Left Bank

Did not have a good experience here. The first thing that happened was that we asked for some oil and vinegar to go with our brad. We were told that «the chef doesn’t allow us to serve oil and vinegar because this restaurant is not Italian «.
The next issue was simply bad food. I ordered the black sea bass. The presentation was simply «gross». The skin on the fish was served face up and was not pleasant to the taste either. It was served in a sauce that contained small cubed potatoes and clams. The potatoes were uncooked, still hard when bitten. I could not eat it, and asked that the plate be taken back. They did so, but did not remove the plate from my bill.
It could be that I ordered the wrong dish, but the issue with the potatoes would have been a problem with any plate.

I always look forward to dining here when I am in San Jose and Santana Row. Its one of our favorite place to eat. We appreciate the Chef and staff, which is still great; the food and drink are excellent. They have a great burger and salads. The duck was excellent.

I enjoyed my experience here. The waitress was amazingly awesome giving us great recommendation on the food as well as the wine. The trout was so yummy and the cheese fondue was to die for.

Yum. Love this place.
They ambiance is charming, and transports you to a bistro on the left bank of Paris. It’s delightful to sit out on the sidewak on a nice day, or to with your moule frites indoors on a rainy evening. The bar area is cozy and warm.
The food is pretty good, stick with the bistro, French comfort food offerings. They have the best burgers and nicoise salads. I stay away from some of the more over priced menu items.
Great values at Happy Hour.
Restaurants at Santana Row tend to be Vegas or Vegas (themed and a little fake). This is not as good as the original Left bank in Menlo Park, but Santana Row has it’s own charm. Don’t order the high end items — this is not a foodie experience like a Gourmet bistro in Napa — however they do a great job with the basics — so stick to that. We grabbed a burger before our movie and it was delicious, and a great deal at $ 13! Another evening went to the bar for a drink and some appetizers (which are very well priced during happy hour — they offered us the happy hour menu at 9 pm!).
If you are looking for a high end, gourmet California French experience — go to downtown Los Gatos … many nice options there. However, if you want a cozy, charming, Parisian ambiance with some nice comfort food while visiting the Row — this is your place.

This used to be the favorite watering hole of my drinking buddy– another middle aged electronics executive like myself. I would previously have given it 4 stars for the service, atmosphere, passable food and great drinks («French 75», St. Bart’s, etc.) they changed the menu to eliminate most of the things we liked in the cocktail list and also deleted a number of our favorites from the food menu. This makes the happy hour less happy for us. They have better pricing on the call and well drinks, which are adequately prepared but unimaginative, but I can get that kinda stuff anywhere. The food lost buffalo wings, the calamari we liked, etc. They now have «buffalo slider (singular)» for $ 6, which tastes ok but is a total rip off at an already pricey-​for-​what-​it-​is place.
I still appreciate the wait staff, which is still great, but the food and drink are going to cause us to move on to somewhere else at these prices. Need a new place for the old guys to roost and get fatter :-)

Came here on a Monday night for my mumsie’s birthday! Left Bank is her favorite restaurant in Santana Row, thus I knew I had to take her.
Unfortunately the apple does fall far from the tree because I thought Left Bank was just okay…
When we arrived, it was pretty empty so service was very quick and everyone from our host to our waiter were pleasant! I decided to choose items from the seasonal menu and ordered the garlic soup ($ 7?) and the seared scallops ($ 15).
Our bread was brought out shortly and I loved the salted butter they had with the bread!
Once my dishes arrived, I know the seared scallop was an appetizer but I was pretty disappointed because there was only 3 little scallops for $ 15. Granted they were good, I just don’t think they were that amazing. I would skip on this.
On to the garlic soup, boy was it garlicky! It was super flavorful with garlic, a little too much for my taste. Although, I did like the squash and garlic flavor together. If you’re ordering this, please have some gum handy.
Overall, the restaurant looks like a nice date place, but the food is expensive and just okay in my opinion.

I hosted my birthday dinner at Left Bank Santana Row and had an absolutely fantastic time. I was looking for a private, elegant, yet laid-​back environment for my friends and I, and Jackie (event coordinator) surpassed my expectations.
Jackie reserved for us the La Salles des Famille, and walking in I felt like it was a private reception. She worked with me to get the room and plans scheduled, and everything exceeded expectations. My friends and I were all impressed. I was particularly satisfied with her attentiveness and promptness in connecting with me and clearly laying out options for the event, things I wouldn’t have thought would be available in coordinating something at a restaurant.
I came to Left Bank looking for a table reservation, and ended up with a full-​blown event. It was fantastic. Thanks, Jackie!
Johnny, our server, made the entire evening the memorable one it was. He basically made us feel like we were at home being catered by an entire wait staff. It’s little things (that often go unnoticed) that make a dining experience what it is — things like food arriving on time and together, beverages staying full, and checks arriving on time — but also things like giving recommendations without pressuring, overall demeanor, and the ability to read the crowd and anticipate needs. He checked all those boxes.
As for food, the dishes were all but licked clean.
Getting older is more exciting when you have experiences like this to look forward to. Next year, I’ll definitely be hosting my «second annual 29^th birthday» here, again. Thanks everyone!

I’m not feeling in the review writing mode currently so I will get to the point. We were set up in a back room since we had a party of 25+ people. Very cool private room. The service was A+ all night long. I tried a few Mussels that were great, Broth was tasty. Bread with pâté was great. The roasted Garlic Soup was amazing. For the main meal I had the Coq Au Vin-​Red Wine braised Free range chicken, Pearl Onions, Baby Carrots, Lardons, Mushrooms over Egg noodles. The suck part of about this Dish was the Chicken was way over cooked like it stewed in a pot for too long. Everything else tasted excellent, The sauce was great, the noodles were great, The Mushrooms were great but the chicken was way overcooked which killed the entire dish but it was edible and this is the reason my rating is what it is. If the Chicken was not so mushy and bland I would have rated better. The desert was Les Profiteroles-«Pâté A choux» puffs, Vanilla ice cream, Chocolate sauce-​Also good. Since our menu items were limited I am sure the Main menu offers up better choices than we had available to choose from. Overall it was a nice experience and I would definitely try again if I am in San Jose.

This French-​inspired bistro serves up dependable, well-​presented fare, even if my overall judgment is «average» given the price/​quantity/​quality tradeoff here. Shared starters like the cheese fondue and calamari were conversation topics in and of themselves, as were appetizers like the salade verte (a big flowing bouquet of butter lettuce topped with fine herbs, shallots, and Dijon mustard vinaigrette) and the soupe a l’oignon gratinee (traditional onion soup with a baked-​over crust of Emmenthal cheese).
Entrees like the crevettes provencales (Fisherman’s Daughter shrimp, garlic, lemon zest, olives, roasted tomatoes, Pernod garlic butter) and saumon ecossais label rouge (olive oil poached Loch Duart salmon, artichoke hearts, jumbo asparagus, fennel, baby frisee) were filling, although the overall taste was decent — just that. Desserts like the mousse au chocolat, crème brulee, and cheesecake au citron were also well-​presented and were enjoyable.
Service is decent, plus this quite a large venue that can accommodate groups large and small. Not bad as a venue for a small company party, or perhaps for a date.

I’ve only eaten for happy hour here.
Fries were okay. Lamb sliders were tasty. $ 6 each though
Bread was kind of hard. Tartee Flambé was tasty
Waitress was attentive.
The décor inside was not fancy. It was more ordinary along with the French-​style chairs.

Wait time with reservation was not bad at all, thus 2stars. Had 730 reservation and arrived early 7:05. Seated in the bar area after a wait of10 mins. We were seated ahead of our 730 time.
The waiter came, did not introduce himself and took our drink order and drinks came without a hitch. The waiter then took our entrée order. We see two tables turn over and new people seated. We went through 2 baskets of bread and seeing the 2 tables of folks who arrived after we did get their food. Our waiter came a second time around to confirm our orders. I suspect he never put in the order and that’s why it took 30 mins to get the cheese fondue and soup. I spoke with someone in a coat n tie and asked how long does it really take to get soup? As he was about to check, it arrived.
Service was pretty bad. Our waiter only had 4 tables in the area and he did not once come to check on us. I had to flag him down for a dessert menu. You would think after dropping off the menu you would come back to take our dessert order. Took another 15 mins just to put in a dessert order. Really?
But the check came pretty quick and so did he when payment was given. Wow!
This was my first experience there and I will not be going back. Other than poor service, the lobster tail was good, moist and tender. The rib eye with Roquefort butter was also good. The sweet potato mash was over whipped. Dessert was vanilla bean ice cream with shaved almonds and espresso poured over it. Was so so.
After $ 150 is it worth it? Would have been if the service was better. Again it was my first and will be the last time I will patronize this establishment. They need to work on service if they want returning customers.

The 2^nd time here. Tried seasonal main course today. The seafood fusion is not so good but I like a duck with kale leaves, potatoes and oranges! The cocktail Kue cler is good. Cheese fondue is okay if you really like melt cheese with bread

Service not so good. Hostess wasn’t sensitive to the impending rain and sat us at a table in the open. I mentioned to her about the rain, and she wasn’t concerned. Fortunately, it didn’t rain. After being seated, we waited about 8 minutes (yes, I timed it) before anyone helped us. I had to flag down the manager to get service started.
Food was good. Had the Nicoise Ahi salad and French Onion Soup. Both were excellent! The salad was packed with lots of fresh ingredients and the fish was super fresh. The soup had a great taste, good temperature, perfectly spiced, and lots of cheese! Perhaps one of the best French Onion soups I’ve had in San Jose. If not for the service, I would have given 4 stars

Disappointed in my experience. From the starter with the cold dry bread we received to our check– not pleased at all.
Ordered the Tarte Flambee and the Petaluma Natural Chicken Sandwich off the seasonal menu.
Highlights of the food were the lemon water & the french fries that came with my sandwich. Dining room area is spacious– but I think I would prefer outdoor next time for people watching (if it’s not too cold!)
Service definitely was a little lacking here as all the other reviews said… What was ridiculous was that when our bill came — there were 3 additional items on there that we did not order. Told our waiter that those 3 we did not order– and then he came back with the fixed bill with still an additional item we did not order. I would think as a waiter you would know what your tables ordered…
I gave him feedback that our bill was still not correct and he said «Give me your card and I’ll fix it before I swipe it» Um what? No thank you. please show me the bill before I hand you my card to swipe…
Now we’re also pretty sure that when he handed our bill back with the transaction that he did not hand us back our card… since it’s pretty hard to sign your bill and forget your cc…

I thoroughly enjoyed my dinner here! From the moment we step in till the end of the dinner. Food wise, it was good, classic french fare in a casual yet elegant setting. But what really differentiate was the service. I could not ask for better.
For the dinner, we had the mussels, sea scallops and a side of roasted beansprouts with bacon. All solid. I highly recommend the mussels, which was cooked perfect — a dish that is easier overcooked. But Left Bank nailed it!
I would def return next time I am in the area.

This place looks like its more for an older crowd.
Whats good here you might ask? the appetizers, didnt really like the salmon entrée much.
make sure you try the: mussels, cheese fondue, and the escargot
short and simple.
service is great btw

Food is pretty alright, but not great. We did not make reservation for Saturday dinner, but it took us about 20 min to get to the table at around 8pm. Service is good, outdoor seating is pretty chilly but wonderful. Food portion is ok. We ordered a French onion soup (tastes ok
, average level) ahi tuna salad, also ok, pork chop, it is a big piece, but we inside of the meat is tasteless. And a steak stripe, also ok
Overall it was a good experience on Santana row. But food is not awesome. Just ok, nothing special about their food.

Had my 20 year high school reunion here.
What isn’t there to love about Santana Row really?
The food was pretty tasty, even though I had arrived and the food was cold. My own fault.
The place was really cool, great atmosphere and vibe, of course it could be just because I was there in good company! They have a cool bar, good drinks!
I will have to come back here and check it out for real, for real, next time I am out in the San Jose area.

Came last night and instantly fell in love with the décor and interior design of this place.
Food was alright. Ordered mussels and escargot for appetizer. Mussels were surprisingly plump. But I think the broth could’ve had more flavor. Escargot could’ve also had more garlic.
For entrée I had lamb shank, a hamburger, chicken, duck, and seafood stew. Lamb shank was disappointing. Didn’t have much flavor and was lukewarm. The chicken was better, had more flavor. Scallops were small in the seafood stew but was alright. Only four pieces of duck. Hamburger was nothing special.
I just think the food overall needs more seasoning.

I came here on a Friday date night spontaneously while strolling through Santana Row. We chose this place and they told us the wait was 40 mins and they will text us when our table is ready. After 1 hour, we still didn’t get a text and we went to the hostess to ask how much longer that we needed to wait. The hostess said «really quick» and we had to wait another 20 mins. I understand that is a busy night and outdoor seating is limited, but letting us know the approximate wait time would be nice.
We had a glass of red wine, a glass of scotch on the rocks, steak tartare for appetizer, Poulet Rotisserie, and Ze burger, and complementary bread with butter. I never had steak tartare before and i was very excited to eat it. Also, a bit nervous at first since it was literally ALL raw meat. It was one of the best things I have eaten in a long time! The Roulet Rotisserie chicken was a bit disappointing. I could taste the flavor but it was just dry. If it came with some sauce or if the chicken was taken out of the open a minute sooner, it wouldve been perfect. If I had to compare it to a Costco Rotisserie chicken, the Costco one would be way more juicier. However, the portion was huge and the fries werent bad. The burger wasn’t bad but it was nothing special. I really don’t have much to say about an average burger.
The service was not that great. One thing i liked about it was how they didn’t come up to us constantly and asking if we needed anything so it wasn’t overbearing. However, I thought both the waitress and waiter were rude. The waitress spilled my wine while she was pouring it and didn’t even say a single «sorry», shrugged it off, and left. The waiter who delivered our food dropped our fries on the table and left immediately. It wasn’t even one or two pieces! it was at least 8 – 10. He didn’t say a single sorry either! He dropped it, glanced at us for a single second, and ran before would even say anything.
Maybe we ordered the wrong entrees, but it was not definitely worth $ 92 (tip included). I’m willing to give this place another try since the ambiance and décor was beautiful.

Packed and slow where the food doesn’t cut it.
Brasseries to me, are mostly the same. Slightly overpriced to expensive, French style cuisine with high ceilings, a ladies lunch crowd and lousy service. So why do I go? Because I’m invited and I’m polite and graciously accept the invitation.
East Bank Brasserie was almost exactly what I expected. Cute, bright, a lovely patio area and packed. We had lunch reservations for 4 on a weekday and were seated promptly upon our on time arrival. Then is was down hill.
With zero service or acknowledgment for 4 minutes, we flagged down a French guy who looked busy. Score! He was our waiter and said he would be right back. Totally understandable but «right back» was actually about 4 more minutes. So 8 to 10 minutes after being seated we were approached by our server. A bottle of rose’ and food was ordered.
My mother fenjoyed the $ 15.95 SALAD NIÇOISE while my father and I both had «ZE» HAMBURGER $ 12.50. Meh. The bun was good and so were the fries but that’s about it. The service continued to be slow or we were invisible, I’m not sure which.
With my already low expectations, I was not surprised but I also would not return. Unless you invite me and pick up the tab.

I can only imagine there are better options in Santana Row for steak.
My steak was underwhelming and led me to get steak the next time I had a chance– not a good sign. For starters, I didn’t enjoy the rocquefort butter that was on my steak– probably should stick with something less powerful. I also felt like the juicy and tender qualities of the steak were lost… this wasn’t a thick cut of meat by any means so it probably was a bit on the overcooked size. That’s a shame. The fries on the other hand were good if you care for fries that taste like the ones from McDonalds.
Had their oysters as my app and I don’t remember out rightly praising them for how good they tasted.
Nice place if you are looking for the Parisian/​French dining experience, but the food isn’t the best.

Schmackhafte Suppe mit Meeresfrüchten. Der Steak war leider angebrannt.
Das Essen wird mit Stil serviert. Gerne wieder.