Bistro Clement

SO disappointing! The food is downright bad. And the service is very very amateurish — not to sound snooty, but seriously… Our waitress was smacking her gum and could not have been older than 12 — okay maybe 13. Skip this place. They need to take the experience they are creating way more seriously because the experience they are creating is seriously poor.

We went there for dinner a while back and I was completely unimpressed with the food. We have never gone back.
I have to say that I do remember the service as very friendly and attentive. But on the same note, I remember the food as very average if not slightly below.
Cute restaurant though, if the food was better, maybe… but in SF there is too much competition.

We went here for lunch. I’d been here before but at the last minute, didn’t have time to stay and they were very accommodating about getting my food out fast and take away instead. That time, it was an eggs benedict which I thought was quite excellent. I guess tha’ts because service didn’t matter much.
This time, the waitress seemed stressed when there was one large party in the restaurant the two of us. Not exactly a full house. The orange juice was not fresh, the fries were cold despite taking forever, and the mussels were bland.
But the best part to me was when they gave me my credit card slip and no pen. I swear, you’d think that might happen more but that has never ever happened to me before.
By the by, it looks like they’re changing owners and changing to th eBee Hive Café according to the application on the window.

I’m not sure if they took some of the earlier bad reviews to heart, but a friend and I dined here for the first time last night (the line at Q was ridiculous) and had a lovely dining experience.
We both enjoyed the meal quite a bit, and the wine by the glass was very tasty and reasonable (we had a Mirassou Pinot Noir @ $ 6). I had the beet salad, beef stew and poached pear. My dining companion had the green salad, grilled fish and apple tart. Both of us stated we would return happily, and it was reasonable considering 3 courses and 3 glasses of wine ($ 52/​each including tip).
Regarding the entertainment — it might be a little off-​putting to some, but it is tres francaise! I loved it and felt that it gave an eccentric and odd feeling to the place (and so many Bistros in Paris have a similar vibe, if not act… heh). The bottom line to me is — if you don’t like the entertainment, it is innocuous enough to let fade into the background and not disturb your meal (unless you are seated right next to them, perhaps).
All in all, I’m very glad that Q was packed and I ended up with a lovely french meal instead.

I was pretty surprised when my lunch appeared within 3 minutes of the waitress taking my order. Obviously, it was sitting in the kitchen for some time. Even the fries were cold.

I wish, I wish it were better. The menu is great but the food is kind of hit or miss. Service and all are fine as is the place but Clementine is fantastic and this should be a bit better!

Pretty darn good. I ordered salmon with vegetables, and was surprised to see it covered in cream sauce (but who can complain about cream sauce). I don’t get the «entertainment» — it reminded me of the SNL skit with Will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer playing the keyboards.

I like to use a word or popular phrase to describe the dining experience. So here it is: «What goes up must come down.» This is the old Cheers location: a great brunch place for locals with a back patio. This place was started by the folks just accross the street at Clementine. When they talk they say «Oui» with a more authentic accent. The owner beconed us in when we were tyring to decide where to go (Uh-​oh). If you have to pull people in off da street… things are going to be interesting (buckle up for turbulence). So we started w/​champagne. Not bad. They let you draw on the walls in this place (Uh-​oh part deux). If they let the crazies draw on the wall, must mean they don’t want you to «close read» the menu. «Um.Jean Claude let dem draw on de walls for fun. It ees sooo Fr-​aynch.» NOT! My friend had the price fixed manu –steak or sturgeon with frites. Ok. Soup I had was ok. The Cassoulet I ordered –to my horror– was made with refried beans… not the cusotmary white beans. It was otay buttwheat. The wine was…“How do you zay… Passé’.” Not a good selection of wines.
But the people are nice. A for effort. The food good if you want to go prix fix. Now I don’t know about you, but I love my Tart Tantan. The one my guuuuurl fren’ ordered you couldn’t cut w/​a chainsaw. That was NOT a tart! The poched pear dessy I had was more of a soup or a moat. I needed a draw-​bridge to eat that thing. If someone said, «How do you change this place?» here’s the restaurant consulting advice I’d offer: START OVER. First of all: Soju Bar in the back. Remove some of the tables. Add better wines (Hello Trader Joe’s anybody). Sacrafice a few of the tables for that soju bar so that you can have customers wait at the bar (Not that there’s a line to get into this place). Then and most important… I’d make the whole menu price fixed/​prix fix. It would become a novelty. And everybody wants quality food on the cheap. I’d also make sure to go organic and advertise. Peeps want healthy. Great space, but things could be better. But they’re trying. Until they’re done trying: go to Chou Chou or head on up Clement to Chapeau… they’ve got better wine and try harder.