Bluebird — Restaurant in Chapel Hill

4.5/5 stars. Lovely rustic-farmhouse vibe restaurant. Can get a good entree / appetizer combo for $50ish. Incredible (!!!) service — servers are amazingly knowledgeable and friendly and on top of their customers. If you like to be treated well, I think BlueBird does a fantastic job. They are also good conversationalists and helpful when navigating the menu.

The food was really nice and for lack of a better word “non-controversial.” Classic flavours and good options. Food didn’t feel innovative; more of a classic-elevated feeling. This is a good place for almost “neutral” but solid food, good service, and a nice atmosphere.

On a Thursday night, it was busy but not packed. A reservation could be wise. The dining room is nice, clean, and the aforementioned adjective of rustic. I think the lighting could be dimmed 30%— it was a bit too bright. Also, open-concept kitchen which is a nice touch.

Food highlights: Scallops !!! The sauce was incredible. -The veggie medley under the MP fish. The fish was fine (a bit dry) but whatever they did to the veg was fantastic Cauliflower soup Beet salad Fries were quite good French onion soup is nice, too much cheese. Half portion is a really good size! crème brûlée!!! SO good The pear dessert dish. Amazing. Amazing !!!

Food comments: do not think the cheese platter is worth it… (crackers are very basic, only 3 cheeses, etc) Crispy chicken was good, just a bit dry Salmon tartare starter was very simple. Salmon with crackers. Again, think they could up their cracker game. Maybe not an $18 value item. Was not a fan of beef tartare crepe was tough / rubbery and not particularly good. Would not order

Picky bit: waiter recommended two salads and they were very very similar. (Lyonnaise and beet). Also, the scallops came with a similar salad. I think the diversity of the order especially for a family-style table could be better recommended.

Wine pairing was super nice! Dessert wine pairing was INCREDIBLE! 😊 French 75 cocktail was pretty nice too (a bit strong) - 8/10.

Overall, solid spot, good service, would be great for a function (birthday, celebration, graduation). Service and wine-pairing done fabulously. Scallops / Market Price Fish were delicious. Can probably skip the appetizers and instead go for a soup-entree-dessert combination. Bonus points for the little puzzle on the menu!

I know they serve breakfast here. I have a feeling breakfast...

I had very high expectations going into this restaurant, which disappointingly weren’t satisfied. Environment is very “trendy aesthetic,” if you’re going for that Instagram look. Staff is very young, wearing not specific dress code. Just hap-hazardly ponytail and sweatshirt & sneakers… was expecting some sort of uniform for the priciness of this restaurant. Our waitress even dished to us that the chef isn’t even French 😬… big red flag off the bat if you’re looking for an authentic French experience.

Waitress put baguette and butter on table. Person I was dining with asked if they had GF, which she said no. This restaurant is not friendly for gluten/dairy sensitivities and it seems they are pretty loose if something is/isn’t. Began meal w/ market salad ($10) which was literally just a small pile of lettuce with only a bit of a wine vinegar (that they called Julia child’s?!?!) No flavor, and nothing to counterbalance the bitter tasting lettuce. I’ve had multiple market salads (even some for less $) that have way better flavor than that. I ordered the MP Haddock which said it had truffle on it. Reference the photo and you will see NO truffle. No flavor of truffle, either. The delicate fish was served over a very, very rich Gruyère sauce (which mind you, wasn’t in the description so if you’re dairy free, please take note.) The richness of the cheesy sauce was WAY too overpowering for the delicate fish. Neither me nor the other guest I was dining with ate much of it. Got a stomach ache after meal from it…. Since I was practically only eating the fish, I decided to order their frites. Took ~10 mins to come out (which wasn’t too bad, regarding the restaurant was almost full at this point.) Everyone at the table agreed they were WAYY over salted, which made it extremely hard to even enjoy. Served with ketchup and mayo.

SIDE NOTE the manager was a little too disruptive, as he kept coming to our table, trying to have conversation and make jokes (which we were just trying to enjoy our own meal), which was a bit frustrating…

Didn’t get any desert because we weren’t impressed at all, so why spend more money???😐

~$50 pp, could spend similar in NYC and experience a truly authentic French meal. This is definitely catering to the average American palette that has no sense of a quality...

We visited Bluebird for a friend's birthday. I was familiar with Chef Sharp's other location Hawthorne & Wood and have followed his work for a while, so I was super excited to hear about this new restaurant.

The atmosphere was beautiful although the restaurant itself was rather hot, granted the high for the day was 99 degrees and were sat by the window. You have a beautiful view of the back of house where you can see the food being prepared by Chef Sharp's brigade of talented cooks.

The service was good, I found it rather odd that a water pitcher was left at the table to refill our water glasses at will, but a server or manager came around every 2-3 minutes to refill my water for me. I found it almost interrupting at times, but I do appreciate the eagerness for hospitality. Although, the staff was always kind and rather funny! Our server (woman with red or brown? curly, you were awesome by the way) was attentive and charismatic.

I had the Assiette de Fromage & Entrecôte de Porc, both which were delicious. That chop was cooked perfectly! As for dessert I had the Marquise de Chocolat. A decent mousse, the maldon salt on top really did it for me. I would've liked to see a couple of more dessert options rather than the 3, but if you ask me definitely go for the Financier. That sauce was to die for.

Unfortunately, my I.D was declined due to it being a foreign one and I guess my appearance of under 21. While I do look rather young when freshly shaved, I didn't quite understand why they simply refused to properly look at it more than the one time our server did. I've never had my I.D refused anywhere but here regardless of the country it's from. I was rather annoyed by it but no need to make a big deal of it. I figured to include this portion in case anyone else rather young and a not native to the U.S is looking to eat here. Perhaps a passport would've...