Bonsoir Clara — Restaurant in Brussels

Might be just under a four but had to change it from the previous three. We reserved a table which was fortunate as it appears the majority of restaurants fill quickly. Pros: Staff are lovely, no question. The menu makes for fantastic reading. Shrimp croquettes were excellent. Packed with grey shrimp. Crisp on the outside, moist and beautiful on the inside. The scallops were equally excellent. Both dishes cooked perfectly. Food is served hot. Small amuse bouche are served as a nicety. The interior and lighting is pleasant. Level of noise is acceptable. Distance from the centre isn't far. Cons: The door system means that if not closed properly, the inner one just lets draughts in and requires closing - in my case, every 5 minutes throughout the meal. The number of inconsiderate types who can't bring themselves to do this is quite astounding. It becomes a real drag. The wine we were served was realistically a couple of years too young and a trifle acidic. The rib eye was, although seasoned well, a tasteless piece of meat which for whatever reason wasn't tender. Eating it wasn't a pleasure. Never sure why 'Irish' is considered something positive when it comes to beef. It just means it's travelled further. The veal cutlet was ok but the sauce was a little stock cubey. All in all the starters put the bar high but the mains sadly didn't hit the same mark. Who knows, it could have just been an off night for that chef. It was a good evening but...

Tourist trap to avoid. We had a dinner for 19 people, we had to tell them that we were ready to order 5 times before they finally came to take note. The food was average, nothing remarkable. During the dinner we kept ordering drinks and we had the same issue, we had to repeat it 3 times (minimum) before the drinks arrived to the table. At the end of the dinner, the drinks didn't add up, we were a group of 50% women wo drank 1-2 glasses of wine (some not even that because they were pregnant) and men who did drink a lot. However, it didn't seem reasonable that we were being charged for 17 bottles. When we asked them to please double check if there was an error they immediately got offended saying that they are not stealing from their customers. Later on they started accusing us of wanting to steal from them.... They refused to go back to the kitchen and count the bottles. Extremely...

The only time the staff smiled or even seemed to recognise our presence was when they served the bill. The prices here are haute cuisine indeed. But from outside it looks nice right? Don’t worry just go inside, sit down, highly unlikely that in the first 15 minutes you will find yourself in the awkward situation of having to order something. For half of the price you can have nice food at the Umamido chain in front of Bourse and the staff will smile at you and go the outrageous extra mile of saying « bonsoir, ça va? ». For the tourists, perhaps it’s a nice evening out…seeing three waiters discuss with each other which table not to serve… Once the food arrives, the true discovery awaits: Belgian cuisine achieves its peak when there are three sauces on your plate that all taste the same. Nope, maybe just have some fries and sauce andalouse on the street and go for a...