3 /5 James Syler: When we were looking for a place to celebrate our anniversary, Bernards came highly recommended. Unfortunately, I think they have passed their prime. Instead of the fine dining establishment they were advertised to be, it looks more like a place that time has forgotten. Service is completely inconsistent, with our server being extremely hesitant, and not quite as helpful as I would have hoped, while other servers around us going above and beyond with their tables. When our waitress approached us when we were seated, she asked if we were celebrating anything and we let her know it was our 25th anniversary. Literally nothing else happened about that. Nothing was said, nothing was done, nothing else was brought up about it. I have no problem with that, but why ask if you’re not going to do something about it? It just seemed quite odd.
The theme of the food can best be described as “Rushed”. We were there with reservations at 7 o’clock on a Tuesday night and the restaurant was not even half full. We ordered three appetizers because why not. The calamari and the stuffed mushrooms came out within five minutes of ordering, even beating the bread service. The calamari had most definitely been previously cooked as it was soggy and flavorless. The stuffed mushrooms were some of the most odd I have ever had. The stuffing and sauce were fine, but they were put in uncooked mushroom caps, which made for a huge textural issue for us. When I brought this to the waitresses attention asking if that’s the way it was meant to be served, she did not know and just walked away. The baked brie came out after the salad course and had not been properly prepared before wrapping in crust and had a very offputting flavor. This is another one that had been cooked ahead of time because the crust was so soggy. It was past falling apart. The salad course itself was nothing but a small iceberg salad that had been premade a considerable amount of time before. It was watery and chewy.
We both went with veal dishes, both of which was undercooked. I had the veal marsala which looked beautiful, but they did not cook the dish long enough to allow the sauce to turn into what makes a marsala sauce magical. It was just uncooked wine. My wife ordered the stuffed veal which was so tough that it shook the table when trying to be cut. They did not braise it enough to allow it to soften. The mashed potatoes were so watery that they had the consistency of library paste. The vegetables that came with the dish were completely undercooked and almost raw as well.
To be fair, the bread service with the olive tapenade was really good.
I hate to be so negative, but when a restaurant portrays itself as a fine dining establishment, there is some level of expectation from the customer. In my opinion, we were overcharged for a very subpar product. Had the food been decent quality, I think the price would’ve been very fair and would not have complained about the pricing at all. My best advice, avoid Bernard‘s Mediterranean Restaurant in Tyler Texas.
