Bistro at Childress Vineyards — Restaurant in Lexington

A detailed review of the food, service, and setting. We have been here several times, and the setting is excellent, but the menu has some excellent dishes and some misses. Also, this is a moderately expensive place, and some things are better value than others. Let’s start with the sandwiches. They sound a bit better than they are. They all come with a side, which is nice, but for a $20ish sandwich, I’d expect a bit more creative toppings. There is nothing spectacular about them, but the price tag feels like they should be.

We have always been fairly impressed with the appetizers though. We had the pimento cheese dip with the pork rinds, which was unusual. I make my own pimento cheese, so I was a little bit worried about it, but it was quite tasty. Some of the pork rinds were hard, but most of them were fine. Soup is always good. We had the tomato chevre recently, and it was excellent! The cheese and fig dip was excellent as well. They do a great job with appetizers, and, like I said, we have been several times. The ahi tuna wontons are very good as well. The bang bang shrimp tacos are also good. Basically, it’s the sandwiches that seem to be a little less than creative.

I was also not super impressed with the wedge salad. It comes in a beautiful bowl, but it just has a simple ranch dressing. It would be nice if they had a more interesting dressing with it, since a wedge salad is usually rather plain.

One of our servers was fabulous and recommended to my vegetarian daughter that she could make one of the sandwiches (that was full of meat) into a vegetarian option, and it worked out really well!

One of the servers also let us know that that the croissants on one of the sandwiches were not very fluffy, and my husband tried it anyway, and sure enough, it was not great. So the croissants could use a bit of an improvement.

I was a little dismayed that they charged extra for some aïoli, for the club sandwich, because for heavens sake, it’s an $18 sandwich, so if I wanted a little extra aioli, I should’ve just received it.

Sitting outside is just glorious! And, of course, they have all of their wine offerings and champagne offerings.

The servers seem to be in good spirits. Each time.

Sitting inside in the winter is also lovely, because it’s a beautiful setting as well. And one time they had a peppermint champagne drink (pictured) that was a real treat. And if a fire is going in the fireplace, then that is just even more spectacular.

So five stars for the setting, five stars for the appetizers and 3.5 stars for the sandwiches. Let’s get a little more creative on the sandwiches! Maybe some local bread, or more toppings, and at a minimum, if I want a little extra aïoli on the sandwich, I shouldn’t be...

Let’s start with the best that is our server Ireland M. Attentive welcoming tried to make suggestions. All in all she is a 4+ server.

Second the atmosphere. Place is pretty very manicured exterior and interior. The building and grounds are top notch. Not a single miss. The tables and chairs are definitely showing wear. Need some attention.

Third the food. This should be why one comes back. Not so sure that mission was accomplished… Crab cake appetizer was under cooked - mushy in the middle quite disappointing. Drinks top notch- mimosa and a punch bowl were very good. Spouse had a chicken salad with fruits and a muffin. Absolutely amazing. The burger and fancy waffle fries was nothing like previous pictures. Fries were over cooked and greasy burger was dry.

For the price I expected better, to be...

I have been coming to the Bistro for years. The food is always very good, the prices seem reasonable to me, and the service is always great. Today I had the spring salmon, which was wonderful! My friend had Austin's fried chicken sandwich, which he thoroughly enjoyed. We split the tiramasu dessert, which was great also. The highlight of the meal was Gabi, our server. I am not sure if I was more impressed with her service or her vivacious personality.

We will...