Bijou Restaurant

This is ass good as it gets. Bijou is superb in all respects. Stratford on Saturday night is a difficult place to find a table before the theater. This time we did not have a reservation but maybe that was fortune for us. We walked down Wellington St. and saw this seemingly small plac that offered tapas and a prix fixe menu. Tapas are from 7:30 on so we had the the three course. My wife started with a kale salad that she said she could eat her own weight worth. The main was lamb chops. You don’t know my wife but she was holding the chops in her hands chewing off the last morsels of meat. I started with a gazpacho with cilantro-​lime sorbet. Wow! My entrée was beef tenderloin with Peruvian mashed potatoes… to die for.
Our waiter/​bartender was professional and personable, as were all the staff. The owner was very attentive and made sure dining at the bar was pleasant for us. (Remember, we had no reservation.)
Go out of you way to visit this one.

Bijou is back!
Hearing they had new owners, we returned with trepidation. No need to worry! The food was fantastic.
First, the new owners made some good choices – opened up a front door, giving the place more visibility and access. Added a full bar. Although the blackboards remain, there are menus at your table. It used to get silly with people standing around pondering the blackboards.
Service was friendly, not stuffy. There were a few little stumbles now and then, but nothing serious.
Yes, it is not cheap $ 48 for 2 courses or $ 54 for three. (But it’s Canadian money and the exchange rate once again favors visitors from U.S.)
We had cocktails which were generally well-​mixed.
First we we were served a nice little amuse bouche – little popover things. Very tasty.
The bread with olive oil was great. The olive oil was so good we asked what brand it was. The server nicely brought out a bottle to show us the label so we could write it down.
Appetizers: two of us had the carpaccio and loved it. The gazpacho was great, especially the sorbet with cilantro in the center – made it stunning. I had the salmon on rye. The salmon was perfectly cooked. The mustard on it was a perfect foil to the salmon, rye and slaw. Very large portion too.
Entrees: Two of us had the chicken. It was wonderfully moist white meat with a great risotto. Very large portion of risotto. One had the steak which he said was really good, The last had the duck which was great too.
We shared two desserts: a perfect sticky toffee pudding and the chocolate terrine which had marvelous flavor and texture.
Seriously, there was not a single mis-​step with the food. So glad the Bijou is back in great form!

I wanted to love this place… but like so many small town restaurants they try and pose as if they are a NYC amazing restaurant… and in reality the fish is canned and the wine and beer list fit for football game-​not a fine dining restaurant. Sorry but when your bill for two people is several hundred dollars I want to be wowed and Bijou does not do it. Staff was nice– but not knowledgable about food– and it seems like they are using their children as child labour to staff the place… but they were nice.
I did like how the menu was set up…“choose 2 or 3 dishes” and pay a certain price… but i struggle with these small town restaurants with so much fish on the menu– that everyone KNOWS they cant get it fresh! Silly us we tried the fish anyway. The octopus was tasty, tuna was OK, mussells standard, but like the two stars says…“Ive had better”. The duck prosciuto not worth it… serving was for a 2 year old…(2 bites! and not tasty.) But the lamb and mushroom ravioli redeemed the meal for us. they were well executed and normal size portions. Then… to be disappointed again by the crème brûlée… which was not lavender nor lemon in taste… the best thing about it was that it was a decent size.
Last thing… they sneakily charge you for WATER. one of my pet peeves is having the waitress phrase the water in a way as if tis standard choice… then you see it on your bill. 20 bucks for water… Meh thinks not Bijou.

Best value for money among the upper tier restaurants in Stratford.
Bijou is among the best fine restaurants in Stratford. Of these, it is both the most casual and the most affordable. Whether the food is better or worse than a Rundles or Old Prune is harder to say. If you are only going to go to one, pick this for its value for money.
We’ve gone a half dozen times over the years. Delicious dishes with depth, complexity and freshness adorn the menu, featuring local produce and livestock, seasonal, and with a new French style. The wine menu is good but not super, it is a little limited in selection but they do have bottles that you rarely see yet a connoisseur knows are from strong vineyards.
On our last visit we enjoyed the appetizers the most. The ceviche was the brightest, most acidic dish I’ve ever tasted, memorable in its audacity, and just stayed on the right side of the sanity line. The trout cakes, my favourite dish of the night, had the right blend of savoury comfort and complex sauce and garnish flavours. The entrees — ribeye steak and veal schnitzel — were good-​but-​not-​great. The sauces were exceptional but we do make a better steak at home with modern searing approaches and the best local meats. The desserts, very nice. And the wine choices were excellent.
If you want to have a nice meal, in a casual atmosphere, with the sort of flavour profiles that you can only find at the best restaurants, Bijou is an excellent choice.

The menu is frequently changing and ingredients are sourced locally. Great dining and food is delicious. Staff is friendly even if the waits are a little long. I would recommend.

Friend staff. Great food. Food changes daily but there was plenty of variety.
It was a little tricky to find but well worth the exploration down the alley behind the hotel.

Had wonderful garlic soup and a raw tuna appetizer, amazing beef and halibut main courses, but the desserts were awful. Don’t waste your money on them but the main courses were wonderful.
Would recommend the restaurant but don’t be in a rush as they are a bit too busy to be very attentive, and forget the desserts.

I almost took a star away from Bijou because they never have a vegetarian option — but when I ask they always have one. And they made the most amazing gnocci EVER. It is the kind of food you dream about afterwards. It was tasty delicious happiness. It was so good I ate lunch there the next day (when I had this fantastic garlic soup that I am still smiling about). And the desserts were even more amazing (if that is possible). I’m on this horrible diet (lost eight pounds in 2 months! yay me!) And that makes me very careful about what I eat (and very sad, because I miss yummy fantastic food). The desserts at Bijou are so good that I had dessert for lunch (and I don’t make exceptions often). If you can only eat at one restaurant in Stratford, you should pick Bijou.