Central Bistro

We decided to try this for brunch because… Mimosas! I They were very nice, with fresh squeezed orange juice and were $ 15 with one cent refills.
The peasant potatoes were fingerlings fried with peppers and onions and we’re incredible. My California Benedict was amazing with lemon thyme hollandaise and perfectly poached eggs. The English muffin had just the right amount of crispness without being hard to cut. My husband loved his veggie omelet. The wood grilled veggies were delicious.
Our service was impeccable, and we even called the manager over to compliment their bussers, who showed a higher level of dedication and pride in their work than I’ve seen in a long time.
I give 4 stars instead of 5 because it got a bit loud after it got more crowded, and we felt the prices were a little high.

Just returned from Central Bistro. Food was wonderful but the service was so poor that we did not enjoy the experience. The staff, particularly Kelly, needs to be trained up on the fundamentals of customer service. No welcome, no smile, disappeared for long periods of time, messed up a very simple order (with no apology) and just had that stand-​offish unwelcoming attitude. We are in our 50s and live on the Biltmore Circle so we have tried a few times to enjoy our visits to Central Bistro and make it part of our regular dining rotation. Sorry to say that a fundamental element of a good experience — customer service and a welcoming attitude — is missing. I hope the management is hearing this message and others from diners who are also disappointed with the service.
PS: We are not «complainers». In fact, we enjoy tipping very generously for good service since we both want to support people in the service professions, especially those who are also college students.

This restaurant is like a love affair. First I just dig it. Then I can’t live with ya.
My girlfriends and I had a day of atonement (don’t judge me) on MLK Day. There was this smoking hot bartender…“Earley”(?)… I don’t remember because I was blinded by his… everything.
Any-​who he provided wonderful, attentive service and was such a gentleman despite the three of us ogling him.
Social Hour ROCKS. $ 1 oysters (East or West, your choice) that you can order in ½ dozen or a dozen.
We had a blast and Chris thoughtfully accommodated us during dessert. He was so amazing, professional and made certain that we got only the best CB had to offer.
Tonight I went back for dinner (my love affair continues, right?) and I had the distinct pleasure of having the Spicy Spaghetti w/​crab. I almost cried. Sooooo delicious. This dish is a MUST.
And to my delight, Chris stopped by the table to say hello. I love this restaurant.

First time and were excited to try it out. Food was mediocre. Chilaquiles had two lumps of cheese on them instead of spread out and were just barely warm as were the eggs. My friend ordered steak and eggs and the steak was very, very small, made the dish look empty. Other friend had to send back his fries bc they were cold. Bloody Mary was really good. Don’t think we will go back…

We have been in several times and our experience is always excellent. It’s on our go-​to list* of places for special occasions — but we often come in just because as well.
I have never ordered something that wasn’t great. Not just good — actually great.
The service has always been very good.
What prompted this long overdue review was our last visit:
This last Sunday my mother and I were in for brunch after doing some wedding planning and attending a bridal show. Our server, Marius, made our day even more fun! He was so friendly, knowledgable about the menu and FUNNY!
Thank you, Marius. You made our brunch extra fun! and thanks to all the peeps at CB — see you soon!
* This is our short list so if you liked CB you might want to try out:
— Ocean Prime at City North ($$$)
— Bourbon Steak at The Fairmont Princess Hotel ($$$$)
— Olive Garden ($) I know it doesn’t really fit in with this list but it’s great to pop in for soup and salad!
— Arrowhead Grill in Glendale ($$)

Unfortunately I have to change my review. After watching an older patron fall to the ground by sitting in a broken chair they just moved the broken chair to our table. We pointed out it should just be taken off the floor before they have a real problem and get sued. The response was yea i saw him fall and the waiter followed in minutes with here’s your check. Our food was just placed on the table. Everyone around us at same point of meal doesn’t have their check on the table so apparently that is the mgt response. Use caution here and test your seat for safety.

From the pictures and reviews i thought it would be good. Kind of a disappointment. Food is good but nothing to write home about. Simple but not cheap and the server wasnt all that great!

Food was slightly better than average. Service was good, other great places in the area to try. If you head to the restaurant remember that it’s not a five star dining experience just above average food.

Central Bistro, I think I’ll pass next time. This place is OK, nothing special. I’m a huge fan of breakfast joints, so i wanted to venture out from my normal breakfast places. So I heard about Central Bistro, so I wanted to give it a try. I invited my future in-​laws out for brunch today. We made reservation at 10:00 and were seat right away. Funny thing is, my fiancé requested to sit in one of the empty booths that were surrounding the restaurant, but our host said they are were all reserved. My fiancé said all of them? and she said. Yes. By the way, after we finished our meal, ALL the booths remained empty. Anyways, like I said it’s all about the food. I felt the meals were really overpriced and the food completely didn’t deliver. We ordered the fried chicken and waffle, Chiliquiles, Prosciutto Benedict, and standard breakfast. The dishes were very average. I felt the fried chicken was over fried and the waffle was bland. The sausage gravy was lumpy and the eggs were overcooked. My in-​laws didn’t eat much of their dishes, so I know they weren’t that impressed. The chiliquiles were a disgrace to the dish it tried to resemble. In normal chiliquiles the tortilla chips should be cooked down with some sauce, but these were not. It felt like you were eating nachos with green chili on top. Not impressive at all. The service on the other hand was pretty decent. I can’t remember the lady’s name, but she did a really good job. Kept up with all the refills, and checked up on us from time to time. For that, I would step up and give it 3 stars, but honestly, the food was disappointing and there are a lot of really other good breakfast joints I would rather eat at… It’s a beautiful restaurant with disappointing food, but decent service, that’s how I would sum up this place.
I would not recommend this place for breakfast, I may try their lunch or dinner, but never again for brunch.

Went here with a large group (14 people) with an existing reservation. The table was, nicely, already put together when we arrived. However, it was right next to the bar (where there was evidently still happy hour going on), which made for a loud, raucous dining experience (with a couple TVs on in the background to boot).
We split some appetizers as a group. I tried both the artichoke and the kale salad. The artichoke was excellent (although there was *a lot* of it, definitely enough for 5 – 6 people to comfortably share) while the kale salad was very citrus-​y, to an almost overpowering degree.
I had the Linguine and Clams, as did one other person in the party. Avoid this at all costs. It was BAD. It basically tasted like linguine drenched in clam juice and saltwater. Very little seasoning (or other flavor) to speak of. And while the clams were already removed from their shells, around a half dozen *empty* clam shells were added to the dish (I can only assume for presentation purposes?). Other people had the Crispy Seared Salmon, which I tried; by all accounts it was excellent.
An annoying issue (given the colder weather — around 50 degrees) was that the front door kept sticking open, giving one end of the table a rather brisk breeze. Even after bringing this to the attention of the waiter and, eventually, the manager, it continued to be a problem.
Overall, a very hit-​or-​miss experience, and not quite worth the price paid, especially given some of the other options nearby.

Food is okay. Nothing extremely impressive. I have never had a good service experience here. The last time I was here I was celebrating the Holidays with some people from my office. I was given a card with a gift card inside of it from one of my coworkers and left it at the restaurant. When I called to see if they had put it in a lost and found bin the hostess actually knew specifically where I was sitting which seemed very bizarre. After placing me on hold for several minutes she answered and said they actually didn’t have it and told me to have a nice day. I tried to reach out via e-​mail to management to give them a heads up on a sketchy situation but they never replied to my communication.

Nice atmosphere and beautifully decorated. We were attended to quickly during the happy hour. We ordered a meat and cheese plate, 2 pizzas and roasted artichoke. The pizzas chosen were chicken and pesto and the wild mushroom. I was disappointed with the wild mushroom pizza. The white pizza flavor was lacking as well as the mushrooms. The pizza was lukewarm at best and became chewy very quickly. On a good note, the chick/​pesto pizza was tasty with the arugula. The artichoke was delicious and our friend was happy with her meat/​cheese plate. The server was nice and attentive. He offered separate checks or one check which I thought was a nice touch.
The place was packed by the time we left. Looks like a popular hot spot.

We swung by Central Bistro due to our original choice being unexpectedly closed for a private party. I’ve passed by this place constantly and it’s been bookmarked for quite some time. It looks to be fairly popular, so we took a risk.
Unfortunately, it’s a risk that didn’t pay off.
The décor itself is quite nice, with their exposed brick and sleek looking designs. It looks like the perfect type of restaurant to satisfy the «wino» crowd, although a bit too manufactured to really be considered a warm place of gathering.
I wish I had more good things to say about this place, but I’m really struggling here.
Service at this restaurant was very poor. I’m not sure if our guy lacked experience, was having an off day, or had simply been serving for one too many years. I asked for a Diet Coke. I received an iced tea. When our appetizer came out, I politely asked again for my Diet Coke. Almost a half hour goes by and I never receive it. I was seconds away from entering the kitchen myself, possibly wondering if requesting a basic soda was just asking too much of this establishment — until our actual dinner was brought out by someone else. Thankfully, my third request was granted fairly quickly. 30 minutes for a soda? Ouch!
We opted for some bread as an appetizer, which I’m pretty sure is just their «drunk bread» in its naked form with some olive oil. It was okay, but we probably should have opted for a «drunk» variation. Oh well.
For dinner, we had the taglietelle bolognese. Since we were splitting it, they were kind enough to serve it in two separate dishes, which was one of the few things I do give them some credit for. The pasta was okay, although you don’t have to drive too far to find the identical entrée in superior forms.
We then ordered a margherita as a baseline to see how their pizza holds up. They did not describe the margherita on the menu, simply stating it’s the «classic.» Well, apparently, their idea of a margherita vastly differs from ours. We’ve eaten enough margheritas over the last few years to feed a small Italian village and this is the only one that uses marinara instead of traditional tomato sauce. Why? Did they run out of tomato sauce? Are they trying to bend the rules? Or did the chef simply perform a botch-​job on the most basic of all pizza pies? The crust’s flavor was practically nonexistent. I would try some of their other pizzas, but if you can’t do a margherita right, I’m pretty sure there’s not much that you CAN do right when you’re dabbling in pizza.
For dessert, we opted for the German chocolate cake, which ended up being a disappointment. Its consistency was similar to those dry dessert cakes that they often serve at chain restaurants, a red flag that it probably wasn’t made recently. The coconut-​pecan frosting that is a staple of all German chocolate cakes was conspicuously absent, replaced with something that was more similar to pudding.
I originally overlooked their unisex restrooms and ended up using their ghastly designed urinal room that is closed off by nothing beyond a couple of swinging saloon doors. Considering I’m just several feet away from kitchen staff and other customers, it’s a mere step up from just holding up a protective sheet for privacy while I pee in front of all the patrons.
I’m sorry. Too many disappointments to give them a second chance and too many other options to really consider this place worth revisiting, despite the fact that they have a breakfast menu that I’ll probably never try.
Not recommended!

My favorite local hot spot. I’ve been coming here since they opened. Great atmosphere, delicious food, tasty cocktails, excellent service & friendly management and good prices.
Love the happy hour menu all day Mondays. The artichoke is tender and seasoned perfectly on the grill. Great oyster platter. Half price pizzas — the wild mushroom is my favorite. I’ve been on a charcuterie kick — awesome value for all the meats, cheeses and lil fixings. Love the frozen grapes, tomato jam, pickled cucumbers, focaccia, fresh garlic & more… Yum!
I’ve had almost everything on the lunch & dinner menu… Delicious salads, great portions and they’ll be happy to substitute for certain food allergies. The lunch wraps are healthy light, yet filling. For dinner, I love the pasta dishes, but if I’m trying to eat healthier, I’ll order the scallops, salmon, steak or chicken — all winners!
Then, I’ll do their bread pudding for dessert or cobbler when in season!
I haven’t even gotten to their brunch! Monkey bread, yum, pancakes, yum, salmon omelette,… And my fav is the freshly squeezed grapefruit juice w pulp! Greyhounds, yes! Plus very good wine selection.
Hands down my favorite place. Go say hi to GM Paul, Bill, server Tom, bartender Hurley and Justin. Thanks German and team… I’ll be back again soon!

Open atmosphere w/​a light and bright feel to it. Came in for lunch today and first thing was that they have $ 2 off a glass of wine on Mondays — well if that doesn’t start things off right, what would?!? :)
Service was friendly and timely — and I ordered the summer salad w/​some grilled chicken — salad was tasty, liked the corn, and the chicken was done well too, just lightly seasoned. Overall, with the PGrigio and salad, I had the perfect fall lunch.

Food: 2 stars
Service: 3 stars
Décor: 5 stars
Came here for Restaurant Week. I made a reservation online, which was a simple and easy process. Our table was waiting for us when we arrived, so we were very happy!
They served a nice fluffy bread with olive oil to start. I thought the bread was delicious. However… the food started to go downhill from there. The orchard salad was my starter and it was nice and crispy with a light dressing, with lots of interesting things thrown in there for taste and texture like raisins (or were they cranberries?), nuts, brussel sprouts, etc.
My entrée came out next which was sea scallops and risotto. The quality of the scallops was A+. They were large and soft, not chewy. Unfortunately, the brininess of the sea scallops, when combined with the additional salt in the dish was overwhelmingly salty… in a very bad way. I kept eating my scallops and trying to force them down bc I had paid for them, but after the first few bites I really wasn’t enjoying it. I never like risotto, and I knew that when I ordered the dish I wouldn’t like the risotto but I really did want the sea scallops, so I won’t comment on the taste of the risotto. I left almost all my risotto untouched.
The dessert was peach cobbler. They really should have called it a peach «crumble» bc there wasn’t the typical soft cobbler crust that you would expect (and want!). This dessert was a disappointment and I literally ate one bite and didn’t feel like eating anymore. Besides the lack of a yummy crust, the peaches were flavored with some kind of herb (maybe rosemary) that I didn’t enjoy.
So yeah… I basically only enjoyed the salad and choked down the scallops and didn’t eat about half my meal… I don’t like to be one of those people that sends food back, but I would have hoped that our waiter, when seeing that my plates (and others’ plates too) were being cleared with a MAJORITY of the food still on them, that the waiter would have done something to make sure we got food we enjoyed.
On the plus side, since some people at our table were first time patrons, they brought us complimentary chocolate chip cookies, which were fabulous! along with vanilla milk. A really nice touch!

I really enjoyed dinner here tonight in an up and coming strip mall with surprisingly good choices of food and drinks.
We had a party of six here tonight and our waiter, Andy, did everything he could to ensure our visit was enjoyable.
Dinner began with a nice selection of wines although Katherine tried a wine flight since she couldn’t decide on what red she wanted for the night. Our appetizers were padro peppers, a small pizza, prosciutto and drunken bread. Great flavor, nice presentation and not too much to ruin our dinner.
We all tried something a little different for our main course including Clam Bake, Spicy Cab Spaghetti, Crispy Salmon and the Bolognaise.
Everyone enjoyed their meals, good portions, great flavor, plenty for everyone to share.
The only down side was the wait was longer than expected. I think Andy may have forgotten to put our order in or the Clam Bake took extra long. Regardless, we will hopefully return soon.

Egg’s Benedict were incredible. We went for brunch, need to back and try their dinner or lunch service. It’s definitely the party brunch spot with live music and bottomless drinks. I prefer a more mellow brunch but would go back for the Egg’s Benedict alone. They are getting lots of breakfast competition on that corner though but maybe that will help with getting a reservation. They give first timers cookies and cream, always a nice touch!

I CANNOT believe I haven’t scribbled a love note about this place! Staff is completely utterly UHMAZING. They love their job and they do a fantastic job showing you why. I can’t gush enough about management staff other than I’d steal them fore safekeeping. Nina and Chris will wow you with their smile, infectious laughter and impeccable attention to detail!
I adore the social hour because who doesn’t want to socialize when you can be sipping on sangrias, grilled arthichokes and naturally a few dozen of the best oysters from both the East and West Coast. It happens every day from 2 – 6 which explains all the faithful regulars and locals. There’s not a bad spot and the energy is contagious. I’ve been here for brunch. Lunch. Dinner. If you dine outside those times, I recommend the breakfast pizza. Yes there is such a thing and it’s perfect after a workout. Dessert is always a crowd pleaser from the homebaked cookies with vanilla infused milk or the decadent German chocolate cake. Did you not see my pictures? You should be drooling!
I really should just forward my mail here. My friends are never disappointed and I’ve left several tips because every time I go I am always pleasantly surprised. Central Bistro you sure know how to treat others with how you feel inside! They leave you feeling good. Best feeling ever. Love you, one of your biggest adoring fan.

I was so disappointed in this place. =/
We came here for my sister’s birthday for dinner. I ordered the mushroom risotto. I usually don’t eat a lot so I don’t even finish my plate. However, their plates here are tiny. I finished almost the entire thing. For $ 20 a plate you would think it would be a pretty good size plate. The mushrooms were very flavorful. The risotto however was extremely bland and had no flavor whatsoever. My boyfriend ordered the tagliatelle bolognese pasta. Let’s just say he left the restaurant still hungry. The sad part is the dish was delicious.
Since we had a huge group, we had two waiters. One on each side of our table. The side across from us got their drinks, food and check way before we did. It took almost 30 minutes for us to get our check after requesting it and to top it off it was incorrect. The only plus for me was was my lemon drop martini that the bartender whipped up that wasn’t on the menu. We spent a total of $ 60 and left hungry. We won’t be back.