Bistro Elan

Amazing restaurant! Spectacular service! Food is tremendous! Ownership is phenomenal! Highly recommend you check out this intimate, good vibes, perfect date night gem! Priced fairly and made for a memorable experience!

Nice small restaurant serving excellent food. Well worth the price! The wait staff were also very welcoming and friendly. I'll be going again!

I haven't had good food like this in years. Friendly staff, delicious seafood, and yummy desserts. Reservations recommended.

Loved this place. Picked it randomly while looking for a place to celebrate my husband's birthday and we absolutely loved it. Everything we tried on the menu was delicious from the salmon waffles, the entrees of mussels and fries, scallops and finally the dessert. It's not expensive compared to the quality of the food. Service was good, although a little bit on the slower side. Food was nicely presented.

Tyler Norwood

Amazing restaurant! Spectacular service! Food is tremendous! Ownership is phenomenal! Highly recommend you check out this intimate, good vibes, perfect date night gem! Priced fairly and made for a memorable experience!

Laurel Regibeau

Nice small restaurant serving excellent food. Well worth the price! The wait staff were also very welcoming and friendly. I'll be going again!

Uyen Tran Parsons

I haven't had good food like this in years. Friendly staff, delicious seafood, and yummy desserts. Reservations recommended.

alysa smith

I don’t know why this restaurant doesn’t have a line outside the door! The food is always delicious and fresh. The menu is small but PERFECT. They change things up slightly seasonally and I’ve never eaten anything there that wasn’t 10/10.

Sarah Touchstone

Delicious fresh and prepared with great care. The staff is very kind and professional, and the food was top, portions generous and meticulously cooked. We enjoyed the scallops and Sole. We will be back!

Cory Wilmoth

Went for my fiancé and my rehearsal lunch. We sat on the patio as a party of 17. They personalized the menu with my and my fiance's names, we were give a 3 course prix fixe menu that included a soup or salad, entree, and dessert. Service was great, food was amazing, and wine was delicious. We will definitely be back! Thank you so very much for everything Erick!

jennifer farhat

Loved this place. Picked it randomly while looking for a place to celebrate my husband's birthday and we absolutely loved it. Everything we tried on the menu was delicious from the salmon waffles, the entrees of mussels and fries, scallops and finally the dessert. It's not expensive compared to the quality of the food. Service was good, although a little bit on the slower side. Food was nicely presented.

Merry Yen

Delightful neighborhood bistro! Food is simple but well prepared and well presented. Everything we had was delicious! NY steak cooked perfectly medium rare, with extra crispy fries. The Petra sole was flaky and buttery, with crunchy snap peas. Almond cake and chocolate cake are both light and flavorful. Planning a return trip soon!

Susan Shepard

(I rated this before and maybe it still exists, but Google appears to have lost it, so adding my review again.) I've been coming here on and off for 11 years! There's a cozy garden that's open if it's not too cold outside--they run heaters in the evening. Inside it can get quite loud. Really good, well-prepared French and seasonal foods. My favorite part was always the desserts (which mostly I can't eat anymore), so I can't say how they are these days, but... Some of the desserts I fondly recall: crepes stuffed with sauted apples, topped with candied pecans and a little scoop of cinnamon ice cream on the side; apple strudel with vanilla and milk chocolate sauces, sponge cake with pineapple coulis and a scoop of coconut ice cream. You should check to see if they still have an awesome pastry chef. I've only eaten there a couple times since needing to eat gluten free, but I've found the waitstaff helpful and that I've still had lots of tasty options. I miss living just down the street from here. Of course, it's not really an every day meal place, but it's one of my favorite special occasion restaurants.

Elan is a quaint, small, tightly knit French bistro. The food is decent but way overpriced for what they serve. I appreciate the family-style, Parisian feel with small tables, tightly packed with one another, and truly having a less than 15 tables or so. You feel like you're in a small town bistro, somewhere in France. The set up is good. But here is where it goes all wrong. The entire menu and set up feels like they are trying to dime and nickel every dollar out of you. First, they don't give you free bread automatically, only upon request. 20% of gratuity is added to each table no matter what you order. And .... $45 for a plate of decent linguine vongole. Now, if the linguine was special, I would understand. The pasta itself was well made. But the flavor was watery and bland. Plenty of garlic. I can see the effort. But I can't justify the $45 price. Bistro Elan is living off of those folks yearning to get a French bistro feel in a small cozy setting. But once you experience it, it is certainly not worth the second time. Food is decent. Quite good food. But at the price point, I would say you can certainly do better. I really wanted Elan to be good. And I think if I squint my eyes, I can sort of make sense of it. But again, you're eyes will pop open wide as you see the bill, as clearly what you ate will not compute to what you owe. Probably won't return for a long long time.

Updating a previous review on this place: we tried it again and were quite happy with the food and service. It's still disappointing there is no vegetarian main on the menu but the options they provided were very good. Excellent wine list, good service, nice atmosphere. Glad we tried again!

This is our "go to" place for special occasions and this visit was a little disappointing. I usually go for the steak frite, but with beets...no thanks. The duck was a little over cooked and the crab bugatini was too spicy. Brocoli soup, oysters, frites were top notch. We'll. come back.

I really enjoy the food here. The service is great too. I enjoy the wine list. Why 4 instead of three? I think protege around the corner is 5 stars and this is not quite at that level. If this was stars headed on price/performance then I would give bistro elan 5 stars, but this review is only for food, wine and service. I highly recommend bistro elan, it's a great place!

Not for vegetarians. Small menu, amazing food, fantastic wines, great service. But we've not eaten there for years because the vegetarian option is non-existent. Like someone else mentioned, sides of veggies. Truly wish at least one thoughtful option were available as we love this restaurant and my pescatarian partner keeps wanting to go there.

The food is OK-ish. It has been a while since the last time I ate at this place (more than 6 years...), and the quality is not as good as I remember it. A bit overpriced for what it is, but well within bounds of "typical Palo Alto"...

Dan Iancu

The food is OK-ish. It has been a while since the last time I ate at this place (more than 6 years...), and the quality is not as good as I remember it. A bit overpriced for what it is, but well within bounds of "typical Palo Alto"...

William Fisher

This is our "go to" place for special occasions and this visit was a little disappointing. I usually go for the steak frite, but with beets...no thanks. The duck was a little over cooked and the crab bugatini was too spicy. Brocoli soup, oysters, frites were top notch. We'll. come back.

Ann Protter

Not for vegetarians. Small menu, amazing food, fantastic wines, great service. But we've not eaten there for years because the vegetarian option is non-existent. Like someone else mentioned, sides of veggies. Truly wish at least one thoughtful option were available as we love this restaurant and my pescatarian partner keeps wanting to go there.

David Helstroom

Updating a previous review on this place: we tried it again and were quite happy with the food and service. It's still disappointing there is no vegetarian main on the menu but the options they provided were very good. Excellent wine list, good service, nice atmosphere. Glad we tried again!

Par Botes

I really enjoy the food here. The service is great too. I enjoy the wine list. Why 4 instead of three? I think protege around the corner is 5 stars and this is not quite at that level. If this was stars headed on price/performance then I would give bistro elan 5 stars, but this review is only for food, wine and service. I highly recommend bistro elan, it's a great place!

Fair price point. Excellent service. The main waiter and the assistant were very helpful. Food was mediocre. The Ling cod I ordered had no taste. Quite disappointing. The duck looked good. 100 plus per person.

Jeff Shiu

Fair price point. Excellent service. The main waiter and the assistant were very helpful. Food was mediocre. The Ling cod I ordered had no taste. Quite disappointing. The duck looked good. 100 plus per person.

I had genuinely looked forward to dining at this restaurant. However, the experience left much to be desired, especially considering the hefty $900 bill for 7 people. The food quality was quite mixed. While the Caesar salad was truly great, the steak was mediocre at best, and the dessert was disappointingly below average. Our kids were still hungry after the meal, which is never a good sign. Adding to the mixed experience, the service was also inconsistent. While J. tried his best to smooth out issues, E. was a condescending waiter. A significant point of frustration was the unseen $48 corkage fee, especially given their own overpriced and mediocre wine list. This felt like a complete rip-off. Ultimately, for the same price, we would definitely prefer to go to other Palo Alto establishments, like Ethel's Fancy, where we feel we get much better value and a more satisfying experience.

We had great expectations for this place, but it was such a letdown. First of all the prix fixe menu was not very appealing. But we found something we could eat. The choice of main dishes was better than the appetizers but not very interesting. Caviar was fishy and not good. Could not finish the small portion even though I love caviar. Little gem salad was soggy and unappealing in presentation. looked like it had been sitting out for awhile before serving. Sadly the greens weren't little gem but rather romaine! The steak was hard to cut and tough in parts even though it seemed cooked medium rare as ordered. Mushrooms had no flavor but the sauce was tasty. Potatoes looked as if they had been made a few days ago and reheated. Desserts were the only highlight. Almond cookie was perfect as well as the flowerless chocolate cake which was tasty. Cant believe how much we paid for such a disappointing meal! Grossly overpriced. Service was friendly and good

Charles Ferring

I had genuinely looked forward to dining at this restaurant. However, the experience left much to be desired, especially considering the hefty $900 bill for 7 people. The food quality was quite mixed. While the Caesar salad was truly great, the steak was mediocre at best, and the dessert was disappointingly below average. Our kids were still hungry after the meal, which is never a good sign. Adding to the mixed experience, the service was also inconsistent. While J. tried his best to smooth out issues, E. was a condescending waiter. A significant point of frustration was the unseen $48 corkage fee, especially given their own overpriced and mediocre wine list. This felt like a complete rip-off. Ultimately, for the same price, we would definitely prefer to go to other Palo Alto establishments, like Ethel's Fancy, where we feel we get much better value and a more satisfying experience.

Virginia Huffman

We had great expectations for this place, but it was such a letdown. First of all the prix fixe menu was not very appealing. But we found something we could eat. The choice of main dishes was better than the appetizers but not very interesting. Caviar was fishy and not good. Could not finish the small portion even though I love caviar. Little gem salad was soggy and unappealing in presentation. looked like it had been sitting out for awhile before serving. Sadly the greens weren't little gem but rather romaine! The steak was hard to cut and tough in parts even though it seemed cooked medium rare as ordered. Mushrooms had no flavor but the sauce was tasty. Potatoes looked as if they had been made a few days ago and reheated. Desserts were the only highlight. Almond cookie was perfect as well as the flowerless chocolate cake which was tasty. Cant believe how much we paid for such a disappointing meal! Grossly overpriced. Service was friendly and good