Martinis Bistro — Restaurant in Longmont

My husband and I visited Martinis for the first time last weekend. It was our first date night out after our son had been born (2 weeks earlier). We had a reservation and sat outside. Our reservation was at 6:15PM, we were seated promptly. The QR code for the menu was only by the host stand, not at each table, so that was a little inconvenient for guests. Most restaurants I've been to during COVID have the QR codes on the tables so it isn't a rushed thing at the host stand before seating.

It took a few minutes before we saw our server. He was friendly, I could tell he was overwhelmed. All the tables were seated and he had SO many he was responsible for. Obviously not at all his fault, but it had a huge negative impact on our experience. I would say this problem is more of a management issue than a server issue.

The patio was nice, but I did get bit by a ton of mosquitoes when it got dark so I probably wouldn't sit outside again. They also had a large party inside (maybe a rehearsal dinner?) And they had the windows open so it was extremely loud sitting near them with the consistent singing & clapping & speeches. Not the calmest environment.

We ordered 3 courses (appetizers, salads, entrees) but we ordered everything at once. The bison meatballs were good, the burrata was average but didn't have much taste. The beet salad was almost funny, there was so much arugula and only a few quartered slices of beets. The wine was good, and my husband had two old fashions and a scotch. Both were good.

It was 8PM, and we still hadn't received our entrees. My husband asked our server about it and a manager came by as well. The server corrected my husband and said we hadn't been there for 2 hours, only 1 hour 45 minutes, and they aim for a 2 hour dinner to enjoy the dining experience. While I completely understand customers don't want to be rushed out in 30 minutes when having a nice meal, this excuse was ridiculous and unnecessary. During the excessive amount of waiting between courses, we had to flag down our server for drinks & water. We also saw some tables were brought bread, ours wasn't. So we weren't "enjoying the dining experience", we were thirsty and hungry. Plus aiming for a 2 hour dining experience would more likely bring us our food before 8PM. We asked for our entrees to go and our check ASAP. See attached pictures for how the looked when we got home. They weren't tipped over or anything in our car, they were carelessly thrown in the boxes. The manager did offer us a comped dessert which we turned down - as if we wanted to wait any longer for another course? I think the appropriate thing to do would be comp some of our meal. By the time our to go entrees were brought to us, it was past 8:15. So two hours past sitting down, we were finally given our main course. If we had eaten them there, we would have been done closer to 9PM.

Don't get me wrong, my husband and I enjoy nice dining experiences. But we've been to much nicer restaurants in much nicer areas (in Colorado & other states) and meal times never took this long in between courses. If they did take longer, we were never without drinks or water and we never had to seek out our server to ask for these things. I think ultimately they are extremely short staffed when it comes to servers, and putting way too much pressure on the ones they have. Especially since it's also the servers responsibility to put in orders for each course as they see fit, which I imagine only adds stress when you have so many tables at a time. The manager told me ticket times were 20 minutes for food, so we sat without food or drinks for 25 minutes before our entree order was even put in.

When we were leaving, the table next to us let us know they had been there for 3 hours and had never had a meal take that long. They actually had to request a different server because they couldn't find their original one to place an order. So it clearly wasn't just us that had a bad experience that night. I'm not confident we will ever be returning again, especially for a $200+ meal that...

We came here for my birthday dinner. This has been a favorite place to go for celebrations for a few years now, so I wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary. Sadly, I was very wrong. We were told that all menus are electronic and to use our phones to scan the permanent QR codes on the table. We were given the option of a tablet, and I asked for that, and the hostess seemed put off by that. Later tables that were seated that had older folks were straight up offered tablets, and in a friendly way. Heads up to management: many of us younger folk don't like the QR codes either. Now for the drinks. This place is literally called Martini's Bistro, so I expect their martinis to be at least somewhat decent. I ordered the Seducer after confirming with the server that it was supposed to have a chocolate orange flavor. It tasted like medicine. I don't think I've ever had such a wretched martini in my life. When I told the server it didn't work for me, and I'd rather have a glass of wine, he looked so incredibly annoyed, you'd think it was a personal affront. I assured him we were keeping the drink because my husband offered to drink it, and he still looked annoyed. That server seemed upset to have to have to help us the entire time we were there. I tried to be extra nice to him thinking he was having a bad day, but nothing helped. The only thing that was good was the food. But you know what, it wasn't enough. This was a really bad experience, and I came here to celebrate my birthday. I won't be back.

ETA: reply to response -- You change the menus? We went to your restaurant months ago and had the exact same entrees. I also have been eyeing the online menu for the last month and then some hoping to see something new, but alas it was the exact same. The pictures of food on this profile show that what we ordered is available at nearly all times. As for the drink, I wanted help picking something out, but like I said, our server was being very short with us, so don't you dare blame me. I've received help picking out drinks at several restaurants in town, including yours. Also, your reply is incredibly...

I generally do not give bad reviews to small, local restaurants, but do yourself a favor and read this. I brought a good friend of mine and her significant other here for her birthday, partly relying on reviews to choose a place. Longmont isn't known for dining or good food, so my expectations were low. And then the following: waiter took drink orders. Two gin martinis (bear in mind the name of the establishment) one beer, one glass of red wine. Waiter returned with two vodka martinis (note: vodka is not gin), a tasteless and overpriced glass of wine, and a beer. Next we ordered a charcuterie plate at about $20. This was the worst example of such a plate I have ever seen. It featured fatty prosciutto, olives from a grocery store jar, raisins (of all things) and a weird Irish cheese that was veined with glow-in-the-dark food coloring. Terrible. The group ordered one seared ahi tuna plate to split, another ahi tuna plate, a pork chop and a house salad. Plus a glass of Cabernet at $26 (this wine was obviously old and completely off). Waiter returned 10 minutes later - no ahi tuna, this in spite of the fact that we were the third customers to arrive. Ordered two wedge salads to replace the tuna. Waiter returned to serve us. Pork chop grossly overcooked and served in a colossally ugly presentation featuring a piece of fried polenta that appeared and tasted like it was made of corrugated cardboard. Wedge salads were so bitter as to be inedible. Spoke to manager, who agreed to remove the salads and take them off the bill. Bill came, both wedge salads still on the bill. Told waiter to remove them. Waiter came back with bill, only one salad was removed from the tab. We did not order any other food. Total bill was $250. Unbelievable. Take notice my friends. If you don't care about the quality of food or service, and you have money to throw away, then by all means check out Martini's. Otherwise, find another restaurant that cares about the quality of its food and reputation. This was...