Bistronomic — Restaurant in Chicago

I'm not sure if we just came on the wrong day or what but the experience was not 4-5 stars worthy that the reviews here give. We ordered the pate which was not really appetizing. Granted, I've never ordered pate before so I didn't know what to expect. The flavor was pretty bland; the mustard on the side was the most flavorful thing on the plate (someone on here did post a picture which I didn't see until afterwards- had I seen it earlier I would not have ordered it. It took our server a long time to come back to us to get our entree order-it was about 45min into our dinner service that they finally got to us. Not sure if they were just very short staffed or what because we grabbed an early dinner and it was pretty empty. My partner and I ordered the two different steak options. Both were completely drenched in sauce. To me that's a red flag for steak because, if cooked and seasoned well, a sauce for a steak should be minimal or optional. The steak itself was meh. Total bill for two entrees, two glasses of wine, and an appetizer came to $150. It was not worth $150 that's for sure. I'm a nosey Nelly and overheard some of the conversation around me. One of the tables next to us asked a member of the waist staff a question about the menu. The staff member politely said that the server would be here in a moment and could answer their questions. That's another red flag for me, I would think all staff members would have at least a basic background of what the menu entails. I think they were just asking what the fish of the day was. That one isn't as super serious of an issue as the food and service, but it did catch my attention. Maybe I've just watched one too many episodes of Hell's Kitchen.

I very rarely leave reviews places and when I do it's normally a good review. But as a first time Chicago visitor who has heard nothing but great things about the amazing food scene here, I was really disappointed and felt like I wasted my time and money.

For comparison: the next day we went to a Mediterranean restaurant called Ema. So flavorful, had two glasses of wine, 4 plates shared between two people, and total came out to $120. If they had charged $200 I wouldn’t have batted an eye because it was so fresh...

I visited this establishment on 3/21/21 in a party of 3 individuals. We paid our individual bill and left the establishment, as any other patron would do. Days later after the dining experience, we observed that we were charged an automatic gratuity by our server, Raul. My friend initially reached out to the establishment about this charge to inquire about the establishment's rule around automatic gratuity - she was told a party of 5 or more people would result in an automatic gratuity (again. we were a party of 3). She spoke with the owner, Lulu about this, and Lulu asked her to provide more information and stated she would take care of it. My friend informed me of her conversation with Lulu, which prompted me to call as well. When I called on 3/31/21, an employee named Patrick answered the call. I explained the situation and he took my phone number to share with the owner (I wasn't impressed by the customer service provided by Patrick as well). Lulu called me later in the afternoon on 3/31/21, and she let me know that she had spoken with my friend as well. Lulu asked for me to text a picture of my receipt (which I did while we were on our call). Lulu acknowledged that a party of 3 people did not meet the automatic gratuity rule, and asked if I'd like a refund or credit (I elected to receive a refund). Lulu said she would call me again the next day (also mentioned that I could text her) - I asked her to send me a reply message confirming receipt of my text with a picture of my receipt, which she did. I followed up on 4/2/21 in the early evening via text and resent the picture of my receipt - I did not receive a response. At the time of this post, I have not received a return call as well.

Being automatically charged a gratuity outside of an establishment's policy that defines when an automatic gratuity should be applied is bad business. Perhaps the waiter viewed my table of 3 women as individuals that would not tip... view my profile picture and assume what you'd like from that. I will attempt to call again to resolve this matter, but I will never return to this establishment - you've essentially cheated me out of money and have not worked to resolve the matter in a...

When I booked our reservation at Bistronomic I was optimistic based upon their menu and the reviews posted recently. I was not prepared to be blown away by the food, service and ambiance! It started when we were greeted at the door by an elegant woman saying, “Bonjour!” in a French accent! She was wonderful, checked our reservation, and led us to our table immediately. The interior is delightful and rich in its simple elegance. Our server was fantastic and attentive, even though it was apparent that they are short staffed like most other establishments. We never felt neglected, and she was quick to refill our bottomless Mimosas and water! We chose the Beet Salad as an appetizer and every bite was amazing! The cubed beets, crumbled cheese, micro greens, chopped hazelnuts and truffle oil worked together to form the most perfect flavor explosion! For our entrees we had the Eggs Benedict and Smoked Salmon Avocado Toast. My Smoked Salmon Avocado Toast was three half slices of a seeded bread that had a generous portion of mashed avocado, and was topped with an incredible smoked salmon. The flavor from the salmon was robust, but not overpowering. All of this was covered with a lightly dressed salad of greens, with a perfect poached egg on top. This is one of my favorite breakfasts that I’ve ever experienced and I’ll come back to Chicago just for this dish! My significant other indulged in the Eggs Benedict and raved about the light hollandaise, perfect poached eggs and creaminess of the dish as a whole. My only suggestion to improve on what was pretty close to perfect would be to thinly and uniformly slice the salmon. There were some thicker pieces, and for me that detracts from the overall “perfect bite.” Overall, amazing and worth...