Bistro Off Broad — Restaurant in Winder

As a resident of the city of Winder, typically I support small businesses. Usually, the service is neighborly, sincere, appreciative. Upon entering Bistro Off Broad, the lack of a greeting was a yellow flag. My family and I waiting nearly five minutes for the manager to finish flirting with two young women before we were acknowledged. We were never greeted but just shown a table.

Reviews indicate this restaurant is a lovely historic setting with fine farm to table dining. Partially correct. The building itself has been restored beautifully. Exposed brick work, wood beams and high ceilings are nice. The antique chandeliers are covered in chain mail for some reason. Not quite sure how that masking is supposed to enhance the dining atmosphere.

Tables and chairs are comfortable. For fine dining, tables should be draped in cloth. Instead, and perhaps this is part of the “farm” experience, the tables are covered in brown shipping paper. No crayons. But, if any were to be provided, there would most likely be an up-charge.

The cheapest item other than water any restaurant provides is bread. Bread cost almost nothing to make. Bistro Off Board charges $4.00 for “Bread Service”. And here is where the pretentiousness begins.

This place is expensive. The menu is a hot mess. The chef if just trying to make a name for himself. One dish is fried catfish served over “cheese” polenta seasoned with ancho. Come on! While on vacation in a highly desirable destination known for fine food, I dined on shrimp and goat cheese polenta drizzled with a spicy tomato reduction. I knew what I was getting. Fried catfish and polenta? Reminds me of those small trucks with monster tires that can roll over Smart cars. This dish is not inspired or fine. It is tacky. Just one example of a terrible menu.

After ordering, dinner plates were brought to the table. No one ordered an entree.

Tuesday is $1 oyster night. When asked if the oysters are served with saltines, the waitress replied, “yes”. Nope. Bistro Off Broad “saltines” are homemade overly fried stale pita bread. Imagine cutting up a shipping box and deep frying it for a few minutes. The box would be more palatable. When I asked if the fried cardboard could be substituted with something edible, I was told there was bread available...for an up-charge.

The oyster trays were brought out, but could not be set down due to the empty, ambiguous dinner plates. Before we could begin our meals, each member of or party had to hold the plates until they were collected as there was no room on the table to place them.

The oysters' sizes ranged from a US nickle to a quarter. Average warm water oysters are the size of a tablespoon. I have eaten cold water oysters that filled a shot glass. Small seems to be a theme at this place.

The manager stopped by to ask about our “complaint”. He defended the cardboard crackers as “fine” dining. I was quick to point out he has no idea what fine dining really means.

Upon receiving our bill for a party of three, a mandatory 20% gratuity for parties six and larger was added. I asked the waitress why that was included. She said they manager “made” her add it. We called him back to the table. The manager threw his waitress under the bus by saying “She makes mistakes. I’ll take care of it.” An appropriate service gratuity was left. While leaving, other guests were asked to come back, again. The manager said nothing to anyone in my family.

Bistro Off Broad is rude, over-priced, pretentious, ridiculous and dishonest. Other places close by in Winder offer local, neighborly service with excellent food. Skip Bistro Off Broad in favor of Little Italy, Friends and El Cazuelon. Blow off $1 oyster Tuesday for Taco Tuesday at El Cazuelon. They will be happy to serve you excellent food and...

Ambience is awesome, brick detail, light fixtures, and barn doors make for a beautiful space. Service was just OK, not great. Came to the restaurant 30 minutes before their dinner service with my wife, so had to wait 30 minutes to order dinner, which wasn't a problem, we just ordered starters first. We were initialy excited because we were the only customers in the entire restaurant, so we were hoping everything would be well and would get extra attention. But that wasnt the case. Started with the French onion and winter squash bisque. Both were yummy, The bisque has a tiny bit of a bite to it, so if you don't like any spice you might not like that. But I do like spice and it was very tasty. The French onion soup is very large and could substitute almost for a meal itself. Had the calamari and it was amazing, best dish of the night. Ordered the sea bass and the grouper as entrees. The grouper was one of the smallest filets I've ever had and it cost $26. I expect a bigger piece of fish for $26. The grouper was over cooked and had the texture more of chicken than fish. The saffron sauce didn't add much flavor and really wasn't needed. The mashed potatoes were tasty I would have liked them more with a different sauce that would have better complimented the dish. The sea bass was a true disappointment. The server said that it was a whole fish. My wife misunderstood thinking it would be a large filet. It was a whole fish, head and tail on. It came on a bed of badly tasting wild rice and large chunks of vidalia onion and garnished with a cold head of roasted garlic, which made no sense because I couldn't taste garlic in anything. This would be very difficult to eat for someone who doesn't know how to eat fish with bones in it. Not to mention it was not seasoned. Also ordered a side of Brussels and they were under cooked and lacked flavor. That's hard to say for anything that had bacon in it. Against my wife's advice, I still ordered a dessert to share. It was the BlackBerry cobbler this was a total fail! The sauce was soupy and the cobbler crust was more like crusted sugar. Overall, if i reluctantly ever return, it would be for the soup...

10/2024

How this place can still be horrible a year later is beyond me. These people that review this place and give it 5 stars, MUST be reviewing for the prices they paid alone. This food is terrible.

Over cooked fish, How do you over cook Trout to shoe leather? Burnt and greasy squash blossom (for the 2nd time), Gnocchi that's chewy and doused in a too rich of a sauce. And some soup like Shrimp appetizer that defies any comprehension that was flavorless.

See photo's (last 4).

8/2023

This place has recently started to let us down. High prices, meager portions of substandard fare. See Photos'.

It's edible, But just not worth the service, Money or time.

PRE 2023 review's:

We love this place. IDK, maybe our 4th or so time going there? The Chef is always inventive and thoughtful on what he puts on the menu. He seems to nail seasonal and trendy items at the same time.

This time was as good or better than the previous.... Had the bread service, PEI mussels, Ribeye steak, Chicken livers and the Carbonara pasta. Plus A few drinks each....

Man those mussels, We love what he does with them and enjoy them every time we are there. LMAO, those chicken livers... reminded me of the ones I make for myself at home, Only better. The sauce he serves with them? AND the whole presentation.... well worth the money....The wife had the pasta... I've had carbonara at numerous other places and i can say this is worth the price and then some.

IDK, bad news here... for $50 bucks? The steak just didn't seem worth it. See the photo for live perspective ... But the actual eating....It was NOT a $50 dollar steak. It had good flavor, but no real marbling or fat to make it more moist and tender. All and all, kind of a let down. And to make matters worse.. the cooks over salted and over cooked it. I realize carry over cooking and all.... this was not that by any stretch. IDK for $50 you really do expect more.

For $190 (with tip)... worth it. Just don't get...