Bistro 103

Beautiful restaurant, beautiful presentation, nice enough server, crazy bland food, crazy over priced for how bland the food was. Don’t get the house dressing on your salad. … it tasted like nothing. The comeback sauce is nothing to comeback for. The grilled cheese was decent but hard to screw that up. The fries were so oily and awful, the onion soup tasted like warm rosemary water. … it was all disappointing. For a 38 dollar lunch for two, we left hungry and disappointed.

Slow service. Took our entrée order and hadn’t taken out drink order. Came back after a few mins and our waitress was shocked at the bottle of wine we brought and had waiting. She then couldn’t understand why I ordered a glass of Chardonnay on the side. Food was ok. When you order a filet you expect a steak not sliced up. We also ordered the peppercorn steak but no peppercorns just lots of ground pepper. Brussels sprout salad was great. When we left I told the waitress that we left her a glass of wine from the bottle we brought. She said she couldn’t resell it. I tried to explain it was for her to try but she just looked at me confused. Not a bad place but it won’t be a regular for auburn folk. The out of towners will keep this place alive.

Stopped by with a friend after skiing at Tahoe. We sat at the bar and enjoyed great service. Based on the waitress recommendation we chose to go with the blackened salmon, which was the special of the day. It was perfect. The bartender let us taste any wine we’d like, and after 3 tastings we each chose the perfect glass pairing for our meal. The place has great vibe while not being noisy, highly recommended!

Auburn Alehouse was super busy so we went across the street and I am so glad we did. The mains looked tempting but there we so many great looking small plates we had a rare random dinner. Mac and trees with bacon, beef sliders, and the warm Brussels sprouts salad. This place wins the best mac and cheese award for 2016. Amazing. We shall return.

love this wonderful spot. Terrific burger and truffle fries. Solid (and very reasonable!) wine list. Also really love the chicken with mushroom wine sauce but its the kind staff that can’t be beat.

Amazing Beef Wellington, cool atmosphere, nice service. I would definitely come again.

This place was amazing! When we first went in for lunch we thought the prices were a bit high, the average sandwich price is around $ 15. We decided to stay & give it a try, they were very busy. Our waiter was very friendly & professional. We got our drinks promptly & when he took our order he said it may be a bit of a wait as a large party had just ordered but he would do his best. Our fermented garlic fries came right out and the table went crazy! Best garlic fries ever. The owner came by and spoke with us and she was lovely. Explained how they grow the greens on site & are going to start baking their own bread.
We had the French onion soup, brussel sprout salad & avocado po’boy. All of which were so fresh & flavorful, and our food came out quickly. The thoughts of the price too high went quickly away. This is a winner!

Just finished a wonderful meal. The food was amazing and so fresh. Truffle parmesan house made french fries that melt in your mouth. Fresh lightly dressed local greens for a salad. Pepper steak seasoned with something amazing (secret I hear) that each bite melts in your mouth. Steak cooked perfectly — asked for medium rare and it was medium rare! Roasted potatoes done perfectly. Seasonal veggies, broccoli and cauliflower. My son had roasted chicken very sorry over the creamiest polenta I wanted to steel his plate. My daughter had the macaroni and cheese that has to be one of the best in the world. Really amazed what this small bistro can produce. Cute vintage bistro décor but the food is what you come for!

Pros
— Our waitress was very tentative
— Great atmosphere
Cons
— Seating is very tight for parties more than 2. We had 4 adults and 1 child. My friend was about elbow to elbow with the table next to us.
— No kids menu (definitely not kid friendly like Unilocal states)
— Truffle fries were just the burnt little pieces from the bottom of the fryer. Also they did not have any taste of truffle on them.
— Our food took a little over a hour to come to our table. Appetizers came right away but after that we waited a hour for our main course. I must add I had my 5 year old daughter with us who was really hungry.
— Food was average. My husband got the chicken parmesan. The chicken was over cooked and smothered in cheese. I had the soy salmon which was good but a lot smaller than I expected. The food was not worth the price.
— Only one bathroom which had a line of people waiting to use it.
This place is way over priced, the food is average and the wait for your food is outrageous. This is mainly way I gave this place 2 stars. We will not be returning.

Bistro 103 never disappoints! Husband and I came in for a bite to eat on a Thursday evening– WoW– lighting and ambiance is the BEST in Auburn. So romantic and inviting! They were playing a variety of great music. Their menu could not be more perfect. Lots of starters and small bites the salads looked beautiful when served and a few perfected main dishes. We had the Atlantic Salmon Cigars– so tasty and cooked just right served with roasted beet chips that I could not get enough of. (please offer as a side or small dish by themselves yum!!) we also had the Grilled Cheese minis and they were delish! Served with yummy Bistro fries! I LOVE that they serve LOCAL beer & wine! This makes me smile and I cannot wait to talk more about Bistro 103!!!

Awesome warm Cobb salad with Mary’s OG chicken! Attentive and friendly wait staff and bar tender. Great spot for a midway Tahoe-​SF Bay Area stop. Cute town with lots of other options too. Will definitely be back to Bistro 103

We arrived hungry and excited to enjoy a meal of fresh and inventive ingredients. We left hungry and disappointed by our food and experience.
They were out of fries at 6:30 on a Saturday night. How is that possible? We split a burger ($ 14) which was tasty enough, but the bun could have been fresher. And we wished we had fries — no side of any kind was included. We also split a salad, which was sparse and overpriced for $ 15 and not very special. There was no flavor to any of the ingredients.
Even though Unilocal lists Bistro 103 as «child friendly,» they don’t have a kids menu — and they only have one high chair, which was in use by another family for most of our meal. Our two-​year-​old had a half portion of Mac n Cheese with broccoli; it was fine, but I expect restaurant Mac n Cheese to be super yummy. Otherwise, why not just make it at home? Our 10 year old wanted pasta and butter. She was given a choice of penne or angel hair — she got spirals with black pepper on top. We had to send it back and get a new serving without pepper. Maybe not a big deal to most adults, but kids who want pasta and butter don’t want a generous sprinkling of pepper on top. And it was a very small portion of pasta and butter for $ 6. She left very hungry.
Finally, they have a single large bathroom, but it doesn’t have a changing table. It would be easy and unobtrusive to mount a changing table to the wall. Another example of how the restaurant is not child-​friendly. Child-​tolerant maybe, but not child-​friendly.
Our server was nice, but I could tell she was tired of telling patrons that they were out of fries. I can’t blame her for the problems at the restaurant. We were very disappointed and commented that we would have been more satisfied by eating almost anywhere else. Needless to say, we won’t be giving this Bistro a second chance.

Usually, the main point that helps me decide between 3 and 4 stars is whether or not I’d like to return. I don’t want to return.
Pros:
— Everything was fresh and hot.
— Service was polite and attentive through our meal.
Mids:
— Brussels Sprouts were tasty, but maybe too sweet.
— My grandpa got the ham and cheese sandwich, but it was an «artisan» baguette and he couldn’t even eat it because of how tough it was.
— Orange zest maple syrup with the chicken and waffles? Overpowering.
— Mimosa was $ 8.00 for one of those little bottles.
Cons:
— Terribly inconvenient location and nightmarish parking situation.
— The hollandaise was just (split) butter and cream. They don’t know how to make hollandaise. My brother sent his benedict away. Also… black forest ham? Cheap much?
— «Fries» were the dregs; tons of little pieces and no actual full-​sized fries.
— The mac and cheese portioning was confusing. $ 6 for a half when the full looked like a half. Not sure what the half portion actually looks like. Also… all butter.
— They love butter.
— My BLT was $ 14.50 and had an assload of bacon and hardly anything else. I guess some people like that.
One of the highest-​rated restaurants in Auburn and it didn’t pull through for me. Won’t be back.

We had really high expectations I guess… Saturday brunch visit was not a really good experience… the pancakes and the waffles completely flavorless, the butter was so cold that it was hard to spread it. The chicken was dry and was lacking of some flavor, salt or something.
The rest was ok, eggs benedict were good, grilled cheese was good… just good. Good ambiance and good service, although the waitress totally forgot to bring our coffee.

Had dinner at Bistro last night, there were 3 of us in our party. Everything we had was wonderful. The Mac N Cheese with Trees, with applewood smoked bacon was AMAZING! Our server was helpful but didn’t hover, and was as very sweet. Fun atmosphere without being a bar scene.
I love that they use local farmers and even provide the names and locations of the farms. The wine selection was descent, and included a number of local wineries.
All in all, we had a great meal, good service and a nice evening. We will be going back.

We dine in Auburn once a month or so. This is a cute little place in downtown, kind of loud due to the building structure which is common in that town. Menu had a lot of variety. Unfortunately we had an awful server. She never offered us the specials which we found out at the end of meal sounded really interesting. We miss out. She also brought out our wine 20 minutes after ordering and our apps and entrees came out at the same time and COLD. The server never came back to check on us so we flagged down the owner.
We had to complain, we couldn’t just let it slide. She was very nice and accommodating and took care of us after that. We could see that this place could have been great if it wasn’t for terrible service.

The time I was in there, they were out of half the items on the menu, so they had nothing I was interested ordering. And I don’t know what barrel they scraped the bottom of to find our server, but she was completely clueless. Didn’t act concerned at all that we were unhappy, was unable to pronounce anything on the menu correctly, and (really?) offered us dessert when we hadn’t ordered dinner because they didn’t have any!
We paid for the overpriced crap glass of wine we had and left, never to return.

Riding through Auburn we scouted this place out for a bite to eat. I ordered the Bistro Fried Green Tomato Caprese with heirloom tomatoes, fried green tomatoes, reduced balsamic, basil, basil oil, and mozzarella, and the hubster ordered Corn Chowder Soup. I can’t say I was a fan of the tomato heirloom salad. The fried green tomatoes are cold, I prefer them to be hot. Our waitress said they are served cold in this particular dish. The hubster diid enjoy his corn chowder soup however.
For dinner I had the Grilled Cheese Minis on fresh baguette points and bistro fries. The man ordered the Beef Sliders which are made using Niman Ranch 100% all natural beef sliders dressed with smoked paprika aiolo, tomatoes and cheddar cheese. Although the grilled cheese had a good taste, the baguette points are toasted and they were really hard to eat! Neither one of us would probably order these items again.
The folks across the way stopped by our table and told us about their delicious Portabella french fries with comeback sauce. Hmmm… Note to self for next time.
The tables don’t have any salt or pepper shakers. We had asked for salt, we also asked for ketchup. Although our waitress was nice, I thought it strange when she brought a little tiny dish of ketchup for the two of us. Say what?! More please!

If you can hold your hunger, keep driving.
We ate at Bistro 103 because it was the only place that didn’t have a wait time of 45 min or more in a Sunday at 1 pm. We had a party of 5 and were seated immediately.
Each person in our party ordered an entrée. Five minutes after ordering the waitress informed us that they ran out of beef, so the sliders we’re going to salmon sliders. No biggie, the person who had ordered sliders said ok. Ten minutes after ordering, the kitchen ran out of pulled pork sandwiches and the only other sandwich was chicken. The two people in our table ended up switching their order to a strawberry salad and the other to the daily special of sword fish tacos.
Salmon sliders: dry and tastelessness. The person who ordered them was upset to pay $ 15.95 for 3 dry sliders and then an additional $ 7.95 for a side salad.
Strawberry salad: while there was a lot of salad it was just vinegrette with strawberries for $ 16.95!!!
Sword fish tacos: first of all, these were not tacos. It came with a disgusting flour fluff thing and sword fish with zero seasoning. The two people who ordered the tacos couldn’t even eat one of the two tacos because they were so gross. That’s a dish they should never place on the menu.
Mac and cheese: the Mac and cheese was okay. Nothing special but It’s a good side dish to share $ 10.50.
Veggie chips: ordered as an appetizer and they were seriously the best thing we had to eat in this restaurant. Not oily and perfectly salted. $ 2.50

After an Easter weekend hike at Hidden Falls, my husband and I decided to have a meal at this highly reviewed restaurant.
I was really excited since it was a fairly new restaurant (Feb) and was farm to fork. We were the first to arrive for a late lunch and had the chance to speak to the wonderful owners who were just as excited and passionate about their establishment. They informed us that items are fresh, within their radius nor is there any large freezer space to ensure quality of freshness.
The décor is quite chic and charming. Unfortunately, there is only one vast bathroom stall at the back of the restaurant. The owner informed us that there is no plans for adding some more since it is a historical building (previously a grocery market owned by Japanese Americans, an awful historical period when the government imprisoned them to camps) and there is little wiggle room for architectural modifications. On the flip side, there are public restrooms available near the restaurant. This place can accommodate small and large gatherings. During peak times such as dinner, I was told wait can be an hour.
The menu is seasonal. I appreciated the fact that the owners include global dishes to make it eclectic. (Lamb vindaloo in the past, yum!!) Everything sounded and looked delicious! Presentation was beautiful! We had the sliders as a shared appetizer. The beef was slightly too pink (a few seconds more would be less bloody) (we like med well) otherwise it was incredibly moist and well flavored. Portions were very satisfying. The chips were also unique and tasty.
My chicken sandwich was a little on the dry side. It could be due to being there at an odd time. Everything was otherwise very delicious!
We are excited that this exists and will definitely return again! I would give this a 4.5 star rating. It definitely is a charming and gourmet bistro. The owners are very friendly and sweet. I’m sure the next time we return, the 4.5 would be a 5.