Bistro 13 — Restaurant in Camarillo

Waiter was pleasant. Air conditioning was ineffective. We were indoors, but slapping flies throughout dinner. My glass of red wine was served much higher than room temperature. Salad greens weren't fresh. Bread not bad but was unheated. Butter served cold. I had the Calabrian risotto which was mediocre at best. My wife had the mushroom and filet mignon risotto. I tried it The steak was bland and gristly and we had to ask for more mushrooms. Staff were standing 3 feet from our table, speaking loudly in Spanish. Neither of us finished more than half of our expensive dinners. Finally, the hostess came to ask how we liked our meals. I told her the staff was pleasant, but we were terribly disappointed in the food and the uncomfortably warm atmosphere. She asked if she could get us some desert. I asked if she was offering a complimentary dessert or asking us to order.. She said she was asking if we wanted to order dessert. I asked why she had bothered to ask how everything was if she didn't intend to address the issues. "I guess it's just our tough luck, then?" "Yeah, I guess so," she replied. I asked to speak to the manager. She ignored this request and told the waiter. He also asked if we wanted to order dessert and finally offered it gratis. It was house-made tiramisu, and it was indifferent at best, garnished with artificial whipped cream. Finally, the restaurant was dirty, windows not clean. I lived in San Francisco for 30 years, where there are many fine Italian restaurants, and I have visited Italy. I've cooked in a restaurant. I've lived in Camarillo for 8 years. The least expensive, least pretentious Italian restaurants in Camarillo are superior to this inexplicably highly overrated, overpriced place. We won't...

Nice little neighborhood Italian family-owned restaurant. The owners get to know their customers and the staff are all very kind, accommodating to your needs, and very efficient in terms of timing, water, drinks, appetizer, entree, and dessert. Improvements that would help them up their game would be to serve real Italian crusty bread. The bread we were served was something just purchased over at a local grocery store - it seemed like a plain sliced rye bread that had no rye seeds or flavor. Very disappointing for an Italian restaurant. As for the house wine, it should be tasted before serving it to your customers - the glass of Chianti I ordered was undrinkable and I had to send it back. An easy way is to write on the bottle’s label the date the bottle was opened, and depending on how it was stored, it probably shouldn’t be served after 5 - 7 days once it’s been opened. To the server’s credit, she opened a new bottle and offered me a glass. I ordered the seafood crepe for my entree and it was cooked a little too long. The crepe texture had changed, the ends of the crepe were hard, and the inside of the crepe was so hot, I burned the inside of my mouth.

I would go back as I think family-owned independent restaurants should be supported and if they want to improve, they will read reviews, except for those reviewers who are never happy, with a mindset that we want them to succeed...

We were originally headed somewhere else but couldn’t timely be accommodated for six. Nothing against that other place. Open Table found Bistro 13 with a quick seating time for our group. Check. Reviews were all excellent. Check.

From the time we were walked in we were treated like we had been frequenting the restaurant for years. Seated in 30 seconds, water filled, ambience quiet with Italian-style mood music, dim lighting, very friendly and competent staff. Everyone seemed like they had worked there for years and showed passion for the food. Very non intrusive, too - kept appropriate space to allow for personal conversations while working quietly around us- filling drinks without having to ask, clearing used dishes, etc. Check.

The food. Wow. Everything we had got shared because we had to experience the reactions each were having. Best marinara sauce any of us had ever had. No contest. Pasta cooked perfectly. There simply were no favorites because everything was excellent! Even the desserts were amazing and clearly not from Sysco like so many other places with the same out-of-the-box options. Check.

Walking to the car we decided that this was our best Camarillo restaurant experience, hands down. My dad said it was his best experience, ever. It simply checked every box. Shall we say, we will be coming back here as often as possible from now on. Congratulations...