3 /5 The Third Bite: The food at Bistro Guillaume is genuinely excellent. I had the steak frites with béarnaise sauce, beautifully cooked, rich and flavourful. The green bean salad with pistachio pesto made a lovely accompaniment. For dessert, the crème brûlée with almond tuile was fantastic and perfectly caramelised with a silky custard beneath.
Unfortunately, the service let the experience down considerably. While our initial drinks arrived promptly, we then had a lengthy wait for our meals. When we finished our first drinks, no one came to check on us. We were only asked about drinks again after our food had arrived. When we did order a second round, those drinks came when wed almost finished eating, which felt poorly timed.
The main issue was our server seemed distracted, spending considerable time chatting with another table rather than attending to the room. When the bill came, we sat waiting 10-15 minutes to pay because no one returned to process it. I eventually had to flag down a different server just to settle up.
It was a special occasion for us, and I appreciated the thoughtful touch of complimentary macarons at the end. The kitchen is clearly doing excellent work. The quality of the food deserves recognition. But for a restaurant at this level, the front-of-house service needs to match. With more attentive service, this would easily be a five-star experience.
