Chez TJ is the most serious restaurant in Mountain View and one of the more interesting fine-dining rooms in the Bay Area. Housed in a Victorian cottage on Castro Street, it serves a prix-fixe tasting menu that runs to eight courses or so, with an emphasis on French technique applied to local California produce. The wine list is well-considered and the service is attentive without being stiff.
The cottage setting gives the restaurant an intimacy that larger fine-dining rooms can't manufacture — the dining room seats around forty, and the house itself dates to the 1890s, older than the tech industry that now surrounds it. It's not cheap, but for a special occasion dinner it earns its price. The kitchen has been occupied by a series of notable chefs over its forty-year history and maintains a consistently high standard. Reservations essential; booking a week ahead is advisable on weekends.