very pleasant outdoor dining experience. headlamps really helped. food was delicious although my duck was a little overcooked. service was great

Hats off to the chef and staff for making lovely outdoor set up in this covid time. Plenty of heat lamps. Staff well masked. Extensive menu.

One word... Outstanding! Every dish was executed to perfecion.

Back to original outstanding food, service and hospitality. Good people. Good time.

Very cute location and outside dinning was delightful

Amazing as usual! Chef Bruno makes amazing food and is a great personable host who always makes us feel welcome.

Perhaps they were overbooked... we were sat and waited and waited for water or any type of service. We finally decided to just tell the host we were leaving. It was a cold evening. The heater did not work. We tried to make eye contact with a few of the employees, but it seemed they were too busy.

We were really looking forward to trying some foods off of their regular menu, but we were kind of forced to stay on the Valentine’s menu. We were a bit annoyed by that especially since others were eating things off the special Valentine’s Day menu.

Food was great. Service was friendly. Because of the pandemic, they are working hard to adjust so it was cold sitting outside but it was worth it.

Great food and lovely atmosphere in Pasadena. Will be returning.

We have been going here since we moved to the area on Thursday because of farmers market. I was unhappy for two reasons, first the service. The time it took to seat us, than a server to come to our table after 10 minutes, they know us there and they are nice but the I was imply when I ordered the NY steak on special was not told it was $84.00, a little annoying because the obviously don’t tell you, we also felt the bus boys were just throwing food on the table and running, we asked for butter for my daughter which we ordered bread for, and it took 7 minutes. than we asked the heat lamp to be put on 3 different occasions, finally it was turned on. The food is very good, but obviously the something was off this night. No need to be in a rush with returning clients.

Love this place !
The food is always delicious and the service is great.
I definitely recommend this place to anyone that want to enjoy and nice and tasty meal.

Too cold. The heaters were indoor rather than out by tables. We asked to move to a warmer table right after being seated and hostess was resistant.

This is just the perfect spot to dine. Great ambiance like a French sidewalk cafe should be. Excellent fresh, house-made cuisine. Fantastic servers.

This poor review is not for Bistro de la Gare. It is actually for OPEN TABLE. The week prior
I made a resevation for ALTAEATS. Day before reservation OPEN TABLE confirms that I am still coming? Yes, I reply. 1 hour before my reservation we head out & arrive to a closed
restaurant. I check my E-mail & OPEN TABLE had sent me a message that the reservation was canceled.
Following week had a reservation for BISTRO de la Gare. Same thing, get message "am I still coming" Yes I reply. But this time I call BISTRO de la Gare to confirm they will be open. Nope, they are closed for outdoor dining & have been. OPEN TABLE is accepting reservations for restaurants without confirming that they are actually open.
Tried contacting OPEN TABLE but no one ever got back to me.

Love all of the appetizer, entree, & desserts that Chef Bruno created!!

If you want a real french experience here it is. The food is authentic from the house made pâté to the escargots, the “magrets de canard” ( duck breasts- Just to name a few. The ambience makes you believe you are in any city in France with the chairs, the music - so french.
Good french food, excellent service and the owner is friendly and approchable.

The raw oysters and escargot were delightful

This is a local South Pasadena gem that residents have been enjoying for years. My husband and I simply LOVE THIS PLACE. The ambience is warm and inviting, making it a perfect place for a romantic evening out. The owner and chef are very hands on and always coming by to make sure your food is perfect. The bartender made us some AMAZING cocktails on the fly based on our likes and they were perfect compliments to our meal. There are always wonderful specials to choose from - from which we always choose at least one but we also stick to our usuals, the escargot and terrine which is made in house and slightly different each time. We usually alternate our main course b/w the perfect Entrecôte w/ peppercorn sauce and fries and/or the mussels which are fresh and beautiful each time we have them. In summary, it was so lovely to be out and feel like the restaurant was taking the COVID precautions as seriously as we have been throughout this awful time - I felt completely safe dining outside and will come back ASAP to ensure this neighborhood gem thrives.

This is a must!! Delicious food, great music, adorable setting, friendly , professional and fun service. Hobie and Madison’s favorite in south Pasadena!

We love Bistro de la Gare! A true gem in South Pas.

Outstanding as usual! Please keep the mixologist he was AMAZING!!

Excellent chef, excellent bartender, excellent maitre D', and excellent server. We had a very delicious dinner, in a lovely ambience, with impeccable service. The Ichiban oysters were a marvelous appetizer, accompanied by a Kir Royal. For principal course, some had the delicious trouts, others had the duck pâté and rillettes, someone had the entrecôte with Belgian fries, all were cooked to perfection. We shared sorbet for dessert. It was a most enjoyable evening. Thank you Nicole, and the entire team at Bistro de la Gare! One request though: is there anyway you can correct the pokestop near you (Pokemon stop) to be called "Bistrot de Gare Wagon" instead of "Bistrot de la Fare Wagon"?

This was our first time to visit and the food and service were fabulous. Chef came by not less than four times. Green beans and French bread are divine! Very charming -- even outside in light drizzle.

I had dinner here a few weeks ago as part of a business meeting. I had the fish special. It was very good, but I saw what some of the others got and decided I needed to go back soon. I had the lamb and it was spectacular. I tried the duck as well and it was also very good. Our server, Fabienne, was exceptional and very personable.

Yummy cocktail to start off ! Delicious butternut squash soup & salmon entree. Ended the night with a nice decaf cappuccino. Will definitely come back as food and service is always on point ! Safety here is definitely notable!
Thank you 😊

Excellent evening with friends on the patio. A beautiful sunset improved the experience and the food and staff delivered. I had the lamb shanks that I can recommend.

Outstanding food, highly recommend!

We had a lovely evening with great service and nice food and wine. The restaurant has done a great job pivoting to serving outdoors.

I like this place but I don't like garlic. Everything comes out tasting very over-garlicked. This is too bad as in most areas of France, garlic is used judiciously, not overwhelmingly. This chef here must be from the southern part of France. As in most southern European countries. spices (especially garlic) are used to cover up the fact that food rots more quickly in warmer regions so garlic is used to cover up the less than fresh flavors of the rotting food. Heavy use of garlic in French food is an Americanized expectation, and many folks love it. I, on the other hand had a belly-ache for two days after what should have been a lovely meal.

SHORT TAKE: Haven't ironed out all of the COVID kinks yet.

They're trying, but either this was a bad night, or they are still trying to figure out COVID staffing/logistics. We arrived on time for our reservation, but ended up waiting outside with about 4 other groups waiting for tables while harried looking servers/bussers zoomed around us. After waiting there for quite some time we were seated, then waited even longer for a server. Our table was situated on a dark little dirt/grass patch on the side of the street, with no water and no candle for ambience/with which to read the menus. We waited at least 10-15 minutes in the dark, until eventually I went back to the harried-looking hostess and asked about getting a server. Getting served itself was rather hit and miss; I asked for second glass of wine with my meal and that request came through, but when I asked the server for some bread to go with dinner, that simply never arrived, and the server's visits to the table were so infrequent that I simply gave up on asking again.

All of this is a shame, because the food was tasty, and I'd certainly think about trying it again at a later date. But as a romantic date out, the service/logistics kinks were just too jarring.

Superb French cuisine, as always, with excellent wine list. Bruno the owner on the scene, as usual the gracious host.

Quoted 10 min wait and it was 40

This is a wonderful gem in South Pasadena. I have already written a review and I will rrpeat- grwst oysters on Thursday nights- even on Friday. My duck confit is perfect - generous and they make the best dirty martinis!

We love BdlG and they're doing a terrific job with outdoor dining. This night we were seated at a table that was sitting on top of the pebbles and it may have been dirt because I had to wash my feet before bed. My biggest issue was that we say for so long before we had anyone come for drinks other than water. When she finally came she wanted to give us the specials first, even though we begged her for drinks! It took quite long for us to ever get the first cocktails and it was an uncomfortable wait with only water! I would definitely not let this woman push you around....next time I will insist on cocktails first, which would make us happy enough to wait a bit longer before we heard specials or ordered food. This is a no-brainer in the restaurant industry!!!

Chef Bruno always makes the best food! Our favorite is his mushroom soup, his spaghetti with clams. Sometimes he has amazing specials like beef borginion or oysters, Lovely neighborhood restaurant. Nice wine selection. Yummmmmmm

As is today's standard sat outside. Food and service were great!! Only minor issue was the homeless person taking a table near us.

Seriously good food cooked by a chef who knows what he’s doing. Every ingredient of the meal is taken into consideration. Amazing. We will definitely be back.

Bistro de la Gare is one our favorite restaurants. Always fantastic!!

Great preparation, presentation & flavors! Although he is busy with chef duties in the kitchen, Chef Bruno makes it a point to periodically greet all of the diners and inquire about the satisfaction of their meal.