The French Laundry
Yountville, CA 94599
Phone: (707) 944-2380
- Price:
- $$$$
- Hours:
- Mon-Thu 5:30pm-9:15pm, Fri-Sun 11am-1pm, 5:30pm-9:15pm
Editorial Review for The French Laundry – by Citysearch Editors
The Scene
A wooden clothespin at each table setting reminds you that this, perhaps the greatest restaurant in America, began life in the 1890s as a French steam laundry. The upstairs dining room of the two-story stone house is suffused with golden light at sunset, while a handful of outside tables benefit from a fragrant rose garden. The main dining room bustles with anticipation.
The Food
Master of the elaborate tasting menu, chef Thomas Keller gives diners just enough of each dish so they are pining for one more spoonful--that is, until the next tiny, jewel-like dish arrives. Typical of his masterwork are Oysters and Pearls (a poached malpeque oyster floating on a sabayon of pearl tapioca with a scoop of osetra caviar), Tongue in Cheek (a succulent marriage of braised beef cheek and lamb's tongue), and Coffee and Doughnuts (airy coffee semifreddo supporting puffy little beignets).
Editorial content is independent of paid advertisers. Any expenses are paid for by Citysearch.
Insider Tips
Save TimeDue to its population and high demand, reservations must be made two months in advance to the calendar date.
User Reviews for The French Laundry
07/01/2008 Posted by FoodieJr5
We went here for our 5th anniversay, after a wait of nearly 4 months. The dishes was okay, but far from spectacular. I am a pretty nice guy and maybe my expectations were higher, but this is truly a classic example of a restuarant with rave reviews that has become lazy and now is run solely on the reputation of it's former glory. It's a shame as I see this a lot. A restaurant gets divine praises and then the wait list becomes neverending, the prices increase, the head chef is never there, and the quality of food and service declines rapidly. We did a tasting menu (and paid out the wazoo for it, believe me), and the dishes were decent and good, but no better than a meal I could of gotten at my local french restaurant, only except it would have been only about 10% of the price... The main complaint (ant utter surprise really) I had was how poor the staff and waiters were. 4 of the courses came out disassembled, meaning that the food "stack" clearly had fallen over (again, attention to detail- it seemed like a 15 yr old mop boy plated our food), but what was over the top was our waitor who, on TWO occasions, used his hands to fix the food once it was on our table!! I almost had a heart attack! The staff here is extremely pompous and has a higher than thou attitude that makes me think they are thinking "I am working at the FRENCH LAUNDRY and therefore I am BETTER than you!". My wife asked alot of questions and the answers were given very harshly and in a condescending way. Basically, they made us feel like idiots. I can forgive alot of things because I understand things happen and we have off nights, but poor and RUDE service I will not tolerate, and because of the service we recieved, not only is the French Laundry andsuppar experience, but it has joined my list of one of the worst dining experiences I ever had, and I will be sure to tell as many of my colleagues as I can.
Pros: The aura of eating at a Top Place
Cons: Service
04/05/2008 Posted by Likestotravel1954
After waiting the apparently "required" 2 months to get a reservation at The French Laundry, my husband and I were extremely excited to experience this "world class" restaurant. The wait staff, though attentive, was stiff and pompous, the food was a disappointment, and the final bill for the evening over $800.00. The next day we enjoyed a picnic on the grounds of a beautiful winery, with lovely bread, cheese, olives, and wine, that beat The French Laundry by a mile. Don't believe the hype.
