St Helena Bistro California cuisine — Restaurant in St. Helena

Bizarre & disrespectful experience. Food ok. Let me start first by saying that we have been coming to this place a couple of times and it was always fine. Food is ok and staff was fine. Outdoor seating is nice in summer. Nothing super special but ok for a roadside lunch after a daytrip in the area. However we won't ever be coming back since they made very clear that they don't appreciate our business.

What happened? To be honest we don't really know but when we came in this time we greeted the main guy and he sat us down. After sitting down, I turned my head after he had returned to the bar to his colleagues and I saw him giving us an extremely nasty look. I thought to myself "I Hope this is not gonna be one of these soup spitting experiences". I forgot about it until the food came.

The times we were there before the portions were well sized and appropriate for american bar food (burgers, tacos, fish'nchips etc). Not this time. They gave me 4 tiny fish sticks and a mere handful of fries as a main course for the fish'n chips. I had fish'n'chips before there and they always were a large bucket full of fish and almost too much fries. Not this time. Now please know that I never complain about food sizes until this moment and I'm not one of these "never get enough types". This time it was just too obvious that sth was not right. Even the guys at the neighboring table saw that and also started talking about the small portion. Astonished about this I called the waiter and asked if they changed the portion size or their restaurant concept and what happened? He just said he'll inquire but never came back. He didn't try to fix it or anything. He then just very obviously kept ignoring us.

After that I signaled for the cheque since it was very clear they did not want to have us in their business for whatever reason. Keep in mind no attitude or bad words or anything had been uttered from our side. Just astonishment about how bizarre the behaviour was.

When handing out the cheque he then pro-forma asked if everything was ok. I said that we had been coming there several times and never had any issues but that they made it very clear that they don't want us there. I said I found it all very odd given the fact that we always left a well sized tip and we were never disrespectful or anything. His face had the same weird hateful look and he didn't even try to conceal it. He didn't charge us for the fish'n'chips in the end but we certainly won't be coming back.

I'm still wondering what is wrong with these people and I can only say it was completely unwarranted...

They hit many of my personal wants in a restaurant: well-prepared food, reasonable prices, appetizing menu offerings, good service, and a touch of tasteful elegance with tablecloths, cloth napkins, and quality silverware. They have indoor and outdoor seating. We sat outdoors. The bread had a delicate crust and thick slabs of fresh butter. We started with the chicken tortilla soup. It was fresh and flavorful, though slightly watery. I had the salmon and shrimp with tomatoes and mashed potatoes. The salmon had a delightful crisp surface while preserving its inner moistness. The shrimp tasted good. The potatoes had been mashed by hand, preserving some texture and chunks, which I enjoyed. The chef pays...

El peor lugar para comer y NO por su comida , sino la pésima atención de los meseros , al llegar al lugar de entrada nos abordo un mesero que literalmente nos cayó la boca y dijo que esperamos aunque ya sabíamos que íbamos a pedir ,nos dejó en la parte de afuera con calor y el sol en su máxima expresión, nos sentamos y no tuvieron la intención de abrir unas sombrillas para evitar el fuerte sol ,llegó otro mesero después de 5min de espera bajo el sol tomo el pedido pero en su falta de tacto nos pregunta literalmente "van a pedir algo más que agua" ...wtf 😒 intentamos hacer caso omiso a ese comentario y pedimos igual la comida pero a su vez le pedimos que si podían abrir la sombrilla por el sol y respondio " mucho sol ?..en un momento se las abro.." literalmente contabilizado tardo 5min mas para volver con dos limonadas sin la comida y con una pesima actitud para abrir las sombrillas lo cual termino haciendo de malas ;pero lo hizo , luego le pedimos que como tenian dos mesas dentro disponibles que si podiamos entrar ya que igual la comida ya estaba por estar lista,el mesero accedió y nos sento dentro ,cuando creemos que todo iba a mejorar llega nuevamente el mesero principal y nos dice " como ustedes escogieron la mesa de afuera con el sol deben volver a ella ya que en un momento haré una llamada para unas personas que están esperando venir a comer y ocupar las mesas " (en vez de servir la comida que ya estaba lista ,esperar que terminemos rápido ya que eran solo 4 hamburguesas y así hacer el tiempo perfecto para que llegaran las personas que "iban a venir " literal decidió sacarnos a la mesa de afuera) por ende decidimos retirarnos sin si quiera probar nada del lugar ...pero ahora la pregunta es si la atención es asi de mala que se puede llegar a esperar de su comida ...ya que no mentire pero con la pesima actitud que tenian llegue a pensar que mi comida podria...