La Frite Belgian Bistro — Restaurant in San Antonio

Received a recommendation to try La Frite Belgian Bistro, so came out on a Friday night after making a reservation. Very nice, intimate restaurant in Southtown. Only about 15-20 tables and it keeps the experience very personal. Was immediately greeted at the door and seated with my reservation. Waiter came to explain their menu, daily specials, Prix Fixe offering, and wine selection. With that, started off with a bottle of Grand Cru Riesling, escargot, arugula salad, watermelon salad, mussels, and some frites. I had to try a little bit of everything since it was highly recommended. They also recommended placing the main meal orders at the same time so they could pace all the food out. I appreciated that as you didn't feel rushed and was able to enjoy each course.

Was able to enjoy all the appetizers over a glass of wine. Both salads were very light and refreshing. The mussels were probably my favorite. They were served in a mix of the Basque sauce and the Marinieres. It was a nice mix for the wine, shallots, garlic with a little heat of the pepper, chili, and paprika. The escargot was a close 2nd as it was served in a very flavorful butter sauce. All the appetizers were well-portioned and presented nicely.

For the main meals, had the lobster, Prix Fixe (lamb, scalloped potatoes, mixed veggies), rabbit two-way (daily special). The timing of food was perfect as had plenty of time to enjoy the appetizers with some wine. All were plated in an appealing manner. I can't say which was my favorite as all were really good. I had the lamb since there's limited options for lamb in San Antonio. It was cooked perfectly by being juicy and flavorful without the gamey taste. The lobster was nice large and meaty portions that were lightly breaded. I didn't get to try the rabbit, but they said it was very good. It must've been good as they forgot to share around the table.

For desserts, had the crème brulee, Belgian waffle, and floating island. All were good portions to share. The crème brulee had nice, hard caramelized top with a light, fluffy custard below. The Belgian waffle was my favorite as it had a nice balance of the dough topped with the sweetness of chocolate, sugar, cream, and strawberries. The floating island was a delicious meringue served on top of custard sauce.

This place was highly recommended and glad I listened. From the setting, service, food, and desserts, it was a great experience and I highly recommend to the...

The food at this place is very good. I have been a long time customer for this reason. However, their customer service today was aweful and the owners son's reaction to my complain was completely unacceptable. The waitress was new and clearly inexperienced. I wanted to notify the staff about her inadequacies so that they could address the issue. When I asked to speak with the acting manager, the owner's son, he was too busy drinking with other guests to speak with me. He was bothered by my request to converse with him and was unhappy I had a complaint to make and that my complaint interrupted his social visit. He was very disrespectful during my complaint and then accused me of yelling when I was not even upset, but desired to make my concerns known in a calm and respectful manner. He raised his voice to me and appeared to be intoxicated. The mistakes by the waitress we're frequent and consistent though out the entire meal. This is even more unfortunate because Icy is lovely and I regretfully cannot return to a resteraunt who treats their customers in this fashion. I wouldn't have said anything about the service except the waitress lied to the manager/son about the problems near enough to my table that I could hear her comments and her disrespect of me and my request that her mistake be corrected. She tried to blame me for the mistake, so I felt she needed to be informed that she should not make complaints about guests where the guests can hear. I waiting tables for 8 years to work my way through college and law school and so I am very familiar with the industry and have a great respect for their position. I wanted to be respectful and even help this young lady improve her ability to provide appropriate service. However, I was treated like a problem instead of a welcomed customer. I was there this afternoon because I was showing off the wonderful food to a visiting attorney I greatly respect and the treatment and situation was appalling. The wonderful experience I intended was ruined by the son's complete and total disrespect. I cannot even understand why I was treated so disrespectfully when all I wanted to do was point out politely a few things that they should go over with this clearly inexperienced waitress. I was honestly trying to be helpful. It is extremely sad, because I have experienced such wonderful service in the past from this young...

I didn't get the chance to visit La Frite while it was still a part of Vatel Group, but even under the new ownership it looks to be carrying its tradition of good eats well.

I ordered from the specials of the day, beginning with white bean soup that had a nice mirepoix base and bacon providing support to the beans. I found it a little under-salted, possibly due to a compensation for the bacon which never materialized. Nevertheless, enjoyable.

The restaurant prides itself on the fresh seafood. The tuna was what was on hand for the day, lending itself both to the tuna salad sandwich sandwich I ordered, as well as the Niçoise salad. Given the fresh fish, I would have liked my fillet to have been cooked a little less than the medium I received, but oh well. The fillets were served on a couple of toasted slices of their complementary fresh bread - which provided a tougher crust than I would have liked. It was augmented with a traditional coleslaw, which made it to be more like a deconstructed tuna salad, but I had no problems with this given the nice fillets.

The sandwich arrived with a side of greens and their famous frites. Despite the name, the homeland of the fry is Belgium, so any restaurant claiming this origin must have some top-notch fries. Even more so when you name the place after the foodstuff. The fries I received were up there with the best of them, cooked well and dusted with a light sprinkling of kosher salt.

The Donnellys may not have any previous experience running a restaurant, but when you maintain the high standards of food quality and reasonably-priced atmosphere, it doesn't really matter where...