La Belle Vie

The biggest negative for La Belle Vie is portion size. I've been to similar restaurants around the country and I do understand that the portions are intentionally small so you can enjoy several courses. However, five courses and $80 per person later, your entire dinner group shouldn't leave the restaurant and go eat a second dinner somewhere else. For a 5 course dinner the portions are simple too small for that number of courses. So do the 8 course dinner (at a higher cost) or don't eat here. Or eat something before you go. Even if you are small female. That out of the way.... The food is amazing. There's no other way to say it. And no matter what your food allergy or preference, they will cheerfully and creatively accommodate you. I only rated the food as "good' due to portion size. Otherwise it would be excellent. The cocktails are some of the very best in the entire Midwest. Good balance of daring and tried and true. The service, likewise, is the best in the Midwest. I cannot find a single fault with it. You will feel special and pampered.

I have been reluctant to write this review because I truly wanted to believe that my disappointment with my experience would go away. Maybe my expectations were too high. However, it has been 3 weeks since dining at La Belle Vie for Valentine’s Day and I am still left very disappointed with my experience. This was both mine and my husband’s first time dining here and I have wanted to do this for quite some time. I was underwhelmed with our reception to the restaurant, from the valets to the hostesses, I felt as if everyone was quite indifferent to our arrival. For the amount of $$$ we, and everyone else there that evening were going to be paying for our 8 course prix fixe menu, the least I expected was that someone would offer to take my coat. We elected not to do the wine pairing, but did order wine and I was surprised that a sommelier did not come to our table to discuss wines. No one ever offered us a cocktail menu. I did not feel that the ambience was anything any more remarkable than other fine dining restaurants in town, we did appreciate that we did not feel we had to whisper our conversation and that we were free to enjoy boisterous conversation as were others in the room. The décor of the dining room was fine, our server was good, but I guess I was expecting a detailed description of each course I was about to enjoy- I wanted the story of the food- even when I asked questions no one seemed to be able to provide me with the back story to how the chef developed each dish. The food was good and the presentation was great, but I feel that I have most certainly had similar meals in town that were far better and more intriguing for at least half the price. I was underwhelmed and wish I were writing a rave review similar to so many others. Maybe Valentine’s day is just the wrong day to go....................I'm not sure if I will give La Belle Vie another try

The food did taste very good. The issue stemmed from the service. It was hurried. We felt like we were pressured to eat and go, which seems inapposite from the impression the restaurant is attempting to give. The portion size was terrible and left us hungry and we went somewhere else to eat again. We did not do the tasting menu and more or less created our own tasting menu. The tenderloin portion was terribly small (maybe 4 or 5 oz) presented with 4 little carrots and a small amount of greens. But the part that gets us the most is our server left us with the impression we were not deserving to eat there. Bringing us the bill while we are still eating dessert. Comm'n!? Admittedly, we are not well versed in French cuisine, but so what. We like to learn and experience new things, just not in this environment. Better experiences exist elsewhere for the price.

Elegant dining in Minneapolis in the ground floor of a lovely well appointed apartment building. Loved the decor and the chandeliers. Cuisine is traditional fine dining with the French accents. Menu is not terribly extensive but the items we had were quite good; the sweet pea tortelli were of special note. Lots of business clientele. Service attentive. Interesting wine list.

Love the staff and the wine and the food was brilliant!!! Ambience is great, fine dining yet comfortable enough to have a boisterous table add the to fun of the meal. It's not uptight, there were quite a few couples, and it remained elegant. We had the 9 course Chef's Tasting Menu, just marvellous explanation of the foods by staff, they were very supportive of our experience - food greats: arrangement, texture, they utilized some molecular gastronomic techniques which was totally fun, colors and flavors were all well done - solid meal. 2nd fav restaurant in town so far. But they had THE BEST WINE I've ever experienced in a restaurant, period. And for such a reasonable price, if you drink wine, GET THE WINE PAIRING with the meal, you will not be sorry! You will be soo happy. It's a lot of wine though, and they accommodated us by allowing us to share the flight. Wonderful experience all around and a lot of fun to boot. Make reservations, it's a posh place, we were there for 3 hours. On side note of portion size, for a tasting menu the portions were quite large (chef's tasting - I wanted that lobster!), I was filling by the 3rd item, but happily got myself through to the end, we just had to take some breaks. One thinks if you take the time to enjoy and appreciate what the kitchen prepared, you should not be leaving there unsatiated. It was a beautiful and fun experience, thank you!

This place will close its doors forever this week. The owners said that this was too much of a special occasion restaurant to continue to operate. I say that if what I ate tonight was normal, then this restaurant was doomed long before the decision was made. The food was just ok, trying too hard and not delivering. It's like the kitchen has just given up and is producing "just food enough". The issue is that there are (and have been) decent restaurants opening up in the Twin Cities and this place found itself actually having to compete with restaurants headed by chefs that have traveled to places with a history of great food and worked under great chefs. Overall, this menu being served in the last days of the restaurant's existence is boring and lacking in vitality. A poor but fitting farewell for an establishment that is too mediocre to exist in the new age of food enlightenment that Minneapolis is entering.

Absolutely one of the best tasting menus we have ever enjoyed. The service was amazing, wine pairing was perfect and our service was top notch!! Truly a restaurant to try and indulge before it closes.

I tried booking a reservation for Valentine's Day here last year like 2 months in advance and it was already full so she had to settle and now we're not together anymore but I'm not completely putting that on La Belle Vie. I did eat here once though and it was probably a top-50 meal in my life. Which, if you think about it, is rather impressive. I am 9,946 days old as of writing this (note to self - throw a 10,000 Days Old Party for yourself!). If I assume that I eat on average two meals a day, that means I should've ate around 19,892 meals in my life. I am going to subtract 1,000 from that to account for the four years that I starved through college. So 18,892 meals. If this place was a top-50 meal, that means they were better than 99.73% of the meals in my life. Give yourself a pat on the back, La Belle Vie. I heard they are closing though :( probably because no one could ever get a reservation and they kept ruining relationships.