Loiseau des Vignes — Restaurant in Beaune

I had very mixed feelings about eating here, but a good friend and trusted gastronome, assured me that the wines by the glass were worth the trip alone. My apathy stemmed from contemplating whether you can successfully or should continue the legacy of a chef driven restaurant long after the chef is no longer with us. At what point do you have to stop doing the dishes that made the restaurant and legacy famous and start finding another path? A large part of me wanted to return to Loiseau’s golden age of the 1980’s and 1990’s and eat all his classics rather than the menu presented to me. Perhaps it was my expectations that I had to let go of.

I found it almost ironic that the menu was filled with trendy twists that Bernard himself had resisted, like pickled raspberries, kirimochi and farofa, the Brazilian preparation of cassava flour cooked in bacon fat till its resembles bread crumbs. It seemed so contrary to his original concept of cuisines des essences to serve this food here. I was relieved to see local, familiar ingredients like snails from Fontaines, Morvan ham, pike perch, delicious pigeons from Louhans and ice cream made from a local anise flavored candy made the grade. But still, I was eating in Bernard’s house with a smiling portrait of him staring at me throughout the entire meal. How far from the man could I really stray with all the reminders staring me in the face?

The food was generally good, but a couple big missteps kept it from being great. The delicate Fontaine snails were completely lost and overpowered by a smothering sauce of sweet corn and crumbly farofa. The pike perch dumplings were incredible and the meurette sauce really tied the dish to the region, but I did not like the kirimochi and felt it was completely out of place on the plate, almost like an afterthought. The pigeon too was a mixed bag; on one hand it was perfectly cooked with the rich flavor expertly contrasted by the brightness of fresh raspberries. But I found the amaranth pop to be a bit bothersome and tiring to eat. I am still not sure I correctly understood or tasted what the chef called raspberry pickles because nothing tasted remotely pickled.

On the other hand, the poached egg was an incredible dish full of wonderful tastes and contrasting textures. It was both beautiful to behold and even better to eat. The matured Epoisses with raisins sprayed with Marc was a heavenly combination. What can you say about an incredible cheese tray other than it was incredible. The apricots crepe souffle was feather light and simply to die for. The very first amuses of minaiture kugelhopfs and gougeres were perfect, as were the finishing mignardises.

I enjoyed my experience overall, but felt the decline of French fine dining happening within the very walls while I was eating there. A nearby table of Japanese tourists were wearing headphones while eating, too casually dressed in shorts and tee shirts in an almost empty dining room. Server mishaps, like dropping silverware on the floor, not once but twice during the course of our meal, should never have happened. The waiters looked bored and their demeanor carried over to the experience. These faux pas may seem miniscule to most people, but rarely occur, if ever, in restaurants of...

I want to start this review by stressing that this does not in any way reflect our opinion of hotel le cep. The staff at the hotel was very quick to stress that even though they share a building with this restaurant, the two businesses are in no way affiliated. The hotel itself has great service, as expected from a five star establishment.

Our experience at Loiseau des Vignes literally started with a bang. Even though the restaurant was nearly empty (there were only three parties in the dining room tonight), we had to ask for our first aperitifs multiple times. When they finally arrived, the sommelier dropped a wine glass ON our feet and shattered it. We were wearing sandals, and shards of glass hit our feet and were in our shoes. She did not move to sweep it up and didn't even apologize. When we tried to reassure her that we weren't angry and that accidents happen, she must have misinterpreted what we said, because she seemed to be angry with us for the rest of the night.

Once we moved to the dining room, she seemed resistant to want to perform her job, and help us with our wine selections. She only appeared to take our drink order well into the first course, something abnormal in any restaurant anywhere in the world but nearly unheard of in France. (We had asked our waiter to see the wine list and made it VERY apparent that we wanted wine with our dinner when he took our order) The restaurant definitely missed out on potential business, because we've been buying aperitifs, a white and two bottles of red at dinner during this vacation, and we were only capable of ordering one bottle of white since she made herself so scarce.

What really ruined our evening though was when our wine bottle we purchased was poured for the other large party in the dining room. We watched as our wine was taken from the chilling bucket, and served for them. When we confronted her about this, she insisted that there were two bottles in the bucket, and acted offended that we would even make the suggestion that she had made another mistake. We walked over to the bucket after she had made this assertion and confirmed for ourselves that we weren't crazy, there was only one bottle in the chilling bucket. Again, instead of apologizing, she treated us like the bad guys here. She basically drove us out of the restaurant when we brought it up again.

It's a shame, because the rest of the staff was friendly and the food was good. Too bad her service was the worst anyone in our party has experienced in their memory. She should seriously reconsider having a career in the...

One of the best dinners we had on our trip to Beaune. If you visit, let this place serve as a capstone to a wonderful time in the city.

From the start, the service was incredibly warm and enthusiastic. The people are professional and seem to genuinely enjoy giving us a good time.

The upscale, bistro-style dishes were delicious and inventive. The dessert trolley was also a nice touch. Oeufs meurette with a twist, deliciously melt-in-your-mouth Charolais beef and a hazelnut-forward entremet were some of the highlights of the menu.

The Belen burger is more than worth it at 35 euros; it features a variety of local, hand-picked ingredients. It tasted like the essence of the area between two burger buns; supremely wonderful.

The selection of local wines by the glass blew us away; we had lots of fun trying some standout Burgundy wines, without having to buy a whole bottle. A top-notch wine list and great recommendations from the team.

Great from start to finish!

P.S. Our dog was...