Friday night Bob and I decided to check out the newest restaurant in Midlothian, Belle Vie, located on Alverser Drive in the former Bookbinders Grill location.
Always hopeful when a new place opens, we were anxious to try Belle Vie. According to their website “Belle Vie will be the new sophisticated hotspot for Richmond’s fine diners to come and relax. Although the menu will be European, it will specialize in French and Belgian cuisine - all homemade from fresh, local produce.” That sounded good to me.
We arrived and sat at the bar. The made some changes to the Bookbinders décor which softened the feel of the place. We flagged down one of the two bartenders to get a wine by the glass list. We review it and are disappointed. Overpriced and under-selected with very few offerings from France and heavy on the domestics, we opted instead for a bottle of French white, a Graves for $18/bottle. The wines by the bottle were nearly as disappointing as the wines by the glass. And the beer list, which received a lot of pre-opening press, was not impressive either.
The wine arrives and the bartender tells us it needs to be chilled some as it is 59 degrees. We ask him to open it and give us a taste while it rests in the ice. We have to stop him from pouring the wine to the top of the large wine goblets. Throughout the night, for any service from either bartender, we had to flag them down. We also had to remind them we had the bottle in the ice.
We were meeting friends there and when they arrived, we flag down the bartender to take their order and get a menu for an appetizer and eventually order it. Croquettes de Fromage ($7.99) arrive as two nice sized, deep brown croquettes with a small accompaniment of greens. I did not try them, but Bob and our friends deemed them very good.
We review the menu and I ordered a small Caesar salad ($4.99) and Bob ordered a small green salad ($4.99). I decide on a 8 oz Filet Mignon ($22.99) with a side of au gratin potatoes (the deal of the night at $1.95). Bob chose the Carbonnade à la Flamande ($18.95) which is a traditional Belgian beef stew slow cooked in Belgian ale and an order of white rice ($1.95). He asked for a side of creamed spinach as well ($2.95). The menu indicates the filet comes with a choice of sauces, but I failed to notice and the bartender does not mention it either. He also failed to ask how I wanted the steak prepared so I ask for the steak to be rare to medium rare.
Both of the salads are fine, but not memorable. My steak arrives and is a bit overcooked (closer to medium than medium rare) with a small side of salad greens. The potatoes are very good and the star of the meal. Bob’s stew arrives and while the broth is very good, the meat is tough, dry and flavorless. The rice was standard and he mixed it into the stew. The spinach did not arrive and we finally told the staff not to worry about it, just to make sure we were not charged for it.
For dessert we ordered the Sabayon ($6.95). I was unaware this would be served warm and I prefer it cold, but it was nice and light, if not the best choice.
I believe, especially in these times, many businesses do not succeed due to poor execution of product and/or poor management, rather than the often blamed “bad economy.” This holds true for the largest and smallest of businesses. On Friday night, Belle Vie had a nice crowd of Midlothian locals, but there are significant areas of service and food and wine that need to be addressed for them to succeed. I hope they are willing and able to make those adjustments and achieve great success. Belle Vie About Us
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17 comments:
I had heard that the owner (or manager) of this new restaurant used to operate the one on Bellevue in Northside. If this is the case, the experience you had at the new establishment was the same experience we had at the old establishment. We tried the old place two separate times and never went back. Unless I hear something better about the new place, I think we will pass.
The owner of Belle Vie as absolutely nothing to do with Bellevue. Belle Vie is owned by a Belgian Family. The Chef arrived here in Richmond about 6 weeks ago from Brussels with his wife and the owners have been living in the southside for 13 yrs.
Karine
I was/am excited about trying this place. Sounds like I should let them work out a few kinks first.
Good thing to hear that Belle Vie had nothing to do with the one on Bellevue (Belle Arte was the name of the place). In any case, it still sounds like they need to work out some kinks very quickly if they are to tempt others to dine there.
I had a completely different experience on June 11, a Thurs. night. Good food, excellent service and a friendly staff. I had the salmon w/the potatoes au gratin and the fish was cooked just right, melted in your mouth.
I took a group to Belle Vie they totally love it. We were treated like Europe royalty. The food was wonderful. I had the mussels in cream garlic sauce it was divine. The atmosphere is very warm and inviting.
We had a totally wonderful experience and plan to go back many times as couple and with our friends.
You should give the Salmon Linguine a chance when you go there. It was amazing. Although it came out luke-warm rather than hot, it was pretty satisfying and delightful. I don't like the idea of the linen in the water glass because I was able to see red fuzz in my water. Other than that, it was a pleasant experience
If I want good pasta in Midlothian, I'm heading to Mediterraneo....fresh pasta and a much better wine list. And they also have great seafood.
I do believe people should give them a try...and my hope is that their experience is better than ours was. I probably will go back at some point, but may not be for a while unless friends want to try it out.
We visited Belle Vie last week to see what all the hoop la has been about with this new fine French Restaurant. I will say that it is unlikely that we will be back again. For 2 adults and 2 children the tab was over $200 and my husband left hungry. He ordered the duck and he had 7 - 8 small slices. The food came out cold, the fries were greasy and small. We each had a glass of wine and the kids had soda. How did it cost so much is beyond me. It would have been one thing to pay that kind of money for food that was satisfying, but this visit fell WELL short of expectation.
After visiting this restaurant I have to agree with most of the reviews. It is WAY overpriced and WAY WAY OVERRATED! The fact that everything is a la carte is totally insane! I would like to say that the food was good, but sadly it wasn't. Much of what we ordered was either cold or overcooked and unappetizing.
I wish the owners the best of luck, but sadly I wish the Southside would get a restaurant that has good food, good service, and reasonably priced, as this one is not it.
I don't see much different between Belle Vie and Bookbinders other than the menu.
We randomly stopped at bellevie bistrot the other day and all I can say is that we’ve had a wonderful and totally unexpected experience. The food was fresh and deliciously prepared, the staff extremely welcoming and competent! A place we will visit again for sure!
As a native Belgian/European, I had to give that a place a try... To make a long story short: I thought it was beyond great! Seriously, anyone who pretends that 15$ for a mussle pot must be joking! I visited Bell Vie with a friend, we had 2 cocktails, 2 glasses of wine, split the croquettes de crevettes (awesome!), one mussle pot, a fish waterzooi plate and a pait of fantastic chocolate mousses... all that for a mere 50$ a pop!
Kudos to the owner and the great staff (Forrest, the bartender is one cool guy!) for putting up such a nice place and great atmosphere. Not to the mention the kindness and talent of the executive chef and his wife who really make this restaurant a real pleasurable dining experience.
Did anyone read the review from the Times dispatch and richmond.com? They basically confirmed how we felt. The food is good but the price and portions are much to be desired. The headline from times dispatch was "It's elegant and inspired but the portions are small"...."strays into special occasion territory" The reviewer hit the nail right on the head. Good food, good life, but high price.
Having said that we will go back but definitely on special occasions only.
Belle Vie - one word, GO! My wife and I went there last night and really enjoyed it. The wait staff were timely and helpful. Our waiter knew what he was talking about when it comes to Belgian food and ale. We had escargots, moules, the carbonnade, the frites (made the authentic Belgian way), the creme brulee and the sabayon. All for under $80 at dinner. The food was marvellous, appropriately portioned (or in the case of the Moules more than enough), cooked right and delicious. It is a great change of pace. For those who panned the place, dont go back. If you dont get it, then dont bother the diners who do - just enjoy your Ruby Tuesdays, your buffet joints, and your TGIMcFunsters.
I think if you were to visit Belle Vie again, you would change your impression of the wine list. When they first opened, they used the wines that had been purchased by Bookbinders. Looking at the wine list now, I see 13 French wines by the glass and only 3 American wines. The wines by the bottle have a similar split.
In regards to the person with the previous comment "just enjoy your Ruby Tuesdays, your buffet joints, and your TGIMcFunsters." Do you honestly think that folks in the area are not of the caliber to enjoy cuisine from Belgium? Perhaps we are not all made of money like yourself that we can afford to spend $40 per person regularly for a meal. Making such remarks shows how ignorant some people can be.
My family and I love Belle Vie just not the price.(with the exception of their french fries which has been greasy 3 times we have been, you would think they would get it right since frites are a staple in Belgium).
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