Tranquil Bar & Bistro

This restaurant is def for the older working white collar crowd. The waitress was very friendly.
The starter bread was hot and fresh. For the appetizer were awesome: the crabcake and croquette were so fresh and crispy. I also had the leek and onion soup: very creamy and delicious.
The entrees however weren’t that great. I had the pork tenderloin. The pork itself was way too salty and dry. The mash potatoes that came with it was way too under seasoned. The side of green beans was watery and stale. My friend had the scallops and Penn pasta. The pasta sauce was very fishy tasting from the seafood. She thinks it’s too salty for her.

Highly recommend! Been here twice and hasn’t disappointed. Cute little place, intimate setting. Classy but not too fancy that you need to dress formal or feel out of place. Staff is super friendly. Menu is not large but has been different the 2 times I went within 3 months and everything myself and date has gotten was perfection. Full of flavor. Wouldn’t make any suggestions good prices too!

In Binghamton on business for a week and a half, and this is by far one of the best dining experiences I’ve had. I’m from California and have a pretty high threshold for food freshness and quality, and this restaurant met a lot of my expectations, and exceeded some of them.
Escargot: as good as any I’ve ever had. They were soft and lovely.
Salmon deviled eggs special: a little heavy, but really delicious. Only 2 egg halves on the plate, so the portioning was actually appropriate for the caloric weight of the dish.
Dinner salad: FINALLY I got a salad that was well-​dressed. Both the quality of the dressing (it was a delicious vinaigrette with mustard) and quantity (not too much, not too little) were on point.
French onion soup: EXCELLENT EXCELLENT EXCELLENT. This didn’t have the over the top cheese component, which I prefer. Great flavor, well-​salted.
Seafood pot pie: Not as exciting as I thought it would be, but a solid dish.
Penne pasta: Recommended by the waiter, and it didn’t disappoint. Nice mushroom flavor.
Drinks: I asked for a specialty tea cocktail (because I’m sick, and just a little picky sometimes) and the bartender expertly whipped something up.
We will definitely be back before our trip. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

Colleague and I enjoyed a tremendous dining experience. Divulged in 4 courses, with muscles to start, bean soup and harvest salad to carry on, rack of lamb and seafood pot pie and finished with crème brûlée.
Our waitress put the experience over the top with a fantastic and cheerful attitude.
Highly recommended.

Went Saturday night with my wife for Valentine’s day. The dining room was about 60 degrees, and neither one of us could take our coat off for the duration of the meal.
That was the good news. Wanted a glass of Malbec with dinner — they were out of it. How do you run out of wine by the glass? They offered a corn chowder appetizer. Oops, out of that as well. At 7 PM? My favorite dessert here has been the English Toffee pudding. Not so fast, out of that too.
The two stars are based on the gracious service and the food that did arrive! The tuna appetizer was nicely rare. Unusual, but tasty presentation of French onion soup. My black cod was perfect. Not so much my wife’s crème brûlée, which was bruleed sometime Friday.
The good news was that realizing the evening was suboptimal, they comped our desserts.
May return when the thermometer outside reaches 75.

Nice restaurant with under seasoned food. If you piss off the chef by having food allergies that are out of your control (dairy and wheat) get ready for a crappy meal. I started off my dining experience by explaining my food allergies to the waitress (very nice lady) who said she would talk it over with the chef. I was only offered two options, a salad or a steak no sauce. I ordered both. The steak I ordered medium, and it came out well done with no seasoning. The steak also came with mashed potatoes with a lot of butter that I couldn’t eat and clearly stated I couldn’t have any dairy at the beginning. I had to scrape the mashed potatoes off on my own and no one offered to remake my steak which also had mashed potatoes on it. The kitchen was so happy to accommodate my food allergies that when we were done, my family overheard the head chef complaining about the fact she had to cook anything special or answer questions about her food so I could eat her food safely. Another issue is that we had a reservation 2 days in advance. We were there with a party of 14 and the whole meal took almost 3 hours for us to get all our food. Lastly the head chef (while complaining with expletives) walked out of the restaurant with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth, then came back in, didn’t wash her hands and then made a salad without gloves. My money would be better spent eating anywhere else.
One update– a family member did go back in after we left and told one of the owners what happened and he apologized. I’m still disappointed in the chef.

At seven pm on a Sunday we went in and got amazing service and delicious food the atmosphere was great im definitely coming back

Hadn’t been in quite awhile and decided to give it a go. Glad we did! Seated promptly (we had a reservation), attentive service. We opted with one each of the 2 dinner specials-​both excellent! Mussels as an appetizer still a great choice. Nice urban atmosphere. Definitely try it!

This has become a favorite spot since Restaurant Week brought us here two years ago. The food is well prepared using fresh ingredients and full of flavor. Wednesday and Thursday, there is a 3 course Prix Fixe Menu for $ 20. We tried that menu, tonight. The mussels in coconut curry sauce appetizer on this menu were just wonderful, as was the main course Eggplant Napoleon and cream brûlée. Amazing meal for that price. It has a very tasteful, yet comfortable atmosphere. The service is excellent.

My husband and I recently moved to the area from Dallas, TX and were looking for a nice fine dining restaurant. We weren’t sure if Tranquil was going to be very good because many of the reviews were negative, but the food pics looked great so we gave it a whirl! I’m so glad we did because the food and atmosphere were phenomenal! The restaurant is downtown but a little removed from all the action which made it very easy to find parking near the door. I ordered the chicken with cranberries, walnuts and Gorgonzola cream sauce and it was so wonderful! My husband ordered the trout, which was great as well! We planned on getting dessert but the portions were so generous and the food so amazing that we just kept eating. We plan on coming back often and think the price was perfect for the quality and portion sizing! We hear that their brunch is amazing and can’t wait to come back and try it!

I wasn’t too thrilled or too disappointed about my visit to Tranquil. I went with a friend for Sunday brunch. When we walked in we were told we had to sit at the bar because we didn’t make a reservation but the whole time we sat there, the dining area never filled up. Their menu selection was great but the prices were a little too high for what you received. Everything we ordered was just bland. The presentation and quality of food was good but there wasn’t much flavor. The best thing was the $ 15 jug of mimosa we ordered. Maybe breakfast food isn’t their specialty. I would have to go back at least two more times to change my opinion.

First time here & I was thrilled with the meal, atmosphere & wine list. Had the Vegan Shepard’s pie and it was yummy; spices were more Indian than traditional but it worked! White balsamic vinaigrette was fabulous. Will surely come again!

Never had a bad meal and great atmosphere. Highly recommend the mussels and a great spot for brunch.

I have been a big fan of Tranquil for years. Unfortunately, my opinion has recently changed as the quality of the food has not been sustained and my overall experience the past few times has been below average.
The first time I had an issue was when I ordered the mussels (which I would order on a regular basis because they were consistently excellent). On this occasion, after my first bite I knew they were rancid. I told the waitress and she apologized and told us that she would bring the «fresh» mussels out instead. I was appalled by this comment for obvious reasons. I told her I would just prefer the mussels to be removed from the bill as I had lost my appetite. She failed to remove the mussels from the bill. One bad experience, I let it go.
Now, just the other day I organized a large (8 person) group dinner at Tranquil to give it another shot. We were literally the only table in the place on a weekday which was great for us. I ordered the French onion soup and the braised beef short ribs. The flavor of the soup was delicious but it was barely luke warm and the cheese was still in gobs all over the top, not melted at all.
The short ribs were a great disappointment. I expected a rich sauce with crispy rosemary roasted potatoes and caramelized carrots (as the menu suggested). Instead I got a hunk of meat that I literally needed a steak knife to cut and all of the veggies were overcooked and unappealing. The broth was relatively flavorful, but needed salt, bad. Overall, it was a glorified pot roast that should have been braised for at least another 2 – 3 hours in order for the fat to melt and the beef to fall apart. To end on a positive note, the Tony Tony Tini was a great cocktail; however, I am truly sad to report that I do not think I will be going back anytime soon.

I used to love this place and their food. Recently, however, the food is bland and not well prepared. Every time i’ve ordered something in the past month, they didn’t have all the ingredients for the dish. However, they don’t tell you that in advance, and your food arrives with the essential ingredients missing. I had to ask several times if there weren’t supposed to be e.g. tomatoes, carrots, olives, etc. in my salad, mussels, fish, etc. just to hear, «oh I’m sorry we seem to be out…» Really?

Another great find. My boyfriend and I came here for brunch right before I left back to NYC. We loved our waiter, he was very attentive. Their chicken and waffle was glazed with honey. Their eggs benedict were also pretty decent. Would like to come back for dinner and try their «French» cuisine. Not very impressed with the neighborhood.

When picking what city to stay in on the way to upstate New York, I scanned Unilocal for places to get a good glass of wine along our route. Tranquil jumped out at me for it’s menu and wines. We were not disappointed.
Arriving late on a summer Thursday night (we called and moved our 8pm reservation to 9pm because of traffic in PA), we almost had the place to ourselves. Despite white tablecloths, the décor is casual. I was very intrigued by their use of a projector to display old newsreels on the bare brick wall behind the bar.
We started with some lobster profiteroles, which were rich and delicious. The Spanish cava we had with it was a nice contrast, but I wished we’d ordered a bottle, since I ran out of cava before we finished the appetizer. On a light night, I might be able to make that appetizer my meal and go away content.
The wine list is not long, but the choices are very good and mostly French. We selected their Chateauneuf-​de-​Pape, but were tempted by a few Bordeaux and other Rhones (including a Chapoutier rose and two other Chapoutier wines). Because the selection of reds was so good, I ignored the whites (and also did not pay much attention to the seafood portion of the menu). Certainly a better wine list than one would expect in a place of this size.
I chose the French onion soup as my side dish, while my wife had a salad with a classically made french style vinaigrette. Both were excellent. The soup was not too salty and didn’t stint on the onions in favor of broth. I liked the vinaigrette despite normally favoring thicker dressings.
Having come for the wine, I let that guide my dinner selection. If they’d had a Burgundy (the only hole in the wine list), I might have gone for the port tenderloin, but since we’d never make a rack of lamb at home, I selected that. It comes on a generous portion of risotto, with delicious mushrooms in its midst. The demi-​glacé had a little sweetness to it, which was interesting. The lamb was perfectly medium rare, which seems to be a challenge for many restaurants. The talent and confidence of the chef shows through here. I don’t know how someone would eat a whole rack of lamb, because a half rack filled me up — though perhaps if I hadn’t started with a rich appetizer and soup, I may have made more of a dent.
My wife could not resist ordering the Lobster Mac N Cheese. She did care that she was having a heavy red with her dish, because she really wanted that entrée and that wine. We had plenty to take home with us.
For dessert, we had a delectable toffee-​infused cake, choosing to share at that point so that we’d be able to make it home.
Our waitress, Ashley, was very friendly and attentive, plus both the chef (Matt) and the sous chef (C.J.) stopped by when they popped out for a breath of fresh air (and maybe to see the fireworks over at the baseball stadium). They were very gracious and deserved the compliments we heaped upon them.
If we’re ever back this way, we’ll stop in here for dinner and I recommend that all French wine lovers do the same.

Second Visit: returned for Restaurant Week last year and enjoyed the crabcakes, pâté profiteroles and chocolate molten lava cake. I even tried escargot for the first time and loved it (though what’s to complain about when they’re swimming in a sea of creamy fromage?). I lowered my rating by one star since last time because on this second visit and my most recent visit the service has been rather iffy.
Third Visit: Tranquil’s food never fails to wow me, though the waitstaff’s quality varies. This time I had a perfect carrot bisque that was just gingery and cinnamony enough, and for my entrée I had the cranberry and walnut stuffed chicken with Gorgozola sauce, mashed potatoes and grilled vegetables. This was so rich that I had plenty of leftovers (got three meals out of it total) but so incredible that I wanted to keep eating it. I love when they leave the skin in the mashed potatoes and Tranquil didn’t disappoint there. It’s these types of dishes that keeps me returning again and again!

Made our first visit on the weekend after Valentine’s day, and it was an extremely positive experience. Loads of exposed brick, intimate space, vintage commercials playing on the wall over the bar… all good. Our server was very nice and the most impressive part of our visit was the flawless timing of our courses. We never had to rush through anything, nor did we have to wait.
As for the food: for an appetizer, we ordered the charcuterie plate. This was the only real misstep of the evening, simply because I did not feel that the meat and cheese selections justified the near $ 15 price tag. Sharp cheddar, dill havarti, and crumbled bleu cheese are fine, as is prosciutto and hard salami, but it’s also kind of… well, boring.
The french onion soup was solid, and the soup du jour — a zucchini bisque — was really good. The pork loin entrée was well-​prepared, and the sweet potato stuffed with apples and bleu cheese was great. My wife’s steak au poivre was also a hit.
We didn’t get dessert (we were stuffed) but the options sounded great and we may stop in some time just to check them out. Overall, I would say that this is probably the best restaurant experience we’ve had since moving to the Binghamton area and we will return.

Hands down, love this place. The décor, the food, the service, the drinks. it’s just so good.
What I especially loved about it was that it wasn’t located directly in the heart of downtown. But don’t let that scare you away. When you walk into the restaurant, it’s like you forget you’re eve in Binghamton.
Definitely give this place a shot. Atmosphere is romantic and cosy and food is relish :]