Bill’s Bistro

Limited menu, no wine list, poor service. Tilapia looked sick. No real creativity at all. Overpriced for what you get. I guess the ambience is nice. That earned the second star. Get it together kids.

Third time visiting, won’t be back. We arrived at 7:30 (with a reservation), order was taken at 8, first round of food arrived at 9:15, last plate received at 9:30 (for a party of 4, a 15 minute time-​span between food servings is beyond unacceptable). Steaks were cold when received. Other than that– food was fine (nothing to brag about), our service was okay at best (not our waitresses fault that the kitchen wasn’t up to par; but she still wasn’t around much).
To be fair, our food was comped for all of the issues (they still made $ 220+ on alcohol sales) but we absolutely won’t be back. Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me THREE times, I’ve leaned my lesson.

Bill’s Bistro has plenty going for it, so I’ll happily give it four stars. A touch more attention to detail would easily bring it up to five, especially considering the lack of dining options in Midland/​Odessa. Here’s the breakdown:
Ambiance: 3 stars. A little unfinished. Although they may be trying for homey, it comes off more dingy and old-​fashioned. Like you’re 55 year-​old aunt’s home. Layout is a little confusing too. It connects with the Wine Rack next door (which is a good thing overall), but it lends a confused and confusing vibe to the place. It’s hard to know where one establishment starts and the other stops and whether this matters at all.
Drinks: 5 stars. Since you can nab a bottle of wine from the Wine Rack next door and enjoy it at no extra cost at Bill’s, this gets high marks, as the Wine Rack has a large selection of cool wines at a good value. The wines offered by the glass were also pretty good and well-​priced.
Food: 3.5 stars. On average, a bit underwhelming, but better than most Midland cuisine I’ve encountered. I had the fish special, and it was tasty but way overcooked. The appetizers were more successful, if a bit confused. Not sure what the disconnect was between the kitchen and the menu, but it resulted in tasty food that was not what it claimed to be. The Spinach and Artichoke dip was meant to be «Rockefeller Style», which I interpreted as baked with bread crumbs, but ended up being plain (if still tasty) dip. The shrimp cocktail was actually a shrimp scampi. Still, points for flavor.
Service: 4 stars. Service was friendly and earnest, which matched the vibe of the place. A good balance of helpful but not hovering.
So in all, I would give this about a 3.5 star total, with a bit of a round-​up. I’ll definitely return!

Meh… Pretty much sums up the meal here. The food is fine, but not what you would expect for the price. Bread is good, and so was my daughters pasta. My steak was a tough cut, and under seasoned. Sides are underwhelming. Steamed veggies at a fine dining place, not what one wants for a special meal.

We had very high expectations from this establishment, unfortunately disappointment was about all we got.
To begin: The host that seated us seemed a bit miffed that we didn’t want to sit at the tiny table right next to the host stand at the front entrance. It’s not like they were busy (and this is on a Saturday night– not an indicator of longevity) There were plenty of empty tables. and they remained mostly empty during our 2+ hour dining ‘experience’ It was 12 minutes before we had anything to drink. 50 minutes before our appetizer came out (yes fifty) and almost an hour and a half before our entrée’s arrived. Not only did it take over 90 minutes (did I mention it wasn’t busy? Only 5 tables were seated) Also, it seems that a a place that claims to hand cut their own steaks has a chef than can’t tell the difference between a tenderloin and some fatty piece of sirloin. But it did come with 13 teeny tiny little cubes of potato and some soggy veggies (FYI They need to provide sharper knives. How a steak could be undercooked and so tough to cut at the same time baffled me. Maybe Chef Bloom could get some tips from Oona on Masterchef Junior ?)
To summarize: It puts up a good front, but if this is the service they continue to offer. It will soon be just another empty storefront in a strip mall shopping center.
FYI To the person that we understood to be the owner: If you’re going to have a restaurant with pretensions to be a ‘fine dining establishment’. You might want to consider dressing in something other than bright blue shorts and a pale yellow shirt that was half untucked. You looked like you belonged on a public golf course, not hosting/​serving people paying $ 38 for a steak dinner.

I have been to Bill’s Bistro multiple times for dinner since it has opened. It has slowly gone downhill. It’s pricey and they have drastically decreased their portioned sizes. It’s simply not worth it anymore. $ 12 for a very small portion of mac & cheese that isn’t even creamy like it used to be. Sadly, I’m over it, which is too bad because it had a great start. The food used to be great, from the seared tuna to pork tenderloin and duck. But the last few times I have been the food was not great, prices are steep, service is mediocre, and the venu

I was very excited to try it, heard good things, but alas, we were very disappointed. Reservation for 8 p.m., arrived at 7:58 p.m. Host seated us at the edge of the wall in a high traffic area. The restaurant was not full, so we politely asked to be re-​seated (if possible). He said «It’s possible, but I’ll have to move a bunch of tables around» with a lot of nasty attitude, but did move us to a different table. After we were seated, I never saw him move any tables around or people, just check his phone a lot. It took 15 minutes for someone to acknowledge us and take a drink order, another 50 minutes to get our soup/​salad and our entrees were served 1 hour and 15 minutes after we were seated. My partner ordered the tenderloin and I ordered the duck. My partner ordered his steak medium well (sigh) when the steak arrived it was not a $ 36 tenderloin, it was a NY strip with a large hunk of unappetizing fat on it, cooked to medium rare (which I prefer, but it was not my steak). My duck breast was overcooked, and also had a large lump of fat on the breast. For a place that prides itself on hand cut steaks, on would hope whoever is cutting the meat, understand how to distinguish between the cuts of beef. The vegetables were fried potatoes (many of the burned) and steam cabbage with mushrooms, not well seasoned. The waiter was very nice and gave us a free dessert, and the manager took the NY strip off our bill, but no one from upper management came to address the issue personally. My partner and I both run businesses and we understand customer service from the business side as well as the customer side. I was very disappointed and don’t see any reason to go back. I had high hopes. :(

We just had a birthday lunch here for a couple of girls at work. There was about 11 of us. the wait for our food was long since they were short handed. We got there at 11:30am. We didnt order until about 20 or so minutes later.
The bread they let you snack on before your meal was good and the butter spread. The place is not too big and has a niice ambiance. Their lunch menu does not have a lot of options.
Several girls ordered burgers, they said their food was good. I had the chicken caesar salad, the chicken was warm on the salad. The lettuce was fresh and crunch with the dressing. It was not too heavy of a dressing and the parmasean cheese was yummy with it. I only got 1 croûton though, so I don’t know what that was all about. I didn’t care to complain because I had some bread to nibble on earlier.
A few other ladies, got the Panko Chicken with Pasta with the duel sauce. They said the Alfredo sauce was too salty. Also people who had burgers a couple girls said their home made chips were overly salted.
Overall impression, I would come back to try one of their burgers since everyone said it was good but not in a rush to go back. Their prices are a little too high.

Owner is rude and hateful. Service was slow and food was dry and bland and way overpriced. How is this place staying in business?

AWEFUL AWEFUL AWEFUL, heard good things about this place and it is fun if you don’t mind paying top dollar for wine and don’t mind if they run out of the wine that you would like more of. They do not care and will not give you a small discount for settling for a different wine. The cheese plate is good if you don’t mind having more grapes and olives instead of cheese. Which is way better than the food. Now if you like a lot of salt on your food you may want to order no salt. A girl at our table is a salt lover, she ordered the shrimp pasta and could NOT eat it because it was too salty. The management is unorganized and they do not care, it’s Midland there are so many people they feel they can do and treat people badly. They plain olé flat don’t care, and their inventory is sketchy and slim, oh did I say that already. We will NEVER even give this place a second chance.

Lunch — this is a hidden gem to hit for lunch. The bistro burger is the absolute best! If you can get your mouth around it, the juices will run down your arms and you’ll never want to put it down! Great job Bill.

Meh– for the price I was expecting more. We stood up front for 10 mins before getting seated or greeted.
Server has no suggestions. Food took a while to get to us. We ordered seared tuna to start and it took like 30 mins to get to us. I ordered a steak and my wife some tilapia. Both were just ok. My steak was medium and I had ordered medium rare. Then we never saw our server again. We had to get up and ask another person for our ticket.
The place looks like a high end restaurant. Really nice! But the service/​food are lack luster. Better off at a steak house.
We also got seated next to the loudest drunks in midland — it really made our visit just that much worse-​One of which carried his gf over his shoulder just outside the restaurant.
Expected so much– you’re better off at the Italian village if you’re looking for a more intimate experience. There were only two tables with people eating in the whole restaurant when we got there.

Slow and inattentive service, food was okay, not nearly the quality I’d been led to believe. Maybe something was really off tonight. For the price, it shouldn’t be. Probably won’t be back, plenty of better places in Midland.

Probably the best food in Midland. It’s a little fancy and you generally need to have reservations. I can’t say I’ll miss the food when I leave Midland, it doesn’t have that kind of lasting impression. However, if you want to go out on a date for some great food, you can’t go wrong with Bill’s Bistro.

Beer dinner. Do I need to write more ?
Ok so for $ 45 a person you get a 5 piece meal and all the beer you can drink. Too good to be true? Not sure, not done,. But the food is good, the beer is decent. The waitresses need to refill the beer more often and it would be wonderful. Granted I’m a little hammered from the beer so maybe they are doing their job.
Wonderful.

I called two days in advance and made a reservation for Bill’s Bistro. We showed up and set right down at our table. The atmosphere is great and the staff is friendly and helpful. This place is not very large and is more of an intimate setting. They had live music playing at the wine rack so it was nice to listen and still able to make conversation.
I ordered the steak. It was descent but not the most amazing steak I have ever tasted and for the price I expected it to be amazing! After the meal we ordered pecan pie with salted caramel ice cream. This is what will make me come back to Bill’s! It was awesome and I will probably go with a different steak choice next time!
I recommend this to anyone who is looking for a quiet atmosphere to relax and receive good service and just enjoy the evening!

My husband and I went to Bill’s Bistro a few weeks go and overall I was pleased with the experience.
The atmosphere was very nice and I always think its a good thing when a new locally owned restaurant opens in Midland. I was able to get a reservation easily and our table was available when we arrived. Our waitress was awesome as well and she happily made suggestions and even helped me decide between two entrees I was considering.
We ordered the smoked gouda and ham macaroni and cheese appetizer and it was awesome. I could have made a meal of that mac and cheese and possibly will next time. I especially liked the crumb topping on the appetizer.
For entrees he ordered a steak with a poblano topping and our waitress was kind enough to bring a side of the blue cheese topping I was interested in so that I could try it. I thought the blue cheese topping was very good but unfortunately my husband’s steak was cooked a little more than he prefers. I ordered the redfish and it was good. The one star I took off of the review is because I felt that the entrees were rather lackluster. They weren’t bad necessarily, but I didn’t feel like they were anything I couldn’t get anywhere else… **Cough, cough, Wall St.**
For dessert we got the pecan pie that comes with salted caramel ice cream. It was absolutely amazing! It was the best pecan pie that both my husband and I have ever tasted. Our waitress said that it was Chef Bill’s grandmother’s recipe and I have since googled recipes looking for something similar with no luck.
We will definitely go back to Bill’s Bistro but next time we may skip the entrée and order additional appetizers. I hear that the spinach dip is amazing as well.

Great food, service was great. Just please ask your servers to use more breath mints!
The duck and steak were fantastic. Can’t wait to see changes in the menu and try some more tasty meals! Please add crème brûlée to the menu!

Finally a place where you won’t dread the typical 2 hour meal in Midland. Most places are so slow, but the service at Bills was great! Our waitress Madeline was very attentive without being annoying, and recommended great dishes. Skip the duck and go for one of the steaks, the blue cheese butter/​crispy onion topping is awesome. The seared tuna starter was also really good!

I was able to secure a 7:30pm reservation for Saturday the 7^th on Monday the 2^nd without any issue. I figured it would be hard to get in but I guess the heat has died down a little. From first impression upon entering the restaurant everything appeared clean and orderly. I should add that Bill’s is, thankfully, a completely smoke free environment (I’m still a little irked that this is even an issue in the city).
One amazing pro of this restaurant is the ability to purchase a wine bottle at the Wine Rack next door and bring it into Bill’s to be served with dinner. If you do decide to purchase a bottle at the Wine Rack be sure to check your bill at Bill’s, our server added the cost of our bottle to our dinner tab although we had paid at the Wine Rack counter. This was not an issue and was quickly taken care of.
The food was far above expectation for any place I’ve eaten in Midland. Girlfriend and I started out with the Smoked Gouda Mac and Cheese, which was supper creamy, rich, and flavorful. I would actually prefer this heavier over a lighter appetizer. Bacon flavor was pleasant and the crisp bread crumb topping was also much appreciated. You might even consider ordering this as an entrée and pairing with a dinner salad or soup du jour. The app size was meal portioned for one person. We would definitely have no issues ordering this one again.
Secondly, we each had a salad off the menu with hers being a house with the house balsamic and mine was the Caesar. The house was a deep leafy green spring mixture with halved cherry tomatoes and perhaps some fresh cucumber slices. The flavor was very good with the dressing having a very vinegary bite to it (which I enjoy). My salad was served on the stalk, drizzled in dressing, sprinkled with shredded parm, and included a nice sliced crostini. The dressing on mine was slightly (slightly) fishy but overall every pleasing, fresh, and crisp. I liked both salads but would probably order the house next time I visit.
As for entrees, it was a very tough decision… should I go for the pork, the duck, or one of the tasty looking tenderloin combos? Well I make awesome pork and I feel like my fillet is really strong so I decided to go with the duck since I can’t acquire and make it easily in Midland. Girlfriend went for the tenderloin fillet with the onion and mushroom reduction. We ordered both med rare. There were many good looking options which I mulled back and forth before getting some input from the knowledgeable server.
Wait time was approx. 20 – 30 minutes for entrees while we had good conversation over our wine and salads. There was also a live band playing at the Wine Rack which could be heard from our table at a volume suitable for allowing conversation and easy listening. This was a plus in my book.
Entrees arrived and both were served with a portion of roasted, quartered new potatoes and seasonal steamed vegetable medley. My meal was cooked perfectly and possessed good flavor although I did the think the sauce was slightly overwhelming, it was very «bright» in the overall flavor of the dish. I was able to compensate by just not eating so much of the sauce… issue addressed and my meal was better suited to my taste. Very good, no regrets here.
Girlfriend’s fillet was cooked perfectly and possessed an excellent crisp crust that I’m pretty jealous about not being able to perfect in my home kitchen. Flavors of the mushrooms and onions contributed to the overall earthy flavors of the dish. I would suggest sautéed or caramelized onions instead of the thin fried strands she received. I thought the menu called for caramelized but I couldn’t recall at the time.
For dessert, girlfriend and I split the homemade pecan pie and salted caramel ice cream. The pie had excellent flavor and the pecans seemed to be made with a rough chop allowing for a really «meaty» texture and taste. I was very impressed and would recommend this dessert to anyone. The ice cream was very good also, definitely had nice caramel flavor with a hint of saltiness. I suppose the pie is popular because several people asked if we had it while discussing dinner at a party afterwards.
In conclusion, I was very impressed by Bill’s. It is leaps above Garlic Press/​Wall Street in both food and service. I’m not sure that I’d dine here often as our bill was nearly $ 100 but for special occasions and when I just feel like some good food I’ll default to Bill’s. I hate to constantly add a note regarding «Midland» but you can get this quality of food for less cost in bigger cities. Seeing as how we live in Midland now I’ve accepted that you’ve got to work with what you’ve got. Like everyone else, I’ll pay what Bill’s asks because it appears as though they are set on providing a quality dining experience (this can’t be said for 95% of places here). Bill’s is a good indication of the direction in which food is (hopefully) headed in Midland, I’m down to support local eateries as much as I can.