Decided to check out Bastille this evening.
Service was kind of lousy. Took a few minutes to be acknowledged at the door and the waiter was rarely around. I think the service will improve though as time passes.
Wine list was pretty good. Had a few different French choices, quite a few Portuguese wines and several choices by the glass.
Dinner menu is split. There is a tasting menu option which we did not get. There is also the standard appetizer, entree menu.
We chose two starters. I had the soup of the day which was a Potato and Leek soup. Wife had the Hot and Cold Fois Gras. The soup was excellent. I asked the waiter about the soup and he said it was not really a cream soup. However, when it came out it was clearly a cream soup. Anyhow, the soup had a very nice leek flavor and was very good. No complaints.
As for the Foie Gras appetizer - it was superb. First off, for $9, the portion was huge. We were not expecting much and we were surprised. The Foie was served on a rectangular plate, one side the hot Foie and the other side the cold. In the middle was a fig mixture. The cold Foie was very tasty. A nice piece of it served on a piece of crusty bread. The hot Foie was superb. Perfectly cooked and very tasty. If you like Foie, definitely order this.
For Entrees my wife ordered the Halibut and I ordered the Duck entree. The Halibut was very fresh and perfectly cooked. It was simply prepared with salt and pepper. The fish was served over a very nice lemon/herb risotto which went well with the fish. It was also served with a Tomato/Orange Marmalade. The Marmalade was pretty bad. It was extremely bitter and didn't go so well with the fish and risotto. We asked the waiter what it was, and he mentioned it should have been a nice slightly sweet flavor. Oh well - my wife kicked the marmalade to the side.
The duck was amazing. One of the best duck dishes i've had around and I eat duck fairly often. First, the duck was perfectly cooked medium rare as ordered. The skin was crisp and the duck was very flavorful and tender. The mushroom sauce on the duck was very nice as well - sweet but not overpowering. The endive were good. If you like duck, i'd recommend ordering this dish.
For dessert, my wife and I shared the creme brulee. It was very eggy and not the best I've had. I like a creme brulee that has the sugar on top freshly caramelized so the hot sugar interacts with the cold custard. This tasted as if it was prepared on another day. They were out of the fruit tartin which we really wanted for dessert. The diners next to us had the last one and said it was excellent.
If Fois Gras and duck is your thing, definitely check out Bastille.
Overall, we enjoyed our meal and i'll definitely be back.
Entrees were $16-25. Risotto was cheapest @ 16, chicken was $18, scallops and halibut were 21, duck 25. Apps were $6-7 except the Foie. Beers were $5-6. Wine by the glass was $6-8. Bottles were mid $20s+ I wasn't entirely familiar with the wines on the list so not sure the markup. The only wine I was familiar with, the Ici Pinot from Oregon I think was $45 on the list and retails for $25. So about 100% markup on that particular bottle. Deserts were $6-7 too. Overall, I found the prices reasonable and the overall quality was very good.