Bistro 29

I’ve been here twice now, once for happy hour and then again for dinner. On the whole, it’s a lovely little restaurant. On the positive side, the food is tasty, the service is friendly, and the ambiance is cute. On the negative, the tables are very close to each other which essentially puts you in the conversations of those near you. They also have a fruit fly issue. Both times I went there fruit flies were buzzing around. One even fell into my half eaten crêpe. I informed the waitress but she didn’t do anything about it, which makes me assume it may happen more frequently than one might hope.

If you love sawing your chicken and dessert this is your kind of Place. Great service. Food is another issue.

We were here only for dinner on our way to Mendocino. We were having a quick dinner in order to recharge energy and continue driving. We found ourselves staying here for almost two hours!
Our waitress was just awesome. Paloma made our night a lot more fun and enjoyable. The food was so good that we had to order dessert and coffee (don’t judge, we love desserts!)
The place is far from being pretentious. It’s just a nice spot with great food and great service. Simple.

Here for the brunch for Mother’s Day; a table for four. Buckwheat Crepes for 3, and my cassoulet.
No one raved about the buckwheat crepes. I ate the corner off of Sofie’s crêpe. I thought, «Ok, I hope you like it.»
My cassoulet was described:
Cassoulet– traditional house made cassoulet with smoked bacon, duck confit, pork sausage, braised beans & topped with a poached egg & grilled bread
Let me describe what I ate: A little boat of beans (they looked kind of like the famous «Pork ‘n Beans») The beans did not have a lot of flavor… kind of like the famous Pork ‘n Beans. I did not notice any duck confit in my beans — so it was either not there, or I ate it without notice. The smoked bacon was rather small — and came in two editions: the meat and the fat; one of each. The meat was unremarkable with a slight taste of smoked bacon. This, of course, happens when someone cooks beans and tosses in the bacon an hour before serving. If I were running the Bistro 29, I’d cook some bacon separate and add it just before serving and toss out the bacon that is boiled in the beans. This is because if you boil a piece of meat for an hour, it will loose all of its flavor. Who am I to tell the French how to cook though eh? Well, how about the pork sausage? I love sausage. This Bistro 29 sausage was a real disappointment. It was tasteless. Maybe that’s how the French like it. I like Jimmy Dean sage sausage… in fact, I like any Jimmy Dean sausage; but I would not go to Bistro 29 expecting tasty sausage. The best part of the Cassoulet was the poached egg and the grilled bread. They got that completely right!
Coffee. I woke up early this morning and had my own Peets coffee from my Aero Press. Water 81 degrees C and brewed slowly. Delicious. I thought, «The French! Hey! Their coffee is so good that people fly over to France just to drink the coffee…» — so I decided to have another cup of coffee because I was sure this upscale restaurant would serve up something that would be a real teat. It was not a real treat. I think they use a «French Press» because there were the fine grounds in the bottom of my cup… and the coffee was weak and slightly bitter. That slight bitter taste, I suspect, came from water that is too hot (boiling) — and old beans. So, the good news is that my everyday coffee is better; the bad news is that Bistro 29 makes lame coffee.
The service was good and the ambiance was okay. Sofie and I thought it would be unfair to grouse about this place since brunch/​breakfast may not be their strong point. I thought, «Yeah, we will have to go back for diner.» Now after quite reflection I’m thinking — «Look, you can’t brew a good cup of coffee; you can’t make a compelling boat of beans — how the hell are you going to make a roasted chicken?» Sometimes I just want to write a good review because the service and the ambiance is so nice… and I like the name: Bistro 29. Unfortunately, the food I ate was quite forgettable.

A cozy French Bistro in downtown Santa Rosa serving classical prepared French food. It’s not much to look at outside, rather nondescript actually, but they serve classically prepared French cuisine and in some ways it’s like being in Paris.
We arrived a few minutes early for our Friday at 7:15 reservations after having lucked out on finding a parking spot on the street only a couple of blocks away. We waited for several minutes to be seated, despite their being several open tables for two– there was not a dedicated hostess.
In fact that’s one of the headlines at this cute little spot is «slow service.» To be fair it seemed like they needed 1 – 2 more servers. Ours was kept quite busy jumping around the restaurant taking orders, delivering wine, checking in with her many tables. She kept a very positive attitude throughout and was clearly working hard to meet everyone’s needs but we experienced long waits for routine service-​getting seated, getting a menu, paying the check, waiting for the wine. She was even pulled into helping with a large table of 10 that arrived midway through our meal.
Food wise, we started by sharing an endive salad with pear, hazelnuts and seared goat cheese (good) followed by steak frites for my wife (good but the frites weren’t even close to the thin classic ones of France– the only real «miss» on the classic preparations) and I had a luscious, slow roasted Beef Daube — like a melt in your mouth pot roast with a rich gravy (very good). They also provide a few slices of classic French bread (as good as we’ve had in France) with rich creamy butter (delicious). For the most part we enjoyed the food. But for me, good food is not enough, service is what makes a good restaurant great.
Bottom line: food 3−½ stars
Service: only 2−½ stars.

Ooh-​la-​la ! This restaurant has been open for 8 years, and I am so ashamed that we have not found it until now. Santa Rosa is tough sleding for fine dining. But not here. This is the best. It’s got the vibe, food, and service. And the people that come there are well dressed and appreciative. A great clientel inspires a great chef. And the other way around. Bravo.
We started with a white from Gascony… terrific with the mussels in Pernod cream sauce. I can’t wait to go back to try it with the tomato-​saffron sauce. Then the briliant beet salad with the Petaluma Gap Pinot Noir that we make.
(We asked Sierra, our waitress, our super waitress, to rank the salads to show off the chef’s abilities. She did not mince words, and it came down to two… the endive or the beets.)
Then we turned over the menu and saw the crepes. Now this was our problem, not the kitchen’s. We did a custom order of pears, gruyère, walnuts, Parisian ham, all on a buckwheat crêpe. We didn’t know how to order and it was on the dry side. When Sierra came by she saw the look on our faces, and wanted to help us out in the worst way. I said, it needs sauce. She nodded and voila, a mushroom/​shallot/​cream sauce showed up that made 1 or 2 stars turn into 5, if there was a 6, it would have been six.
Our plan was then to go to the lamb, but we opted for dessert instead. I only wish we were younger when we would not have needed to make the choice.
OK, OK, so we missed this place. We will be back for the mid-​week prix-​fixe 4 courser @ $ 29. That’s a DUH!
The bottom line is that this place gave me great faith that Santa Rosa does have potential for fine dining.

LOVED this restaurant. The food was fantastic and the service was GREAT… Paloma waited on us and was so informed and service-​oriented — she made our evening so FUN!!! I loved the menu and have already decided what I will eat the next three times I go to eat here. Will be returning!!!

Restaurant Week 2016 in Sonoma County — a great opportunity to explore and sample some of the many fine dining establishments in the area.
Our third day’s choice was Bistro 29 serving French cuisine. My wife and I dined there on Wednesday 9 March. We arrived at about 5:30 and found a few occupied tables. The people at the table next to us alerted us to a special happy hour (5−6PM) menu they were enjoying. Note: we were not offered the Happy Hour menu and had to ask for the Restaurant Week menu.
We ordered from their prix fixe Restaurant Week menu. My wife selected the Rosie Chicken Leg «Au Vin» and I opted for the other possible main of Sautéed Local Snapper. My wife’s comments was, ‘if she had found and made this chicken recipe she would not save the recipe.’ My fish was fine.
The main plates were preceded by bowls of Roasted Carrot & Ginger Soup for both of us. The soup could have been served warmer as it was a bit tepid. Later, my wife noted another table being served the soup and it was steaming. I guess the kitchen checked the temperature of the soup at some point.
For dessert we both ordered the Cocoa Panna Cotta, w/​Crème Au Chocolat
& Coffee Meringue — this was a nice lite dessert.
The service was a bit slow, especially at the start as there were only two wait persons, but the service improved as more wait staff came on duty.
All-​in-​all there are better choices for Restaurant Week than Bistro 29.

I love Bistro 29. In my opinion they have very authentic French Bistro cuisine at decent prices. We have visited the restaurant many times and the service is always courteous and friendly and swift. The food is fresh and the portions are large. Try the Prie Fixe Menu — 3 items mid week for $ 29.00. Can’t beat that!

Bistro 29 is amazing. It’s a small elegant restaurant. The atmosphere is perfect. The menu has a variety of French dishes. The Buckwheat crepes are delicious. We have tried a variety of dishes throughout the years and the food is unbelievable tasty and beautiful. We enjoyed the Rosie Chicken Leg «Au Vin» The desserts are the best in all of Sonoma County especially the cocoa panna cotta. Our waitress was delightful, and friendly. We love Bistro 29

French Onion Soup, best I’ve had. Was topped with a buckwheat crêpe instead of the usual French bread. Expected to not like that change but surprisingly did. It was nice to not have to struggle cutting through a French bread crust with a spoon sloshing precious broth and cheese out of the bowl. Chose Gordian Knot Old Vine Zinfandel 2011 after server concurred with my choice and brought me a tasting sample. Had a touch of sweetness, very smooth, went well with dinner. Steak beautifully charred, full beefy flavor. Fries perfectly salted. Crème Brûlée delish. Have had better coffee. Service very good too. Reserved for an early dinner at 5:30, good time. Tables started really filling up around 6:30. I’ll be back.

I had an opportunity to have dinner at Bistro 29 with some co-​workers earlier this week and being a ‘meat and potatoes guy’ I have to admit I was skeptical about the experience. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll try anything twice, but bistro is far from my ‘go to’ cuisine. Obviously the reviews are good so I expected the food to be good but it turned out to be amazing! The service was equally amazing but I’ll get to that in a minute. There were 7 of us with a reservation so we were quickly seated and attended to from start to finish. We ordered some starters including the prawns, chorizo Brussels sprouts, and the best of all… a foie gras that I will order every time! I had the Daube of beef and I felt bad for the other 6 people in my party for not ordering it because it may well have been the best beef anything that I have ever eaten! (ya, that’s a pretty bold statement) Everyone at the table raved about their meal and I am particularly excited to return to try the Cassoulet because it looked delish!
Now, about the service, they were very attentive without being overbearing. The staff understood how to allow our conversation to flow while handling business around us. Top notch!
The best part… the check came at the end of the night… as happens, we paid the bill without paying too much attention to it and tipped appropriately. The following day we received a phone call that went something like…
‘Sir, we noticed that you included an extra tip last night but the gratuity had been already added to the check and we just wanted to bring that to your attention’
What a class move!
My hat is off to you Bistro 29 and your entire staff! I will be sharing this experience often!

This place is fantastic! Each time I have dined here the menu is diverse and mouth watering and they are more than willing to accommodate special dietary needs without any issue.
During the week they have a special pre fix menu for $ 39 which includes an amuse bouche, entrée, and dessert. You can add wine pairing for a nominal fee of $ 11.
My latest trip I enjoyed the Steak Frites– bistro filet w/​pommes frites, arugula, crispy shallots, shallot/​red wine jus & Dijon mustard butter. It was cooked as ordered to perfection at medium rare. For me there were too many fries but at least it was a generous order overall. The sauce was incredible and luscious.
We also noshed on the brussel sprouts for a starter. Even on a modified diet request they were still cooked perfectly and delicious.
Dessert was a buckwheat crêpe with lemon curd, shaved almonds and butter. So simple and delicious!
This could be a dangerous habit…

Great customer service. Small cozy restaurant but
Its just average overall.
Had foie gras, escargot, steak, duck confit and ham & cheese crêpe, nothing wow the entire table.
reservation is recommended, can get crowded.
dessert is nicely presented and is surprisingly good after the ordinary meal.

Came in for wine and appetizers & was pleasantly surprised. The dining room was full so we sat at the small 5 seat bar. The dining room is small and cozy– would definitely recommend reservations. I tried the foie gras for appetizer and was immediately in love– so delicious and mouth watering. Will definitely be back!

Something was definitely off during our visit at Bistro 29 on Friday.
We were looking forward to trying this place out especially because they have their Bib Gourmand badge for a few years. It was rather quiet for Friday dinner — only half full. That was a bad sign.
Atmosphere was great! Service was also great! We were seated promptly, greeted, happily ordered 4 things:
— heirloom tomato salad with farro — very delicious! wish there was a bit more farro.
— mussels with tomato white wine sauce — mussels were not fresh, and honestly quite tasteless. The sauce is like a tomato soup, but needs more salt. I personally really disliked their fries, they were huge and dry. This was disappointing.
— Sonoma buckwheat crêpe — dry, boring, and unbalanced. it was unbalanced because the cheese was too strong.
— Duck Confit & Cave Aged Gruyère buckwheat crêpe — It was better than the Sonoma crêpe since the duck is quite flavorful. Unfortunately, it was also way too dry. I took it to go and ate it two days after, and it tasted a little less dry once the duck fat has soaked through the crêpe.
We were quite disappointed and didn’t believe Michelin would give this place a bib gourmand. I think the chef must have been on vacation that day, or the chef has left the restaurant. You get the hint from the lack of popularity on a Friday night. It’s a pity, since we were really looking forward to it.

Disappointed for our fifth visit with friends. Two dishes and one dessert were very good: brick roasted chicken, lamb shank, banana beignet. But a ham/​cheese entrée crêpe, beet salad, fig/​chevre crêpe were uninspiring – good but not worth going out of your way for.
What sunk the meal was the foie gras on pain d’epice. We complained two years ago this bread had gotten much too sweet — this is a starter with liver, correct? Not a piece of breakfast French toast! But somebody likes it this way, because not only is it still too sweet, this time it had even more quatre e’pice mix in it, making it reminiscent of a really bad cinnamon toast. A real waste of three beautiful pieces of foie gras; all three diners were unanimously thumb’s down on what used to be the finest dish Bistro 29 offered.
Even worse was the change to the orange juice/​Grand Marnier crêpe which was one of Spouse’s favs. This was simply terrible, despite the waitress’ assurance that it was ‘similar to a Crepes Suzette’. If the kitchen thinks that a crispy crêpe served dry with no sauce is «similar to a Suzette», then someone needs to go read their recipe instructions again.
B29 gave us three great dinners… but now two unsatisfactory ones. With the reopening of K&L Bistro and the new Walter Hansel Bistro really hitting its stride, there is absolutely no reason to ever return here again.

Just had a date at this restaurant and might I say that the food was deliciously creative and the service we got was very positive, friendly and polite.
We were seated in the middle isle at the end promptly with plenty of elbow room. We ordered a couple appetizers to start and asked if they would split them so we could both enjoy some of each and they had no problem with it. Would definitely go again for another nice date night.

A very solid effort from this French inspired restaurant. Food was excellent, servers were attentive, ambiance was pleasant. Steak frites, and lamb shank entrees were superb.
A 1 star deduction because towards the end of our meal, there were 6 people right behind us crowded around the bar, chatting very loudly, as they were waiting for their table. It was so distracting that it took away from the meal. The noise level immediately went down when they were seated, but we were sufficiently annoyed while they were waiting to be seated.
Word of advice: We had a 7 pm reservation and were seated in the middle aisle. This means we were getting traffic on both sides of the table. I would definitely like to dine here again, but I would most definitely be making a reservation for 6 pm to have a better selection of seating. In fact, I would make a point of not being seated in the middle of the restaurant, perhaps that’s just a personal pet peeve.

This review is specifically for the 2014 Restaurant Week Menu
Visited Bistro 29 with three friends to celebrate a birthday (as well as restaurant week). Our server was immediately personable and seemed knowledgeable about the wine list as well as what was on the menu for the night. I was pleased to see that Bistro 29 was offering wine pairing with their three course menu and I must say the choices were impeccable with what I chose. The astmosphere was cozy and happy (not too quiet where you felt you couldn’t have conversation) and everyone who worked there seemed quick to please and attentive to our needs.
Overall I would say that the food was good. It was well prepared (although my entrée was lacking in seasoning) and tasty. We started with an amuse bouche that was a delicious goat cheese pastry. My appetizer was a parsnip soup with pear and brown butter that I enjoyed with their warm bread, this was probably my favorite part of the meal. The soup was velvety with slight sweetness, tanginess, and an overall savory flavor. I chose the snapper entrée with arugula pistou and gnocchi which was tasty but lacking in seasoning. The fish was cooked perfectly and the gnocchi were so light and fluffy I could have had a whole plate devoted to them. The arugula was good but I couldn’t help feeling like it muddied the dish a little bit and sort of took over the flavors.
The dessert was the most disappointing part of my meal, personally. I had the apple tart tatine dessert with vanilla ice cream. It came out as basically half of an apple that was caramelized on top next to a scoop of ice cream with pastry underneath and raspberry sauce. For me the apple tasted somewhat burnt and the pastry was so tough I was fighting with it to even cut and I found it very dry and almost stale tasting. The vanilla ice cream was delicious, but nothing extraordinary. The other diners at my table had the chocolate fondant cake which was dark, chocolatey, and delicious, but my friend did comment she wished that she had a scoop of ice cream to go with it to cut how rich it was!
I loved the atmosphere and service at Bistro 29, the food fell a touch short for me personally but it could have been my choices and palette.