Very poor dinner in Albany
I literally had the WORST meal last night at Rendez-vous in Albany.. I ordered the rack of lamb which had 2 pieces of lamb laying on top of cups of lentils and maybe 5 baby leaves of spinach floating on top of the lentils and 2 pieces of ½” of asparagus with some broken pieces of toasted walnut surrounding the edge of the dish. The lamb was cooked right but had no taste. Somehow it didn’t even taste like lamb.
My husband had a hamburger ($10). There were minimal condiments, no pickle, limp lettuce, no tomato. The fries were supposed to be “herbed”, but were limp and tasteless until drenched with ketchup. He would have been better off at Barney’s just up the street.
After the meal the wait person asked if we wanted dessert and we said yes. He then disappeared never even to walk close to our table again. We waited 15 -20 minutes and finally asked for our check instead. Our water glasses were never refilled and our wine was never poured by them. While taking our money he asked how was our dinner but did not wait on our response. The service was unbelievably bad. At the very, very least, we should have been given 2nd glass of water. Poor service!!
There are too many good restaurants in this area for this one to survive, but there was a line of people waiting to get in. Maybe we missed something??!!
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Rendez-Vous Cafe Bistro
1111 Solano Ave, Albany, CA 94706
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We had dinner here on Friday night after a movie next door. The service was slow, but nice. we ordered the $25 menu and the Salade Nicoise with a glass of Rose special. The roasted shrimp appetizer was tasty, but difficult and messy to peel. No extra napkin or wipe was offered, I had to make my way out of the cafe, down the hall and into the restroom with my oily hands held up in the air. The steak frites was good, the creme brulee was boring. The check was requested, but it was wrong, so they had to run it again. I would go again if I was attending a movie, but would not stand in line.
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Robert Lauriston
Oct 3, 2009 02:43 PM
Oh, I'd meant to post about that place and forgot. We got out of a movie after Nizza had closed and decided to check it out.
Frisée aux lardons ($7.50) was OK but it was thin strips of bacon rather than the chunks, which I prefer. Not as good as at Nizza or Liaison.
Steak frites ($16), very tasty small steak, fries were not great but I did eat most of them so I guess they weren't that bad.
I had a bite of a croque-monsieur, it was pretty good.
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Rendez-Vous Cafe Bistro
1111 Solano Ave, Albany, CA 94706 -
rworange
Oct 3, 2009 02:33 PM
The appeal in Rendez-Vous is that it offers reasonably priced French Bistro food and is located right next to the theatre. There's nothing outstanding about it, but usually there's nothing really wrong either. The service can be on the erratic side. I'd never wait in line if going to Rendez-Vous, but I'd consider it if I was seeing a movie and it wasn't crowded.
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Rendez-Vous Cafe Bistro
1111 Solano Ave, Albany, CA 94706
