The place was a little smaller than I thought it was going to be but that was not a bad thing, it had a personal atmosphere. One amenity that I was confused about was they did not have valet parking. Not that my husband would let anyone else touch his precious truck but labeling itself ‘fine dining’ I guess I just expected that would come along with it. The parking lot was quite small so honestly there was not a huge need for it.

We had reservations and we seated immediately but I am sure we would have even if we were just walked in. We had a choice of inside, outside under a pavilion or out on the patio. We chose under the pavilion so we could still be a part of the beautiful outdoors. They had pretty greenery and little white lights everywhere. I can only imagine how gorgeous it is after dark. I did wish they had some background music playing and would have washed the windows along the sides. One odd thing was that I did not notice a restroom sign anywhere, I did find it but it was on my own.

Our waiter was prompt and brought us water right away and left a carafe of water on the table for us, which is always very much appreciated. What I also thought was nice was that even though they left the water on the table with us they still topped off our glasses with it when they came by.

The butter that came with the bread had a unique balsamic and tomato spice taste it to, lovely. We told the waiter what we were planning on getting for appetizers and entrees and wanted to know what wine would go best, his answer was “I don’t know, I don’t drink wine”. Pretty annoying when you are eating ‘fine dining’ for your waiter to be clueless. In the end I attributed it to the fact he was a Thursday night waiter and must be new and a little uneducated. My husband chose the Castle Creek Pinot Noir, which I found absolutely marvelous. It had the perfect combination of full flavor but not so much that you could only sip on it. I absolutely would buy this for my own collection. What was strange was later on we overheard him recommend a bottle to the table behind us and they seemed to love it. Then there is always the Diet Coke I have to get.

For appetizers we got the Seared Scallops, fresh maine “diver” scallops, dusted with chipotle and pane seared, served with a chunky fresh tomato cream sauce. The scallops did have a nice spice to it, not overwhelming but delightful. We also got the St. Andre and Braised Kurabuto Pork, French triple crème Brie, 5 hour ‘dry’ braised Kurabuto pork belly and balsamic onion jam. This was absolutely unbelievable!! I tried the pork alone and it was great but then I took a bite with the onion and Brie on it and OMG did that change it into something spectacular! It also made our wine taste sweeter.

Our dinner salad was surprisingly good. The candied walnuts, cranberries and apples were so fresh tasting on the salad.

I am what some might say a little of a messy eater and was quit disappointed when they did not have that little scraper thing to clean your table after each course. Also, our waiter kept forgetting to take our finished plates when done. We had to ask for new forks and he just grabbed them off the empty table next to us, a fast fix but a little odd.

One thing I love about fancy restaurants is the palate cleanser you get, for it its pretty much a little mid dinner desert. It was pineapple flavored and pretty great. They served it in an oversized shot glass, I like it better served in an oversized spoon type thing but in the end same result, very tasty.

My entrée was the New Zealand Elk, char-grilled rocky mountain elk tenderloin; served with creamy mushroom “duxelle”, green peppercorn demi-glaze, asparagus, and garlic mashed potatoes. The elk was very delicious but it rose to a new level when eaten with the mushrooms. I was shocked at the taste change, exquisite. The vegetables were nothing notable and the potatoes were really good but you might call me a potato snob. I make the best I know of so its hard to blow me away with that. The beets were a little hard for my liking but I did not go there for the vegetables. If you re not used to wild game you might notice a “gamey” taste to it but I quite enjoyed it.

My husband got the 10oz seared Snake River Farms American Kobe Eye of Ribeye, red wine reduction and sautéed oyster mushrooms with garlic mashed potatoes. The meat was very tender and I think I liked it more than my meal. My husband told me that the meat sauce and mushrooms were cooked to perfection. The meat was so tender one would be able to cut it with a spoon. The mushrooms although large were deliciously sautéed. The sides were wonderful minus the beat, which was rather under cooked and hard to cut through. The taste was good but I believe they could have spent a little extra time steaming or cooking the beat.

One thing we both agreed on was that their squash was entirely miraculous. I do not think I have had better anywhere I have eaten before. It was almost a reason to go back.

Desert was crème Brule and it was the best I have ever had. The berries were fresh and juicy. I ordered a chocolate liquor with my desert which had a coffee taste to it. I could taste the liquor it in but my husband could not. These were an amazing way to conclude our experience at Tiburon.