Blue Talon Bistro

This is a 3.5 star review. Came to Blue Talon today with a friend for lunch and we were seated right away. I ordered an iced tea and it was just all sorts of wrong; the flavor was terrible. The waitress kindly took it off of my bill. I got the bistro omelette and my friend got the burger and both were pretty good. The omelette was actually quite huge, so I do feel like I got my money's worth. Because the tea wasn't great, I decided to go for a hot chocolate, which was even worse. It was like drinking a burnt chocolate bar! Ugh. I didn't have the nerve to send that one back too, so $7 wasted. Our waitress was quite friendly and was very kind about the mishap with the tea (blue hair, cool glasses). The service was good. I wouldn't come back here though. Can't justify ordering two bad items and then giving this another shot. Sorry, Blue Talon.

First of all, before I forget his name, a BIG thank you to Kevin. He was a wonderful server. So friendly and kind. We could've chatted with him for hours! Ask for his area!!!My mom just moved to Williamsburg so she is excited to take me to all of her favorite places. This has been a favorite for a while. It is an authentic French bistro that serves chickens from our favorite village in France, Bresse. We both had the exact same dishes. We started off with French onion soup. Well. To say that they give ample cheese is a bit of an understatement. There was easily a couple of inches of melted goodness. The flavor was mild, not salty with just a touch of herb. It was a standard crock but by the time you are finished you are almost too full.This is a shame because next we had the chicken and mushroom crepes. They were to DIE for! The Mornay sauce was perfect and the mushrooms were awesome. All in all it was a perfect meal from the wine to the service. The only issue were the prices. Even for the area they are very expensive. This may be because of the menu items coming from France but the crepes were the cheapest main on the menu.Still, the ambiance is worth it so if you want to go out for a special reason, I would recommend the Blue Talon.

Pleasant atmosphere. The menu looks good, lots of choices. But it's one of those restaurants that takes a tried and true dish and gussies it up to look like it's haute cuisine, but the overall effect is diminished For example, a dish of fried oysters: being from New Orleans I should have known better. Just fry up the oysters, serve nice and hot and crispy perhaps on some lettuce with a slice of lemon or some sauce on the side. The purer, the better. But no. This is served on a salad with tomatoes and other stuff, and then a mystery sauce is squirted on top of the oysters from a plastic condiment thingy. My entree, a Salade Nicoise, had "grilled, flaked tuna" at its center, surrounded by tomatoes, green beans, hard boiled egg, boiled potatoes. No discernible dressing on the vegetables. I am not kidding when I say the tuna looked like the chef plopped a can of Friskies cat food on the plate. It was dark tuna at that. It was absolutely inedible. How can you mess up tuna? Even canned tuna would have been okay but this was GROUND UP and mixed with capers.I will tip my hat to the very excellent clam chowder. I wish I'd just gotten a bowl of that and I'd have been happy. There was a charge for the bread.

We went on a quiet Sunday evening and enjoyed quick friendly service and a serene ambience on the side patio. The cheese fondue appetizer outshone the brandade which was a little bland. The potatoes for the fondue were excellent but the crostini was a little too hard for fondue. Would have preferred some soft pieces of bread. Unlike a comment or two from past reviews about the scarcity of accoutrements we had plenty. Entrees were tasty and substantial. We had the short rib bourguignon and the roasted cod. The grits for both were delicious. The cod had well prepared asparagus and the short rib had some very flavorful carrots onion and mushrooms in a delicious red wine sauce. Both entrees were rich and filling. If you want to save money on parking then use the parking garage on north Henry near the corner of Prince George St which is only a $1 an hour. If you park right behind the restaurant it cost $10 regardless of time spent.

Fantastic! Visited Williamsburg for the weekend, and found this gem near the William & Mary campus for dinner before heading back home. Our server, Kevin, was very friendly, enthusiastic, and genuine from the moment we were seated to the time we left. Kevin answered all of our questions we had asked him about the local wines, and checked with the bar when he was unsure about the answer. From start to finish, Kevin checked on our table a good number of times throughout our meal to ensure we were enjoying ourselves, and brought drink refills without being asked. My date and I ordered the cheese fondue, which comes with mini dill pickles, perfected roasted and salted fingerling potatoes, and toasted croutons (think crostinis!). The appetizer was served in a small hot bowl, good for 2-3 people to share as an appetizer. Given the bowl the fondue was served in, the cheese stayed smooth and at a good temperature for a really decent amount of time. For our entrees, my date had the short rib bourguignon and I had the roasted scallops, which was the Sunday dinner special. The short rib dish was perfectly tender, and very tasty. The chef really did a great job of preparing this dish! As for the roasted scallops, the dish comes with 6 large scallops served in an iron skillet with sherry wine butter sauce, which gives the melted butter a delicate acidity. Both of our entrees were delicious and well seasoned. Would highly recommend both dishes, so hopefully you won't have to pick between the two! Finally, Kevin offered us dessert, mentioning that everyone's favorite is the gateau britone, while he would recommend the creme brulee. We decided on the gateau britone since my date isn't really a fan of the latter option. The cake was decently moist although not as light as I would have liked. The density of the warm cake was offset by a scoop of vanilla ice cream and warm brown sugar glaze on top. I would compare this dessert to more of a bread pudding consistency, but still delectable. Nothing to write home about for the dessert, but it definitely helped round out the meal for us before making the two hour trek back to NOVA. Overall, another delicious meal in the books! Would definitely come back the next time we are in the area! Finally, it is worth noting that the restaurant closes at 8pm on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays, so last seating without a reservation (if tables are not all taken) is generally at 7:30pm, so come early if you can!

Blue Talon was a wonderful experience of French comfort food. The ambiance was cafe style, busy, a little loud, but enjoyable. The food was delicious! We had the Brandade as an appetizer. It was truly a perfect blend of the truffle oil, garlic, and cod. The fresh pepper on top was perfect. I had the Veal and my partner had the Duck. I highly recommend both. The veal was tender, flavorful, and rich. The morel cream sauce it came with had a little too much pepper for my preference but was still enjoyable. The duck was tender and well cooked with enough seasoning to be in the background but allowed the full flavor of the duck to shine through. We had a bottle of the Claret, and it complimented each food perfectly. Our sever was really attentive, asked us before bringing entrees to make sure we had finished w the appetizer, and the proper bottle service and wine presentation was professional and appropriate. 100 percent will return.

My wife and I went to Blue Talon recently during a visit to her Alma Mater for a wedding. Service was great. It was super nostalgic for her so that made me happy. The macaroni and cheese was delicious, huge fan. The entire meal was great.

Been wanting to try for a while; always crowded, good reviews. Unfortunately, the reality differed from my expectations. I made reservations a month in advance for my wife and I, so it was disconcerting to be taken past the main dining area (with available tables) to a back room to be seated next to a party of 20+ with many small, loud children. Fortunately they finished and left not to long after, but then the staff cleared and set tables as if we weren't there, shouting at each other, banging and tossing things, etc. We were the only people back there, and we felt very uncomfortable.The menu looked enticing, so we ordered: escargot and scallops for my wife and steak tartar and lamb shank for me. Escargot was okay, a little underwhelming and toast points overly crisped so they wouldn't absorb the sauce. Tartar was bland and lacking seasoning-very disappointing as I was looking forward to it. Scallops were nicely seared orzo cooked properly but both needed seasoning. Lamb was barely tepid when it arrived; I sent it back and entire dish was put under salamander to heat. Result was warmed up meat, overdone vegetables and broken sauce and potatoes. We were repeatedly offered the waiters apologies, but that's it. Bill was over $200, and we left feeling disappointed. Would not recommend considering the price.

We swung by Blue Talon after hanging out in the Christmas-themed town. We wanted to have lunch before we headed home back down to Norfolk. LOCATION: They have ample covered outdoor seating and inside seating. It was faster to get seated outside. FOOD: I ordered the Parisian hot chocolate, which was very strong! We asked for bread, which cost $4 - the bread wasn't fantastic enough to be charged. The French Onion soup was a little too burnt on top for my taste. I just didn't enjoy it and didn't finish my soup. SERVICE: We sat outside because we had our two dogs with us. We could tell our waiter did not like dogs lol He didn't greet them and seemed to ignore them as much as he could when he came to talk to us. But two other waitresses came by to greet our dogs. Will we return? I'd rather try a different location next time we're in the area.

Food: (4/5): The food is fantastic here. It's no wonder it's a fan favorite. They lose a star for the unnecessary cost of the side swap...Drinks: Thursday night the wine is 1/2 price bottles. We got a really great one for $18! My favorite cocktail is the "aviation". It's so great! A great dry gin cocktail with a lovely lavender taste and beautiful color. We started with:SALMON RILLETTES- savory salmon puree with warm baguette. It's a minced salmon spread with two butter toasted slices. We definitely needed more bread and ended up with $4 basket of French baguette and butter, which was fine, but not the same. I ordered the CROQUE MADAME - French classic ham & cheese on brioche with a light cream sauce and a fried egg. It was just so decadent! Yummy ham and cheese that had a light batter (think savory French toast) and a lovely cream sauce. I can't believe I was able to eat the entire thing! Since I don't like salad, I asked for truffle fries instead and they charged me $10 for the side, which seemed really high. The fries were good - thin, with herbs and truffle oil, but I was really annoyed that it was so expensive. Service (5/5): Melissa was super kind and a wonderful server. Ambiance (5/5): I felt like I was in a French cafe. I love the atmosphere - cane chairs, marble tables, cozy booths with dark muted tones. Just the right place to go on a cold winter night.