Bistro — Restaurant in Cannon Beach

This unassuming place is something special, and a "must" if you enjoy food and are anywhere remotely close. It is, in my opinion, a Michelin food experience without the pretentiousness that sometimes comes along with obtaining a star.

We came here in July visiting friends and looking for a place to eat. We're from the tri-state area (near NYC) and are used to a variety of good food. From the menu descriptions alone, we were able to tell that this is a restaurant which cares about the food they are serving. We called hoping we would be able to get reservations and were delighted when JJ said they would be able to fit us in.

The atmosphere is upscale without feeling gaudy or gauche. It feels like you were invited over to share dinner in a friend's home. The wait staff was relaxed, friendly, and talking with each other and customers with smiles on their faces. Our waitress knew the menu and genuinely seemed to enjoy working there.

We were served warm olive bread and butter. The first bite again hinting that we had run into something special. It was handmade, and heavy, not cheap white bread meant to just fill you up and justify costs.

While we were looking over the menu our waitressed discussed a little bit about each item and let us know that "Chef" is involved in crafting of dishes from beginning to end starting with sourcing ingredients himself and sees it all the way through to plating. Menu items are based on what is available. While this is customary in many of the higher end restaurants we've been to I still was a bit concerned that this was a story for the customers meant to frame the meal. I was wrong.

For the appetizers we chose the Fresh Creamy Torn Burrata and the Fresh Herb Brined "Mary's" Duck Confit. Burrata is one of those things that shouldn't be hard to get right, but plenty of places are bad at it. They either under or overcook it leading to it either being a watered-down mess or... just mozzarella. Not only was it cooked perfectly, but the flavors paired with it via the "cured" tomatoes, lemon basil olive oil, and house balsamic vinegar were incredible. This wasn't just stuff thrown together to make another boring caprese appetizer, each item had been prepared -- and in some cases flavored -- beforehand.

The Duck Confit was divine. I was worried that the orange or the cognac would be too forward but there was enough flavor there to notice them without overwhelming the flavor from the duck itself.

For entrees I had the Furikake Crust "Yellowtail" Sushi Grade Ahi Tuna. Seared tuna is probably one of my favorite dishes and I've experienced too many to recall. Let's just say I remember this one. It's not the tuna that makes this dish great; again, it is apparent that there is an attention to flavors. Mirin and mango glaze enhance the flavors of the Tuna while not being overwhelming. It was set on Jasmine Rice and came with seaweed salad and pickled ginger.

My girlfriend had the Apple Cider Brined Pork Chop. I barely got to taste it because she didn't want to share any! From the small taste I got it too was perfectly cooked and again while "apple" and "pork" is a common combination this was done well.

At some point during the meal I looked up the website for Bistro to find out what the heck was going on. We were absolutely unprepared for the quality and presentation of the food being served. It's three quarters of the way down the about page before you read anything about Chef Jack or any of his accomplishments. In Short: The guy is a world class chef. To me this is a sign of humility, especially coming from an area where plenty of restaurants have "by Chef XY" slapped on their menus and websites as if the fact that they've been on television means the food will be good.

I just wanted to say to Chef Jack and his staff that what you are doing here is something special. I truly appreciate the attention to the food being served and the way you all made it feel like we had been invited into a friend's home to have a meal...

After a perfect proposal on the beach at sunset, I made prior reservations for a great dinner spot that could put the cherry on top of a dream night for me and my lady. Bistro was a top choice due to their reputation at the time and boy was I glad I listened to that reputation. Starting off the atmosphere was nothing short of a dream. A quiet, calming, and exclusive feel is exactly what I was looking for and they ticked every box. We were greeted with a warm welcome from JJ, who I later learned was the queen of this establishment. She made us feel right at home. After seating we were quickly taken care of by our AMAZING server Trin. She made the night feel so exclusive, like we were the only people in the whole place, and she helped me a ton with her favorite recommendations for dishes to pick and she helped us capture the night by asking if we wanted photos! Moving into the food, I went with the special of the night, the sturgeon, which had been locally sourced from Coos Bay just that prior Thursday! It was absolutely melt in your mouth good, the texture reminded me of a wagyu ribeye, and the taste was similar to that of a steak as well, and you could tell how fresh it really was. My now fiancé got the linguine and again, you could REALLY tell how fresh it was, and that they live up to the handmade quality they claim. We finished off the late night with some of the orange cream cheesecake which was heavenly. We didn’t feel rushed or made to feel like the staff had somewhere to be even though we were the last table of the night. After we finally finished it all, Trin gave us our final heartwarming surprise of the night by covering our dessert! We couldn’t have asked for a better meal and service. The night was topped off with a high note when the chef himself, Jack, and his wife JJ, the lead hostess, had a long conversation with us about their story and how to Bistro came to be, along with some advice for a newly engaged couple. This entire establishment deserves the utmost respect, praise, and recognition for being dare I say the top food option on the entire trip up US 101. If you’re in Cannon Beach, and can manage to call early enough to get a reservation, consider yourself in for the night of your life. THANK YOU...

Let me start by saying that my husband and I had our wedding dinner at Bistro last August, and it was absolutely wonderful: we were genuinely excited to return this year.

Unfortunately, this experience this time around left us extremely disappointed. JJ, the food, and the cocktails were all excellent, no complaints there. However, the service was noticeably lacking. We were seated in the lounge area where it appeared that our server, Jeff, was handling all the lounge tables and bartending at the same time. It was clear he was overwhelmed, and the service suffered as a result.

When our mains arrived, I didn’t even have a fork. No one checked in on us for nearly 10 minutes, so I ended up grabbing cutlery from a nearby table myself. Throughout the meal, we were never offered another round of drinks, despite both of us being interested in ordering more.

At the end of the night, we waited nearly 20 minutes with uncleared plates trying to get our bill. When I asked, Jeff said, “I just got two tables sat, it’ll be awhile”—but we’d already been waiting before those tables were seated. After another 10-15 minutes (over 30 minutes total) and seeing those new tables order their drinks, receive their drinks, order their mains, among other things for other tables, we finally had to flag down JJ to settle up.

As a former server myself, I fully understand that things can get busy. But this felt more like poor time management and prioritizing everyone else rather than a temporary rush. It was a huge letdown after looking forward to this meal for a year.

We had planned to come back every year around our anniversary to celebrate but now we will be going...