Andrea’s 4-star review:
Trying to find the perfect place for a romantic anniversary dinner, I came across Les Faux Bourgeois. I called 4 days in advance for a reservation and got in, no problem.
Once we arrived we were seated promptly and the service was attentive. Started out with some cocktails - a French Martini and an East Vangria. Both were delicious, I'd highly recommend either, but the French Martini was a stand out.
As an appetizer we shared the Alsacienne Tarte, It was a puffed pastry tart with caramelized onion, lardons, crème fraîche and ricotta. It was quite good, but considering all the Yelp reviews that raved about it I was expecting a little more. I'm glad I tried it but next time I'll branch out and try a different appetizer.
On to the mains, which were the stars of the night. I had the Canard Confit which was served on a warm salad of garlic potatoes, arugula, goat cheese and snap peas with port jus. The duck was delicious - crispy on the outside and moist on the inside - FANTASTIQUE! I was so glad I chose that dish. I also really enjoyed the bed of arugula that it was on - tastiest arugula ever. Not sure about the snap peas though, yes I like snap peas, but the flavour didn't complement the dish. My date ordered the Portobello Duchess, which was a portobello mushroom with sautéed mushrooms, duchess potatoes, and mixed greens. I tasted it and it was also very good, especially those potatoes!
The portion sizes of the mains were quite large, but given there was a nice amount of greenery on each plate I was full but not stuffed, so there was room for dessert! We shared the passion fruit tart, it was a little on the sweet side but the passionfruit flavour was spot on. It was good, but next time I'll try the creme brûlée that everyone has been raving about.
In total the meal came to $76 before tip - pretty reasonable, considering the quality of the food.
All in all, a fantastic meal, so why the 4 stars? Honestly, I was a little put off by the attire of the staff. The waiters were wearing skate shoes and shorts with t-shirts that had skateboarding logos on them. The hostess was wearing shorts and just any old tank top. Given the atmosphere it would have been nice to have seen a little more effort in their attire. I'm not saying that they should have to wear white collared shirts or anything, but a pair of pants and something nicer than a logo-T would really help to improve appearances. Considering the setting it just seemed to be a mis-match - most of the patrons were dressed much better than the staff.