Taste of Europe Bistro — Restaurant in Florida

We went on a Thursday night as that's the only night you can get sauerbraten. We had a reservation but certainly didn't need it. In a town where most restaurants are fully booked every night, there was only one other couple in the place. Now we know why. The food was inedible.

To start I ordered a glass of pinto grigio and was brought a very dry bitter wine. I asked the waitress if she was sure it was pinot. She said it was but when I then looked at a wine menu pasted on a wine bottle light on the table, I realized they didn't even sell a pinot grigio. She had just served me something she thought was close. She then bought was a basket of stale dry tasteless white bread with tzatziki sauce (no butter or oil was available). Next came a salad of just lettuce and chopped tomato, which was sparse but tasted OK. Then our entrees arrived. They served up leathery pot roast with a gray gravy, a gelatinous potato dumpling with a slimy mouth feel but no taste, and red cabbbage with a splash of vinegar. Needless to say neither of us ate the dinner. We told the waitress we didn't think it was even sauerbraten. I showed her that I could barely get the knife through the tough beef. Her comment was "Sorry, hope you try us again" and she brought us take out menus. My bill was $35. We left there hungry. I won't be eating there again, and...

I'd rate this restaurant as zeros stars if I could. My friends and I dined at A Taste of Europe Bistro on 41 N. in Port Charlotte today for lunch. We ordered salads and water, nothing else, and were surprised to see a $75 bill, with $3.50 per bottle of water. We tipped well. While it was pricey, what truly disappointed us was the disgusting and offensive treatment that we received from the restaurant owner. At one point, the place was empty for about 45 minutes. Suddenly, the owner approached our table with a seriously aggressive demeanor, asking us to lower our voices for the sake of other guests. She told us that she had listened to us enough over two hours. One of my friends, a native Spanish speaker, quietly expressed her surprise with "aye aye aye," but the woman proceeded to mock her. As she walked away, she imitated "aye aye aye," which came across as racist. Were we slightly loud? Perhaps, as we hadn't seen each other in a long time. Were we disruptive? Certainly not. Were we warned or asked to keep it down more than once? No. This was the most impolite encounter I've had in a restaurant. Furthermore, the $17 salad was not impressive, and the restaurant had a persistent fryer odor. It's no wonder they had very few customers...

This place is excellent. The food is home made authentic European food made with fresh and delicious ingredients. The night we were there, it was for my parent's 65th wedding anniversary. We had pirogies and calamari for appetizers. The pirogies were filled with potato and cheese and covered with sautéed onions and bacon and delicious. The calamari was fried crisp and served with a spicy sauce alongside. The dinner special this night was roast pork served with mashed potatoes, sauerkraut and gravy. The pork was moist, fork tender and had such a nice flavor. One of our party had the Swiss Schnitzel which was breaded pork loin fried and topped with a creamy garlic sauce. Someone had the Schnitzel Messieur, shich was topped with a great peppercorn that was creamy and very flavorful. For dessert we had Black Forest Cake and Apple Streusel (with ice cream on top) and they were both delicious. Our waitress was so nice and accommodating and handled our large party with ease. It was a...