Pierre Garden

I went for an early dinner after I noticed that La Cubana was closed.  The food was good.  I had the french onion soup and croque monsieur.  However, my wife and I were the only guests at the restaurant which is huge so it was kind of strange.

Food: 3/5
Service: 3/5
Atmosphere: 2/5

I've driven by this restaurant so many times, always saying to myself, "I'm going to try this out someday."  Well, I had visitors in town to entertain who like French food, so I thought we'd give it a try.

From the name, the outside and the tag on its website "Fine French Dining," you might think that the restaurant is upscale; at least we did!  We made reservations expecting it to be busy at 8pm on a Friday night, and we put on 'respectable' clothes instead of being casual in our jeans and shorts.  Much to our surprise, when we walked in at 7:45pm, the place was empty.  The front restaurant area had a large bar with TVs and there were wooden table tents on the tables advertising beer specials - not something you expect see in a restaurant that serves Coq au Vin, Salmon, Pork, Steak, and Scallops as their main affair.

We were seated by an employee (who apologized for not being properly dressed to serve us), and then we were taken care of the rest of the meal by a young girl.  When we asked about the wine selection, she laughed shyly and said "I don't really drink wine" (after the fact, I decided that she may not have even been 21).  She returned to the "off-duty" employee to ask our questions about the wine selection and he returned to cork and serve the wine.

The food was plated well - maybe the only thing that I would call "fine dining."  I tried to the traditional French items - French Onion Soup and Coq Au Vin.  The soup was delicious and the chicken was cooked well.  The sauce on the chicken was a bit overwhelming and the potatoes were quite bland. My guest indicated the Salmon was excellent and the Pork Medallion was so-so.  

During the entire dinner, one other couple arrived and had a drink at the bar (no bar-tender, just the 'under-dressed' employee), otherwise the restaurant remained empty.  There was a private event happening in the back portion of the restaurant and the music was so loud and overwhelming that we found ourselves literally yelling at each other and just smiling and laughing because we couldn't hear each other across the table.  

As we were leaving, we noticed a billboard out front that said "Closed for Private Event" but it was turned backward and they had specials showing instead.  I'm not sure if they were supposed to be open to the public that evening or not, but either way, it didn't appear as though they drew a big crowd to the restaurant.  Overall, the food was passable, and the service was okay.  The total experience wasn't anything to write home about, and I probably won't return unless I'm invited there for a private event.

My wife and I went there for lunch midweek expecting a cozy French restaurant with bistro music and a garden theme.  We were sadly mistaken. The place was empty at the height of lunch time. Service was slow and the techno-rock music gave us a headache. Food was OK for the money but otherwise forget it. They must make their money on parties in the back area because they ain't doin' it up front.