Adams Bistro — Restaurant in Greenville

If you have food allergies or sensitivities, beware! I suppose I'm lucky to have had the bad experience that I had last night. Unfortunately, I'm Gluten Intolerant, and believe me, it's not a choice. I usually try to make my dining out as painless for wait staff and chefs as possible, because I can only imagine what they have to deal with to accommodate the many food allergies that are so pervasive today. That being said...here's my unfortunate experience: I explained to the waitress up front that I was gluten intolerant and asked if a particular dish was safe for me to eat. To her credit, she checked, returned, and replied that it was. I ordered my meal with a side Caesar salad and baked sweet potato. I reminded her before she walked away to be sure to leave the croutons off the salad. She returned with the salad, which didn't have croutons on it, but had two pieces of pita bread stuck on the sides into the salad. I reminded her that I was gluten intolerant and she responded by saying...oh...you just said no croutons. Excuse me? Not wanting to cause trouble I carefully removed the bread and said that I'd just try to avoid those areas. (It would have been nice if she'd offered to have them make another.) Then the entree came. It looked really good, except for that big piece of bread that was butted up against my pork chop and swimming in the sauce. I don't like to cause a scene, and it's embarrassing and frustrating enough to try to eat out safely. But I said...I can't eat this. After she looked confused, and I explained, she apologized, but instead of offering to take the entree back and bringing me one that had been cross-contaminated, she said...can't you just take the bread off? You took the pita out of the salad. She went away. The manager came back and said that everything grilled is cross-contaminated, anyway, because they grill the bread on the same grills. Then she said that they could bring me something else that was gluten free...a salad? (I reminded them that I'd just had a salad.)...some vegetables? At that point, I really didn't want anything, so I just said 'no thank you.' My two companions finished their meal, and when we got the check, of course, I was charged for the Caesar salad which, by the way, wasn't even good. I just thought that in the spirit of customer relations, they might not have charged me for the salad...given the whole unhappy situation. But they did. I paid the bill, even left a tip, and I won't be back. They made it clear that they're so busy back in their kitchen, they can't accommodate folks like me. So...be warned. If you have food allergies or sensitivities, ask questions and be very careful if you choose to eat there. Of course, the safest thing to do is just not eat there. I give them a very poor rating for their...

YOU HAVE TO ASK FOR PATRICK! . . . let me explain

We just finished our dinner, this was our first time here. I gave it 5 stars BECAUSE of Patrick. He saved our entire experience.

At the beginning we almost walked out. The prices seemed a bit high (which is all relative, and after our meal we were happy to pay the price). But the main issue was service. Our waitress just seemed disconnected the whole time. She did seem engaged with a certain table, which we realized were friends of some kind. We were waiting for quite a while at each step. I kept catching sight of a young man who was zooming all over the place, working his tail off. I figured he had a ton of tables by how hard he was working. Then all the sudden he comes to our table and makes sure we are comfortable and if we have ordered yet. I said no, and that we have been waiting to. He immediately took our order, which was much appreciated. Right away he brought our sides/condiments so that we were ready for your food, he filled our drinks about 6 times - they NEVER ran out, which again is wonderful. He kept in contact while waiting for our food to be ready. He made sure to let us know that our original waitress will still take care of us and that he was just trying to help out. Our waitress did bring our food out. And then within a minute here comes Patrick, "Is everything ok, can I get you anything else?". Again NOT HIS TABLE! He kept that effort going our entire visit, and it was obvious he was doing the same for as many as he could.

I couldn't resist, so I asked him how tips work here, do they all split them or what? He said, no, we each get our own tables, and that he was just hoping to help us have a great visit. Listen to me owners of this restaurant . . . THIS IS YOUR GUY! He should RUN front of house, or at least be given first priority on schedules and tables.

To make an even longer story short, Patrick worked his butt off for a table that he was never expecting a tip from, he was energetic and positive the whole time, he was concerned with OUR visit not HIS tip.

If you visit this restaurant and don't specifically ask to be in Patricks section, you are nuts, lol. He saved the night and turned it from a "walk out" and go somewhere else, to a 5 star review and loyal customers.

BTW, the food was absolutely delicious too, I don't mean to leave that out, but his level of service blew our minds.

Thank you Patrick for all your hard work and...

With great sadness, I must change my previous 5-star review of Adam's Bistro - to a 2-star. Once spectacular, for years I LOVED this place and had nothing but glowing experiences.

Let me say from the outset that the staff at Adam's Bistro is, and has always been, fantastic. In fact, after my first poor experience with Adams, shortly before Covid-19, I chalked the experience up to just a bad day for the food production folks. I did not want to give a negative review in fear the wait staff, which is superb, would suffer collateral damage.

However, after my second disappointing experience in a row - I could no longer bite my tongue because it has been downright absurb - given the very-poor quality of food received for the amount charged.

For example, we ordered the "Bistro Blue Chips," which according to the menu, are "blue cheese sauce & crumbled bacon over 'house-fried' potato chips." [see pic from menu] The cost: $10.95.

What we got Friday night were literally chips purchased from Publix or Costco, topped with blue cheese sauce and bacon crumbles. They used to be house-fried chips; and this used to be a great appetizer the whole family enjoyed. Not anymore. We threw most of it away.

The pasta dishes my wife and son ordered were decent, but greatly over-priced because the quality was "above-average."

I ordered the NY Strip, touted as "12 oz hand cut braveheart angus beef." [see menu] Let me tell you, these cows must come from Ethiopia. Look at the steak for which I paid $23.95! [see pics] Thinner than a dime!

Without exaggeration, I believe I could have gotten a higher quality steak from a Waffle House. I would say this was a fluke, except it is nearly identical to the steak I ordered pre-Covid-19.

I spent more than $84.00 (including tip) on 3 entrees and an appetizer. Just...