35 Bistro and Wine Bar — Restaurant in Daytona Beach

I truly wanted to be able to give this location 5 stars. Revitalizing Main Street is something Daytona Beach sorely needs. We opted for a Friday night (4/11) with an event at the Peabody and were surprised that the restaurant was fairly empty so we were seated on arrival (we had a 6:30 reservation).

The Good: The atmosphere is nice. While the name and menu have a French vibe it's not all that visible in the interior design. Not a big deal at all. Our server was very nice. She was attentive despite what appeared to be gaps in the kitchen. The wine selection, while small, was good and featured some interesting French wines. A bit surprised that the live entertainment would be Latin in a French restaurant but it wasn't overwhelming and were pleased the guitar player stopped by the table to make sure we could still have a conversation. Nice touch. On the food side, my wife's carpaccio was very good. Fresh beef and fresh arugula.

What dropped the stars to 3: My wife originally ordered lobster bisque. The server initially said they had it but someone from the kitchen let her know (within earshot of us) that they ran out and they would't get another container until tomorrow. Um...I'm not sure I want a good bisque soup from a commercial can. My escargot came out almost immediately. There was a healthy number of snails swimming in garlic butter with just two small bits of toast on the side. Aside from the disappointing presentation, I've seen plenty of escargot plates that have spots for 6 snails. That makes for a decent presentation and helps manage cost so you don't have to overwhelm the plate with snails, butter and garlic. While my escargot came out right away, the carpaccio did not and we waited nearly 15 minutes before it arrived with no explanation for the gap. We had already placed our dinner orders. My wife's dinner came out and the server had to ask me at that point what I ordered (filet mignon, medium). Obviously it had never been started as my wife finished her meal before my dinner came out and it arrived undercooked. Also missing were the truffle fries I ordered which we had to remind the server. We asked if those service gaps were normal and she indicated that the Toast POS system could be wonky. If you know Toast is wonky, get them to fix it, find another system or have processes in place to bypass it. My wife ordered dessert which, like the bisque, appeared to come frozen from a supplier. It was a fairly bland chocolate mousse pie. The server confirmed that they do not make their own deserts.

Bottom line, management needs to step up. Despite the gaps we never saw a manager. Not to check on us, not to address the service. No one offered anything, even an apology, for the gaps in the service. In fact, as we waiting for our competing meals we watched as the servers dined at the last table. I realize that have to eat but can the guests at least get first dibs on dinner?

There is a serious lack of training and consistency that this restaurant needs to focus on to survive. We still left 20% for the server as I can't blame her if systems and training are lacking. Restaurants are a tough industry and I would think a fine dining location trying to make a name on a street looking for a renaissance would try twice as hard to impress. I'm not sure we would go back and I only hope others have a...

Update: response is deceitful. I dined here with my partner on 5/3 while on vacation. There was absolutely no advertisement of any kind of festival whatsoever outside this location, although one did take place in Daytona that weekend; however, it didn’t warrant the offputting DJ at a “French Bistro & Wine Bar”. Furthermore, the restaurant showed as fully booked, but we decided to try when walking by and realizing hardly anyone was inside. It’s no wonder issues here are as bad as they are - the owner can’t escape their own ego to correct the issues that cause guests to be one-time revenue markers or simply walk out of their dining experience altogether like the table of 8 seated next to us did.

Finally - restaurants in Florida are required to include a consumer advisory on their menus when serving raw or undercooked animal products, such as meats, poultry, seafood, shellfish, or eggs. This requirement is based on Section 3-603.11 of the FDA Food Code, which Florida has adopted. This location has no such thing and violates FL health code.

Disappointing and Confusing Experience — Not the Wine Bar Vibe You’d Expect

I had high hopes for 35 Bistro and Wine Bar, but the experience fell flat in nearly every way. For a place that markets itself as a wine bar, the atmosphere was completely off. A loud DJ was not only blasting music, but the music didn’t fit the wine bar or French menu — so much so that guests were actually leaving. It felt more like a nightclub experiment than a refined wine experience.

The menu lacked important details, including which dishes featured raw meat — a basic oversight that’s concerning for diners.

Our server, Joseph, was the one bright spot. He was professional, well-dressed, and clearly understood the type of service one would expect at a proper wine bar. Frankly, he deserves to work somewhere that better aligns with his level of skill and hospitality.

Online, the restaurant gives the impression that reservations are required and the place is fully booked — yet when we arrived, it was nearly empty. This kind of misleading presentation doesn’t help build trust, but made sense once we settled in and saw just how atrocious the experience was.

Overall, the experience was awkward and disjointed. If ever there was a candidate for Bar Rescue, this...

Very disappointed by this French restaurant ! We were delighted to go there last week because we are French but we will not return for sure ! We ordered foie gras as a starter (price $25): the waiter arrived with a very very thin slice of foie gras and a plate full of salad! just shameful for that price! it was like we had ordered a foie gras salad. Even in Miami on the waterfront in magnificent establishments they serve us triple foie gras for that price! We were in Daytona center .. not the same view ... Then we ordered a beef tartare and the waiter arrived with a salmon tartare! We had to wait a long time to finally have our beef tartare but they had put the same french fries from the salmon tartare back ... completely cold ! frankly shameful .. even in the food trucks they serve you hot french fries .. We had to wait another 20 minutes to get hot ones ... We left very disappointed .. and the worst part : the waiter asked us if we were locals to offer us the local 10% discount for apologize .. So if we were not local ... apart from just an apology that's all we would...