553140 Thu Aug 28 22:39:38 -0700 2008 10 57 Western Canada 0 3995845 I have been waiting for Bliss to open for months now and it lived up to all of my expectations. Finally, this is the restaurant I have been waiting for in Saskatoon. I am just not crazy about Calories, Truffles, Boffins, or any of the more popular gourmet places. I find that Boffins, while local, uses way too much butter and the same is true of Calories and Truffles. I don't enjoy eating a soggy, oily, mess. Anyway, back to the fabulous Bliss. I ordered the chicken entree, which I found to be spectacular. Skin was crispy, chicken was done to perfect and the flavours were amazing. Simple and elegant presentation, perfect portion size and the best entree I've had in Saskatoon in many years. Simple, refined and elegant. The dessert menu was also high caliber. Saskatoon is the land of cheesecakes and tortes, which I find to be utterly boring as there are no true desserts at any of the restaurants in the city. Calories, highly touted for the desserts, I find to be overrated as you taste sugar more than anything. Bliss offers truely unique desserts - banana coconut cream pie (almost with a deconstructed style), lemon tart, chocolate pate, etc. Service was professional but not cold. It seemed to have a real team dynamic with people working together and overall, was friendly and enthusiastic, but professional at the same time. I'm glad to know Bliss values good service. As many of us who have dined at Truffles knows that while the food is spectacular, the service is the worst in the city, considering the level it should be at in that environment. I have had such rude service there that I refuse to go back no matter how good the food is. It really is about the whole package and I believe Bliss has it, above and beyond. I loved it and will be definitely returning. I am absolutely ecstatic Bliss is here! Saskatoon so deserves this place. It has been a long time coming. Thoughts everyone? Thu Aug 28 22:39:43 -0700 2008 99452 freelancer 1 3996123 freelancer: Sounds from reading your post and that of cjv below, that Saskatoon has a very welcome addition to its dining community. I should say that it has been quite some time since our last visit to Saskatoon and at that time finding Calories was a "God send" ... to this day the terms "Greek ribs" and "family restaurant" cause both my wife and I to both "grimace" and grin...... Good luck to Bliss...sounds like they have made a good start Fri Aug 29 06:20:37 -0700 2008 3995845 14314 Bob Mac 1 3998477 I've been trying to get to this restaurant ever since I saw the opening mentioned for August 25 and finally will make it this weekend but... what the heck is their phone number? Obviously it is going to be very busy today what with that fireworks display tonight and everything else hopping. Sat Aug 30 08:44:22 -0700 2008 3995845 117023 Paphos.SK 2 3999178 They aren't currently taking reservations so just pop in when you can and I am sure they will do their best to seat you. It is worth the trip! Sat Aug 30 18:20:35 -0700 2008 3998477 99452 freelancer 3 3999736 Well, yes, they did take a reservation. I got a new directory listing from SaskTel. And would I go back? No. It was like I was back in Pesto's when they'd totally tanked. Was I at a *completely* different place than the OP was at? I've posted a review on the original Saskatoon review thread, http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/513164 Sun Aug 31 07:45:06 -0700 2008 3999178 117023 Paphos.SK 1 4015206 Went for lunch yesterday and it was pretty good. Really decent prices for lunch. I much preferred dinner however so it you are wanting to go for a truly spectacular meal, I recommend booking a supper at Bliss! Sun Sep 07 10:39:50 -0700 2008 3995845 99452 freelancer 1 4108889 Bliss now has a website with their menu up: http://blissfinefoods.com/ Thu Oct 16 12:02:11 -0700 2008 3995845 99452 freelancer 1 4113823 Went back for another fabulous dinner with people who hadn't been there before and they were very happy with their choices, namely the feature lamb. Odd, I remember seeing so many other comments on Bliss from other diners but they have all seemed to have disappeared. Strange. I think I will try the cheesecake next time - from what I have seen of photos posted online, if doing a cheesecake in a scoop form rather than a slice, isn't inventive, I don't know what is.... Sat Oct 18 22:34:24 -0700 2008 3995845 99452 freelancer 1 4119568 Underwhelming in my opinion. I was so excited to hear about it and I was a bit disappointed. Fairly good food but nothing spectacular or nothing new. However, I am game to give it another try! Tue Oct 21 15:42:52 -0700 2008 3995845 206532 chefathome 1 4153884 I have been very excited to try out Bliss and finally got a chance to last Friday. I had very high expectations, which maybe wasn't a good thing since I was a bit underwhelmed. I had a crab cake appetizer, duck breast in a 5-spice pumpkin sauce with mango on a bed of potatoes, and the banana cream pie dessert. Here are my admittedly finicky complaints: the crab cake was a little too 'fishy' tasting, the duck and potatoes were good but the sauce was definitely a unique flavour combination and it came with asparagus that was cooked to death. I enjoyed my dessert and wine very much. I don't mean to say that Bliss isn't good, it is up there with the best we have in Saskatoon, I am just saying there is still a lot of room for improvement in Saskatoon's restaurant scene. Thu Nov 06 11:54:49 -0800 2008 3995845 154483 brh973 1 4159199 I will give Bliss high marks. We went to the same building when it was Pesto's last year. As others have mentioned, they didn't do much reno inside. Anyway, the food was far better under the new management. We tried both the specials menu and the regular menu. The food was excellent. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed their choices. The wait staff was very attentive although took a few minutes to get to us as they were very busy when we arrived for our reservations. Again I will mention the food. They offered the choice of a brown butter rice or a lemon mashed potato with the entrees, and the brown butter rice is very, very good. My chicken breast with roasted onions, mushrooms, and demiglace was up there with the top one or two restaurant chicken entrees I have ever had. The ladies chose the peanut butter cheesecake for dessert, which was very well done. The dome-shaped cheesecake had a very smooth texture, which was a revelation for me, and it was topped by a little football shaped (whatever that's called) spoon of what seemed like homemade ice cream. Everything was very good. Much better than last year although we weren't necessarily disappointed or trying to rate it on our first visit. Probably the best restaurant experience, for what it was, that I have ever had in Saskatoon. Sat Nov 08 21:21:23 -0800 2008 3995845 152407 jasongogal