Bolt Bistro

I went with my wife once during restaurant weekend. I wish I could give this place two starts because on the individual level all the staff members who served us were nice and seem to try to do their best. However, overall, service was not good and not professional. More than that, the food was surprisingly bad. We sat outside during a pleasant evening– the location is idea to chill out.
Food: We chose from the restaurant weekend menu filet mignon steak. Although we asked medium our steak came our well done. When I showed the piece of meat to a server (there were many, read below) he said «this is definitely not a medium» he offered to get us a new steak (we didn’t take his offer because we didn’t want to wait). All other parts of our dishes were mediocre or not tasty at all (I could eat my brussel sprout and my wife couldn’t eat a topping of her desert. Felt like a waste of $ 30 dollars but especially our time of going out for dinner. I should mention that I had my glass of wine wavered because of the steak blunder (didn’t really make me too happy).
Regarding the service, it was a total mess. For some reason we were told that the whole team will be serving us, and this was what was going on for all tables around us. Different staff were serving us. They didn’t seem to be professional waiters. Some were others managers (trying to do their best, it seems). However, we could see about a third of servers going out and back with dishes because they either couldn’t find the right table or didn’t have the right dish. For example, my wife got the wrong starter dish. After receiving the correct dish it didn’t come with a spoon and had to wait again to find someone who would get us a spoon. I could continue to write about the service with more example but I am really getting tired here…

Went today during restaurant week because of restaurant week menu. We’re told it was an hour wait to sit inside or we could be seated outside immediately. We opted for outside and were seated about 7pm, drinks were ordered finally about 7:25 (no table greet for 15 minutes). At 7:30, after sitting outside for 30 minutes and not having drinks delivered in this time or anyone else coming out to the table we decided to leave. Thirty minutes. No drinks. Unacceptable. I understand that restaurant week is very busy, however, don’t seat tables if you can’t handle the volume.

Pretty standard and straightforward food nothing special but everything was enjoyable. I did really enjoy the seared Tuna sandwich and the fries were very good as well. My wife liked her seafood salad as well,
The service was likewise, perfectly fine but nothing to write home about.

Went to lunch at Bolt for the start of restaurant week. Maybe they were just having a terrible day because based on previous reviews this place sounded great. The food in my opinion was exactly what you would find in a school cafeteria. Honestly. The Brunswick stew was chicken soup with a bag of frozen mixed vegetables and a few pieces of chicken «crumbs.» It had at least an inch of oily fat on the top of the soup. The waiter exchanged that out for the watermelon gazpacho (Watermelon, oil, basil) which was tasty. Our meals came — crab cakes and ahi sandwich. The ahi sandwich was good. The crab cake was loaded down with crackers and it was not seared enough on the outside so all around the sound was the uncooked bread crumbs. The fries were cold. We were able to get new hot fries. The dessert that came with the meal was a mojito bar. Tasted like some type of jello, cool whip thing. Very green, no lime taste and looked like it was taken from the buffet of a school cafeteria. The bill came and we were charged extra for the soup. The waiter had that taken off my bill but attention to detail didn’t exist. And… it’s the first day of restaurant week, we were there from 12 – 1:00 and the place had maybe three other tables seated. I can’t imagine who is running that place and is okay with the extremely poor quality of food they are serving.

Freaking Amazing! The waitress, the food, length of service time… we will be back! It’s a tad expensive but as long as they maintain this level of greatness it’s worth it!

Went for an anniversary dinner on a Saturday night. Drinks came out very slowly and were fairly weak and sweeter than expected (particularly the Ron Burgundy cocktail, which claimed to be made with one whole cherry but was in fact doused in grenadine, with no cherry). The dark and stormy was better. Not amazing, but drinkable.
We ordered the fried oysters to start, which were not bad but seemed slightly undercooked. They tasted more like juicy fried pickles, which is ok I guess but not what we were expecting. For entrees we ordered the surf n turf and the stuffed chicken. The surf n turf was tasty, though the lobster came out slightly cold and the steak was a little overdone (medium, requested medium rare). The stuffed chicken was very good. A very heavy, rich dish, with no greens/​veggies to balance it out, but quite tasty and cooked well.
Service was slower than expected/​desired throughout the meal. However, everyone was extremely nice and appropriately apologetic when drinks, dishes arrived behind schedule. Overall, a generally fine but not stellar experience. For the price, however, I expected better.

Oh wow. The calamari was great. Tender. The sauce was perfect.
The shrimp and grits appetizer was fantastic. Salty bacon. The grits cooked perfectly. The sauce brought it all together.
The scallops and stuffed chicken dinners. Scallops were buttery perfect. The chicken was moist and flavorful without the sauce. Then the sauce. Phenomenal. We will be back!

Came for lunch today just after opening. Nice atmosphere, friendly staff. Both my brothers had salad and were very happy with them. My angus burger was a little over cooked but was still really tasty. I’ll definitely be back.

3 words… Bloody. Mary. Bar! That alone gives them nearly 5 stars in my book. Went there on Mother’s Day and it was awesome. Our server was great, our food was great, and their bloody Mary’s were great!

Getting a Friday evening reservation and pushing ½ hour proved to be much easier than I expected. The Bolt Bistro was very accommodating. Weather on ⁴⁰⁄₄₄₀ through a wrench in everyone’s Friday evening plans.
The food was great! Well prepared and not lost on the plate among garnishing. We tried a beef and a salmon entré. Both were well sized portions. Sides are considered clutter.
The service was well worth a 20% tip. Attentive, but not overbearing. Water and bread arrived at the table within 4 minutes. Specials were presented (probably the weakest part, but still competent). The meals were served smoothly and finished plates cleared promptly. The dessert tray was well presented and full (nice change to empty spots) and finished with a French press for coffee.
A little pricey and not for kids. The value wasn’t the best I’ve seen, but far from the worst. Value is a subjective judgement. Great downtown date venue. The entertainment came from the people on the street. All in all, a good choice for adults.

So I never finish my food when I go out to eat. But everything was so good I couldn’t stop eating. We started with some happy hour sliders. And then I got salmon which was perfect! My friends filet was exactly how she wanted it. Medium rare. Pass on the crab cake burger tho. And if you check in on Unilocal you get free dessert. The chocolate whatever dessert was super rich but I really liked it. I’d get that over the cheesecake. I shall be back for their 3 course meal for $ 30.

Came here on a Tuesday evening with another couple who was checking out the Raleigh area. I love the location of this restaurant and it feels very safe in the evening to walk the streets here. There is a table right outside the restaurant with menus on it. Outdoor seating is also available. The indoor looks very intimate with candle-​lit booths and tables. There is also a bar in the restaurant and the ambience is quiet and upscale. Casual dress is fine, though. I wasn’t very hungry so I ordered the appetizer crabcake and it was very tender and high-​quality. The cream sauce really made a difference. Since I checked in on Unilocal,I got a free dessert. The crème brûlée was amazing. It had a crispy glaze finish. My husband ordered the rib eye and it was a very large portion. He said it was juicy and tender. Our friend really liked the salmon over a bed of spinach. He mentioned that the mushrooms were very tasty as well. Bread was served before the meal came out. The waiter was very professional and accommodating. The restaurant was very clean, the staff was friendly, and the ambiance was very nice. Most of the menu was seafood and red meat. Be prepared to spend at least $ 20 on an entrée.

Bolt was good. We came here on a Saturday evening with a reservation for a party of 11 to celebrate a friend’s birthday. It was pretty packed inside when we arrived, but we were seated quickly enough and there was already water on the table.
The atmosphere inside is pretty meticulously crafted to provide an upscale ambience, almost to the point where you can’t really see during dinner time. From a visual/​presentation standpoint alone, Bolt could definitely pass as a «fine dining» establishment. To me, nothing about the food or service was particularly extraordinary relative to the quality of the other experiences I’ve had at other restaurants for about the same price. The food was definitely tasty and well made, but it was also definitely pricey, perhaps too pricey for the portion size and minor mistakes that were made (i.e., a medium-​rare steak was cooked more like medium-​well).
The service was confusing, sometimes attentive and sometimes not. Our waiter was very friendly and patient, especially when we continually asked for refills on the complimentary bread. No one that served us was very attentive about refilling water, though. At the end of our experience, the staff politely asked our group to leave because there was another group of 12 waiting.
Ultimately, Bolt has the ambience and pricing of a place you would take someone for a date night or something like an anniversary dinner and the food is good for sure, but perhaps there are better experiences you could have for the same (or probably a lower) price.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been back to Bolt Bistro and I’ve been missing out. I’ve always had really good experiences at Bolt and will say this last visit was the best. I stopped by for Triangle restaurant week and it was delicious.
I started with a salad that was really fresh and light topped with dried cranberries and almonds. The filet you could eat with just a fork it was so tender. The meat was cooked perfectly and the roasted veggies with fingerling potatoes were so good. I haven’t had a really good steak out in awhile and I was very surprised how delicious this steak was. My friend ordered the bone in pork chop which was also cooked perfectly and it was huge.
I ended the night with the flourless chocolate cake, and I’m still thinking about it. Maybe since I hadn’t had a dessert in so long but this was a really tasty cake. The service was excellent and they had some great wine specials as well.
Bolt is a great place for a nice dinner out. After this fabulous dinner I need to make sure to get back here more often. The menu is quite different from what I remember but I think they made some great improvements. Great place for a large party as well. They have plenty of space to fit large groups.

We celebrated NYE dinner here. It was a limited menu and was delicious. It was a busy night, so that may be why the staff wasn’t very friendly. Can’t say anything bad about the food — I ate everything in my plate.

Noms! I’ve been to Bolt Bistro on 3 separate occasions now and in each instance it delivered.
The first time I ate at Bolt was in the summer of 2013, after I literally drove 10 hours from NYC to start my next adventure in Raleigh. This was the first restaurant I ate at post-​move. I had transferred over my Unilocal elite status from the big apple and attended some sort of belly dancing/​burlesque/​striptease elite event on the patio. The crowd eating indoors was staring at the talent, I’m sure it led to some heated arguments between the couples in the crowd. I was there with my fiancé at the time and we watched the show and talked about how artistic the presentation was, meanwhile I was trying to devise a scheme to fly these ladies out to my bachelor party in Vegas. Just kidding, but aside from the talent I really enjoyed the rigatoni bolognese, which the manager told me on our most recent visit is heated up for over 16 hours (the Bolognese sauce I presume).
For round 2, I brought out the work team which went well and finally this weekend I decided to take my now wife out to revisit Bolt, a restaurant we remember fondly, but haven’t visited in quite awhile. We got a handful of items:
Devils eggs: Chalk it up to a weird pregnancy craving, the wife has been on fire asking for deviled eggs lately. Overall, this was the least exciting part of our meal. The yolk part was a bit runny for my taste, although the flavor was spot-​on.
Rigatoni Bolognese: A huge dish that will surely yield leftovers. This has been one of their signature dishes for years and one of the single-​best pasta dishes I have found in the area outside of Gravy and Tazza Kitchen.
Chicken Breast with Cheese Sauce: I forget the exact name, but to have two chicken breasts infused with 3 separate cheeses made me feel the exact opposite of how I felt after binge watching Making a Murderer this weekend. Fulfilled and happy for the just world we live in.
One of the first and best places I’ve eaten in Raleigh and very close to a 5 but not quite there just yet. Noms!

I first saw bolt coming up when I was interning at Susan G. Komen dt but I thought it would be pricey and shmancy so my poor college butt never thought about coming to bolt! Thankfully, I am employed after graduation and get to enjoy many dt food gems! Bolt’s service is great! At first I was a little weary because the hostess left us awkwardly hanging at the front for a good time until I flagged down a waiter. After that though, everything was smooth sailing! Our waitress was sweet and everything we got was served on a separate plate, the lemon for our waters, napkins and straws, and even an extra order of ketchup! They must have an amazing dishwasher!
Now for the food, sweet potato fries are as good as anywhere. I love that they are waffle fries! But the difference that I saw at bolt was that they served the fries with a sweet cinnamon sauce. I got the Wolfpack burger without bacon and changed the beef patty to a grilled chicken. It was delicious! The brioche bun truly made the burger but I sadly did not taste much pimento as I was really looking forward to it. We also got a free dessert and made the right choice of chocolate chip bread pudding topped with a bourbon glaze! It was delicious to say the least! I will definitely be coming back to bolt some time!

We stopped in during First Friday to grab some grub before bar hopping. We were drawn in by the menu on the outside but realized that was only for happy hour and no burgers were to be had.
We were seated upstairs which was more upscale and best for a date night or maybe an early dinner, not for a group of 5 tipsy people. We didn’t like the atmosphere upstairs, too stuffy and quiet, but the service was great and the food was pretty good. I hade the bolognese. Very good but needed a little salt. Hubby had the calamari which was possibly the best I’ve had in ages. Very fresh and light, not super bready or greasy. My sis had the lobster mac and cheese. No one was really impressed.
The place is very nicely decorated and we will probably be back for happy hour or apps. I suggest sitting downstairs if you want to feel like you’re a part of the action.

I’ve been to Bolt a few times now, so figured it was finally time for a review. This restaurant has been around for a few years now and replaced The Mint. It is a prime location on Fayetteville Street, which is perfect for those of us working downtown.
My favorite thing on the menu has to be the mussels. We got it as an appetizer one night and I think it’s my favorite thing on the menu. They are buttery and delicious; some of the best I’ve had in the states. At lunch I prefer to get the steak taco salad. This thing is HUGE. It comes with black beans, corn, tomatoes, salsa, guac, cheese and steak. I opt to remove the ranch (it’s a zesty chipotle ranch) and just mix sourcream with the provided salsa and guac. It’s really enough to feed two people, so I generally end up taking some home with me.
I love that they are on OpenTable, and are always accommodating for large groups. They used to have outdoor seating, but with construction outside it has been limited for the time being.

Checked out Bolt for the first time during Restaurant Week, and it was a solid option for lunch in downtown Raleigh. It wasn’t amazing, but it was good and a great price, plus the service was solid.
The watermelon gazpacho was my favorite part. It was surprisingly spicy but had refreshing chunks of watermelon and cucumber in it.
My burger was… Eh. Fine. The julienned fries were cold and overcooked, like they had been sitting out. The house salad was pretty standard looking, and the taco salad was delicious.
I wouldn’t say this would be my first or even my fifth choice for lunch on Fayetteville Street, but if you happen to be passing by, it’s an okay option.