food, noisy but fun, I like watching the cooking staff's activities over the counter. Wonderful flourless chooclate cake, recommended. Nice decor.
02/18/2007 Posted by libbys
On Valentine's Day, Bistro Liaison was noisy and crowded. There was a prix fixe menu with two choices for the first course and three for the main course. Our server did not pay attention to us: she never offered us a wine list, she messed up our order for the first course, and she rarely came to check on us to see if everything was to our satisfaction. The first course, mushroom soup, was good but not great. It was smooth except for a few clippings of parsley and chives on top, and it was not steaming hot, only warm. The main course was pleasant: the filet was perfectly medium-rare and tender, the potatoes were crispy fried mashed potatoes, and the sauce was not overpowering. My major problem, though, was that my boyfriend received three slices of meat and I received two. His slices were not smaller than mine, he just got more. The portions were not large in the first place, so this was upsetting. The server did not stop by the table during the entire main course, so my dissatisfaction was ignored. The dessert was the most unfortunate part of the meal. It was a shared plate for two. Instead of containing one delicious, satisfying, cohesive dessert it contained a variety of seemingly random and cobbled-together parts: a mediocre sugar cookie, two little cookie shells filled with mousse, a small scoop of delicious chocolate sorbet, a pile of toasted almond slices, a splash of raspberry coulis, and a heart-shaped chocolate cake. The cake tasted like a Twin Bing candy bar in a bad way, with artificial cherry flavor and powdered-sugar-laden chocolate icing that tasted like it was from a store-bought tub. Served with Brut champagne, the pairing only seemed to accentuate the bitterness in each. When we had finished our dessert, we were left alone for over 10 minutes before anyone visited our table. At $159 (including two drinks, before tip), it was way too expensive for poor service and undistinguished food.
Cons: Bad service, expensive, crowded, horrible dessert
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful
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