Somme toute, une belle adresse, mais qui manque un petit WOW pour un bib gourmand. Par rapport, le prix est excellent pour les quantités!
Nous avons été déçus par la nourriture qui était bonne, mais sans éclat, plutôt simple pour la réputation qu'on en fait.
J'ai pris les moules & on devait y retrouver des croutons, mais tout était mou par la sauce.
Quant aux betteraves, la présentation était originale, mais il manquait un'oumph'.
Idem pour le dessert.
Rien n'était décevant comme tel, mais c'est le côté'wow' manquant qui nous a déçues pour un bib gourmand.
Le service était vraiment très courtois & souriant, mais ça manquait un peu de coordination (ne savait pas le nom des plats, etc.). Peut-être était-elle nouvelle, ce qui s'explique & se pardonne à 100%, tant que l'amabilité est là! :)
L'ambiance est bonne & les chaises confo! Belle luminosité où on peut se voir sans pénombre, niveau de bruit agréable & beau design.
Wonderful dinner, excellent service, & a great experience for a delightful evening. Seating at the bar was very entertaining & added to the experience. I resisted the temptation to add pictures of the delicious dishes because one must taste it in person to truly appreciate the fresh ingredients, flavors & lovely presentation. We will definitely be back next time we are in Quebec City! Great find!
Lent, bruyant, cherant...
Tassé, serré, coincé...
Une fois suffira.
Bistro B provided us with an interesting & pleasurable experience, but had some flaws too.
The first thing I noticed about the restaurant was just how noisy it was. Through much of our meal, it was a struggle to hear each other & I had to consistently raise my voice to be heard. Fortunately, our reservations were on the later side, & as the restaurant cleared out, the noise became much better.
The restaurant is quite popular. Even though we had reservations, we had to wait 15 minutes for our table, & the restaurant doesn't have a comfortable waiting area. We just had to stand against the wall of the exitway, trying to keep out of the way of patrons entering & leaving.
The menu is divided into two sections: very small plates to accompany an aperitif, & then appetizer-sized plates where the menu says you should order two to three per guest. The menu doesn't explain if the dishes are intended to be shared or are for individuals, or how things should be coursed out. Perhaps it's because we don't speak French, but our server didn't make things clear either. What we learned:
1. The very small dishes are designed to be shared, & should all come together as a first course. The menu lists how many pieces are in each dish. For a full meal, I recommend ordering enough so that every diner gets one piece from two or three dishes.
2. The appetizer-sized dishes are not intended to be shared. For a full meal, I recommend each diner ordering two dishes for themselves, & have those dishes served separately as second & third courses. You should think about which dish you want first -- for example, fish -- followed by the next -- say, meat.
3. For the second & third courses, if it's on the menu, I recommend ordering the bread with chicken skin butter. The bread easily serves four people. The chicken skin butter is deliciously decadent.
Bistro B doesn't print menus, but instead provides each table a small tablet that loads up the menu on the Web site. The Web site is a bit clunky, & it's difficult for an entire table to share a single tablet. I recommend everyone arrive with a fully-charged phone & use your own phone to look at the menu.
For our first course for our table of four, we got two orders of the gougères, two orders of the shrimp spring rolls, & two orders of the foie gras terrine. Each order of those dishes has two pieces, so that gave every diner a single bite from each dish. All were delightful. The foie gras was very interesting -- served like a'taco' with a stroopwafel serving as the tortilla, with a noticeable punch of chili spice.
For our second & third courses, diners at our table enjoyed the oak leaf lettuce with pink peppercorn, zucchini flowers, albacore tuna crudo, steamed halibut, pork croquette, beef sirloin. All dishes were very good, though none gave us a'wow' moment. I have to say, the steak was cooked perfectly & was well seasoned.
For dessert, I got the rhubarb tartlet, which was a nice balance of sweet & acid. Others at my table had the strawberry sorbet cup with panettone toast & chocolate mousse. The strawberry sorbet was tasty, but something in the dish smelled very strongly vegetal -- almost like broccoli or wet vegetables that had started to go bad. We passed the dish around the table, & each diner detected the strong aroma & found it rather off-putting. If we spoke French, I would have inquired as to what went into the dish to give it that aroma.
Overall, a good, but mixed experience at Bistro B. Two kilometers nearby in Québec City is restaurant Melba, which has a similar dining format & cuisine design, & it was so much better. Melba had a much quieter & more pleasant atmosphere, the menu was easier to navigate, the service was more helpful, & a few dishes there blew our socks off.
