There used to be a place called Cassis which was apparently much beloved of various persons, about whom I cannot speak. But I can speak about Cassis, and I did, in my review of it. To sum up, the place wasn't bad, but wasn't great, and then was very rude and stupid in the end. Plus, they were painfully overpriced, drink wise.
Now they're gone, and it's good. In their place has risen the delightful XO Bistro, using the exact same space but to much better effect. Not that there's much change inside--the bar is still just a counter with the booze behind it, and a long counter along the side wall that barely has room between the counter and a partition for chairs to exist. Small, is what I mean. But the staff is much better.
There's an odd dress code thing going on, which is jeans and dress shirts, with ties, and I don't know that I really cared for it, although under other circumstances I like that look. But the totally dressed up tops with the studiously casual bottoms was a little weird. This is purely asthetic, and has nothing to do with the place, but I mention it as an oddment.
There was no room at the bar when Brandon, Sean and I arrived (I may have mentioned it was small) and so we ended up getting a table in the actual restaurant. But then a few minutes later our waitress informed us that even though we wanted to be at the bar, and couldn't be, we couldn't get the bar happy hour. We were sad, but then she pointed out there was plenty of room at the bar. And there was. In about five minutes, everyone there but one guy had left, either to their suddenly ready tables, or just out into the night. So we moved.
At the bar, the bartender had a blue button up shirt instead of white like all the rest, which I think must be an indicator of position. Or maybe he was just mixing it up. It took a while to get him to take our order, because he was having to fill a bunch of drink orders that must have come from all the people who had just been seated. But we did get bar menus, and decided to try some food, because they had happy hour appetizers that looked tasty. And desserts, because it's a French place, so why not have the desserts, and anyway, we had seen one, and man it looked good.
The drinks were made, and were quite acceptable. Or rather, drink, because I had a gin and tonic, and Brandon and Sean indulged in the happy hour red wine. The food followed a moment later, and was quite tasty, I must say. The desserts were a bit after that, and my creme brulee was good, with a ton of vanilla at the bottom of the custard, but wasn't the best I'd had, and was, hard to believe, too large. A great dessert to split, but not perhaps perfect for one.
Good food, good drinks, fun staff (because they were fun, and very friendly, with a sort of studied casualness that matched their dress code). All in all quite the improvement. I recommend a visit.
Bridgit, you would love the place, I think.
Posted by Jason at March 03, 2005 10:24 PM