Claude and Dominique Bistro
(between Main St & Neal St)
Pleasanton, CA 94566 (925) 462-0100
- Price Range: $$$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Private Lot
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: No
- Good for Kids: No
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Delivers: No
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: Yes
22 Reviews for Claude and Dominique Bistro
Heard this was a great restaurant from a friend. And... she was right!!! It could use a little updating. Looks like it was somewhat pieced together decoratively.
However the food is EXCELLENT and the service is EXCELLENT. Which is what is important!
I was in SF with my boyfriend. We were STARVING, and he decided to take me to a romantic dinner (heh).
After looking driving around endlessly, I noticed C&D's bistro. He was a bit skeptic... (I was too), but I liked the name... LOL.
Thank god I have good taste in food and men. The lobster bisque was amazing! Although I was not hungry I nibbled a little off my boyfriends plate which was very delicious.
I couldn't resist ordering a souffle though and was very pleased with the one I had at C&D's.
Okay so.. the service was great . I mean, French food ? French waiters ? OSHI RUDE PEOPLE. lol. But no, they were really nice after all ^^.
But the decor was cute...matched the rest of the evening. It may use a little bit of upgrading with the interior and exterior but the rest was just perfect. I would love to go there more often, but unfortunately it's so far away from me
We have been coming to this place for over 5 years as our special place to celebrate anniversaries, graduations, etc. 6 of us came at the beginning of February 2008 and was not pleasantly suprised to learn that Claude and Dominique have retired and new owners have taken over. We began the evening open minded and ready to enjoy our meal. Strike 1: our favorite french wine was no longer on the wine list. Strike 2: all six of us had to send our "french" onion soups back to the kitchen-it was off-tasting and had very little broth or flavor. Strike 3: no chocolate souffles available; the Grand Marnier souffle was tender but the sauce was lacking depth and richness. So many things we missed, such as Dominique coming by and visiting. We were VERY saddened and agreed we will not be back but will be looking for an alternate special french cuisine experience. C'est la guerre!!
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02/22/2008
We have been coming to this place for over 5 years as our special place to celebrate anniversaries,… Read more »
I do not love this place. In the past securing a table could be a nightmare, they were not friendly or helpful. If they are under new ownership pehaps this has improved?? When you get there, you are ushered to a cramped basement, very tight! The room is dark and old, it would be much nicer to be on the main floor of this cute house! The food is fine, standard lots of cream bistro food that makes it because of the ingredients, not the execution. My service experiences have been borderline rude, at best indifferent. I will give it another try one day,in hopes the new ownership has improved the people side of this business, but it is not on the top of my list.
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I love chocolate souffles! This restaurant has the best I've ever tasted. Better than the Godiva volcano cake at Morton's! They have what I call country french dishes. Not the foo-foo micro servings of traditional french cooking but hardy plates to fill your belly. I love talking to Dominique...(I would have thought she would have lost her accent by now!). It's a date place or an intimate place for a couples dinner.
Planned an executive dinner at the restaurant for about 14 people.
Pros: Private room upstairs
Delicious food A+++
Staff was extremely genuine and polite and extremely accomodating
Cons: Ambiance lacked, time for some new paint..eh..wallpaper
Overall, we had a great time there. No one had any complaints. Great menu options and the NEW owners were so stinkin cute!
This place is great! We have been going to Claude & Dominique's for years! It is the only place in the East Bay where you can get great bistro food!
The Escargot is amazing! And I always ordered the seared foie gras - it is the best!
All the dishes we have had are excellent and I love that they have some adventurous dishes including:
Ris de Veau (sweetbreads - so rich!)
Cote de veau aux Morilles (veal chop - one of my hubby's favs)
Venaison - (Venison - my hubby's other fav)
Cuisses de grenouille (frogs legs - yummy!)
Lapin en gibelotte (rabbit - a rare find)
Make a reservation, eat some wonderful food, then take a stroll down main street to work off a few of the calories ;-)
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Most of the restaurants in Pleasanton are the culinary equivalent of the McMansions that litter the Tri-Valley hillsides. Oversized, too much granite and stainless, built to impress, with cheap food in the stadium kitchen bought with whatever's leftover after the colossal interest-only mortgage payment. You can find something cheaper overlooking the freeway, but it's prefab fast food.
This place is, and has been, different. I walked in off the street on a random whim after being away from the Pleasantmore scene for five years. It's still in the same cozy little converted house off Main St., but recent expansion added an upstairs bar and sun room. It's small, it's cozy, it's unpretentious, with room to enjoy the food in a quiet environment.
The meal was excellent, and perfect for what we wanted. The wine list was limited and a bit overpriced once you realized that many of the selections are familiar to anyone who cruises the TJs booze aisle, but the options matched well with the food choices. We started with a perfectly prepared, seasoned, and presented Caesar salad. Yes, it's more than an untrimmed romaine heart buried in parmesan peppercorn dressing! It's all about balancing flavors and textures. Our entrees were seared ahi tuna over lentils and venison in a peppery glaze with fried potatoes and vegetables. Unlike spare California cuisine, these dishes were not shy about layering additional flavors atop the core ingredients. The sauces were strongly flavored, using the wonderful vehicles of animal and vegetable fat to transport and deliver flavor to where it's most needed. The ahi tuna had a subtle horseradish flavor hidden in the mix, reminding the diner of tekka maki while the rich heap of lentils nearby kept the focus on the other side of the globe. The venison was prepared perfectly at medium rare, with the fine texture of beef tenderloin but real flavor beyond the sauce. And the sauce was quite good--a mix of peppery, salty, and sweet. Dessert was the sabayon (the creme brulee was left for a future visit) with fruit and ice cream.
Service was friendly but still elegant, and the prices, while not cheap, were in line with the better establishments in the area. In a town that's still stuck between high-end pretention and small-town quaintness, this is one place that's honest and honestly good.
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If you like French food (and I do!) try this place for a true French experience. The owners come around and say hello to their patrons and I love the accent! The inside reminds me of an old quaint house, but definitely a little cramped. I had the Coq au vin and it was good.
They have a small lot you can park in. Make reservations if you plan to get here after 6pm!! It is popular, but with an older crowd it seemed.
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You need to know that the positive reviews written below were likely penned before Claude and Dominique retired. The new owners have not quite figured out how to run the place yet.
We chose this restaurant for a special birthday celebration to find: 1) Our appetizers arriving after 35 minutes (with one of our party served luke-warm lobster bisque); 2) All of our entrees drowning in sauce and two orders of duck a'lorange served cold; 3) Half the desert menu unavailable at 8:00 p.m.; and 4) My birthday tarte which was to have arrived with a candle served without and still frozen!
We let the owner know that we planned a negative review on Yelp! and he promptly cut our bill in half. Nice gesture but it didn't make up for the evening.
Yes, the food was good but it's just tooooooo small. I mean, come on I don't want to know what the people around us are talking about. And I don't want to censor my conversation with my husband because that older guy next to us is paying more attention to us than his wife (really romantic for her I'm sure). Other than that they get 3 stars because the food was delish. The service was also good. Maybe we will be back because I never did try their mussels and my dad has awakened me to the wonderful world of mussels. We'll see if they stand up to Le Bon...
This is a 3 1/2 star place.
Just ate here today and the food was good. Service a bit slow and food was a little salty for my taste.
Had the seared foie gras. Very good but very over priced, $28 and the portion was typical.
Lobster bisque and French onion soup was good, but slightly salty. Rack of lamb very good. My fiancee has the mixed seafood with a pastry shell....delicious. Slightly salty but good flavors.
We didn't know about the 40min prep time on the souffle so we skipped it. It was also $27 but it's for two. Still a bit hefty but we're going back to have dinner some time again, and to try the souffle.
Been coming here for years. The french couple who own/run this place could not be more warm or charming.
A few years ago, I was craving their Coq au vin but I just had a baby and wasn't ready to hold the baby through a 2 hour meal. I asked for some to go and when I went to pick it up, instead of a styrofoam box, they handed me the cooked coq au vin IN THE POT. It was so unbelievably sweet and trusting. I brought the pot back the next day with flowers. These are seriously good people.
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This is the only place you'll find real French food in the Tri-Valley. Dominique greets you when you enter and explains the whole menu to you. The food is, of course, awesome. This place is really cramped and small, but very quaint and homey. You feel like you are having a home-cooked meal at their house. It's a nice experience. Make sure you make reservations because you don't wanna get stuck waiting forever on their bench which is only inches away from other people's tables. Sitting there watching them eat would not be fun and I don't think they would appreciate it either.
This place rocks! Dominique greets you at the door and leads you to the quaint dining room where she offers you a glass of champagne before dinner. The atmosphere is terrific and the food is exquisite. Take your wife, girlfriend or significant other. You won't regret it.
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This homey french restaurant is located in downtown Pleasanton. The owners, yes, you guessed it, Claude and Dominique, act as chef and hostess. The service and food are excellent.
I had the french onion soup, green salad, salmon, and Creme caramel for dessert. My nephew had a marinated pear dessert that he said was the best dessert he's ever had. Some had the escargot, but I skipped it.
Highly recommended for that special night out. Pricey for casual dining, unless you are loaded.
Divine food and beautifully romantic atmosphere combine to make this my absolute favorite restaurant in Pleasanton. OK - it might also have something to do with the fact that this was mine and my husband's first date:) Dominique provides class and warmth to the evening and her husband provides a heavenly meal. The next time you are looking for a romantic evening out (sans kids) - this is the place. My favs? Mussels, Lobster Bisque, Filet w/ potatoes and of course, Creme Brulee! Oh, and a kir royale if the mood is right:)
let me give it to you quick. the BEST restaurant in Pleasanton.
now for all the people that have the inclination to read further, let me elaborate why i gave it such high praise.
if you don't like tiny houses converted into a restaurant, this isn't your thing. but if you're like me, who often looks for places like this because of the extra attention to service and food, come give this place a try. the hostess is fabulous, the food is amazing, and they have a small selection of really good wine. you'll find that the sauces they come up with are very distinct, but doesn't overwhelm the food you're having it with.
Pros:
Food
Service
Cons:
Crowded
i would recommend calling in to get a reservation. if it's a cold night, then you should make sure to ask for a table inside.
i've tried, and recommend the following (marked my favs):
Appetizers:
*Coquilles St. Jacques (Scallops and Shrimp)
Saumon Fum (Smoked Salmon)
Champignons Provencales (Mushrooms)
Entrees:
Cuisses de grenouille (Frog Legs)
* Faisan la Claude (Pheasant)
* Veau Normande (Veal)
* Venaison (Venison)
i found this place when i was looking for a wine shop. desperate to find some French wine, i asked if they would let me buy a bottle without having it there, they politely referred me to the Wine Steward. which leads me to my next review of my favorite wine shop in the Tri-Valley....
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This place has been there for 12 years and I had never heard of it, that is, until I learned about it on yelp. My family and I decided to have dinner there, all six of us, and it was fabulous. The staff is friendly and the food is delicious. I had the sturgeon which tasted a tad "fishy," but everyone else's food was made to perfection. The venison and salmon were impressive to say the least.
My only qualms are as follows:
sturgeon - tasted fishy.
decaf coffee - wasn't the freshest.
Creme Brule - somewhat runny, not the thick custard I'm familiar with.
BUT, they weren't so bad that it should discourage anyone from eating there. The other deserts were to die for and the cappuccino was superb! Not to mention the wine selection!!
For six adults the damage was $288, but this included...
6 entrees
4 salads & 1 bowl of soup (my lobster bisque, AWESOME!)
2 glasses of California cab.
3 glasses of french Bordeaux
1 glass of port
1 decaf coffee
1 cappuccino
3 Creme Brules
2 other deserts
So, yes, it was quite expensive, but its not like we made an effort to minimize the expense. A couple could quite possibly eat there for a reasonable price, but it still might require a special occasion to justify the expense.
Eat here if you can!
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Best restaurant in Pleasanton! My husband and I love a night out without the kids at Claude and Dominique's. Dominique is a very charming lady who makes you feel so welcome the moment you enter the door. The food (which is prepared by Claude) is exquisite! And I love the chocolate mousse for dessert. I can't wait to visit again!
One piece of advice, make sure you call to make a reservation in advance (even if it is the day of).
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Claude and Dominque is one of my favorite restaurants in the Tri-Valley -- and even more so as a romantic dining spot. They have consistently delivered "divine food and beautifully romantic atmosphere" over my many visits. From mussels to fish to duck to beef, they have all been wonderfully prepared, presented, and also well balanced (both the flavors & seasonings as well as the meat and vegetables). Their desserts are equally wonderful. Again: one of the best.
A small, nice setting French restaurant. Looks very homey and cozy. Great food. :)
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