Bijou Garden Cafe — Restaurant in Sarasota

We took a long weekend to visit Sarasota for the 4th of July weekend. We found this jewel of a restaurant that is called, coincidentally, Bijoux Garden Café (French for jewel). Walking towards the restaurant situated on the corner of 2 converging narrow streets downtown Sarasota, Bijoux looks like a very quaint charming litt’l neighborhood abode with tons of French windows. But it’s not a French restaurant – it is more like a gastronomic United Nations International venue. Upon entering the lobby, an elegant décor warmly welcomes you into three bright dining areas. We were early to our reservation, so we sat at the bar enjoying some exotic elixir specials carefully prepared by Lisa.

At our appointment hour, the Maitre’D, Donny, came to us to tell us our table was ready. He noticed that we hadn’t finished our drinks. Without applying any pressure on us, he suggested that we either take our drinks to the table or simply finish them at the bar assuring us that our table will be waiting for us. We finished our drinks, settled with Lisa and went to our table. Grayson, our server introduced himself, presented us the menu, and explained each dish with great enthusiasm (Grayson has been serving Bijoux’s patrons for 22 years, so he told us during serving). After the menu recital, we asked him about the special. He proudly replied with an assured smile “Every single item on our menu is SPECIAL”. In my mind, it was the correct answer. And boy was he right. We started off with a gazpacho soup like no other: a composition of freshly roasted tomatillo, cucumber, and avocado slightly elevated with apple cider. The fragrance was exhilarating and the taste was sweetly divine: a roasted artichoke Mediterranean salad was the perfect intermezzo to lead us to our entrees. A perfectly broiled NY strip, medium tender and moist, with pomme frites ( French fries), and a boneless pork chop prepared to perfection and topped with peach chutney with sautéed fennel and onions. We were too stuffed for dessert.

We live in Fort Lauderdale and we need a Bijoux in...

I was looking forward to a great family dinner at Bijou to celebrate my parents’ wedding anniversary. Unfortunately the experience was very, very disappointing. I made a reservation on their outdoor patio for the 6 of us. We did have to wait about 15 minutes for the table, which wasn’t a big deal. However once we were seated, no one came to offer drinks or water for 10 minutes. Throughout the evening we had three or four different servers who seemed to always forget about us.

After receiving drinks, it took another 10 minutes for someone to offer to take our appetizer order. The same thing happened when it came to ordering entrees. The appetizers were all quite good, and we were looking forward to the entrees. A couple of times drink orders were forgotten or took much too long to arrive at the table. Two of us ordered the N.Y. strip which were close to inedible. One was medium, the other medium-rare and our steak knives could barely saw through the meat. (They were out of the filet mignon that night). It was extremely disappointing as a restaurant of this caliber should deliver high-quality steaks. However, the Brussels sprouts and potato dauphinois were good. However it took ages to have our plates cleared and to order dessert. I had told the restaurant it was a special occasion and nothing was done to celebrate. Again, we waited forever for the check. The staff was busy stacking all the empty tables and chairs around us as we were the last table seated.

The service was extremely lacking during this visit, as was our overall experience. Despite the two steaks being taken off the bill, management didn’t seem very concerned or attentive to their customers’ dining experiences. With all the restaurant competition in Sarasota you would expect better customer service. We will not...

My wife and I had reservations here for her 31st bday, we are locals and always walk by this place but have never gone, so we decided to try it out.

When we arrived, we where warmly greeted and told that our table wasn't ready just yet but were escorted to some seats at the bar to have a drink. We enjoyed a nice cocktail and within 15 minutes our table was ready.

Our server was incredibly friendly and knowledgeable of the menu, we did the 3-course meal special they had going on and everything came out perfect. I had the lamb shank and it was PERFECT, absolutely no complaints.

We were presented with candles along with our desert. It set the mood perfectly and just felt like they went the extra step which just about everything they did there.

We are a fairly young couple and we've always walked by this place. We've noticed a lot of older people typically in there and much more "fancy" than anything we are accustom too but it's not "snobby" at all. It's a tad pricier compared to most places but it's absolutely worth it, not a place you'd go to every week but definitely a place for a special occasion.

Very nice dining room, we didn't think it was that outdated or old looking at all, just a bit dark but other than that the service and food were top-notch and we'd definitely go again for a...