Black Cat - Boulder, CO (05/16/08) - 86

The Score

• Food - 18


• Service - 5 (ouch!)


• Ambiance - 8


• Wine - 5


• Total - 86


• Price - $$$$

The Meal

• Starter - Chilled, Cream Fennel Soup - Awesome!


• Appetisers - Beet salad, Bibb lettuce Salad


• Main - Study of Rabbit (YES!!); Surf and Turf (Scallops and beef brisket)


• Dessert - Cheese plate - (Humboldt Fog!!!)
• Wine - 2004 Atlas Peak, Napa Valley Cab - great stuff!

The Skinny

http://www.blackcatboulder.com/ Wow, these folks can cook! There was very little to say about the entrees and the entire meal except what an exceptional bouquet of flavors! Portions, while smaller than most, didn't strike me as too small. For some it would be but this isn't an all you can eat joint - it's a place to try eclectic flavors from the small French Bistro style. Everything that my father and I had was eyebrow raising and smile inducing. So, if you like food and don't care much about service...then this is your place.

The ambiance is quite comfortable too. It's small, ony 12 tables in the entire restaurant (plus a bar) and has a cool vibe, but not tragically hip (to quote a friend of mine). It's intimate enough given the size and very well done. Some tables (4 out of the 12) have couches where love sick couples can snuggle, put on public displays of attention and look out on all the other patrons. However, one table has got to go! We first got seated at this table and had to move given the proximity to the kitchen and food pick-up station. It was hot (cus of the proximity to the kitchen), tight and really uncomfortable. But once we changed tables, no problem.

The serivce was not good. They forgot to serve bread, forgot the tea, and didn't check in enough to see if we needed anything. Usually I like to be left alone, but we needed things. It shouldn't have been that hard given that there was 4 servers, each with three tables, but somehow it just didn't work. We saw the major flaw being that there was no floor manager ensuring the quality of the service. Had they invested in a floor manager, I think things would have run much smoother. Again, here is a restaurant that should have scored in the mid to high 90s if they would focus on the service.

The wine list is a little thin. There are some highlights, but I think they need to pay more attention to it and invest in a wine manager who will roam and educate. People still don't know wine well and they need to help make it a little more approachable. I do believe what they had was good, but there seemed to be little consistentcy. Too fragmented and directionless for my tastes and seemed to be a little of an after thought. But not a deal breaker at all.

All in all this is one of Boulder's finest restaurants. Pay atention to the service, stop trying to do everything with students and you might have something that would fair well on the national stage.