Flavor 91 Bistro — Restaurant in Whitehall

I really, really wanted to love this place. Aside from the farm to table aspect, the fact that it's also family owned and operated gives one multiple warm and fuzzies. From giving you their names and asking yours as well as giving one a spiel about the place, it makes it all that much more difficult to write this review.

This place was packed on a Thursday night. Packed. A family had decided to hold a birthday party there, so there were a minimum of eight tables full of birthday partying people. There were others, though, as well, resulting in pretty much a full house.

Now this isn't what bothered me. (And, in fact, the hosts' accommodation of the party-goers, who appeared not to have made reservations so the restaurant could set up properly, was superb.) Instead, it was having only three people waiting on a horde. We were not checked up on to include asking whether we needed additional beverages or whether we needed anything additional for the food. And because there was not one server, but, instead all three, sometimes one would have to repeat the request at least twice before it was resolved.

I got the lamb burger. While it was very good quality lamb, whatever was on it was so spicy (to me; I'm a spice wimp), it was almost inedible. It was also rather bland, otherwise. I needed to dowse it with ketchup and ranch dressing before I could eat it. Plus, my sweet potato fries were quite cool, except for a big one (these are hand cut!) and they lacked the right combination of seasoning. Still, being fresh, they could be eaten out of hand.

Hubby got the Flavor burger, which was so hot even he couldn't finish it. Since he liked the chili sample (which was excellent, but waaay too hot for me), this was surprising. His hand cut fries were some of the best I've ever eaten, perfectly seasoned with absolutely no need for ketchup or anything, but they, too, were not all that warm (although warmer than my sweet potato ones).

We also got the Ethiopian wings, which were piping hot and were obviously a family recipe. Sadly, they were too spicy for me.

The jalapeno poppers, though, we're delightful. Also a family recipe breading, the seasoning was not such that one could not eat out of hand, but went very well with the ranch dressing. With the fries, the highlight of the meal.

But speaking of fries, one of the appetizers was supposed to come with an order of fries, to, but there were none.

The space itself is not bad and the booth we sat at was cozy. But it was a bit chilly, and there appeared to be no hot drink options.

Thursday night is trivia night. It's a nice concept - and free - but the set up between rounds seems interminable. Also, when people arrived, they didn't seem to be given the option of joining, and people who left didn't have their buzzers collected.

With prices approaching that of Thurman Café, which is closer, we'll probably stick with that when we're craving a burger fix.

With all that said, I'm happy this restaurant has a following and send wishes for its...

We decided to try this restaurant for a team outing. We made reservations thinking the place would be packed during lunch, but it was fairly empty. Although I appreciate the farm to table concept and love supporting small minority owned businesses, I was a bit disappointed with service, drink and food quality. Our server was nice and respectful, which is why I have the extra star. The root beer was flat, and the ginger lemonade tasted artificial. If a restaurant is looking to be successful during lunch, food preparation needs to be faster considering most lunches are thirty to sixty minutes. We had a party of about eight people, which taxed an automatic 20% gratuity on our lunch tab. That's a new one for me during lunch and that wasn't conveyed when I made reservations, but whatever. I tip on service and I'll be honest with you, it took 20-40 minutes to get our food. We were told made to order, but.... That doesn't excuse the time frame. I ordered the plain patty with sweet potato fries. The fries were burnt and dry, and the quantity was small. I may have received about 20 fries with only 8-10 that I deemed good enough to eat. I ordered my burger without onion... It came with onion. A couple of our party's orders were incorrect and it took an additional ten minutes to get the meals corrected. The burger was quite flavorful. It seemed to have Mediterranean spices, tasted close to a gyro. I was disappointed that it sat under a heart lamp and the texture was dry to be medium cooked. This place definitely has potential. I would advise them to reconsider having lunch hours. Most restaurants lose money during lunch and I think a food truck lunch may be a better fit for them. They could maintain the farm to table concept (i forgot to ask which local farms they are affiliated with), as well as made to order. Keeping a full running restaurant be eventually strain the business. I wish them all the best, but this was my first and probably last time... For lunch. I'll try them again for dinner...

Can you say HOT MESS! First of all it's not "fat ppl" friendly! The bootleg booth was falling apart every time I moved an inch I had to keep fixing the seat. The place was packed so no other seats were available. I went for the first time (Easter weekend) they had some type of spoken word thing going on that was the only good part! The service was TERRIBLE the people that came in AFTER us was able to place their orders before us and received their drinks and we was still waiting for menus. The staff seems young with not too many manners, I'm not going to say they were rude but just not mannered enough. However the owner was nice she was not eating her own restaurant's food though. When the waitresses finally decided to take our orders we received our food before our drinks (water) keep in mind we sat right next to the bar, right next to the couple that came in after us. By the time our food came they was getting their check. The food was ok the wings were small and 12$ for a ten peice the wings should have been a better size! The paper towels in the bathroom was not in a dispenser it was a white roll of bounty sitting in a pink tub ( the tub had water in the bottom so of course the paper towels was wet) My sister and brother ended up getting really sick we could not enjoy the rest of our Easter weekend. So that's why I decided to write this review. I love wings but they need to get it together. I believe better management and well trained employees and cooks will make this place a success but until then there is no way I'll reccomend this...