Maison Blanche — Restaurant in Longboat Key

De and I visited on the Thursday night before Christmas after a great night out for the Sarasota Orchestra.

The menu is prix fixe. For $85 each diner receives an appetizer, entree and dessert. In addition there is excellent bread which is complimentary and a delightful cheese pastry served before the appetizer. It is way too much food, but the price is extremely reasonable.

De ordered a glass of Cabernet. It was $11.

Our server was great. I am embarrassed not to have gotten her name. She was there just enough. Once I was low in water. I looked up to see if she were nearby and she was walking towards me with water. Really on the ball.

She brought us each two rolls. One was biscuit like in appearance. It was light and flaky with a delightful crusty outer layer.

The other looked like a dense croissant. It was chewy and very slightly sweet.

We ordered mushroom ravioli and grilled octopus as our appetizers.

The ravioli was my favorite part of the meal. Perfect texture, rich filling, light and flavorful sauce and some crunchy little bits.

The pulpo was excellent. Tender and moist with just a touch of char for texture and smoky flavor. A nice sauce as well.

As entrees we chose the short ribs and the red snapper. Both were outstanding. The meet was flaky and tender with tremendous flavor and just a bit of chew.

The fish was served with “crushed potatoes,” a new one in me and very delicious. The fish was tender and had a good heft to it. The sauce was light and sweet.

We should have been done but it would have been disrespectful to the chef to ship dessert.

The diners next to us each ordered a chocolate soufflé which I thought was ambitious. They looked to be pushing eighty and in better shape than us so more power to them.

We ordered one along with the ice cream.

There were five or more appetizers, about the same number of entrees and a whole page of desserts to choose from. A couple of items involved an up charge. We stuck with the included items and they were great.

Anyway, the soufflé was stupid. So good. We chose chocolate vanilla and coconut ice cream. A better choice would have been skip the chocolate and get two coconuts or even skip vanilla and triple up. The chocolate ice cream was good but overpowered by the soufflé. My fault.

We ate it all. We ate a lot. De had two pieces of bread. I had four. We ate all of both appetizers and all of the dessert. We ate about 2/3 of the entrees and took the rest home.

I had a machiato after all of that because why not. It was great and came with a chocolate truffle. None of that was left behind.

A complete pigfest. But oh so good.

The machiato was $5.50. Like I said, very reasonable. Two dinners a glass of wine and a coffee. Way more than we normally eat. Top tier quality. Great service. Under $200 pre tip.

We tipped a lot.

Go here. Enjoy. Tip like you mean...

We were on a quick get away to LBK from Atlanta. I love French restaurants! After a thorough google search I found Maison Blanche which was 1 mile from our condo. What a treasure!! Gorgeously decorated dining room with impeccable service and thoughtfully and skilled execution of the dishes offered. It was a true culinary experience. I started with the Frichasse Lobster appetizer which was comparable to an entre at most other restaurants. It never ceases to amaze me how light and delightful the cream butter sauce is fashioned by a true French chef. A skill I have never been able to master. It was a delicable delight! My husband chose the blue crab wrapped in avocado. Again it was quite large, fresh and beautiful! This restaurant is a true dining experience, so no rushing. Our next course, i chose the grilled sea bass on a bed of spinach, again with the most wonderful lemon butter garlic sauce! I highly recommend. My husband chose the baked grouper with potatoes. Also a light delicious sauce. For dessert I went with the chocolate souffle, one of my favorites. It was dense and light all at the same time and very chocolate served with rich cream. My husband got the apple tart- a French pastry fit for a king! We both loved it too. They ended to meal with a little chocolate truffle glazed with raspberry. Such a nice touch. Anyway, we have visited French restaurants all over the world and this little gem should not be missed! We met the chef/owner. They've been in business 23 years, so don't wait, lest he decides to retire. Also, all the wait staff is also French, such a wonderful cultural...

I was so excited to go to a nice French restaurant on Longboat Key. I made reservations weeks in advance. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. I came home after the worst dinner I’ve had in years and looked at the reviews and was astonished to see any (let alone so many) positive reviews and not one negative one. This place markets itself as a French restaurant and it is as far from one as a road side diner is. Not one classic French dish in site on the limited menu. Food is priced like a high end restaurant and the plates of food simply don’t match up. Everything was undercooked , over-sauced and the Chef tried way to hard to be “different”. The staff did thier best , but are far from seasoned. It felt as though everyone (including the Chef) tried desperately to pretend that this was a fancy French restaurant and fell terribly and tragically short. It was all so terrible that when it came time to choose the included dessert I relictinatley asked the waiter to choose the item that would be best executed by the chef to which it seemed he recommended a “reinvented” apple tart (which he described as more of a crumble). It was inedible. Overly sweet apples atop a glue like tart served with a side of heavy whipped cream flavored with honey. Just I excusable. Total disappointment. If you like French food , or want a nice dinner , prepared fresh - skip this place. We received our appetizers and entrees less than five minutes after we ordered. Things were clearly...