Returned here after a couple years. New menu of course, and as a pleasant surprise they now don't share the menu with you until the end of your meal. Let them know your dietary restrictions ahead of time; vegetarians welcome. More seafood this time, but even this non-fan found them delicious and creative, as with all of the dishes. Artistic and playful. A very pleasant, relaxing and special evening. Thanks!
A fabulous place for a special night out of business dinner. The set menu is a great price and their are two options to choose from. Example menus and pricing are on their web site. The food was creative and fresh and we went for the paired wines, which we loved. The atmosphere is quiet and the staff are calm and helpful.
A truly special meal, great for friends, family, and clients.
The set menu is a great price, Oh , and the service matched food
Fun experience. No choices to be made, its a surprise. Love it. At the end we had around 10 wines, 16 courses and a proper bill of $450 per person. Excellent staff, perfect food. Amazing evening.
World class dining experience. Meets expectations!
This was my first Tasting Menu style meal, and I'm extremely satisfied with my experience. The restaurant is built out of a beautiful Victorian house with intimate seating. Our host started us off by informing us of the add-on options, which included French truffles, imported wagyu beef, or caviar. We didn't opt for these, but did include the wine pairing option with dinner (I highly recommend this). Each course came out at a slow pace, allowing you to really focus on the flavors and textures of each dish. We never felt rushed to complete a course (granted, this is a 3-hour dinner). The food was superb, cooked perfectly and presented beautifully. Even the bread was incredible, and was paired with butter cultured in-house. The desserts were a perfect sweet capstone after lots of rich umami flavors. We were given a nice card for our Anniversary near the end of our meal. Overall, this was a fun and fancy way to celebrate a special occasion. All food is seasonal, and the menu changes frequently, so be ready to try anything!
First note that chez TJ goes from being great to not great at all while they rotate chefs. It's frustrating because I've had 2 great meals there as well as 2 very disappointing ones.
Review for my last one: Likely food poisoning, very very slow service (4.5H for full tasting meal, 30mn per dish because the kitchen staff was totally inadequate to cope with a not even full dining room), and more importantly no answer from the staff or owner when I Emailed them with my concerns and offered info as to the possible food problem.
This is very disappointing, it used to be much better in the past :(
The staff and servers were nice when we were there, but that's unfortunately not enough.
Innovative "surprise" tasting menu served at a leisurely pace in a lovely intimate setting. Service is exceptional, professional but friendly. Individual courses designed to engage all the senses as you travel the world.
Oh Chez TJ, how you disappoint me so.
Let me just preface this review with a disclaimer that it will come off as snobby and entitled. But I stand by my perspective on our dining experience.
The main reason for my 2-star review is the service, which I'll talk about first. The food deserves 4 stars though the wine pairing was extremely over priced and didn't deliver on value, but for a Michelin starred restaurant, I expected a better overall experience.
My fiance made a reservation to celebrate our engagement (we literally got engaged earlier that day). He may have forgotten to let them know beforehand, I'm not sure. But we certainly told our server when he asked "are we celebrating a special occasion?" ("yes, we're celebrating our engagement", "oh, how wonderful, congratulations!")
So you can imagine my surprise when the meal ended with nothing special from the restaurant. Mind you, the other three tables in our room all got a special dessert and *hand-written* card from the chef for their birthdays/anniversaries. Umm what? It wouldn't have been as jarring if no one else got special treatment. Is an engagement not worthy of celebration? Okay okay, maybe it was because the chef didn't have enough notice to prepare something (which I find hard to believe... how hard is it to write "congratulations" in chocolate on a plate?), but they could've at least comped a glass of champagne or something as a gesture. But nope, there was nothing.
Aside from that major oversight, the other weird service error was that we didn't even get napkins until we asked for it during our first course. At first I thought it was because we might not need napkins for the amuse bouche. But when the bread came, I was like, umm we need napkins. Add that to our weird table placement, it really felt like they didn't have room for us for the night and hurriedly squeezed a table for us against a wall.
Okay the food. The amuse bouche were all great. Very good flavors and interesting combinations. The brioche with dungeness crab was possibly my favorite course. Who knew frying brioche with butter and cheese would taste so good! The bread was amazing, as well, I think I had like 4 slices. The pasta dish and the risotto were delicious too. Desserts were fine but nothing to write home about. Food deserves a solid 4 stars. Not the best tasting menu I've ever had, but I would go back again.
Now the wine pairing. Really the tl;dr is, it is not worth it! For $150, you don't get a lot of wine and they didn't actually pair well with the food. I think I only enjoyed 1 out of 4 or 5. The wine with the dessert pairing was awful. I was not impressed and felt painful when the bill came.
From the first moment you enter this restaurant the personel give you an excellent feeling. Very friendly hosts, it is a kind restaurant to to go out with your friends or with your date. yummy cuisine, creative chief cook and stuff, honest cost and courteous service. Warmly recommended.
Excellent place for delicious french food. Food was so delicious. Certainly worth a return trip. This place has a nice feel to it.
The food was amazing and very authentic, but was a bit too creamy for me.
Great for a special dinner. Fun food and very friendly staff!
Memorable in every way. The dishes are varied in presentation, flavour, and texture, with plenty of food and excellent execution at every step... the smoked lamb under a cloche and foamed fondue with fruit and brioche were highlights for us. The wine pairings were similarly interesting, with a good sake and some old world flavours thrown in for contrast. The staff and chef were friendly and conversational, and the setting was quiet and fairly private, not too spacious but open enough that you didn't feel intruded on by other tables. The fact that the menu changes regularly will keep it from ever being boring, if you can afford to go more than once... the price is obviously a barrier, but worth it for a special meal.
Overall good experience. Five stars for the service, 4 star for the taste. The food menu is good but could be better, comparing to other French fine dining places in the area.
Great attention to detail, flavors were wonderful and not over seasoned, service was attentive but not stuffy. Definitely a place to celebrate a special occasion and you don't want to have to shout to be heard.
Pricey but very very good food. Their vegetarian options were very good as well
Awesome! Superb service. Amazing food. Wonderful wine pairings.
Excellent experience!
This spot always delivers. They have good food for reasonable rates, there is no waiting time even when the spot is busy.
One of the best restaurants I've been too. Impacable service and a wonderful experience all together.
Great atmosphere. Inteesting menu. Lots of taste and tectures. Great wine.
Competent cooking, with exciting amuse bouches. Service was friendly and I liked that some of the dishes were brought our by the chefs. The earlier starter dishes were more successful than the later main courses which were competent, but less exciting.
I've been to Chez TJ multiple times for special occasions. The food and their staff are consistently excellent.
Spectacularly inventive food and wine pairings - the former the more successful of the two. After a slow start, the dishes arrived at a good, relaxed pace. This is a local foodie gem.
So I've been to many Michelin one star restaurants. Chez TZ is on par with all of them in quality, beautiful and tasty food.
The reason I am dropping a star is that as rated (Michelin one star) the prices seem quite high. Most one star spots I've experienced run about $150pp with pairing, whereas Chez TZ is closer to $300+ pp with pairing.
If this was a two/three star I think the prices would be more in line.
Good but not amazing; there are better Michelin-starred options in the price range that have a better experience-to-dollar value. Of the seven-course seasonal menu, only one item really stood out. The atmosphere is nice, though we ended up seated next to a group where the person who'd clearly arranged the outing was there to boast and be seen more than anything.
Wonderful service, french meal where ingredients were refreshing with great tastes and presentation. They will accommodate if you have any food alergies or dietary restrictions. Tasting menu was a surprise list of items presented. It was heaving on seafoof. Soft scrambled egg, kusshi oyster, castelvetrano olive levain with cultured butter, morro bay halibut, Monterey Bay abalone, black cod, rouget, four story hill farm veal, bodacious, citrus and vanilla, strawberry sesame and matcha, petit fours.
We had the tasting menu with wine pairings; it was completely amazing. Everything we had was delicious, the service was classy but not uptight, and the 3-hour dinner never really felt like we were there for 3 hours. Some pairings (both on the plate and wine-wise) could seem dangerously audacious a priori, but in the end it worked flawlessly (and deliciously). The print-out of the menu and wine list given at the end is a very nice touch. Amazing experience, very very much recommanded.
Nice place, elegant.
Good experience, the surprise effect on the dishes is a great incentive to wait and see what is coming next. I think is a bit expensive, especially after you leave, it is kind of like not totally worth the money.
I do not think I would come back.
Did a vegetarian tasting menu for two for Valentine's day. The desserts were definitely the best part of the menu. The wine pairing was good too. I just think the dishes were a little heavy on the mushrooms, but creativity and presentation were excellent.
This place amazes me! The staff are extremely friendly and give such exellent service! The food is great too! Very cozy place!!!!! :))))))
Service was fine but not outstanding ...same with the food. Save your time and money for one of the other local restaurants with Michelin stars.
Excellent food, but at a steep price. I'll go out on a limb and say that you can get the same for less. Still very tasty and tasteful. The choice of wines is quite broad, but mind you it may turn out to be a bit much for the entier meal.
We just checked this place our randomly. The food was so good and the staff was super nice. Definitely gonna make this a regular spot.
Unimaginative cooking for a Michelin star restaurant.
Best Michelin restaurant i have ever ate in. Best money spent in 2017!
Good restaurant to stay Whit the person more you love so romantic
The finest dining experience in Mountain View and surroundings. Ideal for special intimate occasions
Fantastic experience at this restaurant. it has a stunning scenery.
Food was delicious and the drink were great.! Staff were very attentive.
The best Michelin starred restaurant I've tried in the area! Tasty food, inventive dishes, great wine, romantic ambience and phenomenally polite staff. The chef personally went through all tables and came across very welcoming, genuine and humble. The black cod was out of this world and the sourdough bread was the best I've ever had; the tortellini needed some work. Highly recommended, especially for a romantic occasion, and the 7-course meal was worth the price tag for the area. In terms of culinary experience expected of a Michelin starred restaurant, this is substantially better than Madera and The Village Pub.
Excellent food and service. Highly recommend it but be prepared to pay $$$$$$
Wonderful food, delightful staff, charming outdoor setting
Exquisite experience. Staff was lovely from the minute they removed my coat, to the moment I ordered; the service was seamless. Every plate was well explained and delicious, the temperature was warm and comfortable. Very very romantic setting, and overall a recommended place.
This place deserves 3 stars. Great food with a focus on local ingredients, they even grow some of the produce in their own garden at the back. The service is excellent. It's a 2.5-3 hour affair but the experience is worth every minute. They have a great selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. I don't drink so I had the elderflower lemonade and it was outstanding.
I went there for dinner and pick the world course. Overall the food was good, especially the desert. There were many course but each were individual bites so I didn't feel stuffed afterward. My only critic is probably the disconnection between course to course. There is always a sense of flow during long french courses and from one to the next, most of the time, I can sense where the meal is going but for this meal, I was a bit confused sometimes. I think the overall meal needs a better story.
Unbelievable dining experience. Wagu off the charts.
Amazing food. Amazing experience. Amazing staff. Treat yoself and go!
Overpriced, under portioned and some of the snottiest service I have ever experienced. The prices in Paris itself were lower, the portions larger, and the wait staff were pleasant at the very least. A hint to the staff; stop acting like you came from Central Casting on a call for "snotty rude French people". For the chef, making cute little swirls in sauce over the food, to disguise both taste and size isn't a skill, it's a marketing ploy. Never going back, sure as hell not recommending it to others. Go to Emile's in San Jose on Second Street. Or Denny's. The first has superb food at reasonable prices, polite staff, and you can go next door to City Lights and see a play after dinner. Denny's has better ambiance than Chez TJ, and the food is no worse.
Excellent knowledgeable wait staff. Food was definitely worth it.
This place is tasty! Plenty of seating with few parking spaces in the back. If I'm a petty person, I'd subtract 4 star - I ordered the chicken kabob wrap and they have me chicken kabob rice. But I'm not fussy so just ate it. Meat was tender and v juicy. It can get crowded at lunch time, order your food at counter and seat yourself. Totally recommend.
cheztj.com
