Le Grand Bistro Américain

Restaurant #3 in this weeks Restaurant Week fun.
The view from our table was beautiful. Nothing like looking at the magical Lake Washington and of course the stunning yachts!
The food… bland is all I can really say. The Restaurant Week menu included an appetizer and a main course. I had the Country Pâté, which as you can see by the photo was an incredibly small portion and lacked any presentation. The pâté was ok, but I’ve had better. The mustard that’s paired with it added a nice tangy addition. The plate presentation did remind me of the plate I fix my cat… was kinda hard to keep that image out of my mind as I ate.
For the main course I had the Housemade Chicken Sausage with ratatouille and polenta. The polenta was amazing, creamy with a light flavor! The ratatouille was bold and I could have easily eaten entire bowl. The sausage itself was rather dry and lacked the flavor I was expecting. I would say this dish probably didn’t highlight what this restaurant is capable of serving.
As the meal did not include a dessert, I ordered off the main menu and had the Chocolate Pot de Crème for an additional $ 7. Definitely a must dessert! The sweetness of the chocolate was perfectly balance, not too sweet but not too bitter, and the stewed cherries added a nice tangy sharpness that exploded in your mouth. The dessert was the highlight of the meal!
As we arrived at 12.30pm, the place was hopping with mainly a professional crowd, although the attire was more on the casual side. Our waiter was pleasant enough and the overall experience was just ok.
This wasn’t my favorite experience and not sure I’d ever come back. Maybe if it’s on the Restaurant Week later this year I may give it another go.

This is my go-​to place for an insanely good brunch with great service. You can’t beat the water view. A gem in Kirkland. Brunch tip: get there before noon.

Fantastic location and great place to celebrate a special occasion. An expensive night out but the view of the water and the service is fantastic.
Food
–the appetizers blew us away. We recommend the grilled octopus, the raw seafood grand selection, and the French onion soup (much richer and filling that you think). The octopus was REALLY good and full of flavor and was quickly gone by the table. The French onion soup is meant for one person but it’s so rich and hearty, it was shared across the table.
–the salad was hearty and really really good. I had the frisee and the bacon was crispy and thick
–the entrees were highly disappointing unfortunately. we really really wanted to love it. we got the special: seared tuna and risotto. The tuna was flavorless and the risotto was in a hard cake shape that was difficult to eat. It was highly disappointing for $ 34. The beef bourgeon was also too salty and was missing some carb with it (bread, pasta, anything). It was really difficult to eat and went around the table as well and everyone couldn’t have more that just a couple of bites before putting it down.
I would definitely go back at sunset for the view, the service, and for the appetizers. I heard the happy hour from 3 – 6 pm is really good and it seemed packed for happy hour. The dinner entrees were a pass.

The girlfriend had gotten each of us gift certificates to Le Grand Bistro Americain for stocking stuffers at Christmas, so we decided to use them.
We were seated in a booth overlooking the marina, which was a great view. Lake Washington was calm and the clouds provided a great canvas for the setting sun.
We started dinner with appetizers: grilled octopus for her, escargot for me. The octopus was excellent! Grilled perfectly and very tasty. Sadly, the escargot was the opposite. Bland, flavorless. Just bleh.
Dinner was steak for both of us. She had steak au poivre, while I went with the rib eye. We also both had the truffle mashed potatoes. Absolutely excellent! All of it. The steaks were cooked perfectly, the potatoes were creamy and full of flavor. Just delicious!
We both only at ½ our meals in order to allow room for dessert. This was an excellent decision. She had Crème Brulee and I chose the dark chocolate mousse. Again, both excellent choices.
While we had one «main» waiter, Frank, the service was definitely a team setup, and it, too, was excellent! I was just really please with the whole experience.
Upon receiving the bill, I was surprised to see that they hadn’t only comp’d the escargot, but our desserts as well.
Our experience was just awesome! Even with the one negative, I just can’t help but give them 5 stars. Thanks for doing it right, Le Grand Bistro Americain!

As part of a girls weekend, I took my friends to this restaurant because I knew they made a great drink and have a wonderful view. As always our drinks were great, definitely explore the cocktail menu if you go! Their seafood dishes and raw bar were also excellent, but I will pass on the American burger next time. I look forward to the summer months and cocktails by the docks. Our service was a little slow but always very courteous and helpful.

We made a reservation for 1:15 PM for a window table last Sunday. When we arrived on time, we were told we had to wait about 30 minutes, even though we saw there were a couple of small tables near the restaurant entrance next to the window. We asked about it and got seated.
10 minutes passed and no one came to us at all. I asked the host when she was passing by: «is anyone going to serve us?» She went and talked to a waiter. A few minutes later, the host came back and took our order herself. I guess it’s because we were sitting at the «bar area», but the bar was not busy at all! At the end, we had to flag the bartender for our check while he was passing by. He said YES, but then disappeared forever.
Finally, we asked the host for our check while she was passing by again. My husband (being a gentleman) still left 12% tip, which is a big joke to me! But I chose to drop it at that.
With the high price of their food, this is the most disorganized, ridiculous, «high-​end» restaurant ever!
There are many other restaurants with great service & food here on the eastside, so we will for sure take our business elsewhere!

I don’t understand why Unilocal only give this restaurant a $$. It’s definitely a $$$. I went here for valentine’s date with my boyfriend and it cost us $ 112. That’s for 2 appetizers, 2 entrees, and 2 glass of champagne. The portion was pretty big though, it’s a jaw workout trying to finish the portion. We got to seat at the booth with a really nice window view.

Location is nice. Service was ok. My main gripe is that while the menu looks fantastic, the food just isn’t well-​prepared. It’s French food, yes, but at the level of a place like Cheesecake Factory. Not a destination for foodies.

Been here twice and I would have to give this place a solid 3 stars. I was really hoping to give it a higher rating since it’s a cute little place.
The food:
My tip is to order a side with your entrée. The portions here are on the smaller side. I ordered the onion soup and it was $ 12 for a cup. Rather pricey and it was just okay. The onions were a little firmer and not as caramelized.
I ordered the boeuf bourguignon and it literally is just the entrée. No mashed potatoes or anything to go with it. It was salty because it was just the meat part, so I ate mine with bread that they served at the beginning. Again, order a side if you want a more satisfying meal.
The service:
It was okay. The waiter we had seemed inattentive during the dinner rush (at the beginning of our service) but as people left, the service got better. The people serving the food were great! Nice and friendly. They seemed pretty on-​point with bringing you the matching utensils for your meal.
The ambiance:
Great location with beautiful views of Lake Washington. Total date place! The music was light and French. Really fit well with the feel of the place.
Overall, the ambiance had the most going for it. I wanted the food to be better, but it was just okay. Might be better suited for lunch. Better price for the meal and you can see the marina better.

Had dinner recently with another couple. Menu was nicely diversified and staff was very friendly. Located at Carillon Point marina so a window view is ideal seating.
Food, from appetizers to entres, was very good although preparation of sea bass was not enjoyed by one guest. Wine list did not provide for a bottle less than $ 50.
Would absolutely return to enjoy different dishes.

Delicious shrimp bisque and fabulous desserts. Everything in between ranged from just OK to awful. Great setting, good service, steep prices.

Came here quite by accident, it was MLK day and my wife and I were looking around for a quick lunch. Carillon Point was pretty quiet, most of the stores and restaurants were closed. Having just been in Paris recently, we decided to try the Bistro. Classic French bistro fare, nice environment, lovely views of Lake Washington. Service was impeccable and attentive. We had the duck confit and a Croque Monsieur, both we very nicely prepared and with good presentation (ok, the béchamel was a bit bland, but we’ll let that slide). Plan to come back here for dinner.

Great to have a decent french bistro on the eastside. All of the food was delicious: The french onion soup was great on a cold night. Probably not a great summer food. The mussels were amazing: huge, fresh, all open, and in a rich, buttery wine sauce. The beef bourginogne was pretty great: we could’ve licked the plate clean if that was socially acceptable. We couldn’t see much of the view because it was nighttime, but it seemed to be mostly the marina. So I guess if you like looking at a bunch of rich people’s boats, it’s good?
It’s definitely a «heavy» menu: most menu items are red meat. Just a warning, you’re not going to get away with consuming less than your entire daily allowance of fat. So def a special occasion type of place. If you’re a regular here, you’re probably going to die when you turn 50.

Let me just say that I love French food. I went to Paris last summer and absolutely fell in love with the city. I’m not the best person to ask about how to find the best food in a foreign city, probably because I am more of a tourist than a serial foodie, but I did eat some amazing bouef bourguignon near the Tour Eiffel in August that I’ve been trying to find in Seattle ever since.
Reservations: I reserved a table for two on a Wednesday night in November for me and my boyfriend, whom I’ll call «the Ginger» (and I guess you could call me «Wasabi», haha punny).
Seats: We got seated at a four-​person table in the back with windows, but our waiter promised that as soon as a table cleared by the waterfront window area, then we’d get that seat. Sure enough, he fulfilled his promise. The view, if it were light outside, would have been gorgeous. However, the view of the moonlight reflecting on the water and the boats was quite romantic as well.
Service: Impeccable service throughout the entire evening. The main waiter conversed with us for just the right amount of time, connecting with both myself and the Ginger.
Food: I ordered the boeuf bourguignon and it was excellent. I only wished I had more so I could take leftovers home, but thus is French cuisine, to be enjoyed as soon as it is prepared, not nuked in the microwave at home. The Ginger ordered off the Restaurant Week menu, a steak. For dessert, we shared a crème brûlée, which was delicious as well.
Ambiance: Romantic and intimate. Those are the top two words to describe the place. Oh, and classy.
Noise level: Quiet! I could hear the conversations of the parties around me, but that led to an interesting people-​hearing evening.

After my second visit to this establishment, I am definitely a fan! Both their brunch and dinner menu’s are fantastic, with many delectable options to choose from. One of my favorite aspects of the restaurant is their daily special’s; you get many options to choose from which focus on what is in season.
The wait and bar staff were very knowledgeable regarding the beverage and wine list, and the service was very polite and prompt. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the bloody mary I was served, but then again I tend to be quite picky when it comes to my bloody’s!
I would HIGHLY recommend Le Grand Bistro Americain to anyone!

Came here for din din while in town visiting family. Located by the water, it’s a nicer restaurant. It’s dark in there. We were all seated immediately. Service was EXCELLENT throughout the entire meal. Kept refilling my water!
Had butternut squash soup. That was ok.
Bread was cold and had cranberries. Yuck. This kind of place it should be warm sourdough or something similar.
Had their salad. It had arugala and some other stuff. I can’t remember everything. AMAZING! YUM! Best thing we had that night.
Salmon for din din and they substituted my request to have veggies instead of the goat cheese thingie. Not even close to my hubby’s cooking… but for a restaurant, it was well prepared (not oily, salty or dry) and one of the better salmons I’ve had.
Crème brûlée for dessert was decent. Nothing that stood out.
Hubby had the chocolate cake thingie and he said that was excellent.
Prices, super expensive (but compared to that type of establishment, I guess it’s average pricing). The BIL wanted to treat us to dinner and he likes fancier places. For us, we like more casual, thai etc. On our own, we wouldn’t come here, not because of food or service, it’s just we are more low key people.
But overall, a very nice experience. For those who like the more upscale types of dining, I think they’ll be happy. Their service is truly excellent though!

Had baby shower with girls here. They accommodated so much for us we were able to spend cozy good hours in the backside of their room. Very nice people.

Great place to go for a soup and salad and bread combo in the early afternoon, we had the place to our selves and the rainy day view of the boats and the lake was spectacular. There was even a guy out on the lake windsurfing in the high winds. The garlic bisque soup and green salad were delicious. The Pinot Gris was also good.

We had never been to Le Grand before, so the last night of Seattle Restaurant week provided a great introduction to a great restaurant. Unlike previous experiences trying out new places during SRW, we were not disappointed by the outstanding meal.
The server was «so so» at best, he was not passionate about the food and was totally useless in guiding us with our menu selections or wine pairing. His response to every question we had about the menu? A very ho-​hum, «It’s good.» So we pressed on without his guidance and made our selections, which were exceptionally good, except for dessert.
We started off with cocktails — my hubby had a dirty martini, which was crystal clear (no sign of olive brine) and in his words, «just marginal». I went with the Manhattan, which was very good. For our first course, hubby chose the oysters mignonette, which he says were were good and briney, but he would have preferred a red sauce. I chose the bean soup which was amazing! The rich, broth, ham, smoky bacon & white beans were delicious. I was inspired to put this in the list for our menu at home in the chilly days ahead. For the main course, hubby chose Moules Frites– Mussels Steamed w/​White Wine, Bacon, Parsley, Touch of Cream w/​A Side of French Fries and I had the fresh grilled steelhead with roasted vegetables & couscous. Both of these dishes were very good. We chose a pichet of Sauvignon blanc wine, which accompanied our meal and was priced well. For dessert we both had the walnut torte, which was dry and uninspiring. The best part of dessert was the whipped cream on top. Our server didn’t offer us coffee and dropped the check as soon as the dessert was served. I must add that although our server was abysmal, the hostess, food runners and bussers were very friendly & personable.
Overall, we give Le Grand 4 stars for the delicious appetizers and entrees. The food was good enough to draw us back, but we will make sure we aren’t seated in the same section of our droll server. There are nice tables with a view of the water, next time we will be sure to ask for a table with a view. We were also impressed when the hostess came to let us know a group was going to be seated next to us and offered to move us to another table, which was very considerate. We stayed put, but perhaps we should have accepted the offer to move us because we might have ended up with a better server.
Our tab for the meal, with tip (yes we gave our server 20% assuming the rest of the staff would share) came to $ 127. The SRW price is $ 30 each, which represented approximately 20% savings from the regular dinner menu. They also have a Happy Hour menu and brunch.
Dine around Seattle is Nov 1−25^th, so there’s your chance to try them out and decide for yourselves.

Came here on one of the last nice nights of the year for some outdoor waterfront dining. The atmosphere at Carillon Point is amazing and the restaurant interiors are a classy French bistro style. The outdoor patio has heat lamps to keep you warm on a cool night. Ordered the Lamburger and Boeuf Bourguignon tp share along with a bottle of wine. Both dishes were very tasty and they were nice enough to split our dish and give us both an order of fries. The Boeuf Bourguignon was tender and the sauce tasty, though pricey at $ 23 given the portion size.
Service was excellent, though it did take us about 5 minutes to be greeted once we got inside. Good food, amazing views make this a great place for a night out.

I came here to «scope it out» for a possible future date with my honey. :)
I ordered the Summer Salad (mâché greens, watermelon, goat cheese, pine nuts, sliced heirloom tomatoes, and a light balsamic). It was delicious. I enjoyed how light the dressing was. It did not overpower the flavors of the other ingredients.
I also ordered the French Onion Soup. The broth was rich and flavorful. I liked the Gruyère cheese crust on top.
For dessert I had a Chocolate Pot de Crème. The mousse itself was delicious. Not too sweet and rich with chocolate. I would have preferred fewer almonds on top. The whipped cream also seemed redundant with the richness of the mousse. I did like the sour cherries as they nicely balanced the richness of the mousse.
The service was ok at first. I felt I was a bit neglected in the beginning — did not receive prompt refills of water, bread and butter was slow to come out. They forgot the watermelon on my salad and accidentally gave me the house soup instead of the French onion. Both problems were promptly rectified. I spoke to the manager to give him feedback so that they could improve the service in the future. The manager was very understanding and ended up giving me my entire meal on the house. Service seemed to improve after that as well.
I think I will come back to try the other entrees with my boyfriend, especially since there are some nice Chinook book coupons for the place. It was good of them to apologize for their mistakes and not make excuses — something that made up for the initial service issues that could have lost me as a future customer.

Quick lunch with the family before our family mini vacation. Nice view. Friendly service.

Came for parent’s anniversary. Great attentive and warm service. We ordered the escargot — not too exciting. Le Grand Platter from the raw selection was excellent — Chef’s selection of oysters, sliced scallops, cocktail shrimp. Loved the fresh local oysters.
Entrees came out. I had the watermelon salad which wasn’t what I expected. It was a pile of dressed watermelon and a pile of butter lettuce topped with cheese shavings and dressed in balsamic vinagrette. Although it was a special, it didn’t seem that exciting. I rounded out my meal with a lot of the bread…
Other entrees (bouillabase, seasonal ling cod plated with quinoa, arugula, and avocado purée) seemed alright. Best value appeared to be the lamb burger ($ 16) or the sirloin steak.
A nice place to hang out and enjoy a small celebration.

First off, the view here is absolutely gorgeous. You have a clear view of the water and the marina. I was driving around and I found the restaurant as I was looking for parking. I was a bit confused as to where to park because I saw a parking garage and a parking lot, but I wasn’t sure if the restaurant validated at those places. So I actually pulled over and called the restaurant to ask before I went in the garage: P And YES, parking is validated for 1.5 hours at either location.
I went in and I got seated at a table with a window view right in front of the marina. It was such a gorgeous sunny day. I would have loved to sit outside, but it was still a bit chilly. But the view inside was just as nice.
It’s Dine Around Seattle month, so I came here to order from that menu. I had looked online beforehand for restaurants in the Kirkland area that were doing the special promotion. I came to Le Grand mainly because of their dessert-​crème brûlée. I couldn’t decide on the entrée, either the chicken salad or Le Burger Americain, so I asked the waiter for his recommendation. He talked about la pasta du jour, which means the pasta special of the day. It sounded good, so I said I would try that, since you can get the chicken salad or the burger anytime. I also got the salad verte as an appetizer and crème brûlée as my dessert. They also gave a bread basket with butter while I waited for the first course.
The salad was okay. It was a mixed greens salad with olives and a light vinaigrette. The pasta was good-​it was made with a white wine alfredo sauce with bacon, clams, spinach and red peppers. I thought that it was seasoned well and not too saucy, like other Italian restaurants. It also wasn’t as oily or greasy like other Italian places that go overboard on the oil. The clams tasted fine and they gave a small fork, spoon & bowl to scoop out the clams and put them aside, which was appreciated. The crème brûlée was delicious and yummy.
Overall, I thought that everything was really good here. My waiter was nice and attentive and water was filled promptly. There was a bit of a lag between the appetizer and entrée but otherwise than that, service was good and time efficient. I would actually love to come back here on another nice, warm, sunny day to try the other items!

My friend chose to come here for her birthday because there was an outdoor patio with a good view. We enjoyed our meal, but I guess everything (besides the gorgeous lake view) was just average (3.5 stars). Here’s my take on the food we tried:
— Ratatouille. It was my first time trying ratatouille and I wasn’t all that impressed. It’s like beef stew without the beef and just the veggies. $ 9 for a side, not worth it in my opinion. 2 stars.
— Moules frites. $ 22. My favorite! I shared this entrée with my friend, and they split it up nicely on two plates for us, as if we both got an entrée ourselves. The mussels were yummy and the fries were fine. I’d get this again! 4 stars.
— Frisee salad. It’s an all frisee salad, with croutons, a poached egg and bacon. I’m not a huge fan of frisee, but adding a poached egg and/​or bacon to anything makes for a better dish so it was still pretty good. 3.5 stars.
— Le grand Caesar salad. Nothing grand about it, just what’d you expect for an average Caesar salad. My friend ordered it for herself because she wanted more greens, haha. but for $ 12 and as an entrée, I’d definitely pass on this. 2 stars.
Service was kind of hit or miss. One guy was really awesome, and the other, was pretty lacking but then tried to make it up at the end — doesn’t work. Given the food was okay, I’m not dying to go back. Maybe I’ll try their happy hour sometime and update this or come again next summer for another dinner al fresco. Overall, 3.5 stars rounded down to 3 :/