Polish & American Bistro — Restaurant in Barrington

I decided to try the new reincarnation of Remembering Charlottes: Polish American Bistro! Called and spoke with Darek, The Owner, who let us know our 4:30PM reservation was accepted. We Showed up a few minutes late, and the place was already filling up. Our Table was set to go. Eventually Anna, the Chef & Owner stopped by to introduce us some items not in the menu. We were served Compote, a very traditional option to Non-Alcoholic drinks; Definitely homemade and quite refreshing, we ordered more. Our appetizers consisted of Potato & cheese Pierogi, Cheese Curds, my Son's opted for Tripe Soup, a delicacy which they completely enjoyed and told me they would order it again. My sons entree was Meat Pierogi, The rest of us chose Breaded Pork Cutlets, with mashed potatoes; all dishes came with three sides of Cabbage, Carrot & Cucumber Salads, properly prepared and seasoned ( my in laws, parents and Family Tradition would be proud!) The portions were not on the timid size. Some of us needed to get take away containers, which meant another time to enjoy these meals. The previous owner, Brian was also in attendance! Had a chance to catch up, introduced him to my family. Happy to have a great tasting wonderful venue to enjoy in the heart of my hometown! Looking forward to trying more! Btw, when we left, there was a queue for having a spot to eat! Darek & Anna have got a winner! Smacznego...

This was our 4th visit to The Bistro. Things have changed, & not for the better. Be aware to call ahead to determine if the owner Ana is the chef. Our last visit was a weekday at noon, no other customers while we were there. That alone was odd. As soon as the order came to the table, I was dumbfounded, one look told me someone else was chef of the day. The presentation was completely unappealing; one bite was even worse. I immediately asked who was in the kitchen, & was told I was correct, it wasn't Ana. Example: the half mushrooms sprinkled on the plate looked like burnt, completely " dried out " hockey pucks". The pork chop was absent, & the order consisted of a greasy thin pork cutlet. The waitress was thrown under the bus when she called the owner ( Ana's husband). She was told she couldn't adjust the bill. Come on now, you're a new business, one or more owners should be on site. We begrudgingly paid the bill in full, knowing full well we would never return. It's a shame the owners have spread themselves too thin with yet another business establishment. Very disappointed to have lost an excellent Polish restaurant that we had considered a true treasure as well as Ana, a one in a million chef &...

Honestly I really wanted to like the food but I was very underwhelmed. Our server didn’t seem too focused on us either. He came up to the table to take our order and we put in a chicken wing appetizer. I got the impression he thought that was all we were going to order because he didn’t come check on us for awhile and when he did he was surprised when we wanted to order our entrees. He was kind of socially awkward so I’ll try to assume that was the reason for him being weird but the other couples within the restaurant did not get treated that way and he seemed bubbly and attentive with them. I ordered the meat piergois and my partner ordered a salad. Truly the piergois felt undercooked and the meat inside felt like a really odd texture. I was also thrown off because it just said meat piergois and doesn’t specify which meat it is. They felt kind of slimy and I personally did not enjoy them at all. I’m not sure if it’s my own preference but I was very disappointed. I probably won’t be back here but it’s...