Oxbow Cafe And Bistro

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this place at first due to its location, but it exceeded my expectations. The contemporary design of the interior was what really threw me off because I expected something like PJ and Company on Wells. The food was good but not memorable. If you want a good olé fashion breakfast or sandwich, this place fits the bill. I would actually give this place 3 ½ Stars since there was nothing that set it apart from similar places.

Still have not found a better traditional Eggs Benedict in Reno (though I will keep trying).

Heard a lot about Oxbow so decided to give it a try. I was parked and ready to go to Peg’s — a place I love — but left to make the drive to the end of 2^nd street to try something new.
I arrived at 10:45 am. Parking was easy, which I appreciate. There is ample seating (table and bar), and the place is clean. There were only two other customers in the place at the time. I seated myself, and it took almost 5 minutes for someone to greet me and offer me a menu. First impressions are huge in the hospitality business, and they really fumbled this one.
I was only offered a breakfast menu, which surprised me. At that time of day a small café operation should be able to offer both lunch and breakfast. Pretty sure I could have gotten either lunch or breakfast if I had been at Peg’s or Squeeze In.
It’s a good breakfast menu, ample choice and good prices. Instead of standard fare, I decided to go with the chili cheese omelet, rye toast, no potatoes. I asked for cottage cheese as a substitute for potatoes but they did not offer that (can get it at Peg’s and Squeeze). When my food came she had substituted fruit without charging me, which I appreciated.
Have to say the omelet and toast were very good. No complaints at all about the food. It’s every bit as good as people say it is.
Will I return? Hard to say. There are so many great breakfast options in Reno. So for early morning breakfast they did not convince me that it’s worth the drive out of the way. For mid morning, will not likely return because I can get more menu flexibility at other places. I would like to return some time to try lunch. I’d have to assume that is after 11 am, because their website does not specify when they switch from breakfast to lunch.

February 21, 2016 Sunday — 8 AM for breakfast
4 adults
Atmosphere — 5 stars
Food — 5 stars
Service — 5 stars
Background — Eggs benedict was being craved by two of the people in the group.
Atmosphere — You know it is a good place based on location and they are still in business. They are located in a mixed residential and business part of town. Clean crisp vibe, love the feel.
Food
Drinks — coffee, just the standard stuff.
My Main Course — I had the breakfast burrito. The burrito was huge, and probably should have saved some for later but I could not stop eating it. Two things that made this burrito stand out. The fresh avocado, and you add that Andouille sausage.
Service –Excellent. She asked if I needed hot sauce for the burrito. She did not asked which kind but just brought three different ones. The sausage had a perfect amount of heat and I did not need any hot sauce
Future — Yes!

This is a good place for breakfast! The skillet and andouille sausage breakfasts are really good. Reasonably priced and good service!

Great place, nice little environment. Fresh food, wonderful morning! This is my first time here, really love it, not expensive at all. Recommend to come here.

Who knew this place is still chugging along. It’s located in a random place. No where near main streets or other high traffic businesses. It’s a cute little café, that seems inviting.
I have been here a few times in the passed. All thanks to Unilocal of course! Each time we went, our waitress was nice. Today our waitress was amazing. The kitchen in the back had messed our order up and she switched it for us right away and comped us the meal. We told her no worries but she said families should alway eat together and since it was our mistake the breakfast was on them. I don’t know about any of you but to me that is awesome customer service!
The good was ok. I had the breakfast burrito and is was flavorful. The potatoes came in the side were good too. A few of them didn’t seem to be cooked all the way. But they were good and you can tell they were home made (in the back)
I would defiantly go again in the future.

I love this place, our second time here and I can’t wait to be back. The food is delicious the portions are great size I always have a take home
Box and most importantly the staff!!! They are amazing, the chef is funny, and so nice to the customers, they really try their best to make you super satisfied!

The Oxbow Café has really great food. I frequent this little restaurant probably more than any other for breakfast and lunch. They have reasonable prices for extremely delicious food. Breakfast at the Oxbow is really amazing. On Saturday and Sunday the restaurant offers eggs Benedict, which is my go to everywhere. This place nails the dish, which is to say the best I’ve ever had! I’ve also stopped in with my parents for their Saturday evening prime rib dinner, which for about $ 25 (dinner salad or soup, 16oz cut of prime rib, potatoes, fresh veggies, and glass of wine!) is the best I’ve had for the price. The staff is friendly and attentive. They seem to enjoy each other’s company and seem to enjoy working the restaurant which is refreshing. This place is definitely worth a try for a casual setting and no nonsense food.

Want good food go there. It’s clean and the food is great oxbow is a little hidden but worth a look very thing fresh hot or cold it’s great

We have been to Oxbow many times, always pleased with our meal so when my brother and his wife were in town went for lunch. We are all from the New England area and know our clam chowder and when we both proclaimed theirs to be one of the best we have ever had that is saying something! It is by far the best in Reno for sure. light and full of flavor, plenty of clams and potatoes and no bacon! The traditional style. Awesome!
Also, the best bread pudding I’ve ever had!

Twice a few weeks ago I ordered take out for my family… The 1^st time was early afternoon, ordered 3 cheeseburgers w/​fries, a Caesar salad, and a small clam chowder. The burgers were bland, fries more than soggy and we weren’t given the ketchup we’d been offered by the person helping us. Also, the clam chowder was extremely watery.
The very next morning, due to weather conditions, our power was knocked out. I’ve got 2 little boys and w/​the youngest not in school yet, I needed to make breakfast happen. Called in another to go order… 2 breakfast burritos, a croissant sandwich, and a single pancake. My burrito was supposed to have no onions or peppers, the box even said no onions or peppers… I swear it had extra onions and peppers… Break my heart. I work in the industry, I get it… but man, $ 50 for breakfast I couldn’t even eat.
Worst part may be that I live across the street and will probably go back… reluctantly

The hot chocolate is the best! Warm and friendly atmosphere. Off the beaten path. Great breakfast. Will come back to try the lunch menu.

Out of the way but worth it. This kinda homey little café is on Dickerson Rd towards Oxbow Park. Upon entering it was evident many others felt the same I did as it was full. Even so they opened another section, the converted garage for our family. Though busy the service was prompt and consistent.
The French Onion soup was really good, we all shared. The Chicken Fried Steak & eggs was also very good. I would like more gravy but that is me. everyone liked the food which varied from breakfast to lunch. The prices are very fair. We will be back again.

This place is a great place for brunch or breakfast on the weekend! I look forward to coming here again and ordering the egg and sausage croissant, which comes out the size of your face, fyi! The food is delicious and fresh, And I ate everything on my plate!
However, the wait staff is agreeably disorganized but… not in the worst way. We had two waitresses constantly checking on us in a moderate rush, almost being more disruptive and than helpful. I’d rather have that problem than no attention at all… But I think some communication issues are present. Maybe they’re too focused on the other past reviews where people received no attention, but our «issue» was just the opposite.

I don’t know why I had been reluctant to try Oxbow café. I really enjoyed it! They have free wifi and were fine with me sitting there studying for a few hours.
It’s off the beaten path, I was glad to see there were a number of patrons eating there, despite its location. For those of you looking for it, take Second street west until it ends and becomes a no-​outlet road (Dickerson). Luckily there was a large sign near the road. I was passing all the small warehouse-​y stores, straining my eyes to read the name of each one to make sure I wasn’t passing it, but once I came upon the Oxbow Café, I realized you can’t miss it. There is a good sized parking lot just beyond the building (I parked in the itsy-​bitsy lot just before it and realized I entered the back way).
I walked in and immediately noticed how it was both clean and homey the restaurant is! Very refreshing visit a restaurant that is both comfy and hygienic. There are fresh flowers at every table and fun paintings around the room. I’m a nurse… a clean restaurant gets my attention!
I ordered a mocha, which was a fairly good mocha, though not remarkably the best I’ve had. There was some sort of orange-​red powder sprinkled on top, which I was never able to identify, though one or two sips I noted a little bite to the drink, maybe it was chili powder that lost most of its heat. Whatever it was, it was pretty good. Then I ordered the Oxbow breakfast skillet. When it first came out, I noted how dry it looked. My first thought was, «Oh great, dry food, I’m going to have to take off a Unilocal-​star.» HOWEVER, after having several bites, I realized that rather than being dry, it was actually just pleasantly un-​greasy. It was well seasoned and quite enjoyable. This is how food should be served– without loads of butter and oil, and it still managed to be pretty good.
The food was solid four-​and-​a-​quarter-​star-​food. What made me bump this rating up to 5 stars was the extraordinary customer service. The two servers were so thoughtful and sweet. Sally definitely went out of her way to make sure I had a great experience. I was taking a while to finish my mocha, and when it was half done, she asked if I’d like it topped off with some hot fresh coffee. I am not sure if she is an owner or something, but I could tell she takes pride in the restaurant.
I’d certainly like to return again to try out the lunch or dinner menu. They also seemed to have a handful of beers on tap and wine, I’d be interested in checking those out too, just not with breakfast!

The Oxbow is so out of the way that we just kept forgetting to try it out. Happily, today there were some Geocaches nearby that I wanted to find, so we finally made the trip down Dickerson to have breakfast.
We sat at the counter, so the service problems that others have encountered were not an issue for us, though I did notice that the servers were pretty chatty with each other – not a good idea during breakfast rush – and some of them were swearing during these chats, which is really unprofessional, especially when you have kids in your restaurant. That was the only negative aspect of our meal, though… the rest was top-​notch.
Here’s what Oxbow has that is pretty rare among the breakfast places in Reno: SIMPLICITY. The design of the restaurant itself is clean and elegant. The menu is short and simple with a basic selection of breakfast favorites. The food is straight forward and well made. So many of the breakfast places around here have huge menus and/​or tons of chotskies hanging everywhere and/​or lots of noise. Oxbow is much more serene.
Being a Saturday, I tried the Eggs Benedict, and they were really well prepared. The Hollandaise had just the right texture and the perfect amount of lemon. The side fruit was fresh and ripe, and the potatoes did a great job of soaking up the extra sauce. Most importantly, my coffee was wonderful and refilled quickly. Husband really enjoyed his skillet scramble, though he was particularly impressed with the rye toast and the spiced cocoa. Kid loved her pancakes.
I don’t know if Oxbow will make it on to our regular breakfast rotation, but it was really nice to sit down to a mellow, well-​made breakfast, and I have no reason to give them anything less than five stars.

Has anyone ever told you not to judge a book by its cover… Well it is especially true about this restaurant. I read all of the wonderful reviews about this place and I was ready to give it a shot. My boyfriend and I wanted to go out for a romantic Friday night dinner. From the outside, the restaurant appears to be more of a garage or other non-​restaurant business. As we were driving past all of the trailers he seemed a little apprehensive about going inside. HA but boy was he wrong! As you walk in the front door, it opens up to be a quaint restaurant.
My bf got the prime rib special– which a heaping plate of goodness (from what he said). It was served with a slab of prime rib cooked to your liking, either soup or salad, veggies, mashed potatoes, and a drink on the house.
I ordered the grilled shrimp with scampi sauce. Mine was prepared with rice and veggies.
Overall the portions were a great size, it was reasonably priced, we received great service, and the food was delicious. I would definitely go back again for another meal. Next time I hope to try breakfast. :)

Pros: food, atmosphere, service, and prices
Cons: coffee/​water refills
I found out about this businesses existence, from right here on Unilocal.It is a great example of how powerful Unilocal can be when trying to explore even your own city. This café is hidden at the very end of 2^nd street (technically Dickerson Rd.), right before the Oxbow Nature Study. I have never traveled down this direction ever so it took a little help from Google Maps. I normally would never question Google’s intelligence, but there was no way there was some great hidden gem of a breakfast place down this industrial road.
Google you were right again! I found the Oxbow Café. It is a small quite building in the center of a parking lot. The place is very nice. Although small, Oxbow had plenty of seating to get us in, and seated. We ordered some coffee while looking over the menu. I was in the mood for something a little more sweet which wasn’t on the menu. When one of the employees heard the server tell me that they only had plain coffee, he sprung into action and saved the day. The employee (was not our server) asked me, «If you would like, I can make you a coffee that I really like to make when I get to work.» I accepted the offer and was treated to a delicious iced thai style coffee. I love when a place isn’t afraid to break away from the normal, to make their customers happy.
The food on the menu was shockingly cheap. I believe most of the time, you get what you pay for. The menu prices had me a little worried about quality and quantity. Oxbow exceeded all expectations with a huge delicious breakfast burrito. Everything on the plate tasted amazing and was very fresh.
I have been to the Oxbow several times since that first visit, for breakfast and dinner It’s unique location provides me with a couple great opportunities. The distance down 2^nd street makes for a good bike ride to go get breakfast, and the Oxbow Nature Study is a very peaceful place to walk off my food afterwards. At work, co-​workers and myself have also enjoyed their take-​out. Beau H. ( Unilocaler) even is quoted saying, «Best breakfast bagel sandwich I have ever had!»
There is one inconvenience that seems to be very common with each visit. We have to flag down somebody and ask for water and coffee refills each time. This is something that has actually deterred friends from wanting to go back often. There is a possibility competing business’ have forced me to have too high expectations and first world problems. Addressing this easily fixed problem would make a huge difference.
If you are in search of a new great place to have breakfast or dinner than you should check the Oxbow Café out! You will not be disappointed in the menu or food quality. Prices here are amazing, I have not seen cheaper prices for this level of dining anywhere else!

I’ve been thinking about what my review for Oxbow should say for some time. I am lacking inspiration and quite simply, words, for what I feel about this place. That usually means I didn’t hate… or love my experience.
I didn’t even know this place existed until my friend causally mentioned it months ago. I was intrigued and thus, we decided to go over break.
Honestly, everything was eh. The customer service wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t stellar. The food was good, but it wasn’t anything to write home about. The ambience and décor was nice, but there was nothing memorable about it.
I would absolutely be willing to try this place again if someone suggests it, but I’m not anxious to get over there any time soon.