Deerwood Bistro — Restaurant in Jacksonville

First time Wed 18 Dec 2024 Brunch. Arrived early to meet friend b/c anticipated more traffic. This is located where Sierra Grille on Southside used to be, a place my family enjoyed a great deal.

There was no one at the cash register / entrance to guide me how things worked. There may have been an "order here first" sign but I didn't see it. An Uber Eats driver was waiting for their customer's order and indicated in broken English and a kind smile that someone was getting their customers' order and would be right back.

Indeed Cashier took care of UE Driver order and then readily greeted me with a welcoming smile and tone, indicated the menu and explained I would order at the front desk / register when ready and could sit wherever I liked. I perused the menu while waiting for my party. Knew what I wanted for breakfast but wasn't sure how to put it together with menu items, the cashier was very helpful. The food was simply perfect. Am a picky eater. Moreover, usually end up with half a meal in a doggy bag. Not this time. The food was made precisely to order and was perfect. I asked for a condiment that is not usually at table and they brought it quickly. My friend also enjoyed their food. The restaurant was clean, organized. I was able to get my own cup of filtered water from a dispenser.

The washroom very clean and well stocked. I would highly recommend this place and go back on these experiences alone.

Then something strange happened. Another customer came in and sat right beside us. I had not even noticed them till this stranger began overtly taking photos of us on their cell phone (there was clicking sound when photos taken and their body turned toward us in order to get a better shot). So bizarre. But not illegal. They seemed clean, nursing a cup of coffee. I noticed later that they had a laptop bag and a couple other bags on the floor at their feet. I did ask them, from my seat across from them, to stop taking photos and to please delete the photos they had taken. The fellow then hemmed and hawed saying they were taking photos of something behind us. And showed a photo of that was not of anything in the restaurant. I insisted about the photos being removed and that the photo taking of us cease. My back was to the cashier. A manager came by the fellow's table and spoke with them. The fellow railed about their rights, pointed at my party and said something inappropriate and unkind, and then left the restaurant on the manager's insistence. It was a unique experience. I have never in my life experienced anything like it and hope never to again. But feel it was well handled by the restaurant.

Thank you for the clean atmosphere, the great customer service, the good food. Highly recommend, ...

We really really wanted to give Deerwood Bistro 4 🌟 or even 5 🌟 but to many small things caused this 3 🌟 rating. First parking is a challenge in this strip mall on a busy Sunday morning. Next as we entered were greeted and asked to place our order. Since this was our first visit we wanted to view the menu at the register were the order would be entered as opposed to at the table with a server. With customers behind us we felt rushed and quickly looked at the menu...no Eggs Benedict for me on the menu plus the rush makes we give this 3 🌟. I settled and ordered 2 eggs, Bacon, Hash Browns and Rye toast $8.79, OJ $2.99 and Coffee $2.59. Bill went with the first item on the menu Eddie's Meat Lover's Skillet $11.99 and Coffee $2.59. You are given a number and told to find an open table and serve your own beverages...not a winner in my book so 3 🌟. Both meals came out quickly in the busy place so 5 🌟 for that. My breakfast was good with the Sunny Side Eggs perfect as were all the sides. Bills plate was huge but with the exception of the eggs a looser. Hashbrown Potatoes were 90% of the plate and greasy with semi burnt onions and mushrooms. Peppers and Tomatoes were a mismatch as was the melted cheddar cheese. Meat??? Where's the meat? One small, did I say small chunk of burnt sausage, no bacon that Bill could find and a few small pieces of ham...a big mistake to order and 1 🌟. I am sure Deerwood Bistro is better than this as the place was super busy but for us it was not on our list to...

I stopped by the Deerwood Bistro today for lunch with high hopes. The place is quaint and clean and our server was polite... I will give them that. When we ordered the bruschetta appetizer... what arrived at the table was an appetizer with approximately a one half inch of slice of cold cheese; placed on top of the bread and diced tomatoes.

My best description would be a flavorless refrigerator cheese. I'm not sure about everyone else expectactions are when ordering bruschetta but anytime I have ordered bruschetta in the past... it is been slightly melted and flavorful.

For my main entree I ordered the California which had the description of including bacon and avocado. There was NO avocado found anywhere on my entree. This entree also only contained one medium slice of bacon with a LARGE amount of romaine lettuce. So you can basically say I was served a lettuce sandwich... my lunch partner ordered The Classic which is their BLT. Hers also had just a single strip of bacon and enough lettuce to make a salad...

I ordered the breaded pudding as dessert from Reading other reviews. The pudding was okay but it was not spectacularly amazing as some reviewers have explained.

In the end for $35 there are MUCH tastier options in Jacksonville. I would not return to this location. With so many high-level reviews it makes one question if the reviews are from real patrons. That's...