Bernadette — Restaurant in Salem

Boston Globe called this restaurant spectacular...we do not agree. Parking situation impossible. Restaurant extremely noisy. Food over spiced. We were there for one hour and 20 minutes. Our waitress named Kelly, after taking our order, disappeared. We had to flag down bus girl with the armed tattoos to get Kelly to come back to our table. Every request for anything...salt, our check...took way tooo much time. Ordered the most expensive dish on the menu, ribeye steak, and we were told it was ala cart, which is ok. Naturally one likes to have mash potatoes with one's steak so we noticed that on the beef bourguignon the mashed potatoes were available and there were potatoes in the salad frisee that had the egg. So when I asked the waitress, Kelly if we could purchase a side order of mashed potatoes, she responded that the chef is adamant that you cannot get mashed potatoes because they are accounted for with each beef bourguignon order. So we decided to order the beef bourguignon (in addition to our steak and pay full price) because they have potatoes and ask the waitress to keep the beef bourguignon in the kitchen but just give us the potatoes but alas she never came back. She would look to the left, to the right and in our direction but never directly at us, even though we were waving our hands to get her attention. Boston Globe should fire its restaurant reviewer and...

I had been told by several people that I had to try Bernadette, so I went last week with a friend who was visiting. The space is absolutely lovely, and the staff was truly helpful and kind. I received my rhubarb-based bourbon cocktail, and I will give my props for an utterly delicious drink. That is about where the props end, though. We were heavily driven by our waiter towards the small fried ravioli app and the side of fries, neither of which wowed us. The raviolis were fried well, but almost tasteless and begged for acid. The fries were nothing special as they weren’t super crispy and the “garlic” aioli lacked garlic. Our chicken liver pate was probably our favorite dish, but it was served with a singular piece of toasted sourdough…stingy and silly. I had the swordfish, and my friend had the risotto, both were woefully under-seasoned. The swordfish was otherwise ok but the fish itself was tougher to the cut than I was used to. The risotto was far too tight and very heavy. We had read about their pastry chef and decided to order dessert despite our lackluster meal. The Paris Brest sounded delicious, and the rhubarb compote and crunch topping were quite good. The mousseline, however, was broken…I was a little shocked it was even served. Overall, a very underwhelming experience for the price. I most likely will...

Went on opening night and had an incredible time. We’ve eaten at Settler twice and had fantastic experiences. Bernadette brings the same inviting and sophisticated feeling without being snooty. The interior is meticulously decorated and the lightning is a good level. Our servers were so attentive and talkative in a way which was very comfortable. Hard to believe it was opening night because the rhythm of service didn’t skip a beat. My wife and I each had 2 cocktails and were very impressed. I could have had an IV of mine which was a coconut rum drink. Very creative and tasty. The sourdough is hands down the best I’ve had. For food, we shared the Gougères (delicious puffs with cheese), endive salad, & clams. The Gougères were mind blowingly good. The endive salad was texturally creative and the flavors came together very well. Clams hit the spot, though a bit pricey. I got the beef cheek and my wife got the chicken. Both had amazing flavor and were perfectly cooked. We shared a dessert. Overall, the quality of the food matches the price point. We wanted to try as much as we could on opening night but honestly we were too full. We spent a little more per person than at Settler but we think it was worth it. Both places are a special occasion type of place. Everything was just so good. Looking forward...