La Belle Vie

04/09/09

not worth the money!!

by wakkocat

We are one of those couples who are not afraid to spend money on a wonderful dining experience once in a while or a special occasion. So for our anniversary we chose La belle vie. I would never come here again. For the amount of the money we spent one so little food, it is just not worth it. We had the chef's tasting menu with the wine. Service was good, food tasted good. But the portions should have been double for what it cost. There are so many other places we've been to that we kept wishing we were at last nite instead.

• Pros: taste of food, service
• Cons: very small portions, extremely over priced

01/22/09

Very disappointing

by tjhubers

The waiter was not knowledgable, pretentious and condescending. There were two of us there for dinner and each of us did a five course meal trying different items. With the reviews we have read we expected something wonderful and what we ate was VERY sub-par. These supposed "world renowned" chefs of Minneapolis should travel outside of this state to find out what good food is supposed to taste like. The waiter recommended the scallops to me telling me they were "the best scallops the chef has seen in 18 months". They were extremely gritty, I have had better scallops from Rainbow Foods. The entire experience was extremely disappointing. If you are serious about wanting a real fine dining experience, where the chef and the staff actually know what they are doing, I suggest making the drive to Chicago before wasting your time in La Belle Vie.

• Pros: I had a good martini
• Cons: Poor quality food, poor service

12/08/08

Terrible Experience. Poor Management

by docsid007

I am a self-avowed foodie and have eaten at some of the finest restaurants in the U.S. I have come to equate good food with good service. I had a horrible experience at this restaurant: I was in town for a friend's graduation and made a reservation for a party of 12 at La Belle Vie. I informed the manager there would be 3 children in the group. He promised to accommodate the group and alluded that our table would be in the main dining room.

Arriving at the restaurant, we found our table had been setup directly adjacent to a very crowded, noisy bar in the lounge. Literally, people at the bar were spilling over onto the table. I asked the manager if the table could be moved. He referred me to William Summerville, one of the proprietors of the restaurant. I explained the problem to him and asked for his help. He was brash and not helpful at all. His attitude was either take the table or leave He stated he was okay with the children eating at the loud bar. There was no apology. There was no acknowledgement of a problem. We took the table and ate as hurriedly as we could. None of the managers ever came to our table to apologize or see how we were doing.

To me, the food was mediocre. The foie gras appetizer was cold. The Artic Char was okay, but I've had better. The group elected to skip dessert due to the poor service. I would have expected much better service at this restaurant.

• Pros: Average food
• Cons: Poor management and customer service

05/11/08

Do not know how to rate, but here how I feel it worth!!

by AlawaysDream

I do not know how to start review for La Belle Vie to be useful for other, but I will just write down what I saw and how I feel about. We went there in our second anniversary, When arrive the building really looks old (like the one I spent my childhood in) but clean, I would borrow a statement from another posting that it feels like you're eating in your Aunt Betsy's living room, dining area is surprisingly quite small, I did not feel that I?m in expensive place,. I was expecting relaxing expensive chairs/tables, new carpet, music in background, high end decoration The attendances do their best to look like proficient but I do not think they are, they said he will make us comfortable but they failed. Now we come to the food, I know that fine dine is all about the taste & presentation not to feel full, so I was expecting large plate with small portion in the middle, We go with the five course menu as many suggest to, there were two dishes caught or attention Sweet Pea Panna Cotta with King Crab and brown Butter Vinaigrette, Grilled Beef Tenderloin with Morel Mushrooms, Jerusalem Artichokes and Forme D?Ambert. The other are still good and have a unique taste but not that special. So now how much I give that, I honestly do not know, we are frozen food eater-machine, no one spend more than 15min cooking in kitchen, so how to tell they are really good cookers, or we are the lazy cooker. I would say my grandmother with very simple kitchen would have cook better. The other thing should cooking justify the $65/person you pay for dinner only (no wine). End the night with $185 with no-wine make me said, do not blame them, blame yourself who make the junkies your daily food so you need to pay little fortune to eat as it supposed to be!! I wouldn?t back again, but for you think how you feel about what I wrote.

05/10/08

The Emperor Has No Clothes

by Reggie44

We saved experiencing the much celebrated Le Belle Vie experience for a special occasion. We celebrated our 3rd anniversary there this week by ordering the "tasting menu" in the lounge. This was touted in the local press as an affordable way to experience Le Belle Vie's award winning cuisine at a "spectacular value". The four course $40 Tasting Menu was accompanied by a $25 wine flight. We found the wine to be a solid, but unremarkable collection that was a solid value for the money. The food was quite another matter. Our four course "tasting menu" was literally that....a taste of each course and nothing more. Each course was literally one or two bites and I would estimate that we each received maybe six ounces of food in total. Now we are reasonably experienced and savvy diners and have enjoyed a number of excellent tasting menus in the Twin Cities (Solera's Valentine's and North Coast's Tasting Menus were both far superior) and found Le Belle Vie's serving sizes to be a small fraction of their competitions and the quality of food (with the exception of the beef tenderloin which was excellent) to be throughly unexceptional. In fact, immediately after finishing our $175 snack at Le Belle Vie's, we decided to go slumming and went to the Town Talk Diner to get some real food in a much more enjoyable setting at a small fraction of the cost. So either my lady and I lack the requisite sophistication (and miniscule appetites) to enjoy such haute cuisine...or the emperor has no clothes at Le Belle Vie.

• Pros: Good service, delicious beef tenderloin
• Cons: Grossly over priced, microscopic portions, unexceptional food (with the exception of the tenderloin)

04/05/08

Wow

by yoyolson

This place is amazing. The service was some of the best i've received, the foods amazing, and the drinks and wine list are great. Try the tasting menu, its well worth the money. The only weird kinda part is that it feels like its in a apartment building.

• Pros: Service, food.
• Cons: none

02/27/08

lovely food, but I was hoping for more...

by latte4me

The service was lovely, and the people were gracious. The food used the highest quality ingredients and was exquisitely prepared with high attention to detail... The problem? I left hungry. And no, I'm not one of those people who expect a slab of beef and giant plate o'pasta, but I was hoping for a little more than a single bite or two of food at a single course.

• Pros: elegant environment
• Cons: still hungry...

11/03/07

Way to much sizzle, not enough steak

by mia6

I have eaten in some incredible restaurants in this country and was really excited to finally have the opportunity to try a homegrown "fine dining" experience. Everything was good. The wine was nice, the service was fine. The food was good. $400 for two of us is just way too much to leave feeling like you have enjoyed an average night out. I do not know if it was all the butter used, or? both myself and my date were up all night.

• Pros: Glad to see that a Minnesota restaurant receives national attention
• Cons: Really very average nationally speaking and very expensive for the experience

06/05/07

Don't waste your money!

by pastry007

I went last summer with a group of six for a special occasion, after seeing so much press for the restaurant, the food, the service, etc. I have never felt the need to write a review before this, but I don't think I have ever been so disappointed in a dining experience! The food was mediocre, the service was condescending, especially to our guests, and the restaurant was incredibly loud. We were seated at a round table and could barely hear each other. Coming from a dessert background, I was especially looking forward to the desserts, and I ordered the white peach sampler. The flavors were bland and the textures were off, and I ended up not even finishing the dessert. The only highlight of the meal was the day boat halibut, but was not worth the $600 dollars we spent. If you are looking for a great restaurant with friendly, helpful service, and innovative food, try Cafe Lurcat or Restaurant Alma.

03/09/07

The best...

by tjohn61604

What can I say? La Belle Vie has just gotten better over the years. The restaurant started in that charming Stillwater location with its unique identity in both food and service. Now with the move to Minneapolis, it has definitely grown and matured into an exquisite dining experience. My husband and I just went there for our 25th anniversary and were pleasantly, though not surprisingly, pleased with the food, service, and ambiance. After years of travel and dining at a lot of wonderful eateries, we will always come back to La Belle Vie.