Salento Bistrot — Restaurant in Houston

TLDR - Really wanted to like this place, because small business, but bad service and food that wants to be good, except the empanadas. Get those.

We spent as much time here as we did at the zoo this morning. We found this on HRW and made a reservation, just in case; but arrived at 12:40p for our 12:45p reservation. Sat at 1pm. Not bad, but downhill from there.

We weren't addressed by someone at our seats until 1:30p. No one came by with water or to let us know our server would be with us shortly, nothing. Knowing this, when our server came by we went ahead and ordered our entire meal: drinks, apps, main, dessert. We blamed it on being busy and maybe short a server. It was funny.

At 2, our appetizers arrived. Less funny now. The food was 'good.' I got the French toast, my friend got the empanada. Both delicious, but I made a joke about if it was really good, or if we were just hungry. I'm leaning towards the later and the food was actually just mediocre. Who knows.

At this point, I had to go move the car. 2 hour parking time limit coming up. I had the time to walk to the car, move it, and come back; and we still didn't have our main.

My friends' main was the migas. She said it was good. I had ordered the steak salad. On HRW this is advertised as "a quickly seared steak on peppery arugula with cheese and topped with an Italian style salsa Verde." What I got was mildly seasoned steak on a bed of romaine lettuce. It did have some cheese crumbles, but was also topped with a ton of walnuts. Not really what I was expecting. I stood up and flagged down a server (would have taken half an hour otherwise) and we showed them the HRW menu vs what I got. Also asked to speak to the manager since it had been an hour and a half at this point. The young man who had been helping serve us came back and told us that he 'tried to get his mom out of the kitchen, but that it was never arugula, and they meant to be update it on HRW, but never did.'

At this point, my friend and I have laughed this off as a joke. It's an adventure. He offered us a 'free dessert' to compensate for the incorrect menu item, at which point we had to point out that dessert came with the HRW menu. Then he offered to 50% our drinks. Okay, great. Please bring us our dessert.

He came back and said they'd run out of what I'd ordered (idk, maybe it's me). I switched to the apricot tart, and when it arrived we agreed it wanted to be good, but just wasn't quite there. Definitely get the goat cheese and pear empanada though. Yum.

At 310p we finally left. This was a comical combination of poor service and mediocre food. Maybe we were the poor idiots who ignored the signs (including not looking at pictures of the food online - cause yes, it shows romaine on the steak salad); maybe it was bad circumstances and they had 7 people call out; or maybe the just aren't equipped for that kind of a crowd. No matter. Won't be back.

Also, the manager never came out to speak...

I am always honest and fair with my reviews and have done a lot of them. With that said, I don't want anyone to take this as a rant about one restaurant I had a bad experience with.

I had one the strangest and most frustrating experiences when it comes to restaurant services I've ever had. I am not sure I can recommend this place for a dining experience. The wine was about the only thing that was right about the food and service we had.

The service...I ordered my wine, which is a very small selection by the way. Then it was time to order an appetizer and entrees. I ordered the Ceviche as Chimichurri Steak and the Signature Paella as my entree. Here's where it gets strange. My entrees came out first. Following that came my appetizer. While I was waiting for the food I asked for bread so, at this rate of course that came out last. Everything was backwards. If I had ordered dessert I guess that would have been the first to come out. I complained to the server about the order in which our food was being served and he got an attitude. I did not want to make a scene so I politely asked for my entree to be comped because I wanted to eat my food in the order it was supposed to have been served and by the time I finish my appetizer my entree would be cold. Again he wasn't happy. I do not appreciate rude service. There just is no excuse. He still got his tip which he did not deserve for the service but it was only for his work.

The food... Chimichurri was ordered medium but came out as medium well. That's me just having high standards but it was definitely not medium. The ceviche was good. However, the Paella, I'm not sure why the chorizo is just regular sausage and not the chorizo I know from all the other chorizo I've eaten before.

The atmosphere...I like to eat outside when the weather is nice. The tables here are canted the further toward the road you go. I recommend staying closer to the building to catch the sounds of the pleasant music and a straight table. Also, do not get the round table. The round table really leaves no place for legs room.

I have done a lot of reviews, this one is a remarkable one, but not...

Visiting Rice Village presents many dining options. If you’re looking for a place with above average food that isn’t large and crowded, then a place you want to visit is Salento Bistrot.

With this bistro- style restaurant, you get a limited but delicious assortment of food options, from salads to pasta to sandwiches and tacos. I personally like the empanadas best. They have about ten from which to choose and if you want to make a meal out of it, you can get the empanada platter, which includes two empanadas and a side of soup. The empanadas feature a flaky crust and there are lots of creative choices among the ten.

Beer is a little bit lacking at Salento Bistrot, but they do have a nice selection of wine. There is outdoor seating, too, and the interior remains reasonably quiet, thanks to the fact that there aren’t that many tables or seats. This makes it a good restaurant choice when you want to eat and drink in relative peace and carry on a conversation with the person next to you.

Parking can be somewhat of a challenge at this restaurant. You need to look for a free spot on the street, or if you don’t mind paying, there is paid parking in the front and a parking garage across the street, which also carries a charge. They offer happy hour prices, too, so try to get here before the dinner rush, if you can.

Overall, I find Salento Bistrot a very nice, intimate place for food and drink. The limited menu means you don’t have to spend so long trying to make a decision and the tasty food will leave you...