Such fancy descriptions for lack luster meals. ie Swiss merengue...just say it’s marshmallow. Lol. Don’t get the chocolate cake with marshmallow. It was dry and gross. They threw leaves and petals on dinners to make them seem high quality. The food was still boring. We just wanted a convenient meal as we were staying at hotel. We will definitely never return.

Great to be able to enjoy a special meal out again at places like Avant. The restaurants are doing their best under trying Covid-19 restrictions. Given the regulations dictated to the restaurants, the experience was not typical or up to par but still happy we could enjoy a nice dinner out in a beautiful setting.

Wonderful as always

Absolutely hands down, the best tasting menu experience I have ever had in my life!

The Avant restaurant is overpriced and average to less than average food. I ordered the Honey Glazed Duck. It was disappointing as it was a small portion and barely warm. My husband had the Corvina Sea Bass which was not cooked well. Service was very slow. It took them an hour and fifteen minutes to get us our food. Very disappointing!

Great experience. They are doing a great job keeping everything clean and sanitized.

We are so happy to have Avant open for business again!! It was lovely!
The food was delicious! The staff was polite and helpful as usual!
Portions were a bit on the smaller side. Overall, love this place and happy that they are open once again!!

Food was good, as always. Chef and his staff do a tremendous job creating extraordinary dishes that are deliciously phenomenal!! Service was just as wonderful, Sal is great and always provides good conversation.

The quality of the food was very bad. Special was sea-bass, horrible. Beet-salad was bad. Desert was bad. Service has always been bad, this time was none existence. I’m done with this place for good.

This review pertains only to this particular event. The resturant, with the current chef, rates much higher.
I would say the resturant cannot handle a large group.
Food, while flavorful, was cold.
Service was very slow.
Managers watched servers struggle...didn’t pitch in to help.
Venue is all hard surfaces...very noisy.

The quality of the Service, atmosphere, and menu selection was just superb. Recommended for that "Special Occasion. "

Great experience here. We tried the Jerusalem Artichokes which turned out to not be for us (well executed, but turns out I can't stand the cheese they used. Would be delicious if you like strong cheeses) and they brought us an alternate starter without us even asking based on what the server knew we were interested in! Very good service and the entrees and make-up starter more than made up for it. Both of our proteins were tender and the Japanese sweet potatoes in my entree were delicious.

We celebrate two of our friends birthday, the food was amazing, so as the cocktails. Service was nice on my birthday, I want to go back there for it

Everything was amazing! My husband and I had a wonderful time; food, service, ambiance all outstanding. Would highly recommend.

Great Valentine’s Day dinner.

Overall the meal was good except the desert. The waiter suggested a chocolate cake and it was really disappointing. It was like an”brick” and was very dry. My wife and I just left it and didn’t say anything but we heard the table next to us complain about it too. The waiter then said it was a “healthy” version which was gluten-free and “wheat free” which is fine, but that’s not how it was advertised to us. It should have been related that this was a “healthy” version.

Food was good dessert was ok. We will go back to eat again and try a non prefixed dessert so we can tell if
their regular desserts are good.

This is a favourite of mine for special occasions when I like to have a quiet evening with excellent food and friendly service. They have always delivered so far!

Service was top notch. Food was fantastic. It was a cold rainy night so a bit chilly in the restaurant. First time here and will be back for sure. The care and attention given to the food quality is definitely a rare find these days. It’s a true “foodie” spot. Look forward to our next visit.

Since Chris Gentile arrived at Avant at the Rancho Bernardo Inn, things have been outstanding. Fantastic dishes that you do not see in other major restaurants. A lot too choose from, especially smaller plates which allows you to have 3 or 4 small plates to taste.

Avant is a very nice restaurant! The food is "Outstanding" We had a birthday party for 8 and everyone commented that the food was great and the restaurant was very nice. The ambiance was perfect and our Server was great!

This was not our first time at Avant and we look forward to many more dining experiences.

Excellent food and presentation.No need to go outside for dinner. Good wine list.

Very delicious food. Wine selections were very good too. It was expensive even with the Restaurant Week prices, but was a very nice.

Restaurant week

Everything about the restaurant was wonderful except the Valet damaged our car and still has not offered to fix the damage. I warn you not to have them park your car.

Not your regular San Diego Restaurant Week. The selection of dishes is large, innovative and excellent. Dishes such as Truffle Yukon gold potato terrine, Mussels in fennel and orange broth, Kurobuta Pork shop with leeks, etc.

Great presentations' and taste. The 29 year old chef is brilliant at the RB Inn Avant Restaurant.

The service and the food were amazing! Everything tasted great.

It was not special. Food was undercooked. Three of five plates went back to the kitchen. It took forever to get new plates and then they were underseasoned.

Awesome except noisy driven by layout

We chose AVANT for our 38th year of New Years
Eve celebrations with the same couple and were all delighted with the experience.

We do consider our selves as true gourmet “foodies” now that we are all in our eighties and often remunerate about the many memorable meals we have shared in remarkable dining experiences in one another’s homes, as well as all over the San Diego area, Europe and this country over the years. AVANT served us well in this regard in all categories, even providing us with booth seating in full view of an amusing table of six other celebrants which we enjoyed, as they were obviously delighted with the experience, sporting full formal attire, including one gentleman wearing a classic tuxedo and spats.

This was an amazing way to ring in 2020. Chef Gentile created and executed a wonderful menu. He's never fallen short of wowing me.

Not only do his flavors compliment whatever dish he creates, not the TEXTURE makes you say Wow -at- first- bite.

Atmosphere could have been a little more festive, some bare high ceilinged walls could have used amazing wreaths, but it's a pretty restaurant even without.

The value was great, not they need to get rid of the surcharge.

Service was polite and made us feel welcomed.

Overall, this is a place you want to dine at while chef Gentile is in residence.

Amazing ambiance and service. But both the appetizer and the entree was way too salty. The sea bass was overcooked as well. I would skip if you are a foodie.

Engagement

Loud, long wait time for entre, experience not worth the expense.
Will definitely look elsewhere in future !

Great service and excellent food as usual.

Christmas dinner fixed price 3 course menu - not really a Christmas-y feel to any of the choices.

We took the family to Avant for Christmas dinner, usually a go to for us on Thanksgiving or Christmas. I was disappointed compared to prior holiday meals. First they tried to squeeze our party of five into a booth, it was ridiculous. I asked the seater can we put a chair on the outside of the booth, she said sure then watched as I had to move the glasses napkins, half way through she left and went back to the bar area. On a positive note, the soup was great, but my husband can't eat goat cheese which topped the soup so he asked for sour cream or whipped cream. The waitress came back to the table and said there was none. Hard for me to believe at a 5 star restaurant of this notoriety had no whipped cream or sour cream. Plus we asked for bread several times finally after the soup had been served it arrived and tasted like two day old bread. The Avant bread is usually a delight, out of the oven and so fresh. I asked for my steak medium well and it arrived blue rare, I asked for it to be cooked a bit more and it came back burned. For $95 for prix fix this really irked me and by the time my steak came back burned everyone else of my family had already eaten their main course. the portions were tiny. One of my sons, a slight thin man, was so hungry he came home and made a huge sandwich. We had two choices of desert a chocolate ganache and a bread pudding. Those who had the bread eating said it was great. The chocolate ganache arrived with a film over it like it had been made 24-48 hours in advance and just left to harden in the fridge. So...it was clear to us that Christmas dinner was not so good at the Avant and some of the edibles had been prepped days before

Christmas dinner was really nice scallops seared to perfection and the rib eye was
To die for yummy.
Best part was our waiter.Well informed and
Helpful we will be back

This was a bit of a disappointment. The food quality was good, but the service was slow and desultory. Also, the ambience did not match the quality of the food. The decor misses the mark for me. You read the menu and taste the food and expect to have a wonderful experience, but the “Black Angus” decor diminishes it.

The service was terrible. Ordered our first cocktails at 6:15 and were served them at 6:40. We had to ask to order our meal. Our server could have cared less - no enthusiasm at all. Waited 1+ hours for our food after we ordered. Ordered another round of drinks and after waiting a long time, again, my son got up from the table and saw them sitting in the bar waiting for our server to pick them up - he had told us the bar was “slammed” but no one was there and they were just sitting. Another server brought someone else’s appetizers to our table. Completely disorganized. We told him it was our grandson’s birthday and he reluctantly brought him a small piece of dessert just as we were leaving. We told him we were members of the Rancho Bernardo Club and he failed to give us our discount. Had to have him recalculate our bill. Absolutely will not go back.