The Wine Bistro — Restaurant in Upper Arlington

Had a reservation here and asked if we could sit outside. I noticed several tables open on the way in and the hostess said that they were all reserved without a second thought or attempt to accommodate the request. She sat us inside and brought out plates and water. One plate had visible debris and a small dead fly. I should have taken a photo as it was as clear as day and there was no excuse this was brought out, especially since it was the top plate. We told the hostess about the plate with the fly and she took it away without even an apology or offer to make up for it. After she left we noticed how dirty the other plates were. The other plates had greasy finger marks and one with some crusty stuff. Not one plate looked like it had been properly cleaned. I am not a picky person but it made me loose my appetite. At this point the experience was soured and we got up and told the hostess the plates were all dirty and that we were leaving and expressed that we were also not pleased she had not sat us outside when we requested it despite several open tables (this was a Tuesday, not a weekend). She just kept repeating that the tables were reserved and essentially saying bye in a rude manner and did not at all apologize. We went down the street and ate at Local Cantina and had a good experience and got the open air experience without a wait or rude staff. On our way back to our car about an hour later (we have a five year old so we don’t linger) we walked by Wine Bistro and two outside tables remained open (one was the same open table as before). We used to have high regard for this place but won’t be back due to this bad experience on multiple fronts. I usually praise places rather than write negative reviews, but this was so bad I felt it was appropriate. Maybe it will prompt them to evaluate and train their...

Was wanting a nice dinner, and reserved ahead of time. The site and reviews made me think it was of good quality. When we arrived, the prices made me think "huh, MUST be great quality!" but we were utterly disappointed with the complete lack of seasoning on both the beef short ribs (which... had no rib?) and the chicken saltimbocca. The "ribs"--just one circle of meat which was flavourless and dry, even after dunking it in anything around it that I could. The chicken has no seasoning, I guess they assumed the prosciutto would provide that? It was also a gummy texture. There wasn't even salt anywhere to be seen in either dish. The chop chop side salad was good, but the ceasar salad was dry, the croutons too hard and again.... no seasoning? Parm doesn't cover it all my dudes.

For our starter, we picked the braised veal meatball. It's a shame for meat so delicate to be used in such an underwhelming way.

I could tell that each of these dishes were prepepared and microwaved, if not from frozen. Nothing tasted fresh, and everything came out in a suspiciously short amount of time. I appreciate when servers are quick, but a plate of meat that costs $30+ should take more than 5 minutes to prepare.

I have also never seen a restaurant with servers crowded around the front table chatting away while another is sitting alone on the side with airpods in not interacting with anyone at all. The two servers doing any work seemed like they were aimlessly walking around until someone caught their attention.

While our server wasn't necessarily bad, there was almost no communication throughout our time. I have never wanted to leave from a restaurant so soon, especially not one I have paid over 100 dollars to be at.

While the presention was... well... they tried..., the taste and...

OH NO! WHAT HAPPENED??? There is nothing I loathe more then spending good money for bad food. We have been here twice before with good experiences but its been several years. Cheese board was good and the french onion soup was delicious. Entrees were inedible, my husband had the short rib...bland..rissotto clumpy and cold, i had the oven fried penne...chicken was chewy and dry, the "italian sausage was precooked prepackaged ..cold links that you'd buy at kroger or something cut up in little pieces. There was little to zero sauce.. i thought it was supposed to be red sauce but there wasnt any,there was supposed to be sundried tomatoes...nope.. . ZERO salt an pepper was used in preparing our meals. BLAND as you could get as well as poorly execxuted. Im SHOCKED at how bad it was. Got a lot a nerve asking OVER $20 bucks a plate(total bill $134.00) with food that was obviously preprepared..badly..then microwaved??(thats what it tasted like). My husband saw someone in the kitchen sampling the whip cream directly from the canister into his mouth😳..we didn't order dessert🤣.Service was mediocre.. But they were pretty busy so I was all right with that. Typically I get a little more personal attention asking me if id like a bottle of wine I might want and What would pair with our food well but maybe they know their food is s* so they don't bother with the expensive wine??? My hudband came home and ate a bologna sanwhich, guess ill just starve. There are waaay to many good resturants in columbus to waste your money here...GO ELSEWHERE(like anywhere...