Overall GrubGrade B-
The Breakdown:
Atmosphere: Grade B: We’re fans of Brio and Bravo, so there is no reason that we wouldn’t be big fans of Bon Vie since they are all owned by the same parent company. We stopped by the Bon Vie Bistro at the Easton Town Center at about 4:30pm on a Friday. The restaurant was fairly empty, so it looked like we beat the evening dinner rush. We’re not exactly sure that Bon Vie was even ready to go with the dinner service since we were seated with lunch menus to order from. After a few minutes of looking at the menu and wondering why some of the dishes we saw on the online menu were absent, Katina figured out we had lunch menus instead of dinner menus. We stopped a passing server and were promptly brought dinner menus. The décor was nice and the restaurant was clean. But, one of our big pet peeves was present – the bench seat. Check out our review of the Cheesecake Factory to see how much we really hate the bench seat. I know my wife appears to be out of my league, but I do assume that most of the restaurant staff know that we are on a date. As such, why, may I ask, do you insist on sitting us at that stupid bench seat? Since we were the only ones there, it wasn’t a real big deal at first, but by the time we left we had groups of 4 on each side of us, so privacy was nil. Couple that with the fact that the music was too loud, and any romantic atmosphere that Bon Vie started with was quickly wiped away.
High marks: Clean, not crowded (at first), nicely decorated
Low marks: Given lunch menus, that horrific bench seat, no privacy
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Service: Grade B: If you look up the word “stiff” or “serious” in the dictionary, you might see a picture of our server, Tim, with the definition. And while all our needs were met and our service was timely and accurate, we were a little uncomfortable because our server seemed almost too intense. We certainly appreciate someone who takes their job responsibilities seriously, but diners want a relaxing experience when they visit a restaurant, and we just didn’t feel relaxed when our server was nearby. We still had to give Tim a “B” since he performed his duties professionally, but had he cracked a joke or projected some friendliness, that grade would have probably been an “A.”
High marks: Accurate, timely, very professional
Low marks: Too stiff and formal
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Food/Spirits: Grade B-: We both started out with raspberry mojitos, which has strong but not overwhelming raspberry flavor with no alcohol bite. Unfortunately, we had quite a bit of a wait for our drinks. While we were waiting, our server brought us some bread. Now since Bon Vie has a French vibe going on, we were assuming the bread would be really good. It was mediocre, and certainly not sliced at all. Other than eating crab legs, when we are paying for a meal, we’d like to keep the manual labor down to a minimum. So, Bon Vie, we suggest you take a couple of minutes and slice that loaf of bread for your patrons next time. We ordered the Sweet Chili Calamari and Shrimp for our appetizer. The calamari and shrimp were lightly breaded and had a nice flavor, but the sauce was a little on the skimpy side, and that was where most of the flavor was stashed. But, overall it was a pretty nice appetizer. By the end of our appetizer, our drinks were dry so Katina ordered a Strawberry Basil Lemonade and I ordered a beer called Kronenburg 1664. The strawberry lemonade (we’re not sure where the basil was hiding, but we never found it) was very sweet and sugary tasting. The beer, on the other hand, has almost no flavor. It would be a good beer for someone who doesn’t drink a lot of beer. For entrees, Katina ordered the Crab Crusted Tilapia and I ordered the Grilled NY Strip. The tilapia, like the appetizer, needed more sauce. The fish itself had a nice flavor, and the haricots verts that accompanied both entrees were fantastic. The tilapia also came with a vegetable blend that was also very tasty. The NY Strip was cooked to the perfect temperature, but way under-seasoned and dry. The menu stated it was supposed to come with truffle butter, but we couldn’t detect and butter anywhere in or on the dish. I opted to swap the baked potato for their fries, which was a good call as the fries were delightful. Had the quality of the preparation matched the quality of the cut of beef, then the dish would have been much, much better.
High marks: Decent calamari, great haricots verts and fries
Low marks: Entrees needed more sauce and more seasoning
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Value: Grade B-: We weren’t blown away by either the portion sizes or the quality of the food, so coming close to dropping a Benjamin for just the two of us seemed a little steep (and, I am ashamed to admit, we had a coupon – so it would have been over $100). Parts of the meal were really good, but others were just slightly better than average. Bon Vie Bistro is certainly a viable choice if you are out at Easton Town Center and want mix it up a bit, but we wouldn’t recommend making a trip out there just for the dining experience.
High marks: Parts of meal very nicely executed
Low marks: A little expensive for the quality
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