I had heard of La Foret before, but was also a little skeptical of the glowing reviews. it’s tucked DEEP into South San Jose, and I thought maybe people thought it was fantastic relative to the rest of the French restaurants in South San Jose – of which there are none. But I was pleasantly surprised by La Foret, and I would definitely go back!

With reservations at 6 pm, I was surprised at how packed the restaurant was. Apparently this hidden gem isn’t that much of a secret – for the two hours that we were at the restaurant every table was filled. Tasting menu #1 is not a bad deal at all (5 courses for $58). The service was great, and the timing of the courses was perfect. The first course came out almost immediately (i think even before the bread arrived at our table), but there were quite a bit of time between courses – which I liked, b/c it gave me some time to digest.

The foie gras was SUPERB, and all of the dishes on the tasting menu were actually much larger than i was expecting. Every item on the tasting menu is a dish that can go horribly wrong if overcooked, but I thought everything was very well done. The scallop (a lightly seared scallop on a small round of puff pastry) was humungous, and the sauce was really yummy. The ahi steak was cooked a little more than I like, but it was still really flavorful and tender, and much larger than typical ahi servings. The quail was really good as well, especially the breast, which was juicy and well-seasoned. The beef was so tender, and even though I was stuffed by this time, I kept cutting off more and more.

Lastly, the dessert! My only complaint about the creme brulee (creme brulee atop vanilla ice cream, all served in a chocolate cup) is that it was WAY too small. But I loved that they used brown sugar for the brulee, gave it a different flavor than typical creme brulees. The Grand Marnier Souffle is their signature dessert – and that did not disappoint. It was a little more eggy than other souffles I’ve had, but the texture was pretty close to perfect. The cream was a little too alcoholic tasting for me, but that’s just my taste – I saw others in the restaurant doing everything short of licking their plates.

All in all, a fantastic restaurant, and worthy of every glowing review that it gets.