Bistro Bobette

I always seek that elusive combination of original, delicious, worth-​the-​price-​of-​admission food and knowledgeable-​but-​not-​overbearing-​or-​snobby service. Way harder to find than you would think. This beautiful urban spot gets a 10+. I had the special — beef cheeks in a red wine reduction with roasted root vegetables. So savory. Everything I ate was worth the time and money … Doesn’t get better than that.

Possibly the best casual but good quality food you can find in town. Very nice staff and owner, they are so helpful for walk-​ins even at 8pm on a Friday. We ordered pretty much all the sides with couple of drinks and they were all very delicious. Potato gratin is the best I’ve ever had; Mac and cheese is absolutely delicious and pickled vegetables are very tasty.

We had a great and romantic dining experience. The cheese selection and escargot were delicious. Our entrees were the salmon and the venison special. Poached pear for dessert. All were perfectly prepared and wonderful. Wait staff were attentive and took good care of us. Music and ambiance we enjoyed. Would happily return. Excellent date night.

Hate to write this.
I made reservations for myself and my husband for Christmas lunch. We arrived, the two of us, nicely dressed, only to watch bigger parties be ushered by us with a huge fake smile.
I don’t yell at restaurants, but I did here.
‘HI, EXCUSE ME, PARTY OF TWO, THREE O’ CLOCK!”
(it was three-​fifteen)
Apparently I scare the crap out of everyone when I raise my voice because a frightened female server scurried to seat us (by the door) and that was that last we saw of any server. We ended up leaving without me shouting again, another twenty minutes later. I was patient, hungry growly husband was not. And not one server tried to stop us. Really, I’m not scary …

Amazing service. Joe and Jen definetly turned horrible experience at another restaurant into and awesome party. We had a large party and were served awesome and food was really good. Thanks. Will def come back.

I thought this place was not bad. There were definitely some highlights, but I walked out not terribly impressed, especially for prices being on the higher end.
I came with two friends for lunch. Parking itself took forever. It probably would’ve been faster for all of us to walk from our apartments, 5 – 7 blocks away. Between the three of us, we had the escargot appetizer, rainbow trout with fries, bistro steak with truffle mac n cheese, and rib-​eye steak with spinach. We all shared our meals, more or less, so we can try a bit of everything.
Escargot was good! Tasty, with garlic butter. Tip: dip the bread into the leftover sauce — perfectly complements the bread. The escargot itself had a lot of flavor, served burning hot in its metal tray — just the way I like it.
Bistro steak with mac and cheese — The sauce just tasted like teriyaki sauce. The steak is cut already when served, and was pretty tender. Nothing too special about it. I was really excited to try the truffle mac and cheese, and I thought it was pretty good, and worth a try.
Rainbow trout with fries — Fish was not bad, inching towards being on the dry side, but I liked its toppings (almonds!). I enjoyed the fries~
Rib eye steak with spinach — It was tender, and came medium rare, as we ordered. I liked the savory sauce it was served with, although my friend (the person who actually ordered it) thought it was too salty. THE SPINACH though — yum! It had a flavor that really popped, and I can’t quite put my finger on what ingredients were put into it. Garlic? Butter? I kept picking at my friend’s plate for more :)
So overall, besides the escargot, the highlights were the spinach, fries, and mac n cheese. As the sides were more impressive than the actual entrees, I think it warrants about ³⁄₅.

The food to me was so so, would give them another try. Will keep you updated on my next visit.

Delicious. This restaurant has a small space that is intimate but not crowded, beautifully lit and appointed. Savory tart, Seared Salmon and Sauteed Rainbow Trout, all of it cooked perfectly, presented beautifully and absolutely delicious. I HIGHLY recommend this venue for a date, dinner alone, dining with friends, sitting in a corner drinking wine, whatever just go.

Today’s Thanksgiving meal was amazing! I highly recommend this restaurant to anyone. The salmon was amazing, appetizers were awesome (garlic spinach yum), and the dessert-​oh my! Apple pie bliss.
I will definitely come back here for more!

If you like a genuine French Bistro, this is the place to go! They have incredible food and atmosphere. Their small plates are great, especially the Tarts and Foie Gras. The place is great for dates or just socializing with friends. They now have a speakeasy downstairs that’s fun and stays open later. I have been here over 30 times. Highly recommended!

I really would give this 4.5 stars. My meal was delicious! My husband and I came for lunch. We got a table right away and our server was very friendly. I had trout with string beans and my husband had the burger. Both very good. Extensive wine list.

In a town driven by name-​brand chefs, Bistro Bobette delivers a classically delicious French menu. Their specials are always on point, atmosphere is very non-​Richmond, e.g. polished, and service is impeccable. We don’t come here often enough and always rave about it when we do.

We found this gem about three years ago by chance. We’ve since brought as many friends as we can for not only the amazing food, great wine and ambiance but the owners Are so attentive, personable and make you feel so welcome. The bar is super cozy in the back and you truly won’t be disappointed by anything on the menu. We haven’t yet ! Having moved from the Hampton’s in NY we searched for a place that was locally owned, consistently delicious with a great atmosphere. We found it !

Restaurant Week:
We reserved a table a few days ahead knowing that this is THE busiest week for restaurants + a portion of the proceeds are donated. The chef’s wife welcomed us at the door when we arrived.
Our meal was very good. The waitstaff is very knowledgeable and did well despite the busier than normal crowd this week. How do they remember all of the ingredients of each item? The romantic ambiance with the dim lighting and great paintings added to our great experience. We will return and recommend Bistro Bobette highly!

Disclaimer: we don’t know French food. But, we do know what we like. We did not like this at all.
Pros: good location for downtown hotels, cool décor, very good server.
Cons:
Appetizers: rosemary pecans. Nothing special not worth the price. Creamed onion gazpacho. Disappointing.
My wife got talked into the special Dover Sole: mushy, oily (soaked in barely browned butter), flavorless. Expensive.
I can take responsibility for my mistake-​I don’t like lamb but I keep giving it a chance. Oops. Disliked it completely.
If you just love French food then this might be the cats ass but if not, be warned.

Tres bon, tres bon. Again, a memorable meal at Bistro Bobette.
Worth a trip to the Slip. Hip, dim bistro with fabulous French cusine. Friends had never been, I knew this place would not disappoint. Intimate space, neat bar, service was perfect, wine selection robust, cocktail menu creative. Tried all 3 of the seafood choices, Char was the best. Perfectly cooked w pesto. Truffle mac &cheese a must too. Bread fresh. Had the rasberry sorbet and choc mousse desserts too. All yum.
$$ very resonable, but worth any parking hassles.

My very first time dining at Bistro Bobette was during restaurant week and the experience was nothing shy of absolutely fantastic! After reading some of these awful reviews about this wonderful, wonderful restaurant, I was obligated to dispel some of these ridiculous rants and to let you know that this restaurant IS, in fact, worth your time and money. Some of these self-​proclaimed «foodies» have no concept of dining — and «eating» is more of their style. Go back to Applebees or Friday’s and leave the great restaurants in Richmond for real diners who appreciate the hard work these fine people do.
Wendy, the hostess and owner, made our experience so memorable and enjoyable. She made our group of 6 feel right at home and comfortable in this hidden gem of a restaurant. The ambience of this little place couldn’t possibly be any more romantic and cozy.
We thoroughly enjoyed not being rushed and were just happy to be in good company with delicious cocktails and wine. The food was incredible! I started off with the spicy calamari appetizer — the calamari was tender and it sat on a light bed of sweet seaweed salad. Delicious! I had the steak and frites for my entrée and my steak came out a perfectly cool, red centered rare. The steak had an incredible amount of flavor and the red-​wine sauce that topped it was just icing on the cake. I finished the night off with the crêpe which, by the way, was not burnt and tasted phenomenal.
Thank you to the kitchen for all of your hard work. My friends and I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed our experience thanks to you and the rest of your staff — especially Wendy! You will most definitely have my business again!
Highly recommended! Thanks again, Bistro Bobette & Wendy!

Had a lovely evening there. The hostess is a sweetheart and a delight.
However the bread was too dry and hard and i really didn’t like the lobster broth. The lamb was amazing and crepes for desert were delicious.
Great ambience and will definitely go there again.

RESTAURANT WEEK REVIEW: Three words = needs more salt. Everything needed more salt. But let me start from the beginning.
We were seated in the new basement «speakeasy,» which was beautifully decorated and intimate. Almost too dark, though because I was struggling to read the menu. Service was terrible from the very beginning. It took 13 minutes to take our order when we were clearly ready in less than five AND the waiter walked by us several times. And there are only 12 tables in the entire space… and at least three waiters.
Order in. We had to ask for bread. We had to ask for our glasses to be refilled. Food was not well-​timed. The waiter apologized at least twice for the wait. My friend got the lobster broth appetizer, which… needed salt. It tasted like Old Bay and water. I got the goat cheese crostini arugula salad w/​walnut vinaigrette, which was too tart and hardly edible.
For the main course, I got the duck confit. The duck was way overcooked. The bean medley that it came with was — after adding salt — okay. And filling. I was impressed with the Staub cast iron skillet it was presented in. My friend got the coq au vin, which… needed salt.
For dessert, we both got the wheat crêpe with banana and hazelnut cream. If you like crepes, you’d like this. I’m not big on crepes, but it was good. Nothing else on the dessert menu looked good.
It was a nice touch when the owner Wendy came over to chat with us. She is quite lively and bursting with energy. Nice chatting with her. When she came back later to ask about the food (mind you, she’d previously told us that her husband was the chef), I told her honestly everything needed salt. She said she was surprised since he’s normally right on with seasoning and added, «but you can add salt, right?» Very true, but anyone knows when you cook with it, it tastes better. When you add it later, it’s not the same effect.
Our experience was two full hours. Usually when I have a two-​hour meal, it’s because of me/​us talking so much. In this case, it was because of the poor service.
Service — 1.5
Food — 2.5
Ambiance — 3
Total — 2.5 generously rounded to 3 thanks to the personalization from Wendy

I was really excited to try Bistro Bobette because I was looking for a good French place in the Richmond area and heard good things so I went here with my boyfriend during Valentine’s day. Finding street parking was a pain since it is located in the busy downtown district but our waitress told us during dinner that there is free 2 hour parking for the restaurant at the parking garage. The atmosphere inside is tres chic but it’s casual enough so that it doesn’t feel too haughty.
We started with the duck liver [foie gras] and it came out with a cute gherkin on top [pic uploaded]. Our waitress didn’t tell us how to eat it so if I didn’t know, we would have taken a big ol’ bite and spat it back out. We ended up smearing it on our bread [whew] but the liver itself had a muddled flavor and was very salty.
I love all things duck so I ordered the duck confit with pork medallion and white beans [pic uploaded]. I liked how it came out in a cast iron dish. The duck’s skin was not crisp, its meat was very dry, and its flavor was underwhelming. The white beans added to the dryness and did not have much flavor. The pork medallion however was cooked properly.
My boyfriend got rainbow trout with haricot vert [pic uploaded] and even though his fish was overcooked, I liked the almonds and capers with it.
We ordered the truffled mac and cheese as our side. I liked how they used parmesan and swiss instead of cheddar which made the truffle taste really pop. However, the noodles were overcooked so I was put off by the texture.
Overall, I think that the food had a lot of potential but was poorly executed. It may have been that night but, I am willing to give this place another try.
Food: 2
Value:2
Service:3.5