Bistro 11 — Restaurant in Maryland

From wonderful to abysmal

Tonight, my husband and I decided to go to have a drink at the bar at Bistro 11, a restaurant that positions itself as a high end dining venue in Hagerstown, where we live. We thought that its bar looked cool, and would be nice spot for us to celebrate the onset of our Holiday break with a drink and appetizers.

We walked in at about 4:45 p.m., and sat down - we were then the only two costumers on that side of the L-shaped bar. A very nice bartender named Kiley helped us right way. We ordered two martinis and two appetizers. The drinks were excellent, as were the appetizers. We were having a great time. Our side of the bar started to fill out, with a crowd on our right, and two middle-aged men on our left, sipping on beer and in deep conversation with another man who was behind the bar - attending only to those two customers, and seemed to be in charge of the place.

My husband, who was sitting next to these men, started to be irritated by the foul language they had been using in their banter about sports with the man behind the bar. So, he turned to the man next to him, asking him very politely to stop using foul language. This individual’s immediate response was to turn belligerent, telling us that this was a bar, hence a public space, where he could use any language he wanted. I told him that he was an idiot, which cranked up his aggressiveness, so we dropped the matter.

The man behind the bar had stayed mum through this entire exchange, but when he moved to the other part of the bar, my husband followed him to address this issue with him. It turned out that he is the owner of Bistro 11. He told my husband that that was the way things were, and that there was nothing he could or was willing to do about it. By then, I was shaking. This incident had done nothing short of ruining what had started as a very nice evening. We paid our tab to Kiley, our bartender, and left, after having filled her in on this incident, and let her know that we would write a scathing online review about Bistro 11, which we would never patronize again. We have had lunch or dinner there on a number of occasions, each time spending in excess of $100 - at least once close to $200.

A few remarks: Bistro 11 is not a dive bar where crude language is commonly used, and even expected. The man sitting next to my husband was peppering his banter with the F word, as was the restaurant owner (who denied having used any foul language.) what I expect from a place like this is a bit more decorum. The owner should have intervened when the man whom my husband had confronted very politely became aggressive. On top of it, when my husband spoke to him privately, he turned slimy and brushed him off.

This is not the way for to a restaurant owner to run his business, even if the foul mouth guy is one of his “regulars” or cronies. That’s how you lose customers who come to your restaurant for more than the occasional beer at the bar, and may bring their friends too.

Bistro 11, you lost our business. And the world should know that you are far from being the classy place you...

I ordered a take-out meal (Crispy Tofu Marsala) for the family. It was less than impressive. It was extremely bland (as if no seasonings had been used in its preparation) and the asparagus included in the roasted vegetables was stringy/fibrous and, hence, inedible. It was one thing to be disappointed with the meal, but the customer service upon following-up on the issue was even worse. I sent Bistro 11 a Facebook message the following day, but it was answered by a bot, and there was no human follow-up. I reached out a week later and spoke with the manager. She told me that I had waited too long and she couldn't do anything about it. I had to ask to speak to the owner. I was initially told he was not in, but after leaving my callback details, he called me a few minutes later and suggested that the quality of the food would have been compromised if it had been sitting for 45 minutes or more - except that the the food was sampled as soon as I arrived home, which was 25 minutes after purchasing it. There is a big difference between not enjoying a meal because of personal tastes (this is a normal part of experimenting with different cuisines and dishes) and a dish being substandard for presentation to anyone In any setting. Bistro 11's Crispy Tofu Marsala fits into the latter category. A little bit of seasalt, some fresh herbs, an authentic Marsala sauce made with a high quality wine, and proper preparation of the vegetables would have done the trick and elevated the dish to the extent that it would still have been flavorful even a couple of hours after preparation - and...

As a fan of the old space Hempen Hill BBQ I really like what the new owners did with Bistro 11. The warm colors, new light fixtures, white linens and even a piano give it a classy look. So I was excited to put my focus on their new menu filled with equally classic American dishes.

We came on a Sun for brunch, our server was very hospitable, timely and attentive but unfortunately for me, the atmosphere was more inviting than the food. We ordered the crab benidict, chicken and waffles and a waffle with fruit compote. Now my partner did really like her benidict which was filled with large lump meat and tasty hollandaise but my moms waffle barely had any fruit, maybe 8-10 dry looking berries randomly spread across it, though the waffle itself was cooked nicely, it just looked really boring for $12. Now Im a big fan of chicken and waffles so ordering one with a bacon-jalapeno "glaze" sounded exciting, as I imagined some thick bacon accompanied by charred jalapeno slices in a house made syrup but unfortunately that wasn't the case. Instead it came with two crispy chicken tenders but only a few bits of bacon, and not one jalapeno or even taste of spice. Picture brown chicken pieces on a brown waffle with brown syrup. Some green jalapeno peppers or even a colored garnish would have went a long way. So for $14 I felt kinda robbed of both vision and taste.

However I'm willing to give Bistro 11 another chance as they iron out the kinks and come back for say dinner, as perhaps our money will be better spent on less...