Norman's Bistro — Restaurant in Hyde Park Township

First time here on 2/8/20 to lunch with my sister. I can honestly say I hope it isn't my last. When I go to a new place, if I can I like to sample a couple of dishes. Today I ordered the Shrimp Chicken & Lobster Gumbo and the Carribean Duck with Duck Dressing. My sister ordered the Carribean Grilled Lamb. The sides (none pictured) were sauteed spinach and Greens. I'll start with the Greens and Spinach. The Spinach was nice. It could use a little more garlic but you could ask for that upfront if you so desire. I would pass on the Greens though myself. They were a little more vinegary for my taste. I just am not a fan of more vinegar flavor. They weren't bad, just not for me. Now the main dishes were interesting to say the least. I have heard many things about this place but never took the time to get over there. First the Gumbo is truly a delight. It has all the ingredients it says. You can SEE THE LOBSTER, CHICKEN AND SHRIMP in every bite. The Rue is savory with all the flavors in their right places. Certainly not to salty or peppery. Just a wonderful presentation. If you like Gumbo this is a can't go wrong choice. The Duck IMO was the star at the table. I don't usually get a chance to order duck outside Chinatown or an occasional Christmas holiday so that alone was a treat. The duck came with tender meat under a partially crisp skin. That right there was it for me. I like a crisp duck skin. I realize it is a delicate balance to crisp the skin without drying out the meat underneath. They certainly did a great job trying to make it happen. Kudos to the cook on that. The Duck is a definite must have. My sister has been here previously. I try to encourage her to try something different so she ordered the Lamb Chops. I got to say I was underwhelmed by the dish. The flavor just wasn't there. Not in the sense that it lacked flavor but that I have had much better lamb chops in other restaurants. I mean MUCH BETTER. But hey, if you like lamb these are ADEQUATE, I just won't order them for myself. However the side of Red Beans & Rice could bring tears of JOY to your eyes. I mean this place could sell THAT as a dish with maybe a little appropriate protein or a decent size cornbread muffin and watch those orders FLY OUT THE KITCHEN. THE seasoning on this side was PERFECTION!!!! Just thinking about them now is making me want some of THEIRS RIGHT NOW. I COULD EAT THEIR Red Beans & Rice morning, noon and night and STILL not get enough!!!!! The food here is pretty good, certainly at affordable price points and definitely worth coming again. I would even want to try their brunch on Sunday just to see if they do breakfast as well as lunch/dinner. I also wanted a drink. We arrived before 430 so no bar yet :( At that point you can get wine or beer. I got a Stella. However once the bar was opened I wanted my usual French Martini. Unfortunately they didn't have any Chambord. Why????? I have no idea so I settled on a Pomegranate Martini. For the cost I would have expected some alcohol in it but THEY MISSED THE GLASS ENTIRELY on that one. Very disappointing!!!! The take away is this is a nice black owned establishment worth the money, effort and time. Things I would not buy are Martini's, Lamb and Greens. I would definitely return and surely look forward to it when I do. The prices are fair for the food. The place is clean and well presented. I'm glad I came and look forward to a return. I think a Good date place too if the place isn't overrun by rowdy people (as I have heard it can be. I have NO TASTE for ANY of...

This was my first visit here and I heard great things about this place yet I was not impressed. First some employees had on mask and some didn’t. Well, I felt like I was in the shining red rum, red rum. I ordered a cup of chicken gumbo and it was bland no spicy and super thick took two spoons of it and was like well 😔. I asked for a common whiskey Jack Daniels was told they didn’t have it today. Lol! I was told they had Markers Mark yet when he came back with my glass it was a single, I commented that’s a single he told my beverage back and stated I will add more well he charge me. Then stated if i was up North it would pay more. I chuckled and stated you don’t know me I will pay for your overpriced drink with ice cubes and no sphere ice. I could have had a bottle of Jack for that with twelve double. I lol, didn’t care but whiskey and bourbon drinkers know a single from a double. Although the bartender had great personality I just overlooked it. One things I won’t overlook is taste and quality of my food. I had a cup of chicken gumbo and there was no taste. I added hot sauce, salt and nothing came to life with that cup. I ordered the blacken catfish which was flat in taste and uneventful, the braised collard greens had onions and corn in it which left a sweet taste in my mouth. I found it lack luster! The red beans and rice was delicious yet I gave it away as I had nothing to enjoy it with. My BFF had the catfish fried oh my one piece was great! So, I took this experience as hit or miss dishes. More to come about the event space room 43, that I attended Sunday..The Golden Seal of Approval gives Norman’s...

I’ve been to Norman’s a few times and I’ve always loved the food, atmosphere and staff. Today was nothing short of terrible. Firstly.. in an attempt to make a party reservation we were directed to Fran who is the party manager, and she never returned calls, texts or voicemails from neither me or my aunt.

When my Aunt called the restaurant to make a regular reservation for 25, she asked if we could set up a “sweet treat table “ with cupcakes, chocolate covered strawberries etc and decoration for my mothers 60th surprise birthday party and she was told yes. We can do that and there would be a fee to bring in a cake. All fine. She made the reservation. 3 weeks ago. She also confirmed that we would be able to come in an hour earlier to set everything up.

So today the hostess tells us we weren’t allowed to come in until 30 minutes prior. They weren’t ready for us to set things up until 15 minutes after that. As we are setting our table up, Fran magically appears and tells us we aren’t allowed to have the separate table but we can set the dining tables how we want. So we worked around the disappointing news and set the dining tables. After finally getting food, it was terrible. I asked everyone. They all said the food wasn’t good. The service was mediocre.The temperament of the staff seemed as though they didn’t want to be bothered with the large group of people paying their money. Although Tiffany was trying her best to help. You should really put more than one person on a table...