Dinner in Paris? Not really. A trip to Petit Robert Bistro.

Yesterday, my sister and I decided to have a cousins dinner. So we chose to go to the Petit Robert Bistro. This place has gotten rave reviews for its reasonable prices and food. It's opened by the former chef of Maison Robert which closed last year. And I felt that I should give it another try after my first disastrous lunch there. Especially after Leah gave a praising of the place having taken her father and friend to dinner there last weekend. So off we all went to Petit Robert.


Well first, I'm going to recap my disastrous lunch at Petit Robert a few months ago. Maybe disastrous is harsh. I think disappointing bordering on crappy would fit better. So I had gone there for lunch and all the entress there are very reasonably priced. On the express lunch menu, everything's under $10. And i picked the Avocado California Crab Roll, listed under the sandwich menu. I imagined that this would be a crab cake sandwich, with slices of avocado. Why they chose to call it California? I don't know. Maybe they describe everything with avocado on it as California. So i looked foward to my sandwich, and was very disappointed to see the arrival of 4 slices of very poorly made California roll sushi, with a pile of greens in the middle. At first I was confused, thinking they had brought me the wrong item, but then someone else at the table had ordered the exact same thing and they also had the 4 pieces of sushi. Well, that turned me off from the whole Petit Robert thing. Here was a restaurant that claimed to be the purveyor of the authentic french bistro experience in boston (look it up, it's on their website) and what do they serve me for lunch, but sushi. really really poorly made sushi. so i said, never again would i go to petit robert.

But Leah had a very positive experience there. and since i was too lazy to be creative and think of somewhere to take my cousins. i decided to give petit robert another shot. when we arrived, there were ppl waiting outside for a table, so i was relieved that i had made reservations. and we were promptly seated in a very full dining room. the first thing i noticed was how noisy the entire restaurant is. so be prepared not to have quiet conversation. what also annoyed me was that they played music ontop of the already noisy atmopshere. my sister was sitting right below one of the speakers and she thought the someone's cell phone was ringing. anyway, we all perused the menu. the thing with petit robert is that they are totally into having reasonable prices. so all the entrees are under $20. (except for one, the duck margret, which is what i ordered) and since i was already on my way to having a heart attack, i also ordered the lobster bisque to start. Our menus were taken away and we were served some nice warm baguettes. well, not really baguettes, but at least bread shaped like baguettes. those were tasty. and then the waiting began. so another problem with petit robert is that service is incredibly slow. the meal isn't served in a timely manner and you're often left waiting, for your appetizer, entree or even waiter to show up. However, i've found this to be pretty common among many restaurants in boston, so maybe it's just a boston thing.

back to my review. my lobster bisque arrived and it was totally tasty. not overly salty like many of the bisques i've had before. and i was happy to find a nice chunk of lobster floating in it. unfortunately, i forgot to take pictures before i had polished it off (my cousins suggested that i take a pic of the empty bowl, but i thought that was silly) but i have pictures of the next two courses. and so the waiting began again. eventually our entrees showed up. the duck margret i ordered was a duck breast, cooked to medium rare and sliced thingly and it was served with chantrelle mushrooms and a light sauce. it was also served with a very tasty side of fresh mixed veggies and mashed potatoes. I think my entree was pretty good. i was in the mood for duck and that satisfied my craving. however, i don't think i would characterize it as the best duck i've ever had. and i found it a little pricy for the size of the portion. (i don't think the portion should've been bigger, but the price should've been lower) and that's the thing with petit robert. by having lower costs, they also serve smaller portions. this is actually something i like. cause i think serving smaller portion sizes is healthier, especially for americans who tend to overeat. however, it's just nice to know before hand that you should definetly think about getting an appetizer in addition to your entree since the entree might not be enough.

ok. and lastly, we had to finish off our dinner with dessert. luckily petit robert had quite an extensive dessert menu. and they're all under $5. for those who just want to go for dessert, they have a dessert bar in the basement. I ordered my all time favorite dessert, apple tarte tatin, which i shared with my sister. now i love tarte tatin. the puffy pastry, the caramlized apples, everything about it. so i'm gonna be pretty picky about it. plus, as a former pastry cook, i tend to be ultra critical when it comes to dessert. and so as you can imagine, i wasn't totally thrilled with the apple tarte tatin that i was served. the apples were just way too sweet. and kinda chewy and the crust was a disaster. totally chewy and not flaky and puff like it should've been. i had two bites and let my sister finish it off. she seems to enjoy it though, and it was definetly a generous portion since it was enough for the two of us to share. so in conclusions, i'd say that petit robert is worth trying, but i definetly wouldn't make it one of my regular places. The prices and food are totally reasonable, but i'd prefer some better, quicker service.