45 Bistro — Restaurant in Savannah

If you like to be lied to and mistreated…. This is the pace for you!!!

We were celebrating my husband’s birthday and were looking for an elegant, romantic restaurant to celebrate. We stopped in 45 Bistro in the early afternoon to see if reservations were available for that evening. They were closed, but the manager was there and motioned us to come around to the back so that we could talk to him. We went in and asked him about reservations for that night. He said that he had 6:00 reservation for the dining room available, took our name and phone number and even showed us the table that we would be sitting at. I told him that the table was fine and I was looking forward to dinner. We thanked him and left.

A few hours later we got all dressed up and took an Uber to 45 Bistro. We walked in about ten minutes early. The dining room was empty. The same manager told us to sit at the bar because our table wasn’t ready. He said that he would come and get us when it was ready. We ordered a drink and waited a while. During this time he seated several couples in the dining room. Since about a half an hour had passed, my husband kept trying to get his attention and every time he would just look away or walk away. We waited some more and tried again to get his attention and he would just ignore us.

Finally, we went up to a woman who happened to be the assistant manager. We asked the assistant manager if our table was ready. She got a strange look on her face and said “actually you don’t have a table tonight“. She said that earlier A couple had called and canceled their reservations for 6 o’clock. We were given their canceled spot for dinner when the six o’clock spot opened up. The couple that canceled, then decided at the last minute that they were going to come anyway for dinner after they called and canceled. Since they showed up, she said that there would be no table available for us. She said she had to give the table to them because it was their anniversary. She said that we could stay in the bar area if we wanted.

I didn’t get all dressed up for a romantic evening to sit at a bar but by then, it was way too late to find a restaurant with a regular table and romantic atmosphere that we wanted for the evening. I also went and took a peek in the dining room after we had been there for 45 minutes and the table that was promised to us was still empty. I asked the Assistant manager, why that table was empty that we were promised. She said “I don’t know maybe the couple didn’t show up after all” We stayed. I was very disappointed. I had gotten dressed up and was looking forward to an awesome evening.

I believe the situation was handled all wrong. Why would they let a couple cancel and then give the reservation away to us and then give it back to them when they just show up. They had our phone number. Why didn’t they call us and tell us that we were no longer welcome so we could make other plans? Why was the table that they promised us still empty? I feel there is something more to this that they are not telling us. I do not like to be treated this way and will never return.

By the way, the food was not good either. I ordered a Romain lettuce salad with shrimp. The lettuce tasted like chemicals and the shrimp was obviously reheated from the refrigerator. It was rubbery and chewy. I could eat about a third of the salad and gave up because it was inedible. My husband fish was about the size of a half a deck of cards. Completely disappointing evening and we will...

UPDATE: 2 hours after this review, I got a call from hotel staff saying they were so very sorry for our experience; the restaurant had called over to tell them to give us a call. We were offered a bottle of Prosecco. The manager herself from 45 Bistro came to give it to us. She was SUPER apologetic and sweet. I didn’t write this review to get anything for free; just to let them know that there needs to be better communication about their affiliation with the Marshall House. But, I am changing my review to 5 stars because even though our experience wasn’t great, the time and care from management to make up for the situation was nice; and my husband and I will be back to 45 Bistro in the future :) She explained that the staff was given more training on their affiliation with the hotel.

I have NEVER in my life been treated so badly by waitstaff. We are staying at the Marshall House, and we were told we could charge our meal to our room. Keep in mind on the Marshall House website it lists 45 Bistro as their restaurant. When it came time to pay, we said we would like to charge it to our room and the waiter immediately got an attitude and claimed that they weren’t affiliated AT ALL with the Marshall House. I then politely said that we were told by the front desk that we could. He stormed off and said he would ask a manager. He came back with a form that they use for that, and he claimed he didn’t know they did that, then doubled down that they weren’t affiliated AT ALL with Marshall House. We filled out the form, tipped him 20%, and left. We decided to go back the next night since it was conveniently attached to our hotel, and we enjoyed it the night before. When we walked in, a woman rudely said “weren’t you here last night??” We said yes then she proceeded to randomly say “we aren’t affiliated with the Marshall House” um ok. I’m not sure why that’s an issue, but we sat down. She then proceeded to be VERY rude the entire time; she SLUNG the bread and pesto on the table and was extremely nasty in her tone. When it came time to pay, she said “I already told my manager you are here.” Then she said in a condescending tone “I always like to pay with my food with cash.” She brought the form, and even though she was a terrible waitress, we still tipped her 20%. She then proceeded to get rude about why people think they are affiliated with Marshall House, and I told her the website even called it “their” restaurant. She then said “WELL I DONT KNOW WHY!!” Why does it matter if we charge it to the room?? They were still paid. WILL...

When we walked up and asked for table, we were immediately told there weren't any tables. Then I said we had a reservation, which was met with an "oh! sorry!" Yeah, you should've asked. It just felt rude, like, are we not the clientele you want in your restaurant? We came a few minutes before our reservation time and our table wasn't ready which was understandable. But then our table wasn't ready until 10 minutes after our reservation time & there were two groups that were sat while we waited 15 minutes.

The rest of the service was good though. Our drinks were never empty & our waitress was nice. The atmosphere was cool, I liked the lighting and the decor, but it was just a little too loud inside. I think there are too many tables so its a little crowded. Way too many people inside and way too much loud conversation. The food was amazing! We got the tuna tostada to start, it was crunchy, creamy, so flavorful, and the fish was good quality. I ordered the filet mignon and my dinner partner ordered the salmon. The filet mignon came with gorgonzola, which complimented the pepper crusted steak really well. The steak was done exactly how I wanted, medium rare, the inside so tender and juicy and the crust outside was so crisp and crunchy from the peppercorn. The steak also came with fries and honey mustard which were great, fries were crispy but soft inside and really hot and fresh and the honey mustard was nice palate cleanser in between bites of blue cheese and steak. The sweetness went so well with the strong flavor of the cheese. My dinner partner also really...