Bistro 55 — Restaurant in Aiken County

Update 12/15:

I support many small businesses all over town and I have never been denied service because they weren’t competent enough to handle numerous customers while maintaining good and quality service. It doesn’t matter how many times you respond, the fact still remains that I was not able to dine at your half empty establishment because you all refused to service more than a specific amount of customers for sunday brunch. My review still remains and once again, instead of taking the time be argumentative in reviews you should be learning from them. If you can’t serve customers while your restaurant is less than half full, you need to make changes.

Response to Owners Response 11/22:

The fact the an “owner” has the time and energy to respond to a review less than 5hrs after the review was posted shows there’s more than enough opportunity to take the energy to serve customers until the closing time posted on the website. The website needs to be updated to let potential customers know there’s the possibility they could be refused service due to the restaurants inability to serve at a high capacity and maintain quality service. More time should be allocated to figuring out how to serve customers on a large scale instead of unprofessionally replying to a well deserved review. This review is not the only review that is mentioning the same issue of the restaurant turning away customers because they can’t handle a certain amount of customers in a single day. There are numerous restaurants that are successful, they offer wonderful service, and quality food ... i’ve been to several restaurants that have never turned me away because they simply couldn’t handle the load while at least half of the tables were empty. Take the same energy used to respond to my initial review and use it towards making better decisions for the restaurant that don’t include losing customers because of incompetence.

Initial Review 11/22:

For some reason this restaurant chooses to stop taking customers at 1PM when hours are until 2:30PM ... i was told by a manager that once they serve a certain amount of customers in a day, they stop taking customers for the rest of that day .... this was not in relation to COVID-19, this was regular restaurant policy . Absolutely stupid and...

*edit for Bistro 55

HATS OFF TO SAMUEL L, THE CHEF!!!!

Our experience at Bistro 55 was simply delightful, fully due to the excellence of his craft.

See attached pictures. We are so happy to have dined here. I ordered the filet. My SO ordered the branzino, he said it was spectacular 🙌 👏

Previous restaurant: Michael, my server, an awesome and talented waiter from another restaurant I've frequented, was not hesitant to give his recommendations and present us with the most flavorful option. His bottled wine recommendation was not the most expensive on the menu, which was both amazing and good for the pocket. If presented with the option of two dishes, he would quickly declare a winner, and it would also not be the most expensive option. For the kids menu choices, he also identified fan favorites. He is very genuine, transparent and trustworthy with his selection choices!! I do not know if my experience would be quite as good without Michael as my server. I can only hope the other waiters and waitresses provide the same level of service and knowledge as he does!!

For appetizers, we selected calamari, one of the children ordered a chicken Ceasars salad, and also a charcuterie board.....delicious!!

For entrees, though both adults were considering the ribeye, we opted for the special (salmon Risotto) and upon recommendation from Michael, the lasagna. Both were impeccable. We were too full to order dessert. The children had the chicken bites and fries, which were delicious and plentiful.

All in all, an amazing experience! Will have to try the brunch next. Give Michael a raise!!...

Ate here with my family in December and it was pretty good - worth making a reservation for Easter. Went here Easter 2024 and will never be back. It took us an hour to see our food, except for a small basket of bread, out of which JUMPED A LITERAL SPIDER - I have nothing against jumping spiders, but prefer that they stay out of my food. Burger was bland and somehow managed to be both soggy and crumbly. In short, next time I want to pay too much for a lousy burger, I'll stop by McDonalds and buy someone else their food- would still be a better experience (and cheaper) than here. In reply to owner's response No, we did not bring this to the attention of the waiter, as it was 40 minutes into the wait that the bread was brought, as an apology for the wait "because we have a really big party." There was a large party occupying several tables that were pushed together along the wall to the right of the door. But between this and the disagreement over highchairs, there was no reason for me to expect reasonable action if I had started a conversation. My mother wanted to treat us to a nice Easter lunch and doesn't like conflict, there was no welcome extended, and we didn't go for a free meal or to complain. We go to places we like to eat that don't have to be asked for some of the basics, like bug-free dining and decent...