Lisabella's Bistro and Bar — Restaurant in Port Aransas

I took my husband and 3 teens here for dinner for my husband's birthday. I called for reservations early afternoon on a Tuesday and they were able to accommodate us that evening. I actually chose this restaurant as my husband's favorite meal is scallops and carrot cake for dessert, which the online menu shows they offer. Unfortunately, they were out of scallops and had since replaced the carrot ginger cake for key lime pie. :(. Well, the alternatives did not disappoint and we were able to laugh about it.

Our server was sweet and wonderful but the service itself was quite slow. We waited quite some time for drink orders, so long that we ended up ordering our drinks, app and dinners all at the same time. The tables that we saw were motly full when we arrived and we had to wait as they prepared our reserved table.

For food, we had the Texas Chevre as an app (wonderful), Wild Jumbo Gulf Shrimp, Airline Chicken, Red Snapper, the Filet and a Caesar salad. Everything was exceptional except too much dressing on the salad so maybe ask for it on the side. Airline Chicken was exquisite and my husband forgot about scallops, because his favorite side is risotto with which this came. The Gulf Shrimp were cooked to perfection and it were so light but flavorful, perfectly paired with spinach and pasta. The red snapper was gone in seconds so not sure how that tasted, and the steak was cooked to perfection. The Hallelujah Chocolate cake a la mode and the Key Lime pie were to die for. The quantities were perfect for most of us, with one of my teens commenting he is more about quantity than quality so we all shared ours with him. Afterwards, everyone was talking about how wonderful the meals were and how they appreciated the flavors when they actually slowed down.

We splurged and knew the prices going in so it wasn't a shock. It is expensive, but the flavors are worth it. We tried to rationalize with our kids the $12 added cost for a shared plate, the credit card surcharge, and various other add-on charges. I just said, running a business is hard, especially a food service business.

The online menu needs updating (offerings and prices), there are opportunities for improving the service time, but overall, this is the best food I have had in the...

I was so excited to visit this restaurant. The food sounded wonderful online. I wish I had done more research on reviews. As I am now finding subpar reviews. Check out Trip Advisor. We reserved for two people. When we got there we were asked to be seated at a two top right next to the hostess stand, with a wood screen between us. I asked to be moved to a four top next to this table in a nice corner that was close. Hostess said no. Asked for outside and again no. After finishing dinner the corner top was never taken and the whole place was mostly open. Asked our server for the manager and was told he had left already. Told our server our complaint and his response was they don’t want to stack tables too close. “You might end up next to loud kids” Had to keep my poker face as we were next to loud kids. We were sandwiched between a loud family and the front door hostess station. While all this was going on I was hopeful food would be good. My husband did like his Chilean Bass and would have it again. I had the Seafood de Mar. It was not rememberable and was missing seafood listed in the description. This place is pretty proud of itself and I am not sure why. Bland food and horrible customer service. My family is from the industry. I’ve never heard of a restaurant open for dinner service without a manager on site. And certainly expected some sort of customer service....

We had exceptional food served to us but absolutely terrible service! I have been a few times as a party of two and really enjoyed the experience. However, for my bday I wanted all of my friends to get to experience a place they’ve never been before! We did have a party of 10 & as a reservation they warned us we couldn’t split the checks if it was too busy, but when it was time for us to check out with our server (10:15pm) there was no one else left in the restaurant and they still wouldn’t split our checks making it very awkward for a kosher group of friends. The place has exceptional food but we had a really bad experience outside w/ waitstaff first starting with our bar drinks coming out in different size ounce glasses for the same cost, a significant long wait for food and a long wait for our check. We all understand not splitting checks when the restaurant is busy but we were the only table left and it could’ve easily been split. I’m so embarrassed for trying to bring 9 of my friends to a place they’ve never been before when I thought it was such a great place hoping it’d become a new favorite for my friends too. Unfortunately not because of the quality of the food but because of the service did our party’s service actually really suck. No matter how wonderful Their carrot cake is, I will not be back after that...