Bon Bon! — Restaurant in Lawrence

6 years ago bon bon was something pretty special and unique in the culinary scene for scene for Lawrence, Ks. However let me regale you with my most recent visit. 11-10 -23 My wife and I agonized over where we should go for dinner for my 51th birthday to celebrate with close friends, a friend of mine mentioned bonbon had reopened after an extended period of being closed we thought this would be a great opportunity to check out what they were doing in the culinary world. We made our reservation online for 8 people which requires securing it with a credit card and informs you of the automatic fee of 7% for "sustainability" for their staff members. Both of these things were a little off-putting right off the bat! We arrived early just a few minutes and informed The Host that the remainder of our party would be arriving shortly and that the party had grown to 10 people and if they would be able to accommodate that. She assured me they would do everything possible to accommodate our two additional guests that it would be no trouble. We were seated, we explained to our server our remaining guests would be arriving and we would like to go ahead and order drinks and several appetizers for the 5 of us as we waited the arrival of our other friends over the next 15 minutes. The entire time our server seemed annoyed less than helpful, she didn't bother with any of the normal pleasantries in the initial seating. Rather than making any type of suggestion whatsoever she just hovered over us as we looked at the cocktail menu. Our initial order of drinks was great but after the second round they run out so we had to switch to a different selection which honestly just wasn't quite as good. Appetizers came out and they were pretty good, barring the raw flour taste on the chicken bites I suspect the fry oil is beyond its cooking life, you could also taste the oil on the tots. About this time the remainder of our guests arrive and everybody settles in for a good time. At this point our server seems irritated and unable to keep up with perhaps the responsibilities she has been given, at one point one of my friends has to actually go to the bar to get his own drink. Our entrees arrived for the table and everything really is pretty tasty, everything appears quite lovely my only complaint is the green peppercorns used in the duck espanol sauce is wildly overpowering and the backside of the duck is chewy and tough. I don't believe our server ever came back to ask how everything was even though we probably wouldn't have said anything. My best friend the executive Sous chef at restaurant 1900 comments to me the shrimp are grainy they are so woefully overcooked. Our server diligently almost aggressively clears our table as if to say get the hell out of here I need to turn this table and does not bother to inquire about any dessert offerings. I had to flag her down to ask for dessert menus. She almost missed an enormous opportunity to increase her check average dramatically as nearly every single person at the table orderd dessert. She probably could have sold after dinner drinks had she even given it a thought. I don't know maybe it's just the new era of bougie service?.. But I didn't feel welcome there I didn't feel wanted there and she generally just seemed annoyed with us through the entire experience. Even when we left we walked right past her and she didn't say a single damn word!! No hey thanks for coming in or have a good night or anything. It was just weird! My wife commented to me on the way home how uncomfortable she felt throughout the process and at one point while we were all settling up signing checks one of my friends actually said to me "Wow did she suck or what?" I felt uncomfortable I had to agree but it was an embarrassment on me as I was the host. I reached out to bon bon through Facebook Messenger as did my wife through the Google reservation app they use, and not a single word back, no response at all. It's amazing that one individual in your establishment can ruin the experience...

I have eaten from many food trucks, but never one that had a set-up like this. I loved their patio, the lights, and the bar. This restaurant is also dog-friendly; a few tables over, a lady had a Boston terrier tied to her chair. Later, my waitress even offered my service dog a dog treat. When my waitress arrived to take our drink order, I asked what sodas they had. She named off a list of regular fountain drinks, but when she mentioned a Jarrito, I stopped her. Jarrito’s are one of my favorite sodas, but I’ve only ever been able to order one at a Mexican restaurant. Just add this to one of the many reasons I fell in love with this restaurant. As I was sipping on my grapefruit flavored soda, I was having a hard time deciding what to order. The menu had a wide miscellanea of food ranging from American to Mexican to Japanese. I was struggling to decide between the cheesy tots, a taco salad, or something I had never had before, a Japanese style sandwich. When my waitress, dressed in a spunky skirt with vintage rings on every finger, arrived to take our order, I asked for any suggestions she had. I settled on the meal named Oko-Nomi-Yaki and my friend chose the chicken quesadilla, two of their most popular dishes. After taking a bite from each, I could tell why. The Oko-Nomi-Yaki is made up of udon noodles imbedded in a Japanese pancake, layered with caramelized shiitakes, cabbage, onions, bacon, and bonito flakes, finished with kewpie mayo and a Japanese BBQ sauce drizzled on top. The vast differences of textures and tastes seemed to blend together flawlessly. After each bite, my friend and I had nothing else to say other than the occasional, “mmm” and “wow.” After devouring this meal, we dug into the braised chicken quesadilla. The tortilla of the quesadilla was an impeccable balance between soft, but not soggy, with a slight crunch, and the perfect amount of butter. Inside, the Monterey Jack cheese was fully melted and the braised chicken was so tender and flavorful that it melted in my mouth. On top, cilantro, grilled pineapple, and a mild salsa pulled the whole quesadilla together. The ingredients on top added a freshness that enhanced it all. After this, my friend and I were again awestruck and found it hard to say anything other than, “this is incredible.” It was the best quesadilla I have ever had. In addition to the food, the atmosphere of Bon Bon heightened my experience. It was eccentric but also fostered a feeling of tranquility. In the background, a wide range of music (anything from folksy to mariachi) played and nothing but good vibes surrounded everyone. Laughter filled the air from the many adults and children running about. Bon Bon is the perfect restaurant to go to if you are in the mood for remarkable food, good company, and a charming setting. Also, I found the service to be top notch; I didn’t have to wait or ask on refills for my water, and two different people came over to ask how our experience was going. My waitress was kind and attentive. The food was somehow prepared quickly but faultlessly and arrived within fifteen minutes regardless that the restaurant was bustling with people. Looking back on my entire experience, Bon Bon has become one of my favorite restaurants in Lawrence. Bon Bon is a restaurant to be proud of. It definitely deserves the full four stars. Whenever I have someone visiting me, or something to celebrate, I know where I...

Bon Bon! What the heck was going on last Saturday? My husband and I came in for lunch. Asked to be seated on the patio. It was a nice lunch crowd. Didn't have to wait to be seated. Plenty of servers.

After 15 minutes, watching at least 3 servers walk past us multiple times serving other people around us, I finally got the attention of one of them and explained that we'd been there for 15 minutes with no service. So this server said "let me get you a server". So were your servers having a disagreement about who got what tables? Didn't work out so well for us. So a young man comes out (one of the ones we'd been watching serve other people around us), apologizes. Says there was a mix up. OK - it happens.

I had seen the specials board when we walked in but hadn't had time to process it all so I asked him what the specials were. He said "there really aren't any". Hmmmm. So I asked him what the rectangular plates were that I'd seen other people getting that I couldn't identify on the menu. "Oh" he said. "That must be the tomato platters. We must be serving those today.". Hmmmmm. So I asked him - did they come with cucumbers? Where those homemade pickles? "No", he said, "the soup of the day is cucumber soup." And that comes with whole slices of cucumber sticking up out of it? "Oh that's probably the cucumber salad". OK - we ordered the tomato plate (which wasn't on the menu yet wasn't a special???) and the cucumber salad and a couple of cocktails. We got the cocktails and when he dropped them off he said he'd comp them because of the mixup when we were seated. That was nice. So we were sitting there enjoying our cocktails and the beautiful day on the patio. He came back and asked if we knew what else we wanted so we ordered our entrees. Continued chatting, drinking, beautiful day. Then he brings us our entrees. "Can I get you anything else?". I said, we never got our appetizers. "Oh you wanted those? Oh I'm so sorry. I can go put those in now." No thanks.

The food was good. What we got anyway. I tipped what I always tip. Because you don't know what is going on with people. But think how much more of a tip he would have received had he brought us all the food we ordered. And then we probably would have ordered another cocktail. Anyway - Bon Bon is a great little place in Lawrence. We haven't written you off. But you have...