It was our wedding anniversary yesterday and the wife and I decided that Chicago Fire in Folsom, CA would be a great place to go. We ate there on our wedding night (after the wedding and reception, of course) and it’s close to the outlets where we’d be able to do some clothes shopping.

Unfortunately, Chicago Fire was closed for lunch.

We remembered an upstairs eatery along the same street and thought we’d check it out. It’s a quaint little place called Balcony Bistro that we had actually looked into for hosting our rehearsal dinner. The decor is pretty artsy in that wannabe French cafe sort of way, which makes sense since they promote themselves as “Folsom’s Finest California French Cuisine” on their website.

When we arrived, the only person working the floor was doing the bussing and the serving. He continually looked busy throughout our stay, though it wasn’t that crowded. There was a couple or two outside and two or three tables inside, besides ours. The music was pretty horrible: “pop adult contemporary theater music” is the only way I can describe it.

We were seated, and asked for water. Upon bringing us water, I asked if there was a drink menu for liquor, as I thought I might enjoy a glass of wine with my meal. Or even a beer. They only served Bud and Bud Light, so beer was out. I did get a wine list but decided to stick with water, which was a mistake. First, my wife’s glass had lip imprints on one side. While I’m sure the glass was washed, that’s pretty gross. I gave her my water and did not ask for another glass because I decided I didn’t want to drink anything during the meal. Then, she sipped the water, and made that face one makes when it’s obvious they’re drinking hose water.

I ordered a crab sandwich, which was to come on a French roll with lettuce, tomato, and melted Swiss cheese. My wife ordered the BLT. Lunch orders are supposed to come with a choice of home potatoes or a salad. We weren’t given a choice, but I had realized this after the server went to the kitchen. Though my wife wanted potatoes, we decided we didn’t care that much. At the same time we were wondering why the choice wasn’t given.

The food arrived. Mine came on toasted, buttered, white bread instead of a roll, which I didn’t realize until halfway through. It tasted great, but again: not according to the menu. The sandwich was delicious. The crab meat was slightly warmed and wasn’t too heavy, which meant that it wasn’t over-mixed with mayonnaise and other ingredients. The crab was able to take a front seat in the crab salad. The lettuce was crisp iceberg and red leaf. The contents went well with the toasted white bread. Each half of the sandwich had a sandwich pick upon which a strawberry was skewered, which was great to cleanse the palate. The salad was a mix of spring greens topped with tomatoes and a sprinkle of grated parmesan cheese, dressed in a light, sweet vinaigrette. A great accompaniment to the sandwich.

My wife’s sandwich featured the same produce and salad as my dish, except, for some reason, no tomatoes on her salad. Odd. She really liked the sandwich at first, but after a while found that there was just too much bacon (which I find hard to believe) and lettuce. To each their own!

To eat my salad, I needed a fork. The first fork was wrapped within my cloth napkin. As I opened it, there was a clump of food stuck inside, so I considered the fork and napkin dirty and got another set. The new fork had dried food on it. One more try and I finally got a clean fork.

Overall, the food made for a nice, light lunch. Four stars for the food. Unfortunately, while the waiter was very nice, the overall service was only average. If the menu says one thing, the waiter and the food should reflect that. If there is supposed to be a choice of sides, one should be given. If a dish describes that it comes with a specific food item and it turns out to be different, the customer is then eating something unexpected and, with some people and some foods, this could ruin a meal. Imagine if a menu item described a 1 1/2-inch steak stuffed with blue cheese. Yum, right? But when the steak comes and, upon eating it, you find that it was instead stuffed with feta, the taste your tongue was expecting and the taste it received contradicts each other, which can be quite off-putting. Part of eating is anticipation, right? A pet peeve: I expect the menu to be correct.

Then there were the dirty dishes. Too many of them. While most people won’t even think to look at their glasses or silverware, I do. I expect clean dishes. No one wants to eat off something that has someone else’s lip imprints or a chunk of food stuck to it. Hey, I’ll eat in a dirty situation if I need to; if I go to Malaysia and eat in the market, I’m on their turf and I will eat in the manner my food is presented to me. But, dammit, this is America where restaurants have to pass health inspections. I don’t care if it’s fine dining, lunch at a pub, or fast food. No, I will not drink out of a glass with lip imprints.

The waiter, while not efficient, was nice enough to make me consider the overall service to be average. Three stars for service.

That said, what’s this review’s rating guide?

	It goes on the “Must Visit” list.
	Goooooooooooooooooood!!!
	A decent place to eat, but not first on the list.
	If nothing else is available…
	Garbage

I give Balcony Bistro 3 1/2 stars. The food was quite good, even though it was slightly different from what we were expecting. The waiter was nice enough, but the inefficient order-taking and the dirty water glass and silverware was not acceptable.