BAR BISTRO — Restaurant in Parkland

A friend and I chose this place because we wanted to try something new, and she heard their lobster something or other was amazing. We were in on a Monday about 5:30. I give it 4 stars, not because anything is wrong, but I probably won't seek it out again. The bartender, who was also our server was amazing, and while we did not order any of their specialty/craft cocktails we enjoyed watching him make them. We did order adult beverages, but we are basically pretty boring, although I was told, with a smile I was complicated - this is totally a haha moment.

Anyway, service was on point. It is not very big, it is pleasantly decorated, and overall comfortable. So, I need to point out, I am not a seafood person, and their dishes lean heavily in the seafood direction. It is definitely more along the gastropub route, and lobster is prominent and they had an octopus & muscles.

We actually ended up eating off the appetizer menu, I had street tacos with steak and my friend had some kind of lobster roll and it came with homemade chips. They were super tasty. Hers was good, but she found the lobster chunks challenging and overall didn't knock her off her feet. My street tacos had lots of good flavors ( I'll come back to the flavor thing in a minute), but the red sauce had a little too much heat for the lightness of the taco. It ended up overpowering it, either a little less heat in the sauce, or a lot less sauce, but very good, very satisfying. The flavor. They are big on flavors, I also noticed this word is used a lot in the various reviews. The bartender asked , not how everything was, but if we were enjoying the flavors. We wrapped our meal with the carrot cake, I noticed in the reviews somebody posted a picture, wish I had taken one, it was definitely picture worthy. My only regret is that we decided to be good and share. Their portions are just that portions (thank you!), and I could have easily eaten whole piece myself. It gets 5+ stars!

I recommend you give it a try, it was good, I just wasn't blown away, (except the carrot cake) doesn't mean you won't love it, and should at the very least give it a try.. Do not steer away because of the location, it seems odd that there is this hip gastro pub in a quasi industrial farmish weird no man's land, but it is, and it is worth the visit, just not my personal cup of tea. Easy on/off the freeway, so if 512 is backed up, hop off and grab...

Before I begin, I want to say that I have never been more impressed with a restaurant. As I drove home, I tried to find one flaw but could have think of any. Usually a place has good food and bad service, or good service and decent food but isn’t clean. This place delivered solid 5 star ratings across all my categories of service, cleanliness, atmosphere, and food. As vegetarians we are fairly reluctant to dine out, because the meatless dishes on a menu are almost always treated as an afterthought and as a decent cook I resent paying money for mediocre or even terrible food. We were looking for somewhere we could have a nice dinner for date night and just stumbled across this place on a google search. It is kind of off the beaten path in terms of location but we were so intrigued by the menu we decided to go check it out. Immediately I was impressed by how clean everything was. My feet didn’t stick to the floor, the tables didn’t have any residue, the place looked brand new, the walls were clean, the furniture in good repair, and the bathroom was spotless! The menu offered multiple vegetarian options so we indulged with an appetizer, two entrees, desserts, and drinks. The food was so good that I nearly doubled over my bowl and wept. Dishes that I have seen ruined a million times (gnocchi and mac and cheese) were prepared at a 5 star chef level. I knew immediately I could never recreate this at home, and that I could no longer take pride in my personal mac and cheese recipe. Every single dish was perfect. I was astonished, having never found a place this good in Washington, I thought myself in some fever dream. The service was exceptional, and though we were tucked into a corner and there was a very large dinner group there our server was taking care of, he never ignored us and constantly came back to check on us. We ordered wine and a cocktail and both were just as well prepared and delicious as our food was. We had the pleasure of speaking with the owner, and he was humble and gracious while receiving our praises. The prices were also very reasonable and the portions were decent sized. This place truly delivers the whole package. I had no idea this gem had been hiding on Portland Ave this entire time, but I’m so glad I found it now. If you haven’t checked them out, I cannot recommend it enough. Here is your new...

First I want to point out non of us were ID’d for our alcohol beverage and the waitress was short with us, each time she came to the table we felt rushed to make a decision or she would cut us off and tell us she would just come back. She seemed more relaxed with her approach AFTER everyone’s orders were placed and she only had to replenish our waters (which was warm). The food looked good and had potential to be great however not a single item had a spec of seasoning. We started with a caprese flatbread the mozzarella and tomato together had too much water which drowned out the rest of the flavors and made the bread soggy causing the dish to be undesirable. The charcuterie board was good but when we asked the waitress what certain items were she did not know and seemed appalled that we would even ask. I had to google the menu to look up what we were eating. Two of us had the seafood paella the halibut was dry, crab and lobster scattered throughout the dish was well over cooked and dry, and the scallops were chewy, I’m not sure if this dish is baked prior to customers receiving it but the rim of rice was hard making the rice undesirable due to getting raw pieces in every other bite. Nothing in this dish was seasoned, we had to ask for salt. My boyfriend got the rib eye we were NOT told it was $13 extra to add 5 pieces of shrimp to his dish. His dish came with asparagus which were NOT cooked, and again there was no seasoning on anything. My friend got the Mac-n-cheese which came out as a child’s sized portion which he said was good, but was unable to eat the biscuits that came with it because they were hard as rocks (yes he knocked them one the table to prove this to us and the waitress who did nothing but walk away). Once the check came we realized the extra charges, couldn’t do anything about it but then I was over charged $29 which is exactly what they have at the bottom of my receipt for a recommended 30% tip. No I did not leave a tip on the receipt we left cash. I’m still waiting for this to be fixed and hoping it’s just my bank putting the extra hold on my account. This was a surprise outing for my boyfriends birthday and I was embarrassed and disappointed with this experience. I will never recommend this dinner or be back, not worth the nearly $200 for two...