Eastside Bistro At Avalon Park

Worst service here in years, 21 minutes 35 second for a beer. It was not only us, table next to us only got water and never drinks from bar.

Worst service. Really enjoyed the food but last time we ate there, waited an hour for food. No refills on our waters, and no food. Waitress avoided even walking by our table after telling us at the 45 minute mark that the kitchen had lost our order. After another 15 minutes without an update or water refill, we just left. Contacted restaurant to let them know what happened (and that it hadn’t been first bad service experience) and manager essentially said, too bad. Have not been back since.

First time coming to this place and I loved it. I sat outside and enjoyed the outdoor and my drinks we had 4 glasses of sangria which they are good and one margarita with on the house tequila and the east side nachos which it was pretty good portion for three people. The tab was only $ 36 on a Saturday night just saying! It’s worth it the only reason why I gave 4 stars is because i was sitting outside so a whole soccer team between age 5 – 10 decided to sit next to us so of course we are trying to be adults and the kids were running around pushing my chair etc.
Everytime I come here I get great service that’s why I love boue he’s great his service is amazing

This place has gotten so much better over the years. Order the salmon, the chips, or the lobster bisque. Everything on the menu is amazing and everyone is so friendly!

This place was okay. My sorority came here for our anniversary and the food was decent. Some entrees are way over priced. My boyfriend and I shared the Eastside nachos and those were delicious. MY boyfriend ordered the BBC burger as his entrée and he asked for a medium cooked burger and it came back well done. The burger was bland and seemed to have no seasoning to it. We asked for them to regrill the burger and this time it came back medium and juicy. But they should not have to redo the burger twice. I ordered the boom boom shrimp tacos, they are very similar to bonefish’s bang bang shrimp. They put 4 shrimps on the flour tortilla and they overloaded the tacos with cole slaw. I ended up just eating the shrimp by itself. Our server was very sweet and attentive for such a large party.

I literally drive 45 minutes to come eat here at times. Best service. Best food. Best time.
Have the loaded fries or the buffalo chicken dip, it’s amazing.

I really want to like this place. It’s exactly what this side of town needs, a great local place that has live music on the weekends and trivia during the week, that isn’t full of college kids. However, we’ve been here twice now & my experience hasn’t changed. The first time — it was a Wednesday night, fairly busy, but not crowded — not sure if they were understaffed or what happened, but we waited a long time for food, we had to ask for refills, etc. the food was pretty good though. The «art-​attack» wings are pretty tasty! I forgave the lack of good customer service because they looked understaffed. the waiter was the bartender was the bus boy kind of night…
Our second visit — it’s Friday night and it’s packed. We were in no hurry but we were told we’d have a wait. No problem. The waiter took our drink order, it took a long time to get our drinks and about 45 minutes to get our food. My husband ordered ribeye, medium rare and when we finally got it, it was well done and the veggies were barely cooked. When we mentioned it to the manager, he profusely apologized, then the owner came out and did the same thing but kept making excuses for the bad food. I can understand being busy, but that’s no reason for bad food, if you KNOW it’s unacceptable to send out, then don’t let your people send it out! The owner offered a free dessert or round of drinks, which I appreciated, but by this time, we were ready to go. He came back and told us that he would comp my husbands dinner, then returned with a $ 20 gift card to «give them another chance». I would have preferred the comp’d meal honestly.
The live music we hoped for never came until way after we left, because they were so busy, they didn’t have room for the band to get in the door. This place seriously needs to retrain their staff to be able to handle busy nights or get a visit from «Restaurant Impossible». I’ll give it a 3^rd try, but if they don’t meet my needs, it’ll just be another place that could have been great.

Small cool little place where the locals hang in Avalon Park. Love the new menu, especially the Boom Boom Shrimp! Service is always spot on and I enjoy sitting at the bar.

So much better after the new ownership!!! Great local bar… I stopped going there because of what the previous owner did to this place!!! The family that owns it now is amazing!!!

Unfortunately this place isn’t very good. Lettuce wasn’t fresh and the food seems cheaply made. The wine list is far from impressive as well. You would think there would be at least a French wine offering since it’s Bistro-​style food. They could really make this place great if the food was better quality and the wine list was revamped. Although the staff seems friendly, we won’t be going back.

Wonderful Veterans Day tribute tonight at. Eastside Bistro. Great food, drinks, and program on PTS. Thank you Debbie for hosting the event again.

Lunch using bingo cash. Everything tastes better when it’s free.
Ordered the pork ribeye steak and I got a pork chop. They used to serve the pork steak. Tasted good but not what I expected. I did mention it to the server.
I skipped the potatoes and just had a «Honeymoon Salad.» (Lettuce alone. Get it?)
Service was better but still slow for the number of people here. Owner walked by but just spoke to people she knows. It would be better if she would ask everyone how the meal is and I would have told her about my non-​pork ribeye.

Latest and last time I decided to dine at the Bistro, we ordered two salads, a cup of seafood bisque and a kid’s chicken fingers. We waited 45 minutes for our food. The chicken fingers were lukewarm, as was the bisque, which was also too salty and just off. The table smelled like dirty sponge water. It was after noon and there were still chairs up on tables and no music playing. The staff just seems complacent, the food a pale shadow of what it was 2 years ago.

I always try to support local places in Avalon but tonight I honestly will say is most likely the last time I visit this establishment.
Tuesdays are $ 5 burger night when you purchase a beverage. When I arrived it was busy on the bar side but pretty empty on the other side. My friend had already been seated. The waitress comes over and takes our drink orders. Drinks arrive and we place our burger orders. We both ordered the same thing but I wanted mine medium well and my friend ordered his well done.
After catching up we realized that it was taking really long for our food. The waitress came over to apologize for the delay. I was confused because at this point the place had pretty much cleared out. She went to check and again she came back to tell us that she had notified the manager about the delay. I need to mention that from the time we sat down till the time our food arrived was 40 minutes!!! 40 minutes in a empty restaurant! They has even started cleaning up the side we were seated that’s how dead it was.
Burgers looked ok. Well biting into them was a different story. Meat had completely no Seasoning on it. Not even salt and pepper. Remember I said that I ordered mine medium well. You couldn’t tell the difference between mine and my friends. Actually the meat was cooked so well done that one side of it was completely charred and burnt. I don’t know about you but I don’t enjoy crunchy burgers. I would have notified our waitress but she was no where to be found. When she finally appeared I explained our dilemma. Her words exactly were «You should have let me know». Ummm what did she want me to do? Come find her and do her job for her?
She walks away and we literally hear her complaining loudly to someone about what I told her. I pretty much told her that it was unacceptable to wait 40 minutes for a completely charred burger. She comes back with the bill and explains that the manager will be over.
Well I know who the owner is. He may not know me but I know him. Arty walks over to apologize and offer a lame excuse as to why our orders were messed up. While he is talking and trying to offer a solution, the waitress walks over and takes the bill to run our card. Instead of waiting to see what our conversation with the owner is she takes it upon herself to cash out our bill. By this time Arty had agreed to comp one of the burgers.
He comes back to apologize to say that she had already run the card. Then proceeds to say the next time we come back to find him or his wife and he will take care of us. No need because we won’t be back even if this is the last restaurant here in Avalon.
It’s sad because this place has declined more and more. It could be such a great place to go but with the lack of service and lackluster food why would I return?

If I could give this restaurant zero stars I would!
I came in with a group of six ladies during our one hour lunch break (we were at a training and came in at 11:35). There was one table occupied and one woman at the bar. We sat down in the dining room and had to track down the server, who was hanging out talking to the bartender instead of getting us refills or checking with us.
After placing our order around noon we told the server we were in quite a bit of a rush, but she never returned to check on us, still no refills, no update on our food… nothing. Again, we went looking for her and she promised our food would be ready (this was at 12:15).
We finally asked the «head bartender» and he said he would bring us boxes and take $ 24 off of the total check (which ended up actually only being $ 14 off the total check, I guess he thought lying would make us happy… or he knew we wouldn’t be coming back so he thought you’d make the most money off of us).
We waited another 10 – 12 minutes for checks and boxes and when we asked the server if it was always this slow during lunch, she said «no it’s never this busy.» I’m sorry, if you can’t handle a six top, a few people in the bar and one other three top in the dining room maybe you shouldn’t be a server. There were three servers on a SLOW lunch shift… that’s unacceptable.
Beside being lied to, we also never received an apology from the clueless server and we had to take our food in containers. We finally got back to our training at 12:45 which was only five minutes from the restaurant and I realized that my wrap was made incorrectly so I threw it out.

Eastside Bistro is a local restaurant that has changed owners a couple of times since we have moved here. When we first went here a few years ago, the food was fair and I probably would have given it 2.5−3 stars.
In the past year or two, with the new owners, the restaurant has really come into its own. The menu has drastically improved and so has the food. They have some very tasty sandwiches and wraps. The ribeye sandwich is terrific. I also had one of their steaks with mashed potatoes last week and it was prepared perfectly. My husband likes their Cajun pasta – it has a nice little kick. My sister-​in-​law had a shrimp dish a few weeks ago that tasted divine.
They’ve also begun serving brunch on Sundays – and their Eggs Benedict are wonderful. We’ve made a habit of eating in the neighborhood when we want a nice meal instead of always having to go outside for a good dinner.
My one complaint is that the service is still pretty uneven. Sometimes it’s on point, but at our last visit the waitress completely disappeared after taking our food order. One of the other waiters checked in on us after a significant amount of time had passed to refill our drinks, and he was great. If the service was on par with the quality of food, the Bistro would get 5 stars from me.

I stopped in for a minute to meet up with my son-​in-​law and his best friend. I noticed that the place is not nearly as well maintained as it used to be. The bar could use a resurfacing or at the very least, wiped down. The floor could use a fresh coat of urethane. as well. I considered getting a bite to eat but when I was handed a menu, it was dirty on the outside and inside so it it pretty apparent that they are not paying attention to the details like they did when this place first opened so I changed my mind and just finished my drink and left.
The sad part is… We used to be regulars here but one of my fellow Unilocalers warned me this place is not what it used to be. I have to agree. That is too bad…

Eh. While I wish I could write a better review I’m just not a fan. Each time I have been the serivce has been pretty terrible. The food however is good, at least the burgers are. They have a nice selection of beer and other items but nothing to make me ever day, «Oh, lets go to Eastside Bistro.»

i would have given this place a solid 4 stars if the service didnt suck. we ordered the following
crab stuffed mushrooms– could have been in the oven longer. almost cold in center.
pub burger asked for medium came out well done
bbq burger asked for medium came out well done
buffalo chicken nachos
food was just better than Ok. for whatever reason the burger tasted much better the next day microwaved LOL. the waitress was busy doing her closing sidework at 9pm on a friday night when the place closes @ midnight.
the band they had playing was nice and not overbearing at all which can be an issue at some places. Id try this place again. the flavor was there but the execution on the plates were not.

Well, it’s been almost three years since I updated my review for the Bistro, and Shelly has sold the business to a new family. For better or worse, we weren’t around for the shakeup and transition as the new owners found their footing. So, how does the 2015 bistro stack up?
We visited on a Wednesday night, hoping to take advantage of their Unwind Wednesday buffet and drink specials, as we did literally almost every week before we moved.
Upon entering, we were promptly greeted (maybe 30 seconds after entering) by a hostess who showed us to our seats. Looking around, the Bistro looks largely the same as it used to. There’s a new fancy lit up bar along the back wall, and more sports flag/​penants hanging from the bar, but the decorations and décor looks to be the same otherwise. The biggest difference was the lack of crowd. When we used to come in at 6pm on almost any night, but especially Wednesday, you’d sometimes have to fight/​wait for a table or a spot at a bar. Now, there were maybe six tables filled through the whole restaurant.
Bo, our server, was friendly, knowledgeable, helpful, and honest about things we asked about. We asked about Unwind, which it turns out, the owners had *just* done away with. He explained that the owners felt it was losing too much money, but went on to say that he thought that it could have been a better money maker if they had extended the hours (this is something we’ve always thought about it, even when Shelly still owned the place). When we ordered drinks, my wife asked for a glass of wine, to which Bo responded, «did you want the house wine on special, or something better?» Not exactly a ringing endorsement of their house wines. Shelly used to include Captain Morgan amongst the well liquors. I’m not sure what I was served, but it wasn’t Captain.
The wine was decent for a $ 3 happy hour house wine. The $ 3 well-​rum and coke was worth about $ 3. My first pour was better than the second and no one ever asked if I wanted a double (which I was always asked in the past). One thing to note is that their website lists old prices for their happy hour, which are lower than the current ones.
The menu was largely unchanged. Fewer burgers, slightly higher prices on some items (burgers that were $ 7 – 8 are now $ 10).
My wife loved her Avalon Salad with rare cooked salmon. Bo had mentioned that the cooks would be ecstatic that someone requested it rare since most people apparently order it burnt to a crisp. They cooked it perfectly for her.
I ordered the BBC Burger, which was similar to the old Cowboy Burger Shelly served. The patty is now smaller, as is the portion of sides that it comes with. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as I used to have trouble finishing everything in the past — but I am a little disappointed that portion sizes went down and prices went up. Despite being smaller, it was cooked pretty accurately medium-​rare. There were a few uneven spots that were medium or above, but not enough to complain. The flavor of the burger was decent. The fries were a big hit with both of us.
All in all, the new incarnation of Eastside Bistro is a step backwards from what it once was, but still a solid meal experience. We’ll be back.