I’ve driven by Le Rendez-Vous on Fort Lowell Road hundreds of times. I’ve mentioned to Ted that we should try it at least a dozen times. And yet, until I was assigned this review, I had never actually managed to do so. That sentiment seems to be a trend with this restaurant—friends and family have said, “I meant to try it out …” but it never seems to happen.
Perhaps it has something to do with the somewhat awkward location of the restaurant, or maybe it’s because, until that special occasion presents the opportunity, most of us don’t wake up in the morning thinking, “Gee, I could really go for some escargot followed by a nice coq au vin and a soufflé.”
Le Rendez-Vous didn’t always have an odd location, squished between an apartment complex and a Circle K. It was opened in 1980, back when the intersection of Fort Lowell Road and Alvernon Way was on the outskirts of town. Not much changed at the restaurant for 30 years, but now the former owner’s son, Gordon Berger, has taken over and tried his hand at making it a little more approachable and affordable.
The interior of the restaurant is surprisingly spacious, and is divided into distinct halves—a formal, upscale side that remains true to the restaurant’s roots and a more modern, casual bistro. The two sides share a menu (despite what the server told us on our first visit), but there are also small plates and $5 wine specials available in the bistro half.
The menu is, to put it bluntly, very French. If you want French food prepared in classic French style, this is the place. Escargots ($8), duck pate ($9), sweetbreads ($13), frog legs ($12) and baked brie ($9) round out the hors d’oeuvres. The entrees include crevettes ($27), chateaubriand béarnaise ($65, serves two), filet au poivre vert ($31), coq au vin ($21), duck Montmorency ($28) and beef Wellington ($31). All entrees are served with a vegetable (green beans both times we dined) and potatoes Anna.
Detail in preparation is where the chefs at Le Rendez-Vous shine. The escargots were hot, buttery and tender, without being chewy. Frog legs (we opted for the $5.50 bistro small plate) were thoroughly cooked and very moist. The trio de champignons ($11)—wild mushrooms and brie baked in puff pastry with a red wine and butter sauce—was gooey, melty, cheesy goodness. The only appetizer we ordered that faltered a bit was the duck pate. The texture was a bit on the grainy side.
Entrées were, for the most part, executed with impeccable precision and excellent flavor. The duck Montmorency ($28), roasted duck with cherries, was a touch dry and the filet au poivre vert was just a hair past medium-rare, if you want to get really picky about it. Both dishes could have used a little more sauce. The beef Wellington was absolute melt-in-your-mouth perfection, and on our second visit, Ted chose the evening’s special, a lamb porterhouse ($28), which was nicely seasoned and perfectly medium-rare.
Dessert also shines at Le Rendez-Vous. On the first visit, we shared a charlotte verrine ($7), a lovely, creamy mousse-like dish with ladyfingers and fruit, which ended the meal with a nice light note. It was the total opposite of the Grand Marnier soufflé ($10, and you need to order while you’re still enjoying your meal, as it takes more time to bake), which was incredibly rich, but delicious.
All of the food at Le Rendez-Vous was wonderful. The problems are with the service, and the clientele. On both of our visits, Ted and I were easily the youngest people in the restaurant by at least 20 years, and when we sat on the more upscale side, our server was quite inattentive to us compared to the service that she was providing some of the other tables. They seemed to be understaffed that night, but on the subsequent visit, when we enjoyed dinner on the bistro side, the restaurant was practically swarming with staff. They were gathering at the service station near the bar, chatting and laughing, and we must have had five different people (servers, bussers, etc.) at our table at one point or another throughout the evening. At least they were friendly and attentive.
Now, I know you can’t judge a restaurant by its clientele, because it doesn’t have any control over who dines there, but I think it’s worth mentioning that on both visits several of the tables near us were exceedingly rude to their servers. And, in the category of something that the restaurant can control, if I am paying for a $31 steak, or a $65 chateaubriand, my steak knife had better not be made by Ronco.
This article appears in Mar 14-20, 2013.
I have had the pleasure of dining there since it opened. The food has alway been exceptional. The service wonderful.
The Bistro is a welcome addition
I love this place! You must have had the pate on an off night because it is usually superb. We have always enjoyed convivial service and excellent food. Try the bouillabaisse on Friday…yum!
I agree totally with this review. Having lived in Paris, my husband and I are fond of French cuisine and can tell the good stuff from the pretenders. This place has the good stuff. The service, though, is highly uneven. We went there recently for lunch and the service was perfect. We went again for dinner, and it was horrible. Most of the staff appeared to be utterly untrained college students who preferred to mill about with other servers in the back rather than attend to the paying customers.
One other comment is that it seems rather wrong to review a French restaurant without reviewing the wine list. This seems to be a frequent omission in restaurant reviews in the Weekly. It’s particularly egregious when the restaurant is French, a culture in which dessert is optional but to dine without a glass of wine is unthinkable.
Thanks PickyPalate. I’ve seen other reviews on this place. At first blush it seems the kind of place I would really enjoy, having been 5 years in Belgium including countless visits to France. The common thread seems to be service, lack thereof. No consistency. I’ve been so disappointed with restaurants in Tucson (a recent transplant) that I just can’t bring myself to risk another let down by going here … I’ll await more consistency of reviews regarding the service before I venture.
Le Rendez- Vous is my go-to restaurant for French in Tucson. Always spot on pate, fish dishes and dessert. The wine list is adequate, I think it can accommodate a wide range of tastes and budgets. The service is my experience has always been good and the place so small that if it weren’t it would be easy to track down some assistance.
Wow, real French food in Tucson. Who would have thunk. It is a pleasure to read a review of a place that is not a coffee shop and doesn’t serve Sonoran style food. Life being what it is I would forgive a little southwestern service to get an honest to goodness soufflé. To paraphrase Dr. Johnson, the miracle is that it exists at all. And lastly, thank God we didn’t have to bear Garrett’s comments on the frites.
Scarpia, B: Of the ten reviews immediately prior to this one, one was a Sonoran-style restaurant and one could possibly be described as a “coffee shop.” So, where are you reading all these reviews you’re complaining about?
Where I have been reading them? In the Tucson Weekly. I have been reading the TW for a long number of years and I have complained in the past about the TW wasting its reviewers’ and readers’ time in reviewing “coffee shops.” How about the series of reviews of the places at Wade and Silverbell to start. I have neither the time nor the inclination to do your job for you. Get one of your under or non paid writer/intern/assistants to go back over the last ten years and see if I am not correct.
It is unfortunate that you have started off your tenure with a rant against a competitor, published Pedersen’s rant against a former employer, and now find it necessary to challenge a generally positive comment.
Scarpia, B: You have a strange idea of what constitutes a “generally positive comment.”
Also, I’ve started off my tenure with eleven issues of 64 pages or more, plus a ton of digital content, so there’s a little more to what I’ve done than two rants and responding to you. But, hey, you’re entitled to your often unpleasant opinions.
“…opened in 1980, back when the intersection of Fort Lowell Road and Alvernon Way was on the outskirts of town.”
This was not “on the outskirts of town”. Writer obviously did not live in Tucson in 1980.
no but Alvernon dead ended there,