Janina Bistro — Restaurant in Lebanon

We recently attended a rehearsal dinner for a wedding. The group consisted of about 25 people; ages ranged from 1 years old to 70s. This party was booked months in advance. We arrived for the dinner for 6pm (Friday), at that point there was barely anyone in the restaurant. I will start by stating some good things, the food was pretty good (when it finally got to the table), and the waiters we had for the table were very friendly and tried to do their best under the lousy circumstances.

Now to the issues.... It took over an hour to get the first course, a small plate of an extremely small crab cake (probably the size of a quarter), one spinach ravioli, about 4 gnocchi, and one small piece of mozzarella and tomato. The next course probably took about 30-45 minutes...it was a simple salad... At this point the children in the group were extremely hungry. We asked several times after the waiting for the appetizers, for the kids food (chicken fingers and french fries) to be brought out ASAP. The waiter kept saying it was on the way, or a little longer. At one point we even asked for the chicken fingers and french fries to be made to go and they told us it would be a half hour. At 8pm, the families who had children left because of how late it was and the kids still not eating.

This is where the even larger problem arises. The host of the rehearsal dinner, and elderly woman, politely asked to speak to the manager. She is the mother of the groom and this was supposed to be a special night that the manager assured her they could accomodate months prior.

The manager immediately began aggresively speaking to her after simply asking about the delay. He stated that, it was Friday and it was busy. He went on to say that normally they have younger parties and they want to take longer to eat. He was unapologetic and lacked one ounce of hospitality. It was disgusting the way he was speaking to her, everyone in the party was witness to this.

The dinner was finally served around 8:30pm, and not all at once. One guest waited almost until everyone was finished eating to receive her food. At the end of the night the manager wound up taking off ONLY three chicken fingers/french fry meals from the bill.

This place, although good food, is not equipped to handle a large party, especially not on a "busy" night. The manager is the larger problem in this situation. I am repulsed by the way he acted, not at any point was anyone rude to him or staff while waiting such a long time...

My husband I went there for our Anniversary. We explained at the door that we were unable to go out last year (COVID) and really wanted a nice and special table. We were assured that we were getting the best one in the far back outside area. Lets say it was so far back when the rest of the outside venue filled up, we were totally forgotten about. We poured our own wine and patiently waited for the waiter ( he did say the were really short staffed). we ordered our appetizers and dinner at same time. Then waited 40 minutes we finally asked the waiter what was happening with our meal ( with a look of shock) he said he would check. Cleary they forgot our oder. Waiter returns saying that the appetizers would be right out. We wait another 20 minutes, they finally arrive! Crabcake was a generous size and quite good. While calamari was very chewy and not up to par. Waiter never poured any wine as was very busy with the other tables. Waited another 25 minutes after our appetizers for the entrees to arrive. My husband was hapoy with his selection of veal while I had the hanger steak which was over cooked and chewy. Extremely disappointed in our experience. I did express my unhappiness to the Manager who did not have anything to say. We tried this place once before with friends were not thrilled but we thought we would give it another try. NEVER AGAIN! The prices are reasonable but NOT worth the...

This is long overdue but I meant to edit my original review. We had our rehearsal dinner here a few years ago and I have never had such bad service and witnessed such disrespect. My in laws booked this place in advance. They were not willing to allow us to book the outdoor area as they would "make more money off other patrons" booking that area. Whatever we were flexible and accepted that. We arrived for our rehearsal dinner and it was 2.5 hours before we were served our dinner. They were prioritizing the walk up business and leaving us to fend for ourselves because they already had our money. The way they spoke to my mother in law when she very politely checked on the status of our meals & apps and they were completely rude and dismissive. She wasn't even giving any attitude like I probably would have at that point. We had some young kids in the bridal party and since dinner didn't come out til after 8:30 they had to leave un fed because God forbid they at least feed the children who are cranky and have been sitting at a table for 2+ hours. I will never return to this place and they should be ashamed of the way they treat...