Bright Star Restaurant — Restaurant in Bessemer

Five Star food, two star service. My wife and I were finally kid free for a few days and were able to make a trip to The Bright Star from Tuscaloosa. We came 12/27/2023. We’ve wanted to come here for years but rarely have a sitter.

We didn’t have a reservation and waited about 15 minutes. No problem at all. We were seated about 730 and then waited about 7 or 8 minutes before our server came. Seemed excessive especially since neither she nor another server told us they’d be with us shortly or even acknowledged us just sitting there.

When our server finally came she was greeting us before she even got to the table kind of under her breath and we only heard her ask what we wanted to drink. We each got waters. She came back and asked if we were ready to order. She never asked if we wanted an appetizer or salad or had any questions. She didn’t tell us anything about any specials until I asked if one of the items on the menu insert was available and she then said no and walked away. Five or so minutes later she came back and my wife ordered a cup of gumbo and then she then asked if we were ready. We told her we had some questions as it was our first time there and then she then told us about one of the entrees that was kind of a sampler with steak, snapper, and the lobster and crab au gratin. It was the Texas special. My wife had that with baked potato and was able to sub the gumbo for the salad. I had the hamburger steak with baked potato and salad.

Our food came and it was all wonderful. My wife enjoyed the gumbo even though she prefers a thicker gumbo. I had the French dressing with my salad and it was probably the best dressing I’ve ever tasted. Our entrees were perfect. My wife ordered her steak medium well and it was barely medium. She ordered up expecting it to be undercooked to her temp and was happy with the steak. She said it was so tender and the best of the three although she really enjoyed both the snapper and the au gratin. My hamburger steak was perfect. The onions and gravy had the best taste and it was all juicy and perfectly seasoned. I’m glad that we didn’t need anything because our server didn’t come back to check on us after the food was delivered until we were done and she asked if we wanted dessert. We both passed on dessert because we were so full. We paid and left and barely got a thanks from our server. Only found out our servers name by the check. Our server was Staci.

On our way out we had hoped to take a picture with the sign outside but it was after they had closed. I asked a man in the lobby if he could turn the sign on for us for a moment for us to take a picture since we very rarely get date nights and he was glad to do so. Very kind of him and refreshing after our server was so unpleasant. We got our picture and headed home. We hope to come back on a Friday or Saturday when they have the full menu available but overall the food...

So we've been in the past and have been pleased before with food and service but this time was different. We drove in from Cullman for a friend's birthday and had this planned for a few months. Our waitress TONYA M that we had, we were very dissatisfied with our service. She at first came to us with an unpleasant frown and no greeting just asked for our drink order. Upon returning she took our order but she was so short and unfriendly. We didn't recieve any bread with our salads until our meal came and even then it was a small saucer whereas the table next to us got a basket of bread. She never came back to check on us and one of our meals was the snapper throats that should have came with tarter sauce according to the menu. Tonya attended other tables but never would look up to get her attention. It wasn't until we had to finally say loudly from a distance "excuse me" to get her attention to ask for the tartar sauce, drink refill and more bread. The tartar sauce came back in the smallest little plastic container I have ever seen maybe about a tablespoon could fit in it. We never got more bread either. Our experience with food was better but still had issues. The beef tips were more dry as in the past they have always been more tender and this was our birthday friend's favorite dish. The snapper throats had small bones and a very large bone in them which would have been good to have a warning about. At this point we were scared to even ask her for anything else. She didn't come back any more. No question if we wanted dessert and we never got our check. We waited quite a while enjoying our time together but you can only wait so long....we waited 35 min. While we waited our plates were cleared from the table by another employee which she was very pleasant and also gave us a box for our food. Since Tonya never returned we went to the front to check out. Finally while we were at the cashier Tonya came up front, printed our receipt and handed it to us. We did express our displeasure with the cashier upon check out. We were able to enjoy our company despite this and still celebrate our friend's birthday with her. -signed dessert...

I’ve heard about the Bight Star Restaurant for years, but I have never eaten there. My wife said it had been many years since she had visited. I got interested when I read about their Taste of New Orleans Tonight event when they bring in a prominent chef from New Orleans to do his culinary magic for a few days. I love New Orleans food so I made reservations for last Friday night.

This is a very popular event so I couldn’t get reservations until 8:30 pm. When my wife and I arrived we were asked to wait in the lobby where there were a lot of people also waiting. However, we were shown to our table fairly quickly; evidently the other folks didn’t have reservations. (I strongly recommend getting reservations for this restaurant, especially during their annual Taste of New Orleans event.)

I wouldn’t call the atmosphere fancy; there are no white tablecloth on the tables, but it’s certainly nice enough for my tastes.

On one side of the menu were typical Bright Star dishes, while the other side had items inspired by Eric Cook, executive, chef and co-owner of Gris-Gris Restaurant in New Orleans where he has won many local and national culinary awards. [By the way, Gris-Gris (pronounced gree-gree) is either a food additive made with “cayenne pepper and ginger with hints of tropical citrus and exotic spices” or a “voodoo talisman, amulet, charm, spell, or incantation to ward off off evil and/or to bring good luck”, take your pick

I ordered the Crawfish Remoulade served over two fried green tomatoes as an appetizer and the Short Ribs serve on mashed potatoes with gravy for an entrée from the from the Gris-Gris side of the menu while my wife had the Greek Snapper from the bright star side which came with a salad.. The crawfish remoulade was excellent; I would gladly have two or three servings as main dish. My wife and I shared of the entrées. Both were perfectly cooked and had my wife still raving about them the next day.

We will definitely be back soon. I would give this restaurant six stars if that were possible. And there’s no way I’m missing the Taste of the New Orleans...