Left Bank Brasserie - Santana Row — Restaurant in San Jose

This is the first time we went to Left Bank for dinner. We've been here a few times for brunch and that was always delicious. We brought our cousin to dinner on a Thursday evening around 630pm and 2/3 of the tables were filled. I was not impressed with our host. Not sure if he was having a bad day but he didn't engage, didn't smile, and seemed like he didn't want to be there. All throughout dinner he walked passed us escorting customers to their tables with that same attitude. It's a shame because the servers, waiters, and even the bus boy had positive attitudes and just friendly. Anyway, we ordered cocktails first. I ordered the Rue Cler which had a peach vodka, apple juice, basil, lime and agave. It came in a champagne saucer and the cocktail was green with little specks of basil or lime zest. The drink was delicious. Sweet, refreshing but still able to taste the vodka. The other cocktail was the Sour Derby which had bourbon, grapefruit, honey, and Merlot. That came in a cocktail glass and the cocktail was orangey with a burgundy puddle floating on top. It looked awesome and our cousin really enjoyed it. Hubby ordered the Oban single malt whiskey that came in a brandy snifter. I had a tiny sip and it was really smokey with a hint of either honey or fruity sweetness. We ordered the filet mignon steak tartar for our appetizer. 5 pieces of toasted baguette that's cut on a bias. The tartar had a raw quail egg yolk on top. On the side of the dish were chopped shallots, capers and a dollop of dijon mustard. It was delicious! The steak was super tender and meaty. Hubby had fun customizing each bite with various condiments on top. I liked a little bit of fresh cracked pepper to cut the meatiness of the tartar. For our entree we ordered a ribeye (medium rare) with pomme frites, half pound of Florentine mussels, and the Thursday night special of beef bourguignon. Ribeye was a perfect medium rare. It was so tender, rich, juicy and full flavored. The au poivre, French pepper sauce came on the side in a gravy boat. It was so velvety and luscious. I like that I can choose to have the steak with or without sauce; being able to dunk the steak in the sauce on one bite but not the next. The pomme frites were piping hot. Thin, crispy well-seasoned fries that's soft and creamy in the center. Well worth the $35. Half pound of mussel ($15 vs full lb was $20). Florentine style had white wine, spinach, garlic, shallot, butter. Each mussel was pump and juicy, not overcooked or chewy. I only encountered one mussel that tasted muddy. Half a slice of grilled country bread came with the mussel and that was not definitely enough to sop up the delicious sauce. We had to make adjustments to the beef bourguginon because there were lardon pieces in the dish and hubby had given up pork for lent. The beef short rib was so tender that it tore apart with just a light pressure on the fork. It had carrots, mushrooms, little pearl onions and fingerling potatoes. Every thing was swimming in a rich velvet brown sauce. You know this is a good French bistro when they can make a good sauce! In fact, we dipped the fries into the sauce so that the sauce didn't go to waste. Somehow, we managed to stuff our faces with dessert. We had the crème brulee and the honey blueberry almond financiers. Creme brulee is what you imagine it to be. Creamy custard with a bruleed sugar top. One single raspberry as a garnish. The honey blueberry almond financier is an almond flavored cake with blueberries (think of a sophisticated blueberry muffin). There was a blueberry compote with a dollop of Chantilly cream on the side. I would appreciate this dessert even more if I was not so stuffed. It was not overly sweet. The compote was a little tart so it cuts the sweetness of the cake. It is a denser cake but the lightness of the Chantilly cream just made it a perfect bite. At the end of the day, we all felt very gluttonous but man was...

My wife and I have eaten at the Left Bank many times since I posted my first review 15 months ago, so I think that an update is long overdue.

She usually orders her favorite brasserie fare, Moules Frites. A bowl of tender PEI mussels with spinach steamed in white wine and Pernod garlic butter, served with a large cone of fries, is more than satisfying for lunch. The mussels have always been plump and perfectly cooked and she claims that she could enjoy the broth as a soup!

I tried the Lamb Sandwich on our most recent visit. It’s made with slices of an herb-marinated leg of lamb served on a soft bun with basil, roasted peppers, aioli, tapenade, and arugula salad. The lamb was tender and juicy and the sandwich was flavorful even without the aioli and tapenade.

The only downside this time was the side order of bread. Unfortunately, they’ve replaced the basket of assorted artisan dinner rolls with a chunk of Acme levin bread. Even though Acme is a good brand, we found that the bread was dry and tasteless and definitely not worth $5.

Service was good, but don’t expect to eat and run. We like to linger for a while on the patio with a carafe or bottle of wine and enjoy some people watching.

I continue to recommend Left Bank whenever you’re in the mood for classic French bistro fare.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: 10/20/2021 Across the river from the sophisticated center of high culture, the left bank was the Greenwich Village of Paris where free-spirited citizens gathered to enjoy life. They’d probably scoff at the manufactured charm of a replicated French brasserie like the Left Bank at Santana Row, but I’m sure they’d enjoy the food. We loved it!

We started by sharing the Salad Verte; just fresh butter lettuce tossed with shallots, herbs, and Dijon vinaigrette and topped with a few slices of watermelon radish. Sometimes, simple is best! It’s a huge serving (enough for two). We added the artisan bread basket of assorted dinner rolls which we thought was worth the $5 price.

My wife ordered one of her favorite French dishes, the classic Moules Frites, mussels and spinach steamed in white wine and garlic. A half pound was more than enough for her and she enjoyed every bite.

I chose another brasserie classic, the Steak Frites. It’s an eight ounce grilled skirt steak served with your choice of three sauces. I prefer to skip the sauce so that I can actually taste the meat, which was tender, flavorful, and juicy. I ordered medium rare but it arrived a little closer to medium than rare.

Dessert was the highlight of our meal. We shared a Café Liégeois, which is the French version of Affogato (gelato “drowned” in espresso). It’s a tall sundae glass filled with vanilla ice cream, fresh whipped cream, and chocolate syrup served with a tiny pitcher of espresso which you pour over the top. Amazing!

It was a warm sunny day so we had lunch outside on the large patio in front. It’s a great spot for people watching. We’ll definitely be back...

It’s a chain, which I didn’t know going in, or I would have skipped it. The place is nice enough, and I purposefully went at a time when it would be quiet. Initial server brought me some white wine when I’d ordered red (anyone who’s familiar with my reviews knows I only drink red), they argued with me saying that I asked for white wine. Sooooo, finally got that sorted, which took an extra person helping her to get me the red wine I ordered.

Also ordered Onion Soup - of course I did, it’s a French place. Campbells could have done better with it. First, it was boiling, and I mean boiling - which is a huge no-no with any soup (also can see another McDs style lawsuit coming). Second, the onions weren’t even really caramelized - it’s like the second they started getting color, they were yanked off the heat and flung into some boiling water. It had little, likely no, seasoning, and I’m unsure was “broth” was in it, but it wasn’t really beef….nor did it really taste of anything, except barely sweated/clarified onion. I sent it back.

“A Taste of Provence” was a thing there at the time, so I of course ordered the lamb. It was supposed to be slow braised with chanterelles, aromatics and herbs de provence. The braised lamb was well cooked and could be flaked with a paper fork - but had no taste, and almost no Chanterelles except for 3 sad pieces cut from a whole: Again, NO seasoning (Gordo - “Where’s the seasoning??!! Where’s the standards??!!);

The herbs de provence was dusted raw onto the top of the lamb portion before serving;

And probably the most egregious: Someone boiled the Chanterelles in with the carrots - in plain water (and still no seasoning), so those delicious, buttery Chanterelles tasted just like plain a$$ boiled carrots you hated having to eat when done by the worst cook in the family.

There were a few mostly raw fingerling potatoes on the plate that someone gave a lick and a promise, but I skipped those altogether as by this time I was almost crying over my sad, sad, plate of utterly disrespected food.

One of the managers caught the tragedy out of the corner of his eye, asked me for the rundown, and was as embarrassed as I was for the kitchen. He said he’d do what was necessary to get the tragedy of errors in order and asked me to return. I told him I will, but it won’t be right away. I’ll wait and see if they get...