Bradley’s Fine Diner

What a great chili:
B.F.D. BEANLESS CHILI
prime NY steak, ribeye, pot roast, ground chuck, house made crème fraîche, Tillamook sharp cheddar, green onion

Awesome food & service in a beautiful restaurant! We had a variety of different dishes from the chicken sliders, clam chowder, fish & chips, grilled shrimp cob salad and last but not least butterscotch pudding… needless to say everything was delicious and the presentation was amazing! If your able to request a server ask for John he is by far the best server we have ever encountered! Hats off to Chef Lee and Leilani for an amazing dining experience.
We will definitely be visiting again!!!

Nice place that had a very good feeling. I thought that Nick, my wait person, was very good and very into making sure that I was well taken care of. I really liked the meat loaf melt with a salad that I asked for. I felt great eating there and enjoying the very pleasant service and atmosphere, too. I will be back. Thank you Nick!

I had lunch here a few more times and recently had dinner again. Over the 7 or 8 visits, my impression is the restaurant uses very high quality ingredients and the food is really well prepared.
The shrimp cobb salad, chicken sandwich and burger have been consistently very good. The star of the brunch menu was the shrimp and grits, with a delicious Creole-​style tomato sauce and creamy grits.
For the last dinner visit, the server recommended the short rib and meat loaf, the most popular items on the menu. The meat loaf was very good, with little/​no filler, so it had a very meaty taste. The accompanying crock of mac and cheese was cheesy and creamy, with a nice crunchy topping. But the star dish of the night was the spectacular short rib, even better than my last visit. The kitchen got this just right, perfectly cooked so you could lift off beefy tasting, juicy, tender bites with your fork. The creamy mashed potatoes and tender vegetables were the icing on the cake. I am still thinking about that dish, and plan to come back just to order the short rib again.
The service was excellent, professional but friendly, and the food arrived in a very reasonable amount of time.
This restaurant calls itself a «fine» diner. The setting is a bit rustic, somewhat like a diner, but the food is way more upscale, more like a full-​fledged restaurant. Think of the food at the Lark Creek restaurants, but in a more fun setting.

We were a very large party attending a work lunch and got seated in a nice semi-​private alcove with very cool and unique chandeliers that were decorated with kitchen utensils!
The appetizers were disappointing as neither the grilled cheese nor the fried zucchini was any good at all – avoid!
The burger was great although it came out medium despite my medium rare request. The fries were delicious, too.
I realize we were a large party but we were practically the only ones in the restaurant and the service was beyond slow.
Overall, an A-​OK experience.

Super friendly people, yummy appetizers, I liked it!

We decided to give BFD a second try. We hadn’t been impressed on our first visit shortly after the restaurant opened. We thought we would go again to see if its «new restaurant kinks» had been smoothed out.
Unfortunately we did not have a good experience. We had a 6.15 PM reservation. We arrived on time and were seated promptly. The restaurant was only about half full, and didn’t fill up during our visit. However, we were lead by the hostess to a side area where no one else was seated. As there were many tables open in the main area we asked to be moved there. This request was accommodated.
Our waiter took our drinks order and explained the menu. The menu is small but varied. Something for most tastes. Our drinks arrived promptly.
After our order was taken two other couples and a family of four were seated, near to our table. After a 30 minute wait my husband’s clam chowder arrived which he said was tasty and looked very well presented. I had not ordered a starter.
We waited another 30 minutes for my husband’s dish to be cleared and our main course food to arrive.
During our wait, the other people who had arrived after us had been served and were on to their deserts. We inquired on the status of our food order. After this inquiry our food arrived about 5 minutes later.
My husband had a great looking Cobb salad, which he enjoyed. I ordered the fish and chips. I was underwhelmed. Thought the platter looked well presented, but the fish batter was soggy, and the chips were nothing special, bland.
We spoke to our waiter, who brought over the manager. The manager was polite, and offered us a desert on the house, which we accepted. This appeared quickly.
Overall the food is well presented, the staff pleasant. But the service was was so slow for no apparent reason. There appeared to be no shortage of wait and help staff.
On an aside note, I again found the restaurant chilly, so if you are going would suggest an extra layer of clothing — I was wearing a winter wool sweater but kept my outer jacked over my shoulders the whole time to keep warm.

This place is the pits…
First of all they call themselves a «fine diner.» Reality: You are an overpriced Denny’s with poor service to match.
In the peninsula, there are so many options… don’t settle for this one.
The manager (female, younger) was downright rude to my friends and I and made us leave the restaurant after I commented on her poor service. Never before in my life have I been treated with such disrespect and disdain. It was downright shocking… both her and the waiter wouldn’t even have a conversation with us. It felt almost like racism.
Long story short, don’t support this business who would refuse service to long-​time Menlo Parkians. And the food isn’t even worth it.
The restaurant before it didn’t last in this space, and Bradley’s «Fine» Diner will not last either.
Word of mouth is important, and I will definitely be telling my extensive list of friends and family about your appalling business tactics. Shame on you.

I’m gonna do three stars ONLY because the food is incredible and I like the people here, especially the folks at the bar. But after dining at Bradley’s four times, and EVERY time waiting almost an hour for my main course to arrive, I officially gave up on the place. They will know who I am when they read this review, because twice they comped my meal, they screwed up so badly. I’ll be back when they PROMISE me they have resolved their timing issues and finally have a kitchen staff capable of supporting such a big place. Also they need to go back to the old buns for their burgers, the brioche style ones, the new buns are nowhere near as good.

I have been here a few times and everything I eat that comes out of that kitchen is awesome. The food is amazing. Bradley Ogden brings his culinary magic and creates killer comfort food dishes. Stopped by to get hot dogs from his BFF next door and saw they had a brunch menu at BFD so bunch it was. I had a pork belly sandwich that knocked my socks off. We also got the soufflé French toast that was to die for. The prices are quit reasonable for food from a Michelin star chef.

Went for dinner on a weeknight.
The wine list is very good, lots of variety of both new world and some old world.
The menu seems to be at the end of the season and I believe my visit was at the end of the season because the product that was served was probably meant to be during the peak of summer. On example of this was the heirloom tomato salad that I ordered: the tomatoes were not that ripe and it was really peculiar was that there were temperature variations in the different tomato types in the salad. For instance a large orange fleshed tomato was at room temperature while smaller cherry tomatoes types were frigid. It admittedly seemed a little sloppy.
I guess I have to say I was disappointed by the rib eye entrée. The sides were beautifully done including this «smashed» potato that was crispy. I don’t eat carb so it was just good to see and smell. Maybe they were heavily seasoned, because the rib eye was basically not seasoned. There was a reduction sauce on the plate beneath the steak but not enough for the steak. The steak was perfectly cooked, medium rare at my request, but just an overall imbalance in the flavor profile which I would definitely say could be my fault because I didn’t eat all the sides? But I have never had a steak so underseasoned before so it was a little surprising. Although I never reach for the salt shaker at a restaurant, this highlighted the fact that there don’t seem to be salt or pepper shakers on any of the tables.
Parking is very hard I would guess in the daytime but I went at night and I used the Caltrain lot.

Steak was ok. Fried chicken and bacon wrapped meatloaf were quite good. Pork belly (BLT) also good. Butterscotch pudding was excellent. Bar is well stocked. Service was slow. Good comfort food.

Good atmosphere, especially outside terrace. Local draft beer and dishes to go with are so nice!

The boy and I went to BFD for a dinner out on Friday with our dog. Loved the fact that we had plenty of room on the pretty patio to enjoy dinner, and to have our dog hang out with us. Service was prompt, and the drinks were nice.
The food has potential, but in the end, it netted out to about average. Looks like they’ve lowered their prices compared to what is listed on the website, which I say is a win for them. They were far too high for a little restaurant in Menlo Park.
We had the grilled cheese bites with tomato dipping sauce to start — felt like a kid with their sandwich cut up, but I loved it and the dipping sauce was great. The boy got the fried chicken and I got the burger. The chicken was OK, but certainly not the best. The biscuit was sad — wayyyy too overbaked, to the point where it fell apart if you tried to break some off. Such a bummer! The mac and cheese and the corn slaw were nice, but again nothing extraordinary.
The burger was solid, and the fries were crispy and hot, with a nice amount of salt. Would have loved to see more interesting toppings on the burger — grilled onions, mushrooms, some fancy mayo or something — but all in all, a good burger.
Would totally come back for happy hour and half off bottles of wine though!

Went for lunch. Seems like a pretty cool place but yet undiscovered (maybe ¹⁄₃ full). Had a very strong burger and my friend had the shrimp cobb, which he thought was great. bar looks pretty cool as well. service could have been more responsive given most of the tables were empty, but other than that, solid experience.
Parking is a bit of an issue (I had to pay $ 5 to park at Caltrain where mostly menlo park is free parking)

We were excited to try this place after it was recommended to us by a friend as a great new restaurant just down the street from our house. We came in late on a Saturday night with no reservation and were seated right away. The restaurant was moderately full with a young professional type crowd and a couple groups of 20-​somethings celebrating birthdays.
The overall ambience is great. The inside is decorated with a great modern/​industrial look with cool lighting fixtures and wall art (though I don’t know what’s up with the ugly iron latticework around the booths and behind the bar — it looks like a leftover from a a frumpy Italian family restaurant and it really doesn’t fit with the overall décor). There’s also an outdoor seating area that looks like a big wrap-​around porch, though it’s across the parking lot from the BART train so it could be loud.
The menu is small-​ish but eclectic with unique offerings that apparently change seasonally. Our food was nicely done. I got the fish and chips, which was really more like tempura fish — small strips of fish in a light, crispy batter with tasty hand-​cut fries. For dessert I had the lemon custard cake which tasted good but kind of just looked like a big lump of chunky custard thrown on a plate. The only real misstep with the food was the carrot-​apple-​cucumber juice I ordered, which was decidedly foul. It had this awful vinegar-​y smell, and it looked and tasted like a glass of shrimp cocktail sauce. It in no way resembled juice. I took one sip and left the rest, which was a bummer since it cost $ 6.
Unfortunately, the service was pretty bad. Our waiter was grumpy and slow and we had to keep trying (mostly unsuccessfully) to flag down passing waitstaff just to place our food and drink orders. It ended up taking us about two and a half hours for a simple dinner just because we couldn’t get any of the waitstaff to give us the time of day (or our check). They seem to spend most of their time milling around chatting with the hostesses in the center of the restaurant, or wandering around avoiding eye contact with the customers. Bleh.
We’d like to try to come back to try some of the other interesting menu offerings — hopefully they can get it together with their service.

This place has lots of potential. Great décor & location but the food could use more work. Handmade cocktails from the bar were the highlight of our dining experience. I won’t go too much detail into the food because it was lacking but the fried chicken was probably the most decent dish. Pork chop could’ve been a bit more flavorful & tender but was edible. The rest of the dishes we had were nothing to phone home about. It’s definitely a pricey place as it turned out to be $ 70/​pp that we spent with drinks.

I was very impressed with this place.
I had the fish and chips. The chips were great and the fish and chips were not the typical fish and chips. They were in a batter that was much more like a tempura batter and come with two little bottles. The one is malt vinegar and the other a Lemmon juice. When combined they are amazing. The fish is light and delicate. It was very good
My wife wanted fried chicken so the chef agreed to turn the wing appetizer into a 4 piece wing dinner. The chicken was great. The coating tasted very good. I would strongly recommend adding a fried chicken dinner to the menu. If they do I am sure my wife will insist on coming here often.
The waiter was also very attentive for our meal and the service was spot on.

Dinner last night at BFD was amazing! My group of 4 arrived on a Monday night without a reservation and we were seated right away, no problem. I love the casual, romantic ambiance of the restaurant. It’s beautiful and hip without being pretentious. There’s also a HUGE wrap-​around porch with lots of seating outside that I heard gets pretty crackin on the weekends.
The real superstar here is the food (as it should be). We ordered about half the menu, including:
STARTERS
–Turkey meatballs. Tender and savory, sitting atop an awesome marinara. Clean flavors, kind of herby, kind of cheesy. Yummy without doing too much. We literally cleaned off the plate to the last drop.
–Pork belly. Served with a drizzle of buffalo sauce, blue cheese soufflé, and fennel. This was delicious. The flavors were subtle and the pork wasn’t too fatty. The blue cheese soufflé was light, smooth and creamy. So good!
–Fried chicken and grits. Probably the absolute best fried chicken I’ve had in my 27 years of life. It is so damn CRISPY. Our entire table was silent while eating this except for the loud, crunchy chewing. And the meat itself is so MOIST. All of this is served with smooth, creamy, cheesy grits. Oh lord. This dish haunts my dreams.
ENTREES
–Pork chop. Served with mash, biscuits and gravy, and cranberry chutney. This was ordered medium rare and it was wowowow so juicy! I don’t even know where to start with this. All the components of this dish were great, but take a bit of each to form a fully-​loaded mega-​bite, and it’s stellar.
–Trout. Moist, flaky fish. Again, very clean flavors. My friend was literally slurping up the soupy goodness when she finished her meal with her eyes closed.
–Tri-​tip pot roast. Served with mashed potatoes, broccolini, and shallots. So freaking tender! The dish was hearty and comforting, like something someone’s mom would make (not mine, she only cooks Filipino). Deelish.
DESSERTS
–Brownie. This was topped with a peanut butter whipped cream. WOW. The brownie had a crispy outside and a fudgy, warm center. The cream was light and so complimentary to the brownie.
–Apple cobbler. Warm, buttery sweet apples topped with a crispy crust and the most incredible vanilla bean ice cream. The ice cream tasted like whipped cream with the consistency of the lightest, smoothest frozen custard you’ve ever had. We loved the ice cream so much we asked for two more scoops. BFD should seriously sell pints of this stuff. It’s heaven in a bowl.
Our server was attentive and very smiley, taking good care of us. Dishes came out in a timely manner. They’ve got an extensive beer and wine menu, as well as a full bar. Parking is convenient, with a parking garage directly next to the restaurant. Chef Ogden made his rounds through the restaurant making sure everyone was having a positive experience. He was pleased to hear that we loved literally everything we ordered.
I don’t have a single bad thing to say about this place; it’s impressive, especially for having only been open for 2 weeks. We had the most amazing meal here. And since the restaurant has a rotating menu, there’s always something new to try. Definitely worth a visit! BFD has earned a special place in my heart as well as a spot on my favorites list. I’ll be back for sure!

Ive eaten at many of chef Ogden’s restaurants throughout the years. One Market, Parcel 104, Yankee Pier, and the various Lark Creek establishments. Since he’s moving away from the Lark Creek group a bit and concentrating on his own group, BFD is now the new home base. Theyve been open a few days and you could see that theyre trying to work out the kinks.
Got the Steak and Potatoes (play on steak frites), shortribs with broccoli rabe and purée, buffalo pork belly, and butterscotch pudding. Everything was really solid but the steak was definitely the star. Service might be over attentive right now as theyre not sure what the comfort point is yet. I think it’s a promising place and with the food delivering in a high level already it should only get better