Bistro V — Restaurant in Vestavia Hills

Horrible experience. I left a review on their Facebook, only to be harassed by the owner and her friends. Very immature and rude. I will never be back, and I will continue telling people of my experience. My review is below: (I recently edited it, since my words didn't sit well with the owner, even though they were 100% true). I never called their employee a name, I simply described how he acted.

My mom and I just ate here for lunch today, and we are not pleased. Since Bistro V's food is expensive, we decided to just split a cheeseburger. When they brought out our food, they split our burger for us. We thought that was so kind of them, and were happy with that. The burger (which was listed as $9) was pretty good, but it wasn't much different than a Five Guy's burger. We chose to eat there because we like the bread they bring out, and the atmosphere is pleasant. When we got our ticket, I noticed that the bill was over $17. So, I looked at everything and noticed that they charged us a $3 split fee! Seriously?! So we notified the waitress, who said that it was automatically put on the ticket. We said we could have just split it ourselves, and that we are not paying a split fee. She got the manager (probably the assistant manager), and he immediately had a snobby demeanor (it was probably just his natural tone and body language; it probably wasn't directed towards us). He said, "Y'all have a complaint?" I told him that it wasn't necessarily a complaint, but that I just don't understand why I have to pay a split fee when we could have just split the burger ourselves. He said, "Well, when two people are seated at a table, and only order one meal, there's automatically a split charge." So, I said, "That's ridiculous. We could have just split it ourselves. Also, what if someone didn't want to eat?" So then he hesitates and says, "Well, we gave you more food." (I've ordered the cheeseburger before, and it was exactly the same size and came with about the same amount of fries as the last time I ordered it.) Even if they did give me extra fries, I did not ask for them, nor did I eat a single one. Why should someone pay for something they didn't ask for, or eat? They never told us beforehand that there would be a split charge. We didn't even ask them to split it for us; we just said we were going to split it. He did not apologize and he did NOT remove the fee. He made absolutely no effort to show that he is a pleasant or professional person. He took our payment and walked off. When he came back, he said, "Have a good day..." in a snarky tone. (Again, that's probably just how he acts in general.) We will not be back. It's not the fact that it was $3; it's the fact that no one should be charged a split fee, regardless, especially when the restaurant doesn't have the decency to notify the customer before the order goes through. I left my Yelp review and noticed that someone else complained about the split fee. They said that there's a split fee notification on the menu. But even still, how would anyone know to look for something like that? I've never been to a restaurant that has a split fee. It's like they were being sneaky about it; like some kind of fine print scam. It's like you can't come in and sit down in peace without looking at the menu to make sure there's not a "breathing the air" fee. I shouldn't have given a single tip, but the waitress was friendly, and it wasn't her fault for what happened. So, I left a tip, anyway.

After I posted this, the person who is in charge of the Facebook page began replying in a passive-aggressive manner. So, I emailed the owner, and her response was "Yelp about it". Then she emailed me back saying "We do not tolerate abuse from customers." Since when is a very accurate review abuse? I wish I had a copy of the email I sent her, but I sent it through the restaurant's website. But, I do have a copy of the emails she sent me. Not once did I call them names, not once did I raise my voice to them, and not once did I get an...

Kinda hard to review. This was my first time here. The service was good. No question there.

I had the scallops and grits. They tasted amazing... But the prices were insane for a lunch meal and they only serve TWO scallops and barely any grits. I mean... 5lbs of grits costs about 50 cents wholesale.

My parents got some fried shrimp and oysters and complained the entire time. It was corn meal fried, they swore it was always flour. The restaurant told them... No, they have always been corn meal. So, they hated their meal probably more out of principle than actual quality.

So the only real valid criticism I have is the quantity/price for a lunch menu.

(This place looked pretty nice too, but they had 3 or chairs that looked horrible. Major eye sores, leather torn, and peeling off. 90% of the furniture looked great, then these dumpster dives...

This was my fourth trip to Bistro V since moving to Vestavia a year ago. The other 3 trips were very satisfactory but today's experience makes me hesitate to ever return. Our drink orders were taken promptly but and that was the end of good service. We had to wait at least 15 minutes to order our food and then after we had been seated for 50 minutes, our food finally arrived. My husband got Shrimp and Grits but the grits were so runny, he had to eat them with a spoon. I ordered the Fish of the Day, which was overcooked snapper with an extremely rich sauce. Our glasses were only refilled after we requested. Everyone has an off day once in a while but I'd rather it not be on the day I am spending my money expecting good food and service!...