09/07/09

Wonderful Dinner and Experience

by Aldebaran1949

My wife recently turned 55 and I wanted to treat her to a romantic dinner at an upscale French restaurant in the Tampa Bay area. Both of us have enjoyed cooking for many years. I consider myself a very good cook, especially for a man. But my wife is in another league and an outstanding chef, as attested to by everyone I know who has experienced her cooking. Consequently, I wanted to find the best French restaurant possible.

We have driven by Chateau France many times, so I thought it would be a good time to try it out. But after reading the reviews, which were oddly split evenly between extremely positive and absolutely terrible, I almost decided not to risk it. I am writing this review, however, because we did decide to go to Chateau France and had a wonderful experience, as outlined in the following text.

We were walking up the front steps when the door was opened for us and we were warmly greeted. Although we were about 20 minutes earlier than our reservation, we were seated immediately in an enclosed second story porch. We had the porch to ourselves and I noticed that although several parties arrived and left while we were there, the management did its best to seat them for the maximum amount of privacy. Our waiter appeared immediately and was totally attentive to our needs throughout the evening; we couldn’t have had better service. An overview of our dinner follows.

We both had the Escargot baked in a puffed pastry as an appetizer. Escargot is my all-time favorite appetizer and this was one of the very best I have ever had. The pastry was very light and when you broke through it the steam rose from the hot contents. The snails themselves were very tender and the sauce they were in was absolutely delicious. In fact, I would love to have the sauce served separately as a soup course.

As our entrees, my wife had the Sea Scallops in a caviar sauce and I had the Menage A Trois, which included a very large Australian tiger shrimp, sea scallops, and lump crabmeat. Both entrees were served with au gratin potatoes, spaghetti squash, and baby mixed vegetables. The vegetables were done al dente just the way I like them, the sauces were wonderful, and everything else was prepared perfectly and served piping hot from the kitchen. The scallops were large, sweet, and especially delicious. Oh, and the portions were ample, unlike some French restaurants I have been to before.

Although we enjoy cooking and eating, we live a very healthy lifestyle and rarely have dessert. However, I have dabbled with baking souffles and wanted to try their Grand Marnier Souffle, so we each ordered one. Wow! The crust was perfectly bronzed and rose well above the edge of the ramekin it was baked and served in. It was served with a white chocolate sauce that we drizzled into the souffle as we ate it. Absolutely superb, although I’ll have to put in many miles on the treadmill to make up for it!

The total tab was in the $250 range, which included a nice $50 bottle of Riesling, bottle of Perrier, salad course, lemon sorbet as a palate cleanser, and an appropriately generous tip. We are definitely not wealthy and rarely spend anywhere near that much money going out for dinner, but this experience was well worth the cost.

My only suggestion to the management for improvement is to add a few reasonably priced bottles of champagne or sparkling wine to the wine list ($50 - $75). The least expensive available was Dom Perignon, which would have more than doubled the cost of the evening. Although I love champagne and have tried most of the very expensive brands a few times during my 60 years, in my opinion they are not worth the cost. Anyway, a less expensive champagne option would be appreciated.

Overall, our evening at the Chateau France restaurant has to be rated as one of our very best dining experiences and we will certainly return for another special occasion in the future. Thanks!

• Pros: Everything was delicious and the service was the best
• Cons: Need a reasonably priced champagne on wine list

05/06/09

VERY GOOD PLACE

by titaribeiro

Is realy the best restaurante that I have been.

The people that say bad, don´t have an idea what is a fine dinning and what is realy food. They just know what is a hamburger and coke, finish!

If you don´t have pedigree enought, please don´t go there, you must have culture to know what you eat.

• Pros: Best food in the world
• Cons: To far from my country

12/31/08

Chateau France is still open for business?

by foodheaven

Fine dining on my anniversary is a given. For 4 out of 5 anniversaries, we have spent our romantic dinner at a well-renowned bistro in Holmes Beach. Two years ago, we opted for a change and landed at the Vinoy. Having read the reviews of Chateu France, I made reservations.

I must say I'm really confused on how well I can trust these reviews because our experience was so bad that I still can't believe the doors are apparently open. We showed up and were escorted upstairs while dodging a leaky roof. We ordered tea as a beginning refreshment, cocktails to come later since it was very humid and hot outside. No tea...we asked for water and after a long while the waiter brought out a dusty bottle Fiji water at room temperature. We looked curiously for other diners, but now I'm thinking the "ghosts" must have abducted them. We decided to stay for an appetizer. The pate was ok if you are used to grocery-store style. It soon became abundantly clear that we needed to depart before we were sucked in any further. They say first impressions are huge; well that would be true. We fled and went to Marchand's at the Vinoy, which was good, but let's just say the romantic mood had been ruined by then. We sat there in disbelief at the experience. So as I read more recent reviews again that rave about this restaurant, I'm really confused. Is it a lure to get people there? Was there something going on the night we visited this restaurant. Had the "ghosts" had a party the night before taking the staff and clearing the pantry? What gives?

Needless to say, we have spent our more recent anniversaries down in Holmes Beach where consistency is not an issue. If anyone has insight into what the roller-coaster ride is about I'd love to know. I hope we just went on the one worst night possible and the restaurant has restored its charm and quality to those of the reviews I had previously read, but I don't think I'd make the drive across the bridge again to take that chance.

• Pros: Possible Ghost Tour itinerary
• Cons: Our experience is just plain inexplicable