Le Bistro Esplanade — Restaurant in City of Zagreb

Not sure what happened? Michelin? Top 10 restaurant in Zagreb? Most of the web pages recommending Le Bisto? Casual family lunch, we only expected decent food and service. Be careful what you wish for. We orderd one beef tartare, one chef's menu, one lamb dish and one rhombus fish. Napkins for 4? Hmmmm. Le Bistro beliefs 2 is enough. 10 minute wait for water and one Cockta. Let's take it easy, don't rush it. Chef's menu soup was very good, can't deny it, and this is where the undestanding of warm food stopped. Food is coming, you definitely took time to prepare it, up to 30mins. Beefsteak, 50g max. mild, two thumb sized portions, mashed potatoes, cold, 2 button mushrooms, cut in half, seems like four, cold. Waiter explained, we are preparing it in a kitchen upstairs. Upstairs in which hotel? Hmmmm. Since beefsteak, lamb and fish came in a same time, funny story, but it was impossible for waiter to decipher what is fish, what is beefsteak and what is lamb. Didn't look the same for me. Fish and lamb mildly warm, I guess it's the other place they have been rushing the food from, not Esplanade hotel for sure. Sorry, irony. Went inside and said that most of the food is tepid, and where is my glass of wine. "Yup, you shoud've got one". "Yup, I should", I replied. Beef tartare was tasty but shouldn't it come with some bread/toast? "Yup, it should". And there it came. Toast toasted some time ago, cold, hard. Probably that kitchen few floors up in the hotel, food gets cold. "Any desert?", "Mine is a part of the Chef's menu". "Yes it is." That chef's daily menu perplexes waiters. Soup, beef, sweets, wine, toooo muuuuch to remember. Mousse was very tasty, strong choco-feel, I liked it. Ice cream and lava cake were also spot on, no complaints there. Don't get me wrong, the palates were happy, but if it's a top 10 restautant, the experience should be rounded. If head chefs are placing their renowned names in front of this kind of service, please reduce prices 50% and increase portions. It is a common problem with most of the 30€+ per dish restaurants in Zagreb, they just do not live up to the standard. Sorry guys, back to the drawing board, the essentials are...

Both food and service were not at the level today, and the only thing that surpassed expectations was the bill, which I will explain in the end.

Lunch for 4 adults and one child. Kid menu - the chicken breast with pommes and corn on the cob. The meat was dry. Pommes baked on old oil, and ketchup - I think it's industrial. The corn on the cob was not even served, we had to ask for it. The child said the corn was good, but it was like 2 cm of corn. The only thing that was good was the zucchini flowers filled with truffle cream that were really tasty, and perhaps the beef tartar. Everything else was at best interesting but average. T-bone steak was ordered medium well, served medium rare and chewy. Potato sticks - lousy. The taste of old oil, if it did not say potato, I would not recognize it. My meat was dry. Wine - we were looking for Cabernet sauvignon, got served Cabernet cuvee from the bottom of the bottle. I ate so much better meals, both technically and taste-wise, for much less money.

And then, one would expect excellent service and dining experience. But not today in Le Bistro. At no time did anyone ask us if everything was okay. Complete communication with staff was reduced to "may I take your plate". Nobody offered us some dessert, coffee, anything that I am used to in some better restaurants.

To explain the bill surpassing expectation: at the end of this disappointing experience, the price of kids drink on the invoice was higher than...

We recently visited Le Bistro Esplanade, and unfortunately, our experience was quite disappointing.

The service left much to be desired — the staff were not particularly friendly or attentive. At the start of our meal, our plates were removed immediately after we had just added oil, without any acknowledgment or apology. Throughout the evening, no explanations about the dishes were provided when they were served, leaving us to guess what we were eating. When it came to dessert, no recommendations were offered, which felt impersonal and lacking in hospitality.

The ambiance was acceptable but clearly dated and in need of a refresh. While the food itself was of good quality, it wasn’t particularly memorable — certainly not enough to justify the price.

Overall, it felt like the restaurant relies too heavily on its reputation rather than delivering an experience that...