The Bistro — Restaurant in Tarpon Springs

Getting familiar with Tarpon Springs I found the Bistro online and decided to give it a try. I was really looking forward to the Carmella pasta from the description and reviews.

Maybe my preconceived perception is to blame but I thought the Bistro was going to be on the higher end of quality and taste and not a run of the mill restaurant. Upon sitting, getting a feel for the ambience, being handed paper napkins and a hodgepodge menu the screams confused about a niche (is it pizza, Italian, Mediterranean) I had a feeling it was a place that the menu descriptors sound amazing but the food does not match. Yet I held out hope.

I ordered my happy hour $4 house wine and enjoyed the calm night out looking forward to a plate loaded with guilt and calories.

First came the salad. A spring mix with a couple of cucumbers and a cup of garbonzo beans on top. Not a fan. Lacked all flavor Didn’t eat it. My server was kind enough to say “you didn’t like it” I replied not really but that’s ok.

Soon the pasta came and immediately it was a Gordon Ramsey nightmare with sprinkled parsley all around the plate. This is an absolute no no and screams Applebees.

Now here is where the biggest problem is. The flavor was a huge miss! The description is cheese filled purses of pasta with a Gorgonzola cream sauce and caramelized pears. That sounds delicious, right? Well it could be if it was done right. I had something similar at an Italian restaurant in Tampa that was amazing. What I received was yes pasta filled with some type of cheese, an overpowering sauce and chunks of brown pears strewn about that had zero flavor. My suggestion would be nix the parsley, make the filling a mixture of Gorgonzola , cream sauce and a flavorful candied pear compote giving it a tart and sweet combo, and more cream and butter to the sauce so it’s not too pungent tasting. Currently this is a miss with both presentation and flavor and the pear component missing the boat entirely. All of that for $23! Kind of high for pasta. I did not finish my dinner but I also didn’t say anything else about it which I wished I had. It was an overall expensive dinner for not eating it.

My dinner companion ordered the pizza. The flavor was actually good. But the crust was like cardboard.

I do wish the restaurant success but I think it will take a lot of improvement to receive more than 3 stars

I will continue to look for a great spot in tarpon springs. Unfortunately the Bistro won’t be on my...

Let me start by saying that I do not have hospitality experience however I opened up one of the best 5 star steakhouses in Westchester County New York many years ago. Bottom line was the service and expectations of my customers were always met… never argued with. Service, service, service.

I went to dinner here with two Professional Chefs and a friend. There were a myriad of issues starting with the volume in the main Room of the restaurant… several large parties and it was loud, no buffering in the room. We had the best server Terika! She salvaged the experience. We were sitting at a table in an aisle and I will tell you that no less than 5 trays flew over my head full of food… literally a foot and a 1/2 above my head and I freaked out. I went to the manager and stated he needs to correct and coach the wait staff to not carry trays over client's heads. The manager said service isles were narrow. Do what, teach proper service methods to staff. In addition, the water and soda at the restaurant taste like the horrible water from Tarpon Springs. I suggested they put a filter system in the house… the snippy little manager name Jason was condescending and a jerk. He gave me some BS excuse about the pipes being old. Having been a home builder, I know a double reverse osmosis system takes care of 98% of that. Food was not salted… 3 other people at the table one had pesto sauce with no parmesean in it the base of the sauce… Oso Buco was not so good, lacked flavor and then the last pasta dish lacked flavor and salt. Overall, as a gourmet chef and the two PROFESSIONAL chefs at table gave the food a 3... Again our server and the hostess we professional and lovely. Manager Jason was a bonafide Jerk and has no manners. In addition, I place an online request for call from ownership and No Response. Unacceptable. My Suggestion....skip this mediocre meal and go across the street to Currants! The pen is mightier than the sword. My reviews have received over...

An amazingly good experience! Was there for Valentine's Day dinner, and it was the best holiday type meal experience I can remember. When we arrived a few minutes early the young woman working checkin, who could not have been nicer, said our table would be ready in a few minutes, but she could sit us at a high top table right then if we wanted. I love high top tables, so off to a great start. First thing I noticed is that they had a huge staff working that night and they all seemed to be in a great mood. Our waiter, Lars (sp?), who was awesome, was at our table immediately with waters, love not having to ask for that, and menus. He dropped by a few minutes later for our drink orders, and dropped by just the right amount of times throughout the night. The menu was more limited than their regular menu, which makes sense with the huge crowd they were trying to please, but what I really appreciated was that the pricing was about the same as normal and you could still pick how many courses you wanted. Had the exact opposite experience at another Tarpon restaurant last year. Now, on to the best part, the food. My wife had the gnocchi with shrimp. She said it was incredible and she could tell from the first taste that it was homemade. I had the same experience with the lasagna. The pasta had to be made there, as it seemed to melt in my mouth. Definitely the best lasagna I have had in the area. My wife loved her caesar salad and my Louisiana crab cake appetizer was delicious. The owner of the restaurant dropped by the table, and was very gracious in deflecting the quality of the evening onto his staff. So, as I mentioned to my wife, that night the Bistro moved up to the top of my list of where we will be taking our friends and children when they visit,...