Libelula — Restaurant in Fresno

My husband and I are visiting here long term and today was my second visit. The first was last week for lunch, which was pretty darn delicious. Mostly, the food today was good. This is a good location on the edge of downtown with easy access to metered street parking, and it seems like the chef/owner is wanting to make a name for himself in the Fresno food scene. We give high marks for the desire to bring good food to mediocre Fresno.

This is a breakfast/lunch spot. The first order of the day when it comes to breakfast is coffee. The coffee was so weak it tasted like water. The second cup from a fresh pot was a little better, but also quite bitter. Honestly, they could do better with the coffee... That's the huge profit maker in a restaurant so I don't understand why they don't A) offer better or more coffee options, and B) use a better quality coffee as a first offering to breakfast customers. The Eggs Benedict was passable - the poached eggs and hollandaise sauce were impeccably executed and on point, but the pork (or was it chicken??) was flavorless and tough to chew. Perhaps a marinade for the meat is in order if you're going to sub for traditional ham/Canadian bacon? It would be nice to have the choice to be gluten free. Glutino makes a nice GF English muffin that can be kept in the freezer until needed. (Just a suggestion to open the menu to more people who have food sensitivities.) Also, I find it odd that such nice presentations and flavor combinations met with an inability to make an over easy egg. The over easy eggs were ordered as a side to the bread pudding french toast, which was moist and tasty, but needed more flavor - cinnamon was way to light. The eggs were just plain rubbery. I mean, c'mon, over easy eggs aren't rocket science and if a truck stop can get them right - how much more so should one be able to execute them when charging such grandiose prices? I mean, I'm not opposed to paying high prices for well executed meals. My husband and I are foodies and we don't cheat our stomachs so when we pay $60 for breakfast we expect to be more than just satisfied with it. We want to be able to rave about it. Another issue we had with this venue was the dirt. We get the concept of "grunge meets downtown eclectic artists" that Libelula seems to be shooting for. However, dirty walls and thick dirt and nasty fingerprint smears on the windows was a bit much. It didn't give a feeling that one could trust the cleanliness of the kitchen. One shouldn't have to question that when eating out.

All in all, the presentation was amazing, the food could use better execution, the flavor combinations were good. We will give this place one more try and hope that the cleanliness has...

I was really surprised when I found out this place has been open for over six years! I have a lot of catching up to do. The menu has so many things to try, it’s hard to decide what to eat. But it’s just down the street from my house, so I will be trying lots of different things on the menu.

Today I tried the bone marrow stroganoff. They said they didn’t have the bone for the side, so they took $4 off my bill, which was nice. I didn’t mind at all because the food was so good. The first bite was amazing. Everything was cooked perfectly. Now it’s been a few hours later and I just finished my leftovers. I can’t wait to go back—probably tomorrow! I even added back the $4 as a tip because it was that good.

My partner got the butternut bacon risotto. It was one of the best risottos we’ve had in the U.S. The best risotto I’ve ever had was in Greece, but this one was a very close second.

We also had their special water. It tasted great and wasn’t too sweet. The server was super nice and took really good care of us. The atmosphere was awesome, with good music and good food. This place is a hidden gem.

At the end, we got cute stickers and I liked them so much I’m thinking of getting one as a tattoo! 😝 We also ordered the rice pudding for dessert before we left, and it was SO...

Do not get the strawberry fennel salad - kale was old with yellowing and dotted pieces in salad. The kale was too hard and included the ribs, so was not properly prepared for a salad. The kale should be dressed and rubbed to make it chewable and it was not. The avocado was chopped in little pieces and unripe. So, hard little pieces of avocado and a labor to pick out. Very few strawberries to kale ratio. This is supposed to be a strawberry and fennel salad and the ratio was not that. The salad dressing was basically and probably only a whole grain mustard. This is such a disappointment. I was supposed to go Friday with work friends and after Instagram messaging Libelula with no response, I will tell my coworkers tomorrow not to go, because the food is not a chef quality product. My partner and I wanted to try dinner and now we won't. It wasn't a lame salad or boring, but not eatable and bad. It is still sitting in my work fridge and I will throw it out tomorrow, because it can't be salvaged. $15 bucks plus tip down the drain paid by an office assistant that is new to town. Libelula, a chef owned and driven restaurant is what we seek out and are used to where we come from. That salad was garbage and shouldn't have left...