Social Profile: 
✔️Lunch ✔️Dinner ✔️Dine in
… View more
Upscale but relaxed venue boasts carefully sourced Californian-French cuisine, plus outdoor seating.
Address and Contact Information
Address: 2363 Birch St, Palo Alto, CA 94306
Phone: (650) 327-0284
Website: http://www.bistroelan.com/
Menu Photos
Order and Reservations
Reservations: opentable.com
Photo Gallery
Related Web Results
Bistro Elan: San Francisco Bay Area Palo Alto Restaurant
Nestled near Palo Alto’s vibrant California Avenue, Bistro Elan offers a delightful escape into the world of California-French cuisine.
Bistro Elan Restaurant – Palo Alto, CA | OpenTable
Bistro Elan serves French dishes created mainly from ingredients obtained from the local farmers. The cozy interior is ideal for a date night or a small …
Bistro Elan (@bistroelan) · Palo Alto, CA – Instagram
We are open for lunch Wed- Fri 11:30-2pm, dinner Wed- Sat 5pm -8pm and curbside pickup. 5pm-7pm. Thank you for all your support! Photo by Bistro Elan in Bistro …
Reviews
Wook Chung
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.
… moreBut 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.
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!
… moreThomas Haynes
Small but excellent selection. Somehow I’ve always gotten the special.
I’ve never been disappointed.
… moreI’ve never been disappointed.
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.
… moreThe 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.
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.
… moreFood was mediocre. The Ling cod I ordered had no taste. Quite disappointing. The duck looked good.
100 plus per person.
Jenny Bezolutskikh
Amazing place with the most wonderful and kind staff. Food was excellent and unique, very seasonal and fresh. Love outdoor space and the music.
10/10
… more10/10
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
… moreFirst 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
Thomas DiRocco
There’s a secret hotdog counter here on Sundays during the Farmer’s Market. 1940s vibes, really tasty dog on an Acme bun with grilled whole peppers, onions, and sauerkraut.
… moreLaurel 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!
… moreUyen Tran Parsons
I haven’t had good food like this in years. Friendly staff, delicious seafood, and yummy desserts. Reservations recommended.
… more