Bistro 100

Decent food, sloppy service, more CA than French.
We met our friends at B100 to catch up on their lives. A good thing, too, because there were long waits between service, our waitress being much more interested in chatting with the bartender and a couple of bar customers, than paying attention to filling water glasses or bringing clean plates to replace dirty ones.
Brussels sprouts/​goat cheese was a nice variant, the duck confit salad nothing different but solidly executed. But the deviled eggs were ordinary and overpriced; the terrine ice-​cold from the frig. The potato pave is actually a gratin, super creamy/​cheesy/​buttery. Fried chicken hash not a hash; it’s tasty roasted baby roots with a couple of pieces of fried chicken plunked on top. All of us loathe the fad of deconstructed entrees so this won no points from anyone.
The black cod was imaginative in concept, with an avocado mousse on top, which blended into the broth to create a slightly creamy sauce that was delightful with the fresh, gently cooked fish.
Stick to the big soft cookies for dessert; they’re from a good bakery and quite good with coffee. Despite the service issues, we WOULD come back; Bistro 100 is much better than Central Market.

As of 5÷11÷16 Bistro 100 has closed it’s doors and is out of business. ABC application for change of ownership is in the window.

Asked kindly to use restroom and got denied. So I thought I’d write about how pretentious they think they are…
But really, this is just a cheesy mediocre place to eat an over priced meal at.
Trying to be like SF/​Healdsburg but they don’t realize that they are in good old Humble Petaluma.
These people seriously need to get over themselves.
They service sucks and the food is normal. Might as well call takeout from Thai Issan.
Dont waste your time, and if you need the bathroom, first say you’re going to buy something, then hit the door ;)

Went there last night for Girls Night with my friends. I ordered the Local Green Salad and Fries & thank god I did… The salad is so NOT worth the $ 9 it had absolutely nothing but just dressing, rather go to store and buy mixed greens and make a salad at home for way cheaper and more filling. The Chocolate Mousse is a joke it is the size for a kid but it is delicious though. I wanted the Beer battered Onion rings that I saw on their online menu but waitress said not available…

Cute little place in downtown Petaluma! Such a gem:)
Came here with a coworker to celebrate completion of big work project.
We both got the mussles and frites, it was heaven! My coworker still raves about them!
The selection that waitress suggested paired with it was spot on, perfect compliment to the dish. She knew here stuff!
We got dessert, and it was amazing too.
This place has a bit of a romantic vibe at nice, so I would say if you are in the area, this is a great date place. I would certainly come again (as my coworker wants to after we complete our next big project!), but maybe to try the lunch this time. When the weather is warm here, they open the doors and windows, and it is quite lovely from what I see:)

I’ve been here 3 or 4 times now, each with the eager hope that I will have the epicurean experience other reviewers describe. The dishes are on par with food trucks: uneven seasoning, lukewarm temperature — enjoyable enough for a parking lot but not a seated restaurant.
Bistro 100 is certainly not in league with French casual such as Le Garage in Sausalito, K&L Bistro in Sebastopol, or Bistro 29 in Santa Rosa.
Service is inconsistent. First visit, service was impeccable. Another, we couldn’t get the server’s attention for so long my salad truly began to wilt. Tonight our server spoke very fast and rushed us through ordering.
At an average of $ 75−100pp, I’m done hoping.

In town for the day and needing to grab lunch solo. Derrick, the waiter was great, helped me decide on a delicious chicken sandwich and the perfect glass of wine to accompany.

I came here in the summer during the Petaluma food festival and was in love with the watermelon beer on tap. Came here for Valentine’s Day, and they no longer had that option :(
The food is still good, and can be a bit on the heavy side. The chef is just wonderful! I rarely roll through Petaluma, but when I do, I definitely want to stop by Bistro 100.
Their happy hour is not greatly discounted.

I just have to say again that I enjoy this restaurant very much and keep coming back. My daughter, close friend and I had lunch recently and all of our dishes (burger, chicken salad sandwich, mushroom crêpe) were all wonderful, tasty, service impeccable.
I had dinner here last week and loved my salad with Pt Reyes Blue Cheese & blood oranges. My vegetable purée soup was a bit bland unfortunately. Chardonnay excellent and tasted my date’s pasta/​chicken/​mushroom dish which I thought was robust and flavorful as well. Had a new waiter who was thorough and good.
Whatever they have done with acoustics is what other restaurants need to do. The tables are fairly close but I can still hold a conversation even with the sweet jazz band playing this week. Acoustics and atmosphere are just as important as the food to me– it’s the entire sensual dining experience that makes dining out enjoyable.

I had the beet/​goat/​walnut salad, which would have been perfect had it not been overdressed! Next time I’d ask for light dressing… Though despite being overpowered, I still enjoyed it! I also had the broccoli/​potato/​kale soup which was delicious.
I look forward to eating here again when in the area! Their 5-​course meal on Feb. 9^th sounds divine!!!

I had been looking forward to eating here since it opened and finally got my chance last night!
I love supporting local business and I love the fact that this business sources it’s food locally. That’s how it should be!
We arrived just in time to enjoy the rest of happy hour before ordering dinner. Now let me start by saying: the words, I’ll have the house red” RARELY leave my lips. You know why: what you usually get is a glass of red vinegar that assaults your nose the second you bring the glass to your lips and proceeds to burn your tongue like an acid bath… and deservingly so. «House red», indeed… Not this time! it was $ 5 and it was good!
I had the Demi-​glacé & onion marmalade burger. That’s right, and I’d have it again. This burger was marriage material. It was cooked to a perfect medium, I had sticky, delicious balsamic all over my fat, hungry fingers. The cheese was melted perfectly and the each flavor complimented the next. Normally, I would take the burger out of the bun and stare at it sadly as I ate my protein only entrée. But I couldn’t do it, not this time. It didn’t seem right. It would have been insulting to the chef and to the lovely brioche bun that was looking up at me. So I threw caution to the wind and broke my 5 month carb free streak… and it was worth every guilty, glutenous moment. After all, I’m out of town, so technically, this is vacation, and everybody knows: vacation food doesn’t count… right?
I had a bite of mom’s polenta from her Baked polenta & wild mushroom fricassee… um…yum!

Delicious! First time, no reservation, we got there just in time! I had Butternut Squash Soup, and Beet Salad. not a lot of beets in the «Beet Salad» but the soup! Awesome. One of my fav fall dishes!

Did not live up to the hype. I have to admit I was super letdown after going to Bistro 100. My co-​workers and I went in for happy hour on a Wednesday night. Granted, Wednesday evening is pretty sleepy, but the place was dead. You would think that with only two tables filled in the restaurant that our server would be on top of it. Nope. Honestly, he was either new or stoned or possibly both. There were four of us in the party. We ordered the cheese platter to start. When they brought out the cheese platter we laughed because a mouse would have been disappointed. Super small slivers of cheese and one piece of sourdough bread. How did they expect to serve that as an appetizer for multiple people? At the very least the server could have mentioned the size of the appetizer and asked if we wanted to order two, or another appetizer as well. Our server then disappears. We see him talking on the phone, and just hanging out at the cash register. It must have been a good fifteen minutes with us waving at him to get his attention before he came to our table. We asked if we could have some crackers or another piece of bread so we could partake in in our cheese platter. We also asked if they had gluten-​free bread for the member in our party that cannot have gluten. Our server then goes into a long and extremely fast explanation that they only use local products and yadda, yadda, yadda. I get the use of local products but you are really going to tell me that no local bakers make gluten free bread? Please.
After the cheese platter experience and the struggle to get the server to come to our table we were so done with Bistro 100. When they started cooking dinner the food did smell good, but the menu is so boring! I am going to give Bistro 100 the benefit of the doubt and say they have severe growing pains.

I had a great experience. The food was delicious, the service was fantastic. We are visiting, our friend told us to go and have some wine here and the burger is to die for. She was right. This was a phenomenal place to relax, connect, take it easy and focus on what’s important: each other. Xoxo

This is based on only one visit. I’ll update as needed.
Summary: go for it
Details:
Across the street from a movie theater so plan accordingly. Small restaurant, about 15 tables, but nice inside.
Friendly staff. Food serves fast even though it was crowded on a Saturday night
We split the ½ chicken and it was a nice light dinner for $ 25. Gorgonzola fries were very tasty. Ice tea lightly fruity.
Lots of parking.

After all the hype and attention given to Bistro 100 when it opened I finally visited it, with great expectations. Maybe my expectations were unreasonable, but the experience was very disappointing and mediocre.
For starters, the décor is quite underwhelming. It’s not bad, but it doesn’t live up to what I expect from a bistro. It felt very café’ish, and not particularly warm and inviting; overall it felt sort of «hard» and cold. And speaking of hard, the chairs are ridiculously hard wooden chairs, absolutely not comfortable from the minute we sat down.
I agree with another reviewed about the menu being very unimaginative. I’m a big fan of farm to table and seasonal menus, but it was August in Sonoma County and the menu read like a late-​fall/​winter menu, with not a tomato in sight. The predominance of items were heavy, lots of sauces, tons of root vegetables and mushrooms (nothing against them, but they’re not particularly summery). This is not the location for healthy eating — lots of carbs and starches. But there was nothing local or seasonal (summer) about it (to be fair, their website does not say anything about «seasonal», but if its all locally sourced one does assume seasonal).
After struggling with what was not a particularly appealing menu selection, I selected the pear and got cheese salad and the Cabernet braised short ribs and my friend chose the oysters and the roast chicken and substituted roasted vegetables as the side. My salad was okay, although nothing special. The short ribs were tasteless, absolutely no seasoning or flavor to them whatsoever. The Cabernet reduction sauce was overly reduced and extremely bitter. My friend’s oysters were warm (hmmm, usually not a good sign) and the chicken was very under-​seasoned and dry. The roasted vegetables that we both had (again, mostly roots, carrots, not very seasonal, although there were some small squashes) were quite tasty and well prepared.
Hopefully this was an off-​night, but not sure I want to waste the money to give it another try. Maybe in the winter when the menu feels more appropriate and seasonal, but in the summer I want local, seasonal, light, fresh, healthy options.

Stopped by for a quick dinner before seeing a movie. Great service and outstanding food. We had the Ribeye Steak w/​Maitre D Butter and Demiglace. The steak was cooked and seasoned perfectly! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone out to dine and received a poorly prepared steak. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!
My Sister ordered the Beef Short Ribs. WOW!!! They were heavenly. Perfection once again.
I will definitely be back. I recommend this restaurant.
I must also mention that the staff is very welcoming and attentive. I went up to the Chef to thank him and tell him how pleased I was and he had nothing but praise for his staff & Sous Chefs — team effort. This says a lot about the Chef and how he runs his kitchen — way to go.

Still a 5 star joint.
Tonight I had the roasted chicken with those cheesy fries, wife the pasta of the day. I love their local sourcing like Green String farms and cheeses from the Noir & Blanc factory. The menu is creative and every time you might go it is going to be different. The previous restaurant (mercifully unnamed to protect the innocent) was as bad as Bistro 100 is good. BTW the lone restroom is immaculate and well maintained.

This review is for the bar only.
Stopped here for pre-​dinner drinks on a Friday night. The place was pretty empty. My husband and I were the only two people at the bar. We both ended up getting glasses of the thumbprint Chardonnay ($ 7 each).
Service was just alright. Bartender dropped our check off before asking us if we wanted anything else.
Their beer menu was more impressive than the wine list. If you’re looking for a truly awesome wine bar experience, check out La Dolce Vita down the street.

To those who complain about Bistro 100 running out of certain dishes, please understand what Bistro 100’s mission is before you visit. And if you are not from Petaluma, you should learn a thing or two about our commitment to farm-​to-​table dining before judging our restaurants. If Sizzler, Red Lobster, and Outback are you thing, Petaluma’s dining choices are kind of outside your wheelhouse.
Bistro 100 is doing a great job at offering us fresh local food. For those that don’t live around here, keep in mind that this isn’t all that odd of an idea for our local eateries. But it comes with a risk that the full menu may not be available at all times.
Running out means that they don’t have a freezer full of old stale food. They are buying their food fresh and that isn’t cheap. It would be bad for business for them to have to throw away old food simply because they over-​bought just in case there was a run on a particular item. By contrast, if McDonald’s runs out of food I’d be pissed (if I ate there) because there is no excuse for them to run out as they can keep as much as they want in the freezer. But that’s because McD’s mission isn’t to provide us with fresh food, nor do we expect that.
I’d actually be suspicious if Bistro 100 didn’t run out of at least a couple of items, especially on a Saturday or Sunday (when business is brisk but food deliveries are non-​existent.) If they didn’t run out, that would mean that they either over-​bought, or are serving old food, both of which go against their mission to serve fresh local food.
Bistro 100 is a throw-​back to how restaurants used to be, when they served local and healthy food, before the advent of refrigeration. The menu at the end of the night was more restricted that at the start. And yes, Bistro 100 isn’t cheap and portion sizes aren’t over-​sized like a fast-​food restaurant, so if that doesn’t work for you, don’t visit.
I visit Bistro 100 because I want fresh and healthy locally sourced ingredients so I am more than happy to pick my second or third or fourth favorite item on the menu, no matter how much I had my heart set on a particular item. If that doesn’t work for you then Bistro 100 isn’t the place for you, and you should find a restaurant where their mission is to always have every item on the menu, regardless of its quality or source.
Also, Bistro 100 is french inspired, not french. In case you haven’t eaten out much in Northern California, we have some of the world’s best produce and meats, and some of the world’s most creative chefs so we don’t look to imitated other cultures’ cuisine. We take the best parts of what they do and then give it our twist. So don’t expect to get identical dishes to when you spent time in france because that’s not how we roll.
Our latest meal was expertly prepared and we will definitely be back.