Susanna's Comfort Cuisine Bistro and Bar — Restaurant in Colorado Springs

A wonderful location and family running this little bistro/catering establishment.This little restaurant is pretty disarming for a reviewer. The moment you enter the establishment you realize it is an intimate family affair. The husband appears to run the front of the house and his wife (Susanna) creates in the kitchen. They are very sweet, endearing and the service was top notch from beginning to end. Their pricing is very surprising for what you receive, making this easily one of the the best bangs for your buck in all of downtown.

The atmosphere is light and airy, the music was playing at the perfect volume and it was comfortable inside on a cold winter evening. My only minor critique would be it is the lighting is a little too bright with all the white walls and ceilings. Some amount of dimming would add a helping of warmth that would simply close the deal on their dining space.

Their cocktail menu is better curated than many places downtown and as discussed above their pricing is amazing (not to mention their happy hour specials). You are getting crafty cocktails for nearly 30% less than you would at dozens of other places downtown. The two traditional old fashions we ordered were excellent, while the Mezcal based old fashioned, orange blossom martini and daiquiri were each a little overdone. Going a little overboard with the Mezcal made the Mexican themed old fashioned overly smoky, the orange blossom martini had a smidge too much vermouth and the daiquiri was overly sweet due to a touch too much syrup.

Onto the meal. For me, the highlight was our appetizer. We ordered the Caprese salad with the charcuterie supplemental for 2 people. The Caprese was incredible, the use of blood orange infused olive oil is a stroke of genius. The charcuterie selection was also excellent with a generous Burrata, multiple meats, cheese, olives and fruit. This came out with bread rolls and naan along with some herbed butter, hummus and more olives. With two things changed this could have been one of the best charcuterie boards I’ve ever had. First the Burrata was served cold. While I prefer a warm Burrata, even room temp is acceptable, but when cold it really impacts the depth of its flavor. The second was related to the bread/crackers served with the board. It appeared we were given, what all patron’s receive as complimentary, which is a basket of dinner rolls and few pieces of naan. While these accompany the hummus (which was clearly homemade and amazing) and herbed butter it didn’t really support the charcuterie offerings all that well. A few Crostini, gourmet crackers or simply grilled sliced bread with a little olive oil would have made a huge difference when consuming the meats, cheeses and accoutrements on the board.

Next entrees. My wife had the fettuccine Bolognese and it was excellent all around and the dollop of ricotta was a nice touch. I had the evening special, which was Steak Au Poivre with three gulf shrimp. I ordered the steak medium and it came out as a pretty thin cut of tenderloin, which was a bit of a surprise as opposed to the more traditional 1" medallion. I think the consequence of this was it was cooked closer to medium well, but it was still very tender. The sauce was what unfortunately hurt this dish. The brandy or Cognac used in the sauce was not completely cooked off, so I ended up with an alcohol taste off the back end of each bite. The dill coated gulf shrimp, mashed potatoes and asparagus were prepared perfectly.

And finally dessert. They have many tempting options, but the waffle with peanut butter ice cream ended up being amazing and a great one to split.

I’m nitpicking a little in this review, but it was a continuous theme from our first of what will be many experiences here and they are inches away from excellence in executing all aspects of their menu. With a little fine tuning, there is no reason they shouldn’t be a fixture downtown for years to come. Support...

I do not like writing less than 5 reviews, but I just wanted to give feedback. We are from out of town, and found this place via reviews. We had high expectations from this restaurant, as the reviews were so high. They were nice enough to seat us though we didn't have a reservation. The man behind the bar was attentive and very nice. However, soon things went really downhill. I was asking about the menu, and the server was a bit short with me and said they needed time before taking my order since the kitchen was stressed out. But, I was not oredering, simply asking about dishes. We waited about 30 minutes for our food, and it came out very poorly made. All of our eggs did not taste right. My waffle was supposed to have fresh strawberries and not one strawberry was on it. It was also not cooked all the way. Meanwhile, my eggs were waaay overcooked. My son's potatoes were burnt. My friend's croissant was burnt. Also, the service was not super amenable, so we just let it go and left. My son got sick to his stomach about 15 minutes after leaving. Overall, not a fun end to our...

I found this local spot on OpenTable and we decided to give it a shot. The service was welcoming and kind. The cocktails were well made (hubby is an old fashioned connoisseur and he liked it) and were very affordable. We skipped appetizers in favor of dessert, but they brought out bread with a fancy butter, homemade hummus and olives, which was a nice touch. My coconut stir fry ($16) could have used a smidge spice (maybe pepper?) but it was satisfying, healthy and a huge portion. My husband really enjoyed his spaghetti bolognese ($19) and he loved the dollop of ricotta on top. I also loved the fiestaware dishes. I’m so glad we saved room for dessert because the apple cake WAS SPECTACULAR. I would make a special trip for that cake, seriously. I also love a place that offers a range of desserts including small ones ($2 macarons) if you just want a bite of sweet to finish your meal. This place is a mom & pop small business and you can tell that they care. We were very happy with our meal and we definitely...