CreoLa Bistro — Restaurant in San Carlos

The restaurant is calm and pretty. The music invites you to stay a while, and there is a lot of pleasant sunlight in the early evening.

I did the restaurant week menu, which had four courses with nice variety and generous portions.

The corn hush puppies were crispy on the outside and slightly sweet with a mayonnaise-based sauce - they were a little too dense compared to light and fluffy fritters I have had in the past. It almost felt wrong to be eating them with a fork and knife on a nice plate because they’re typically served in such casual settings.

The pear salad was refreshing but fell short for a few reasons. It’s always a pleasure to have butter lettuce, but this was cut quite largely so it was hard to eat. The lavender vinaigrette was not at all floral and I couldn’t find any lavender. But the toppings are what I found most disappointing. The pecans seemed like they had be in the fridge a long time - chewy and kind of wet - not toasted as described. And the pears were cold, which was kind of sad because roasted pears are so delightful when they are warm. Their thyme flavor was very strong, so it almost tasted like anise.

The fried chicken was lovely and great with their hot sauce (definitely ask for it!) It was hot, crispy, and tender, perfectly cooked. The green beans were flavorful and not overdone like many southern places, with a healthy amount of garlic. And the mashed potatoes were perfectly creamy. The cornbread was a little bland - serving it with butter and spiced honey would have been awesome.

I did not really like the bread pudding because it was so eggy it was like a sweet quiche. It didn’t really let the bread shine, and lacked the spices and buttery richness that good bread puddings have. The white chocolate sauce was very one dimensional - none of the delicious toffee, brandy or chocolate flavors that typically pair so well with a warm, rich pudding. I wish I had stuck with my gut for the beignets - part of me wanted to ask for the salted caramel sauce from the doughnuts to try on the pudding to add some complexity.

Parking was confusing - out front is limited to an hour, and the lot surrounding the restaurant is all reserved for the place next door with intimidating tow away signs.

I sat at the bar, which I do not really recommend - there isn’t a lot of room, the kitchen isn’t much to look at, the staff talk loudly, and the order receipt printers in the kitchen are noisy which disrupted the smooth jazz vibe. The waiter was attentive but seemed a little bored, and had no helpful context or guidance when I asked him about the food - for example, he said the catfish and the chicken are both good, but the catfish is seafood and that the chicken is chicken.

I would go back to try some of the other Southern classics - it can be hard to find an oyster po boy around here - or if I wanted really satisfying food in a pleasant atmosphere...

I was born and raised in New Orleans Louisiana and I’m not a youngster. I lived from one end to the other end of Southern Louisiana through out my life. I speak Creole French fluently. I was hanging out with some of my friends and they mention this restaurant that served Louisiana food that suppose to taste really good so I had to go by and check it out. The second week of August I went to Creo la web page and read the complete history and reviews that they posted about themselves .Also to see if reservations were necessary. The site said nothing about needing a reservation, not one word. I told my girlfriend we were going out to dinner she wanted to know were I told her it was a surprise. We get to the restaurant about 4:15 pm on a Saturday. We were first meet by a young lady somewhere in her late 20’s early 30’s she looked to be from a European descent. The first thing she said “do you have a reservation” I told her there was nothing mention about needing a reservation. I look around the complete restaurant there were about 20 tables and only three were occupied. She said “I have one table but I need it back by 7:00 o’clock” she waited again and said “I have one other table but I need it back by 7:30. So she seats us at the table that she said she needed back by 7:30. All the other servers at this restaurant were great and we had no problems with them. The server’s were from European descents possible from France don’t know none were originally from Louisiana. You are not able to see into the in the kitchen. While waiting for the food to come out two were being seated by the same young lady she went to a table and the couple stopped at a different table and the couple said that they wanted to be seated at this table and not at the one she was showing. The young lady said ok, and the couple was seated at that table. What happen to the tables that had to be given to special people with no reservations? Can you tell me what’s wrong with that picture? I order $118.00 of food that included two drinks. The original New Orleans Hurricane Drink is a dark red in color not a light pink. My girlfriend order a large Gumbo she tried one spoon and she pushed it away I asked her what’s wrong she said that’s not gumbo. I tried it; it was some kind of roux with vegetables and lots of seasoning not like any gumbo I’ve every tasted before. Bottom line get reed of the girl that greats your guest and get somebody that is really from Southern New Orleans to do your cooking and not somebody from a Culinary School. One more thing just because you’re from Louisiana doesn’t mean you can cook. Lots of people from New Orleans can’t cook all that well. Folks from northern Louisiana can cook breakfast and nothing else. If you’re looking for good Cajun cooking you need to go around Lafayette Louisiana and the...

It’s an okay restaurant! The service is pretty SAD and food is ALRIGHT. I had made a 1.30pm reservation for Father’s Day lunch. We waited at the hostess booth for about 10mins before anyone could even bother to notice us. Finally got seated. Another 10mins before our server even came up to us. He wanted our order right away before even offering to pour some water. I asked him if we would get another couple of mins to decided on our menu and he said, the kitchen is going to close so we had to order right away. My husband went up to the server right after I placed the order since he wanted to modify his order from fried chicken breast to fried chicken legs and thigh. Our server said “okay”. Our server comes back to us saying the order was already placed in the kitchen and they won’t change it and he would have to “bicker” with the cooks in order to get the order changed. My husband placed an order for 28oz mimosa while is ordered a Diet Coke (I am pregnant). Our server brings out two glasses for the mimosa. I refuse for the second glass and he double confirms with me if I wanted to pass on the glass. Lol! One last annoying thing to mention about our server was, he brought us the bill while we were still working on our dessert. I signed the bill and put it on the side while our server comes back right away and takes the bill while we were still working on our dessert. Quite rude!! Not to mention how Hot it was in the restaurant. They only had few fans going (maybe saving on electricity bill). Now moving on to the good part :) I ordered fried okra which was pretty delicious. My entree salad was quite okay. It was chopped lettuce, 7 very thin slices of reddish and 8 pieces of grilled chicken with some vinaigrette (nothing special). So overall, for the price, it’s not a bad option. But for the hype,...