Bistro de Paris
Epcot

By Patricia and Craig Heil
Valentine's Day 2005

This Valentine's Day we found ourselves at the French pavilion in Epcot. We decided last minute to eat at the parks, and a wonderful Cast Member got us a Priority Seating at Bistro de Paris. We had been meaning to try this restaurant for some time and we were happy with our choice!

Bistro is quite romantic and designed in an art nouveau style. The restaurant is above Chefs de France, the other sit-down restaurant at the French pavilion. You enter through a door at the back of Chefs de France. There are beautiful red velvet chairs to sit in while you wait for your name to be called. When your Priority Seating is ready, a hostess brings you up a winding staircase to the Bistro dining area. The restaurant is small and intimate. Some tables are next to windows that look down on the street scene below. You also have a view of the lake, and if you time it right, Illuminations. The tables all have crisp white tablecloths and napkins. We lucked out with a wonderful table in the corner beside a window.

Although there was a special Valentine's Day menu, we made our own choices. We started with a cheese platter that included some beautiful greens in a vinaigrette and some toast rounds. There were six different cheeses and they were wonderful. Craig thought some were too strong but I have never met a cheese I didn't like. There were not many toast rounds so we used our bread with the rest of the cheese.

I decided on the Grilled Tenderloin of Beef served with potato Emmenthal gnocchis, mushroom jus and green asparagus ($32). The beef was very nice and cooked exactly as I asked (medium) but the filet at both Jiko and Blue Zoo are better. Craig made the better choice with his Ribeye Steak -- flambéed with cognac, potatoes pont-neuf with shallot confit and Madagascar green pepper sauce ($28). The steak is flambéed by your table and you can smell the butter! The flavor was fantastic and I wished I, too, had ordered it.

For dessert I had the Chocolate Soufflé ($8). It was very nice but I have had better on the Disney Cruise at Palo. Craig had the Chocolate Variations -- dark chocolate cake, mint flavored milk chocolate soup, and cocoa liqueur sorbet ($7). He enjoyed it because it was a fun dessert and a little different. I had a Kir Royale to drink and it was very good. We also had cappuccino with dessert that was excellent. Our waiter was very attentive and friendly. The table next to us had frogs' legs and escargot for an appetizer and they enjoyed them! He showed them how to open the escargot and made recommendations from the menu.

Right as we were finishing up, IllumiNations began and the view from our window was great. Bistro was expensive, but we would go back for a romantic meal!

Elevator Entrance on 1st Floor

Elevator Entrance on 2nd Floor