Bistro St Germain — Restaurant in Seal Beach

Do not come if gluten-free or celiac. Was told they cannot make a single food item on the menu gluten-free, even modified. Including salads. Even the “green salad”. This place has no idea what gluten is - clearly behind the times and doesn’t care about people with serious gluten intolerance or worse allergy.

*Adding below details of our experience after receiving a response from the owner that I was "forgetting to mention that you refused our salad with grilled salmon or grilled steak".

We asked what could be made gluten-free when we first sat down. The waitress was friendly about it and tried to help; she went to the kitchen and reported back that the only gluten-free item on the menu was the Boeuf Bourguignon. This is a dish that commonly uses flour as a thickener in most recipes, so it seemed strange that this was gluten-free, but not any of the grilled meat dishes, or the Cobb Salad. We asked her to double-check with the kitchen. Then she returned and said, actually the Boeuf Bourguignon does use flour... Thank goodness we didn't just take the wait staff at their word!

We asked her to make one more trip and come back with a list of what could be modified gluten-free (we really wanted to enjoy a meal here). That's when she returned and said that all their meat dishes aren't gluten-free because they cook them in a flour coating. But she did say they have a salad that can have beef or salmon added. However, she said it's the same meat as the other meat dishes, cooked the same way. At this point, it was unclear if this was actually gluten-free or not. So yes, I refused the salad with grilled steak or grilled salmon after this back-and-forth.

The confused wait staff and responses from the kitchen, and the fact that they first recommended a dish with flour as a main ingredient, should tell any gluten-conscious person to stay away. Hopefully this place learns how to modify a few dishes to accommodate gluten-intolerance, celiac and allergies, and trains their staff on this. In the meantime, I hope gluten-conscious diners find this review and know...

It's been too long since our last visit to St. Germain. It's Friday and we needed to go out for brunch. And I like Seal Beach just because it's a nice Friday, close to home, and perfect weather for a walk

Husband and I opted for Bistro St. Germain. As we stepped in, the chill jazzified pop cover songs play in the background. (We love and respect a good playlist! helps the digestion of food)

We shared:

Seared Ahi salad nicoise - eat your veggies kids! greens, cucumbers, green beans, potato, boiled egg slices, olives, red onions, capers, anchovies, vinaigrette

Baked honey goat cheese - comes with a basket of baguette slices

Pork Belly lollipop - glazed with hoisin honey sauce Yum!

Tangerine, Wheat 5.5% for me - refreshiing.

Kronenberg 1664 5% for him

And a glass of E. Guigal Cote du Rhone, Red Blend - 50% Syrah, 40% Grenache, 10% Mourvedre (Monastrell) - Yup yup, we had to. There's no going around since we ordred the cheese after the beer. lol.

Espresso for both. And we like it with a little milk.

And the pièce the résistance, their market next door! Every girl loves a good shopping spree. Super cute items from tablecloths and tableware to pâté and wine. You will find an array of French (and European) products. Guarantee you will walk out with a little gift bag of goodies for yourself. A perfect place to shop for special occasions too.

Oh and the menu/placemat - this is a great idea. There is nothing worse than dealing with a sticky menu! Much more sanitary :)

Service is super friendly and polite too. You will walk out as satisfied as you walked in.

à...

Horrible, horrible, horrible. My wife and I went to eat there for the second time, first time we had a wonderful time and a we had a friendly and helpful waitress. The second time was completely different. We we’re treated very badly, our table was given to Some other customers that were already sitting at their table but decided to take our table even though the hostess offered it to us. It wasn’t so much about the table but about someone was able to take our table because they wanted it. I asked to speak with the manager to let him know why I we would not be back he said “ if you are not going to come back why would I cater to you “ he told me this after he decided to give the other customers our table. Then he tried to make the claim that I was yelling at his staff! The hostess did not tell the other customers that she offered us the table and we accepted. So it seems at this establishment anyone can take away another customers table if they want. So we were insulted and treated like dirt. I asked for the owners phone number, hopefully he will be helpful. Shame on them and their Manager Armand for allowing this to happen. I will also post my review on yelp. Food is delicious service is horrible. I would like to edit my review. After reading some yelp reviews recently regarding this restaurant, it appears others have had issues because of the color of their skin, now it makes sense why I was treated to...