Aquitaine Chestnut Hill

A very comfortable bistro with a small menu but with interesting variety. The truffle pate de canard appetizer was delightfully flavorful and my wife enjoyed her butternut squash bisque. Her steak entree was cooked to perfection, and my rainbow trout was delicious. They have a good selection of wines, a bit pricey though, and limited selection of beer. Attentive and friendly service. All told an enjoyable dining experience.

I’ve been going to the one on Tremont St for years and was excited when they opened this one. It has more seating and even though we came for Sunday brunch, it wasn’t packed which was nice. Service was prompt and courteous and food was delicious! Ordered the special for the day, which was the frittata, even though I usually get the smoked salmon benedict, which I also highly recommend. Doesn’t disappoint and will go back for more!

Terribly slow service and mediocre food. Just not fun. They asked us to be there at 5.15, not 5.30. There was almost nobody in the restaurant when we arrived at the specified time, and the table wasn’t ready. The order was taken about 6. We ate the first course and waited over an hour for the main course. The duck was cold - rare does not mean cold. The veal was over cooked. Throughout the more than two hours, the waiters seemed to be avoiding eye contact as we looked up hopefully for our meals. Why the problems? The manager said they were “behind”. We were almost the first people in the restaurant when it opened. How could they be behind? Did they have to go to another restaurant to pick up some duck, as in the Gourmet Night episode of Fawlty Towers? Speculating about the cause of the delay was naturally part of our conversation while we waited, and waited, and waited and … We didn’t even consider dessert. We wanted to be home before midnight! With prompt service and meals served when prepared, this might be good. For us it was awful.

If you’d like authentic French food, this is NOT the place. The hollandaise sauce on my eggs Benedict was awful, the English muffin was not good, the egg was too dry , the potatoes were too moist and tasted like they were from last week. No French music playing instead 80’s mix. I would not come back

After an exemplary experience at the Boston location, we were eager to try the Chestnut Hill location. First impressions were very good. Within the limitations of a contemporary commercial space, the deco and ambiance were really very nice. Service throughout or meal was also very good: attentive, observant, professional, friendly. How about the food? Appetizer was good (Moules), but two of three entrees were just so-so. On the strip steak, the cut was tough and a bit stringy. Plus there was so much steak ‘juice’ on the plate that the frites were swimming and therefore soggy. Speaking of frites, we were really taken with the Truffle Frites when we dined at the Boston location. Hot, crisp, fragrant, wonderful aoili, simply delightful. At Chestnut Hill, the frites were served only modestly warm, and to be honest they were limp as if they’d sat for some time before being served. Because of the food quality vs price, we can only give Aquitaine in Chestnut Hill three stars. We will be going back to the one in Tremont, and we might be willing to give Chestnut Hill a second chance.