Tivoli Restaurant In Bellingham,WA

by Roger
(Bellingham, WA)

Decided (or rather the wife decided) to try something different in the downtown area for once and ended up going to the Tivoli on Commercial St. in the heart of downtown Bellingham. Easy to find and plenty of parking in the evening the parkade is right across the street.
Upon arriving, we were greeted and seated by our gracious hostess. Nice, small-ish place with an eclectic feel. "Raw", plain brick walls added to the particular ambiance of the place.
This evening, my wife had a duck breast soup (sorry, can't remember the exact name of it) which was proceeded by a bowl of Tivoli's own creamed squash soup. The soup, she said, was "wonderful"....even had me try some (I'm not big on squash anything!) I must admit that it was quite good! The duck soup, too, most to her liking.
I decided upon the Ling Cod. Served on a bed of seasoned diced potatoes/peas....it was "DEE-LISH"! The seasonings of the potatoes and the seasonings/flavor of the ling cod complimented each other wonderfully!
The service was great! The food.....excellent! Which brings me to my 'complaint' department! First, the tables. Although there were linen tablecloths, they were also covered with large sheets of brown paper. Perhaps this does cut down on laundry expenses but....it really took away from the "fine dining" experience as a whole. I also felt that the menu was somewhat limited in its offerings and was lacking a "formal" description of what was being ordered. The use of french words as part of the menu item description is fine but....not all of us know french. And being the "penny-pincher" that I am, I felt that, perhaps, the dinner items were just a bit pricey.
All-in-all, though, I would say it was a fine dining experience overall. Would definitely go again. Perhaps as time goes on (this is a fairly new restaurant here) the little nuances that the Tivoli is going for to set itself apart from places will shine through and make this a "must-go" place in downtown Bellingham!