I had heard good things about Aquarelle via this site and the Chronicle, and got the opportunity to go when I took my girlfriend to celebrate our one year anniversary. Sadly, for all the hype about the restaurant, my girlfriend and I were really disappointed. We knew things weren't starting off well when the bread they brought out was as hard and cold as a rock. Now I know French bread, which this wasn't, it was more like a ciabatta roll from Jack in the Box, is supposed to have a crisp outer crust, but when it's fresh it's supposed to be soft too. For such an upscale restaurant one would think they'd serve warm fresh bread. Following that, my girlfriend who happens to be from New Jersey and knows a thing or two about seafood, ordered the soft-shell crab appetizer. Again, thinking this place would serve fresh food she could tell there was something not quite rite about its taste and unfortunately paid the price the rest of the evening and following morning by being sick. As for myself I had a substitute soup for their bisque which was some sort of cold and bland avocado cream soup. If I wanted cold avocados I would have asked for guacamole, and was hoping to eat it with my fresh warm bread, but since I didn't have that either, it made for a lackluster second course. For the entree my girlfriend and I both ordered the beef tenderloin. Although it was cooked great, the cheese they put on top of it was so overpowering in smell and taste, it literally smelled like sweaty socks, it took away from the overall presentation of the dish, and I most likely could have gone to Outback to get a same cut of meat for at least 1/3 less of the price. The desserts were good, I had the chocolate creme brulee, and our waiter or the chef went out of their way to write ""happy anniversary"" on our plates which was really nice. Other than that, the atmosphere is nice and quaint with mood setting french/italian music playing in the background. Overpriced and overrated
Pros: friendly staff, nice ambience but really only for special occasions
Cons: expensive, hopefully you'll get better quality dishes than I did
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