Northside Bistro Raleigh — Restaurant in Raleigh

Northside Bistro and Cocktails is a new establishment located in the heart of North Raleigh that we accidentally discovered.

What really won our hearts was when we asked if we could order from the dinner menu even though it was at lunch.

We started off with a few selections of appetizers: •The Tuba Tartar Taco -!The tuna was fresh and was tossed in a light teriyaki glaze that makes the tuna shine. The cabbage slaw is as a great pairing, as the it cleansed your palette. The crispy wontons are crunchy and pair well with the tuna. •The Italian Cheese Dip - The bread chips are crunchy and buttery, and the cheese dip is to die for. •The Charred Octopus Tostada is a very filling appetizer. The tostada is crunchy while the octopus is soft and very seasoned well. It’s garnished with fresh vegetables such as tomatoes and avocado. •The Sausage Mushroom Caps is by far the best appetizer on the menu. The sausage meatballs that is seasoned to perfection is stuffed in a mushroom cap with a rich fulfilling fontina cheese sauce. The mushrooms are juicy and soft, and the sausage filling is seasoned well and has spinach and roasted bell peppers in the cheese sauce. •Sy’s Steak Tartar - Chopped beef tenderloin seasoned with bistro steak sauce with homemade salt and vinegar potato chips, toasted garlic toast and baby arugula.

Dinner selections include the following recommendations:

The Scallop and Shrimp Etouffe - The scallops and shrimp are cooked in a gravy, Louisiana Cajun style tomato sauce that’s over mashed polenta (a mashed potato flavor). The Cajun sauce had a nice kick with the bell peppers and sausages.

The Cedar Plank Salmon -The salmon is cooked to perfection. It was soft and flaky, and melts in your mouth as you took a bite. The potatoes were perfectly seasoned as it were charred on the outside and soft on the inside. Overall, it was an outstanding dish that had many different flavors.

Northside Bistro’s savory, puff pastry and service elements come together in one superb speciality, and that's the Beef Wellington. Tender hand cut Filet Mignon cooked to order all encased in a magnificent, golden pastry shell. This specialty is served with truffled duchesse potatoes and roasted rainbow carrots topped with a truffle cream sauce. I've never had a better version of this dish, as my Beef Wellington temperature was roasted just right.

Hashtag Tuna - seared Sashimi grade yellow fin Tuna with a teriyaki and ginger glaze served with a crispy seasoned rice cake that’s garnished with crispy broccoli.

Homemade Fresh Pappardelle Bolognese is made with fresh tomato sauce. The pasta noodles was cooked just right.

Potato Gnocchi and Beef Tenderloin was my 2nd favorite dish that Northside Bistro.

Wagyu Beef is available, sourced from Japan with authentication. Thank you Chef John for this special treat. The wagyu beef is a must try that’s available in 2 ounces, 4, 6, or 8. oz.

Desserts: •Chocolate Chess Pie - This decadent dessert is perfect for chocolate lovers. •The Creme Brûlée is a good dessert to end off your meal. It’s not overpowering or overly sweet. The creme has a nice sweet vanilla taste that has charred sugar on top. The cream is creamy and light. The tangy and sweet strawberries and blackberries cuts the creaminess from the creme.

The first experience was spectacular, I made reservations that following Wednesday night for my birthday celebration. The staff took care of me and my friends. Everyone truly enjoyed their first...

I made reservations over a week in advance for a party of 11--my fiancé's birthday was the following Saturday, and I knew he was looking forward to trying this new, highly-rated restaurant. As a local business owner, he always looks to support Raleigh restaurants when we go out to dinner. We had a mix-up when I called the Tuesday before our reservation, and apparently whoever took my reservation the week prior had, in fact, not taken my reservation. The woman I spoke to arranged to have us seated at our original time, and I had my misgivings considering they had to "squeeze us in" despite my having made a reservation.

When we arrived at the restaurant, it was almost as if we were some kind of odd zoo attraction.

I feel like it's important to mention at this time that there was nary a brown person to be seen in the establishment, and everyone in our party is Black (with money just as green).

Patrons were staring, and we were unceremoniously greeted by staff, "How many." It was really like The Help had the audacity to walk in the front door and eat like Regular Folk instead of taking the back door Where We Belong.

Obviously, this didn't feel very celebratory or even friendly, considering the occasion.

Once our table was ready for us (we were a few minutes early for our reservation), we were sat without preamble. The young man, Justin, who we would eventually discover to be our server, neither welcomed us nor introduced himself. We had been sat in the dead center of the restaurant at a high-top table (near inaccessible for my grandmother-in-law), where patrons continued to glance our way. As we perused the menu and waited for the rest of our party to arrive, we felt increasingly uncomfortable with the environment. We felt unnoticed by our server, or by any other staff member, and OVER-noticed by the customers.

It was disappointing to feel so uncomfortable and unwelcome, and like we'd been wedged in between "more important" customers with where we were seated. I had hoped that our server would greet us, as is customary, and help us get settled with the menu but we were met with no such reception.

Seeing as it was starting to feel like we'd intruded on a very Nice, Polite, Proper Tea Party to which we were not invited, we opted to leave altogether. Cape Fear Seafood was more than happy to accommodate us. When we let our server know we would not be dining with them that evening, and described the uncomfortable and haughty atmosphere, he seemed unconcerned. He made no move to rectify the situation, apologize, or even reach a greater understanding about our experience.

We were thoroughly looking forward to giving our business to Northside. But given the level of uninterest from the staff, even after expressing our concerns, I'd be unwilling to recommend this restaurant or consider it for future...

I want to give this place a 5 star review because the food is worthy of it, however I cannot because I've dined here three times in the last year and had a service issue each time. I kept saying let's try again because food was amazing but now that I've been three times I must leave a review.

April of 2023 my husband and I came to celebrate my birthday. Wrong appetizer brought out (not what we ordered) and was then charged (we were comped eventually when we bought it up) and our Beef Wellington was overdone to a well done (our fault because waiter never asked for our preference, I acknowledge that). No biggie though still edible and overall enjoyable experience. As such we decided to try again.

December 2023 came with my girlfriend to celebrate Christmas. About 30-45 minutes in, the hostess came over to our table, even though we already ordered two drinks with our fantastic waitress, the hostess asked us if we were ready to order.... She then prompted us that we needed to order because our table was reserved for another party in about an hour. My girlfriend and I were flabbergasted, I've never been told something like that and certainly not at a fine dining establishment. We felt rushed and uncomfortable the rest of the night, like our business wasn't important and we needed to quickly eat and go because of other patrons. Even though our bill was $150+ I decided maybe it was Christmas rush issue and again gave it another shot.

Feb 2024. My husband and I came to eat dinner for a date night, we had a 6pm reservation. We were sat at a high top table by the bar and my husband asked if we could move to a more intimate table nearby in a cozier setting. When he asked we were given the table and grateful we were but he was told that the table was reserved for a 8pm. I believe by the same individual who did this in December with me and my girlfriend. It was 5:58pm mind you. Again I was flabbergasted on why we were being rushed and told about the next time table at 8pm. Again we dropped $200 dollars on dinner and we were done by 7:15pm.

It is such a shame about the hostess reservation situation because the food is mouthwatering, so good and the drinks are fantastic!! The waiter we had was wonderful tonight but the hostess situation of telling people when other reservations are coming is rude and honestly not good business practice. I've really never experienced that before and now have experienced it twice here (Dec and Feb). My husband and I live 5 mins up the road and would choose this place over and over if we could to celebrate because again chefs kiss to the food, it's incredible! However, the hostess situation is...