Loft Brasserie & Carpe Noctem Bar

One of the most delicious Coq au vin I’ve had the pleasure to order at a bistro, every bite was immersed in wine and textured with thick cut morsels of bacon. Croquettes melt in your mouth and the cocktails are perfectly crafted, I recommend a moscow mule before ordering that glass of red to marry your meal.

This is my thing: Pay less, get less, waste less. PLEASE. Loft joins the growing list of restaurants in my world that charges a LOT of money for LARGE portion sizes, and no real person in their right mind and stomach can eat it all.
I came with a large group that was going to take a while to serve, so I ordered a salad to take my extreme hunger edge off: THE KALE CAESAR. It was HUGE and not all that interesting or inventive. Just a lot of kale, garlic, croutons, and cheese. Not bad… just not wow.
By the time my dinner came I was no longer hungry even though I was starving when I came in. I had the «we’re famous for our» MAC AND CHEESE (with crab, hold the bacon) for I think $ 26. That’s a lot of dough. And a lot of very rich food. It was delicious, and the crab portion was generous, if shelly (lots of shell pieces). If I’d not ordered the salad I could have eaten maybe half to ¾ of this but with the salad first I could eat about 4 – 5 bites. It was a popular dish at my table, so my table mates helped me eat it down to half. The rest I had to take home in a box, so just more post-​consumer waste since I couldn’t compost the box.
People’s dishes at my table were mixed. For instance, the beef bourgignon got the worst reviews. The burger with bacon on it people loved but OMG THAT portion size too! The smart folks split theirs. People liked their pasta and their scallops. The scallops seemed to have a reasonable portion size, where the pasta was again quite large.
Overall I’d rather pay 10% less for 25% less food. Win-​win for everyone.
Oh yes but while I’m on this page I’ll say our service was great!

I was really looking forward to dinning at the Loft, I was sure that my 4 star review would jump to 5 stars. How wrong I was! The food and drinks might have been as wonderful as I remembered them to be. I’ll never know! The service was the WORST I have ever experienced. How can I described it: slighted, snubbed, ignored, disregarded or any other adjectives that might give an idea of how two women could be sitting in a room without being seen, I do not like to give 1 or 2 star reviews. I thought about it for a long time and decided to go ahead write about my experience.
We were seated in the small side room and were told Stephen would be our server. There were several empty tables in the room. There was a party of 4 or 5 people at one other table. We sat down Stephen never acknowledge us, he did not say one word to us. He fawned over the other party, dashing out to bring them different wines to try, a bottle of wine sent by the chef, a sample appetizer, and who knows what else. He hung over them like they were old friends, or maybe like he was a child who wants attention, or a puppy that wants to join the fun and get lots of goodies aka a big tip.
On one of his many trips in and out of the room he did nod to us. After 15 to 20 minutes we got up and left. The only person who spoke to us from the time we were seated until we left was a young woman near the kitchen who asked if we enjoyed our dinner.

Exceptional food and impeccable service. Great creekside patio. A great evening in Ashland. We felt like they were much busier than they expected, but the servers all managed to keep a great attitude and a smile on their faces. Particularly our bartender (I’m so sorry I didn’t get her name) who was serving as bartender, Wine steward, bussing tables and serving food — total grace under pressure. I wish they had more local wines — it’s one of the things go I like about dining out when travelling, to see restaurants support local wineries, but our server Jacqueline was very familiar with the Wine list and made a couple of excellent recommendations. My salad was delicious. I chose the duck breast and Jacqueline double checked to make sure medium rare was OK. David had macaroni and cheese with crab and truffle oil. The entrees were amazing and generously proportioned. My only slight critique was that the duck came out very rare. But I really like it that way so that worked well for me. There was absolute no room for dessert this time, but I LOVE that they have a «petite» dessert menu — a couple of truffles or profiteroles that I hope we can take advantage of next time. The perfect end to our Ashland stay. See you next year.

Our food experiences in Ashland have been hit or miss. This one was an absolute HIT.
Creekside dining with flavor and flair. Had to convince dad to try the Tarte dijonaise, told him it was a quiche with a fancy name. He liked it!
Both of our entrees were stunning. My staple throughout the trip to Ashland was Alaska halibut. This place had the best preparation and «freshest» {to me} tasting fish. Dad had more red wine that he really enjoyed. The service was attentive with being oppressive.

The scallop special was ok. The scallops were not properly seared as most did not have full caramelization on both sides and some of the risotto rice was still quite tough as if it was not fully cooked. The taste was on point but for the price I expect my food to be properly cooked.
The cocktails at the bar are amazing though!

We came at the tail end of happy hour last night. We had house wine, the cheese plate, truffle fries, calamari, and escargot. It was $ 39. And the best happy hour we have ever been to. We are from Portland and happy hour often. Loved it and will return.

One of the best restaurants in Ashland! I had the lobster mac and cheese! It was to die for!!! I dream about it sometimes. Lol…

Sofie had the Balibase and I had halibut.
Sofie had a Moscow Mule — only they call it something else which I forgot. It is two weeks since she had that drink and she is still talking about that drink because it was refreshing and delicious; beautifully served in a copper cup with fresh mint and blueberry garnish.
I enjoyed a perfect Hendricks Martini.
The Balibase was delicious! Tender and bursting with flavor.
The Halibut was 2 or 3 minutes overcooked and near tasteless.
I also had the French Onion soup — which was quite good! I asked how they got such flavor and was told that they used veal stock. I’ve made it with chicken stock. Making this soup is easy — but takes a lot of time to cook the onions down. Their veal stock made a big difference! Very good.
The dining room was «cave like» with little light where we sat and was a little creepy with the gnome door and the dirty glass door. I don’t know what the gnome thing is all about… but I’m not thinking I really need to be part of someone’s creepy fantasies.
I’d come back here again for a meal — but I’d order something that doesn’t take a huge amount of skill to cook… like a steak — or be prepared to send it back if it isn’t done right.
Downstairs you can take a peek into the kitchen and see the guys scurrying around cooking food and yelling at each other like the place was on fire… well so it seems to the untrained eye.

Went there for dinner for two. It was easy to make reservations and the young lady on the phone was extremely pleasant.
Dinner was a bit of a different experience. I’ll start by saying the service is beyond exceptional. Everyone is friendly, sincere, and genuine. The food is traditional French but misses the mark slightly. We had the arugula salad, duck, and crab macaroni. The arugula with hazelnuts, goat cheese and beets was on the mark but the preparer went crazy with the beets. Literally, I left two handfuls of beets on the plate. The duck was fantastic but the sauce was a bit heavy on the rosemary. The macaroni was the best dish but we could have used one third of the amount. It’s so rich it would have been best served as an appetizer portion with a side salad.
The artisanal cocktails were also a bit of a challenge. Prohibition style without a highly experienced mixologist. I know that sounds pretentious but I’m beginning to understand that real training is actually necessary in this regard.
The Loft could absolutely be fantastic but it seems they’d benefit from a kitchen with a bit more skill. They have a very ambitious menu and are just shy of pulling it off.

Recently enjoyed a leisurely birthday dinner here before attending a play. The Arugula Salad was flavorful with a nice vinaigrette & generous portion of beets. My husband said the Beef Tartare was one of the best he’s ever had. He still talks about it. So many great menu choices! Both main dishes of roasted Duck Breast & the roasted Pork Chop w/​bordelaise sauce & goat cheese potatoes and were absolutely amazing! Cooked to perfection, artfully presented, just melted in our mouths. Luckily we had room for the Strawberry & Rhubarb Crisp dessert. Another scrumptious choice.
Extensive selection of fine Oregon wines. Service was good, but a bit impersonal. I expected some acknowledgment from our server about the birthday occasion since it had been mentioned on our Open Table reservation & when I called before arriving. Would still return here anytime during an Ashland visit — the Macaroni au Gratin is calling me. Spectacular food, casual/​chic ambiance. Patio seating along creekside also available (too hot for this visit).

MUST HAVE the Mac n Cheese! Fun American twist on French favorites. Good walking distance from the theatre – dine two hours ahead.

Loft is one of the best restaurants in Ashland! The owner, Jacqueline is always there working and providing the most personalized service AND the food is always fantastic!
And did I mention the cocktails!?! Yummy, excellently crafted.
All the servers are top notch and we’ve especially enjoyed Ashley.
Can’t miss a great time out on the patio!

Excellent Ashland restaurant. Innovative chef, very pleasant waitress who was friendly, professional and gave good food and wine recommendations. We had Alaskan halibut that was prepared beautifully and perfect crème brûlée and strawberry-​rhubarb crisp to finish the meal. We will definitely be back the next time we visit Ashland. We loved being able to sit by the large upstairs window overlooking the creek below.

The food is great, the drinks, even better. Loved the escargot and fried chicken sandwich. A must if you visit Ashland.

I thought it was too fancy for a date with my 5 year old but they are extremely inviting and accommodating and the food is excellent. They even muddled strawberries into her lemonade

Foie gras crème brûlée is now my most favorite food in the world. we were simply amazed at the wonderful food we happily consumed. We live more than two hours away but will be back often. Delicious & Delightful

Absolutly delicious food! Fair price for perfectly cooked food. The burger was the best I’ve had in a very long time and the Dungeness crab macaroni is to die for! Our waiter was great as well. We will be back even tho we came from Sacramento to visit. Would’ve gotten five stars if it was easier to find and not so many flies outside.

Elegant Dining Style At It’s Best
SITREP
Scanning our Unilocal search options, my sweet friend Lex turned me onto this wonderful French establishment — Loft Brasserie & Bar («The Loft») — as we were traipsing through Southern Oregon Wine & Theatre Country.
THE SETUP
Located just off of the main drag (literally, «Main St.») in Ashland, OR, The Loft
is snuggled on Calle Guanajuato Way amidst other delightful eateries and sweet artsy stores, and it turned out to be an exquisite dinner stop for us.
The offerings are very seasonal, and in fact could change from week to week. And we are not merely referring to the entrees, but to the wine selections and the desserts as well! [But as it were, after an entire day of wine tasting, we were already satiated (saturated?) with wine and were just happy to stick to water.]
FARM TO FORK MISSION
The Loft adheres to the principles of the Farm-​To-​Fork mission and they support local farmers, ranchers and forages. They are dedicated to using organic, free range, chemical free and genetically unaltered products, which is another factor acounting for their frequent menu changes according to what is seasonal and fresh.
LE MENU
On this occasion, there were some great seafood being offered in the specials — but I actually opted for a regular menu Item entrée since sweet Lex had already brainwashed me on one particular selection that must be had!
Thus for dinner, we thoroughly enjoyed (and were VERY sad to see eventually finished), our following choices:
* A Delicious Bread & Butter Basket of Sourdough Baguette
* A Bowl of Savory French Onion Soup ($ 9), with a wonderful baked cheese top
* The Dungeness Crab Macaroni Gratin Casserole ($ 17) — OMG — it was tonguegastic! (Lex told me I had to get it, I’m glad she did.)
* The Scintillating Sun Squash Gnocchi ($ 15) — Delicious!
We shared everything so we could each sample the variety of this dinner bounty.
THE LOWDOWN
A truly scrumptious dinner stop in Ashland, OR.

Took my husband out for his birthday and we loved everything that we ordered. The service was awesome. I had no problems with making my reservations. We did arrive somewhat early but still were able to be seated indoors or out. My husband chose outdoors which was perfect.
I must say the chef is really spot on with the flavors and presentation was impeccable.
We will definitely be going back.