Urban Bistro

Disappointing that they dropped their great Chili and then they ran out mid pour of my beer of choice. No effort to change keg. Just processed my refund.

We come here for the convenience and been here countless times. The place is clean and comfortable.
The food is decent, slightly over priced. My main reason for posting this review is how SLOW the service is. I do understand do lunch hour is quite busy, but when I order a soup it shouldn’t take 15 to 20 min to POUR!!! Granted, I didn’t order my soup at a lunch hour, I just can’t handle the lines this was around 4pm. This hasn’t only happened once its been multiple times to my friends and I. I hope they can get it together soon!

This place is healthy and delicious! They have great salads, flat bread pizzas, and sandwiches. I usually order a salad and just do the half size because it’s still really big. I love the sweet potato fries with the aioli sauce! This place is great for kids or a lunch date.

The matzo ball soup was great! It can get crowded so make sure to grab a table when you get there. We also got the sweet potato fried which were great along with the brussel sprouts.

Good spot for a quick and healthy bite. Great lunch spot, a bit pricey for lunch however. Salmon Arugula is my move.

There are several good restaurants at this intersection so the following comment should be taken in context. Urban Bistro is literally the worst restaurant on this main strip in Burlingame. Its only redeeming quality may be its ‘kid friendly’ vibe. The staff was very nice, but the food was undeniably mediocre. If you’re not looking for a place to take your kids, skip this restaurant. Close your eyes and throw a stone in any direction, you’ll hit a restaurant with a better environment and better food.

In comparison with all the little eateries here, this one is really nice and inviting with warm and courteous staff. A very generous menu selection with high quality ingredients. We had the Turkey Pesto, which the only suggestion I would make is to toast the bread and add some melted cheese — the untoasted bread doesn’t do the delicious inside ingredients justice! (Also, have cranberry as a replacement in case pesto is not welcome). Overall, a great experience!

I’m always looking for new places to eat and I like this one.
Food is hot when it comes out of the kitchen, hahaha except the cold salads and sandwichs.
The get it right.

With all of the upscale eateries and shops cropping up along Burlingame Ave., Urban Bistro is a welcome, casual oasis situated just off the main drag.
I was surprised to learn that this restaurant was actually a San Francisco Soup Company.
The menu offerings looked great on paper, but the overall quality of the food was what I expected for convenience. Also, at $ 33.00 for two small soups, flat bread and a grilled cheese sandwich, it was a little more than I wanted to pay for a quick lunch.
Regardless, I would probably come here again. The service was fast and friendly, and our server asked if we needed anything else before leaving us to devour our meals.
3.5 stars.

I like this place because of the ample seating, gluten free choices for kids (medical reasons) and the staff. Although young, they are authentically service oriented.
Add the semi-​outdoor seating and it’s a great spot. Parking, dare I say, is another story.

Overrated.
GF was enamored after the first visit. She had the brussels kale and quinoa salad. But this is my review and I thought it was pretty gross. (In general I have no issue with brussels, kale, or qunioa, I just thought the salad was gross). She also got upsold a HUGE SUPER DRY EVEN GROSSER hunk of salmon which was totally unnecessary and oh by the way $ 7 extra.
I had the club which was ok and the fries were decent, so I was full and happy.
That woulda been three stars I figure.
However, flash forward to the second visit (this past weekend) when it is butt-​ass cold out and we are loitering a bit at the counter with my 3 kids in tow and hemming and hawing about the various menu options, who wants what, etc. etc… and we are quickly realizing it is butt-​ass cold not just outside, but on the patio, AND inside the restaurant. Well that’s because the front doors were wide open! I probably would have toughed it out but my generally amiable gf (who picked this destination for us on this particular weekend outing) is like «I think it’s too cold in here!» So we ask the girls behind the counter if there’s any way to make it warmer, e.g. by closing the door. «No. That’s so the servers can get in and out easily.»
WELL AS LONG AS THE SERVERS ARE HAPPY!
«Ok, well how about the patio? We noticed the heat lamps on the other side of the patio are off — could they be turned on?» [the only place there was available seating on the patio]
«No, that’s to keep the plants from drying out.»
WELL AS LONG AS THE PLANTS ARE COMFY!
Notable quote: «I’m sorry but that’s not my responsibility.»
So we took our sorry, cold little selves somewhere else. Call me old fashioned but that was like the OPPOSITE of customer service. Won’t be going back.
And anyway their food really isn’t that great.

+3 stars because this place is clean, convenient, dog friendly, and healthy (ish).
–2 stars because service is SLOW. For a place that mostly serves salads/​sandwiches/​soup… I have waited up to 20 – 25 minutes for salad! Are they catching that salmon they’re throwing on top of it?!
We’ll continue to eat here because of the convenience, but service is really hit or miss.

The Pros:
Place looks nice.
Well located.
Menu with good options.
Easy sitting.
The cons:
Food is terrible! I went today and my turkey sandwich tasted old, like if it was. made a week ago, the one you get at the gas station shop tastes better than the one I got. We also order chicken tenders for our daughter and let me tell you the chicken was nothing close to tender. very hard. and dry almost impossible to eat.
Order doesn’t come at the same time. We order 3 plates… none of them came close together… so if you’re planing to have a «family» type of launch dinner whatever it will not happen.
I give it 1 star because it could and it should be better. I regret that I decide to have launch there with my family. Left hungry.
Probably won’t return.

Totally baffling. What could they possibly gain by doing such a thing?

I have not tried very many things from here since I am not in the area all that much, but here is what I have tried and loved :)
— Sweet Potato Fries (The 2^nd best I have ever had)
— Truffled Mushroom Flat Bread
— Fish & Chips (Of course I ate this!)
— Organic SW Corn Chowder
I am sure a lot of the food here is amazing and I am sure I will update this review when I go back.

Could and should be better.
The place has a good, diverse menu perfect for lunch and a solid kids selection. The setting is great and airy and their always showing classic cartoons down at the far end of the dining room.
We’ve been her a good 8 – 10 times over the years and every time we walk away asking our selves why? We’re a family of 4 with 2 kids (7 – 10) and like I mentioned before good lunch options. The issue, and it’s HUGE, is that it takes fever to get your food. It never comes out together and for that type of timing and service it’s over-​priced.
Today, my wife and older daughter completely finished their lunches before the my other daughter’s and my lunch came out. Meanwhile the table that sat next to us 10 minutes after we arrived were served and finished before I even got my burger. The cooks and expeditors all look very busy but they can’t seem to complete an entire order ticket together. And we were not alone, other parties were asking where their lunches were as well. We eventually reached the point to where my daughter’s cheese pizza was so late that we had all finished and we told them to cancel it and refund our money. The Manager (or the guy acting like it) said it’s coming right out. A few minutes later, a completely rushed and barely cooked pale pizza came out. By then my daughter was no longer interested in eating it.
Get a better kitchen manager and get your timing down. You all seem to be working too hard for these poorly timed results.

Although my first meal here wasn’t all that great, I’m intrigued by all the choices.
First time there, I had the half chimichurri steak salad. The steak was tough and cold. Would have preferred it to be at least warm. Just okay.
Second time, bc I saw it on the menu last time and kicked myself for not getting it, ordered the lobster roll. It did not disappoint. Chock full of lobster that was lightly dressed. The cole slaw could have used something, and my sweet potato fries were cold but the plate was still really yummy. The small corn and crab chowder was yummy too. It wasn’t too creamy like chowders normally are which was a good thing and it wasn’t full of potatoes like most chowders are.
Want to return for dinner sometime as I am intrigued by the lemon chicken.

Came for lunch a bit on the later side but there were still occupied tables. Especially in the patio area where you get sidewalk feel but are covered with little succulents lining the perimeter.
You order first from the vast chalkboard menu. Variety of soups, sandwiches and salads. A few additional options available only at dinner.
I chose the Grilled Chicken Chipotle Salad ($ 10.95 for full size) — organic mixed greens, grilled chicken breast, roasted corn, jicama, black beans, tomatoes, avocado, cheddar cheese & blue tortilla chips with creamy chipotle dressing. Comes with a slice of bread. Overall it was ok. Not great. I won’t be craving this salad but there are few crave able lunch salads.
Hubs had the salmon sandwich ($ 11.95) with fries. Sandwich had a good amount of arugula greens to give it a nice peppery finish. But the fries were undercooked, meaning not crispy. Bleh.
I would come here to sit and sip and enjoy the semi outdoor space but the food would not entice me back. Decent standby though.

I liked my cod fish and vegetable dinner just fine. Fresh ingredients cooked competently. Priced right, too. $ 13.99 for a big plate of pretty & tasty food.
Ambience: I walked in and my mind did a little clink! «Hey, this isn’t the Crepevine or is it?» Visually I had to do a double take. But differences there are. This place is lit more. All Crepevine places seem a little dingy to me. The Urban Bistro room seems less hippy dippy and more city smart. The menu board is shorter and more focused than Crepevine.
I’ve eaten at several Crepevines, reviewed a few here on Unilocal.Always enjoyed my meals. Though I don’t think that they’re fancy cuisine eateries. Though this is my first Urban Bistro experience, I deem it a slight notch better. Plate presentation is prettier, it looks less sloppy than Crepevine food.
If they build an Urban Bistro close to my Sonoma valley home, I’ll probably be a regular customer.

There’s a reason this place has fewer stars than other options in this area of Burlingame. It just isn’t as good. That being said, if we wanted to go to the really good place on a Sunday afternoon, we would have committed ourselves to standing in line for 10 – 15 minutes, searching for a seat in a packed restaurant and then waiting who knows how long for the food. We were too hungry for that so we came to Urban Bistro where the line was short and the tables plentiful.
The menu looks great! Lots of big salads, sandwiches, inventive combos, good drinks and desserts and all that. The layout is nice. The patio is huge and covered but still lets in light and has some greenery. But the food was a disappointment. It wasn’t nearly as good as it sounded on the menu and was maybe as good as I would have made at home, but that’s being generous.
You order at the counter, sit down and wait. Luckily you can serve yourself water because we ordered coffee and it took a long time. When it did come, there was no cream or sugar so our coffees sat in front of us getting cold while we waited for the guy to bring it. Our tables wobbled so one bump and half my coffee splashed out of the cup before I even got a drink. When the food came, same thing. It sat in front of us while we waited for silverware. The salad came with bread but no butter, nothing to put on it. It’s these little details that make Urban Bistro just OK.
The sweet potato fries are the bomb though. Definitely get a side (or two) of these to share with friends. I love their chipotle sauce too. This combo is worth writing home about! But the salad came on a plate instead of a shallow bowl so the presentation was a little flat (no pun intended) and the lettuce seemed a little wilted. Overall the salad was missing something. Texture, taste? It was good though, filling and hit the spot. This is definitely good place to have in your back pocket, just in case.