The Library At Chalkboard - Healdsburg

Civilized. published. beautiful. loved the beet salad with burrata and fennel strips. the second cure was the strozzapreti with garnel, greens and a lemon sauce fantastic. for those who do not know, strozzapreti are a type of pasta. they look like a somewhat longer version of cavatelli. the roasted chicken was served with fresh baby carrots and green beans. the part was considerable and it was perfectly cooked. it could have tasted a little more. the crawlers were great, but maybe not enough? we skipped the desert, but the choice of ice and the olive oil cake has caught me the eye. service was so pleasant. very special place here in healdsburg. it is part of the hotel les mars.

How have I not reviewed Chalkboard yet?! Chalkboard was one of our faves pre pandemic but more recently, reservations were hard to score. They just changed reservation tools and we're back in action. They offer a changing seasonal menu of small plates, with many ingredients coming from their garden nearby at Chalk Hill Winery. Love it! We went this week on a warm summer night and thoroughly enjoyed dinner on their pretty and private back patio. Four of us shared a bunch of their small plates: *Pork Belly Biscuits these are a hit and a staple on their menu *Roasted Beet Salad *Tomato Panzanella if this is on the menu when you go, do not miss it! The tomatoes and basil are so fresh and bursting with summer flavor right now! *Porcini Gigli pasta *Rigatoni Pesto *Fried Chicken *Fried Zucchini The panzanella and fresh pastas were the standouts for me but everything was delicious and I'd happily repeat the entire order. Chalkboard's menu used to offer a wine flight option. It's not printed on the menu anymore but our lovely server honored one for me, so I tried and enjoyed: *Vaughn Duffy Rosé *The Cusp Pinot Noir *Armida Zinfandel If you're in Healdsburg, I highly recommend a stop here. Can't get a reservation? Try getting a seat at the front bar. Enjoy! Cheers!

For large parties, they always recommend a pre fixed menu. It was about $80 a person and you make your selections before your arrival. Menu: 1) Small Bites Cheese and Charcuterie platter, loved the variety for this board. Creamy and salty cheeses with cheese crackers, dried fruit and nuts. 2) Salads Chalk Hill Estate Greens, the pecorino and the citronette paired well with the greens 3) Pasta Strozzapreti with Gulf Shrimp, very lemony and fresh, I enjoyed this dish a lot. 4) Seafood Salmon. Celery root puree was yummy, enjoyed it more than the salmon. 5) Meat Cabernet Braised Short Rib. Loved the polenta and the flavors on this one. The horseradish was a nice touch. 6) Vegetables Sugar snap peas, just okay. Asparagus with vinaigrette, skippable. 7) Dessert Trio of dessert, enjoyed the Panna Cotta more than anything. The coconut ice cream was not bad. The chocolate cake was very rich and dense. For 18 people they brought about 4 plates of each item that we ordered. It was definitely more than enough food and we had so much food leftover. Service: The service was great. We had a large party and the family style was very accommodating. We had about 18 people in our party. We did not expect an automatic 25% gratuity though, so it was quite shocking. I thought usually the standard was 20%, but 25% was a bit steep. Overall, the food was just okay and for the price and gratuity we were paying, didn't feel like it was worth it. Maybe I'd come here again with a smaller party to try other dishes, but for large parties, it just wasn't for me.

We came here for our anniversary and had an okay time. The ambiance is well done, especially the patio where we ate. The wait staff was very nice but unfortunately the service was also the worst part of the experience because it was so spotty. I think we saw our waitress twice for the whole meal because she was having to manage so many other tables. The timing of the plates coming out seemed sporadic and we had trouble getting more drinks. We had started with cocktails and were going to order a bottle of wine, but because they didn't get our order in for wine until we were 2/3 done with our meal, we just ordered a couple glasses. Then those glasses of wine didn't show up until we were done eating. Not good. The food was good to very good but I also expected it to be better. Everything was expertly cooked, but some of the dishes were just a bit too meh on the flavors: The pork belly app was good but too much biscuit, or the flavors of the rest didn't stand out. the cucumber salad was very good, fresh the fried chicken with slaw was very tasty the roast chicken was also very good the skin was perfectly crispy. The veggies with it were okay the bouillabaisse was decent, fresh, but not a lot of flavor the porcini pasta was excellent one of the best dishes the side of roast carrots was my favorite with its pistachio and cheese topping The green beans with mushrooms were okay a little too watered down in flavor I probably won't be back given the plethora of other restaurants in Healdsburg. It's not a bad choice but I've also had a lot better just in terms of food. I tried not to knock them too much on the service because I know many restaurants are struggling in this regard right now, but I do hope they and others get better.

My sister, a true foodie, had researched Healdsburg for a great restaurant to enjoy. The restaurant, located in beautiful downtown Healdsburg is very nice. Our server was attentive and friendly, the patio filled with beautiful dinners enjoying their meals. The waiter explained that the dishes were small plates and so several dishes would be appropriate. The pork sliders were ho-hum my son and I are pork lovers but these were really ho-hum. Next course, fried chicken for my nine year old. He was happy. It was juicy, well cooked and tasty. My order was next, seafood risotto. I really really love risotto but I was really disappointed. I would call it insipid. Baffled as to how they could serve something as tasteless as this i thought, maybe I'm not sophisticated enough to appreciate how wonderful this dish is. Then sanity returned and my former opinion returned. On to the calamari tenders. The server highly recommend them but they were like chicken tenders from IHOP with squid instead of chicken. Chewy and unappetizing. I love fried calamari but these should have been named calamari steaks, a dish I dislike. Finally the server asked what I thought and I told her what I thought, just as I related to you. I didn't ask her to take the dishes off the bill but she did it anyway which I thought was nice. We had frozen cheesecake and lavender chamomile tea for dessert which were both great. Sorry, too many great restaurants here to return.