Cafe Pro Bono

Reviews about Cafe Pro Bono

• 2 / 5

  By Samantha Berg
  I had a disappointing experience at Café Pro Bono.
  
  We came on Christmas evening, a group of five with a reservation for 8pm. We showed up at 7:55pm and saw a table for five sitting open, waiting for us. As we walked in, another group of five walked in just ahead of us. They check in with the manager and said they were early for an 8:30pm reservation. The manager told them not to worry, then sat them at the table for five. When we checked in (still early for our 8pm), the manager suddenly looked panicked, and mumbled something about "let me see what I can find". He then went around the restaurant searching for another spot to seat us at, before finally pulling a chair to the end of one of the booths. The five of us crammed into the tiny booth, with me at the end. There was no apology, no admittance of his error, just some more mumbling about "well we're busy tonight" and that was it.
  
  Not impressed with how the meal started off, we perused the menu. It was a limited menu for Christmas but we all managed to find something we were interested in. The server started to bring us bread and drinks, though it was incredibly awkward for her to serve us given our seating arrangement, something that plagued the table for the rest of the evening. We ordered a bottle of wine, a 2014 Pinot. The wine that was brought was not the 2014 Pinot, but the 2015. We were told that this was all they had, but that it would be equally good. The bottle was perfectly mediocre, nothing to write home about, and definitely not worth the price quoted for the 2014 ($62). We weren't sure what we'd end up being charged, though we assumed surely less.
  
  We ordered a few starters:
  Kale salad - 4 stars. Hearty, plentiful portion. Goat cheese, yogurt dressing, and kale.
  Fall salad - 3 stars. About half the size of the kale salad, and while the ingredients were light and fresh, it left something to be desired. The ricotta was more similar to a hard feta, in texture, as opposed to the lighter crumbles that I'm used to, and the salad was mostly arugula with just a bit of citrus, endive, or pomegranate.
  Octopus over yuca - 4 stars. The octopus was cooked perfectly but there wasn't much of it for the price tag and the yuca lost its flavor in the frying process.
  
  The entrees seemed slightly better:
  Coq au vin - 5 stars. Perfectly braised, tender chicken with the perfect amount of red wine and a large enough portion to render leftovers.
  Pappardelle with short rib - 5 stars. A healthy serving of short rib over freshly made pappardelle in a tomato-based sauce, hearty but not overly rich, filling but not to the point of being stuffed.
  Lobster ravioli - 2 stars. Six or so raviolis in a cream sauce, topped with two scallops. The scallops were not cooked properly, both were impossible to cut through and became stringy and chewy. The ravioli had no lobster flavor and the cream sauce was too heavy to taste the dill or other herbs that accompanied it. I would definitely not order this again.
  
  When we received the bill, despite the seating issue and the wine issue, there was no discount given and no acknowledgement of either. We even went so far as to gently ask if there was anything they could do to make it up to us. We were told flat out, no. It was a disappointment, and I felt bad for our server, who got stuck in the middle of it. She clearly had a difficult time serving and clearing the table given the arrangement and she seemed to want to help, but was outranked by her manager. Not only did it make our experience a bad one, I don't want to support someone who doesn't even support their own staff.
  
  I'm glad most of the entrees made up for the comedy of errors, but needless to say, I won't be returning here.
  April 29, 2017
• 4 / 5

  By Tim Swensen
  The overall experience at lunch was quite nice. The food was good, though the capellini was too oily, with not enough tomatoes. The pannacotta tasted excellent, with not too much gellatin, and not too sweet. The price before tax and tip was about $20. The charming young hostess with the beautiful smile was very polite and not overly talkative. I used to come here often, and they are still a top choice in midtown Palo Alto. One thing, though. At the end of he meal I could smell cigarette smoke sneaking into the room, like from the back door of the kitchen. So, many good things, and some room for improvement.
  August 30, 2016
• 5 / 5

  By Ricardo Busquet
  Awesome place, awesome people. Will definitely come here more times!
  June 13, 2016