Bradford Block Bistro

My Husband and I had date night at the Bradford Bistro for the first time Friday the 8^th of January. What a lovely place. Very clean, decorated nicely. We had the bacon wrapped scallops for an appetizer, they were awesome. My husband had the open face rib eye with mashed potatoes and I had the special which was Shrimp Pasta with a pesto sauce. the food was absolutely yummy. Very generous portions and no skimping on the shrimp or steak. Our waitress, Kelly, was very attentive, without being intrusive. Kelly always made sure our drinks were good and asked if our meals were prepared as ordered. We also split a caramel covered cheesecake which also was so good, very fluffy not dense as most cheesecakes are. The prices are inline with the food and service given.
If I had to make one observation that was a little off putting, it would be that the hand dryers are very loud in the restrooms and since the restaurant is small you can hear them clearly.
We will be back again very soon in spite of the noisy hand dryers. :)
J & D Z

Standout restaurant. Friendly and professional staff, quality and thoughtful dishes. In addition to the servers, the owner almost always comes out to make sure everything is cooked well. Wonderful atmosphere, a hidden gem.

This place is awesome! Great atmosphere and very friendly staff. Spoke with the owner for a while and he’s a very nice guy with a great business. I had the blackened yellowfin tuna, a special for the night, and it was amazing! Some of the best I’ve ever had. For dessert I had their cheesecake. It was very light and almost fluffy, as opposed to the more dense cheesecake that’s more common at other restaurants. I’d highly recommend this place and will come back if I’m ever in town again.

Great service and Excellent food! Best in the area hands down. Brian really knocks it out of the park for the Sanford area. Great Beer and exceptionally good prices too. What’s not to like about this place? Keep up the great work Brian!

This is a restaurant that we should all support. Great home cooked food thoughtfully prepared by the owner who has served 4 tours of duty. He and his lovely wife have worked really hard to create a wonderful dining experience in an old building that they themselves renovated. Enjoyed the best ribs and beans ever!

Really, one of the best restaurants in town for «real» food, cooked with thought and care. A place you’re comfortable bringing the family and can also go for date night! We really enjoy that because there aren’t TV’s and loud music you can actually have good conversation without much distraction.

Just went for lunch the other day, and I was really happy with it. The service was fast, and the wait staff was nice. The prices are a little high, but the food is really good. The place is updated inside, and has a nice look and comfortable chairs. I’ll definitely be going back some day soon.

Sooooo, been here a couple of times and tonight was exceptional bc we sat at the bar and got a one on one with the chef. Excellent appetizers of bruschetta and muscles. Brian, the owner, was charming and I think receptive to the idea of a lobster risotto but nonetheless service was devine. Softer touches to décor but could still use a trip to Home Goods or Pier one Imports. Regardless, the food, especially the scallops were absolutely magnificent. Recommend it highly and hope to see them grow culinarily.

We stopped by this restaurant on our way out of town. It was amazing. Great food. My sons kids meal was served in a cardboard car which her LOVED. The cook came out and chatted with us for a few minutes just because he was a nice guy. It was easy to see that he was passionate about the food at the restaurant. He was energetic and friendly when describing the details that he put into the pizza that my husband ordered. The food was fantastic! The wait staff was every friendly and looked happy to be there. I can’t say enough good comments on this restaurant. I highly recommend it.

This place is a great new addition to our very limited selection of restaurants in town. The prices are reasonable, food is excellent and service is great. The owner/​chef always comes out to see if we enjoyed our meal. We have dined here several times and have tried most of the menu. We have never had a bad meal at Bradford Block and highly recommend eating there.

Great food, the menu has a great selection. Service is fantastic. The prices are aligned with the quality of the food and the dining experience. A very welcomed addition to the area!

Got pizza to go. Service was good and they accommodated our particular special request. (No cheese due to dairy allergy). Pizzas were decent but not exceptional.

Not only the best eating in Sanford /​Springvale, but one of the best meals I have had throughout Maine. I cannot say enough about the Chef here and what he has created. Incredible place with really exceptional quality food. I’m fortunate that I live nearby.
We ate here on Thursday and walked into a nice sized crowd and we’re greated with a hello by the Chef from the kitchen and we were quickly seated by the upbeat host. We were not crazy about our waitress at all (she was distracted, distant, rushed and although she was semi attentive, she was the least enthusiast waitress I had ever seen in my life. Regardless the rest of the experience was great and we really weren’t concerned about the waitress. The Chef actually came out a few times or check on the crowd. (as expected he was getting great feedback from everyone)
The menu was near perfect. We got two brick oven pizzas which were exceptional. One red sauce and one white sauce. And some great apps. The marinara sauce and red sauce on the pizza will be some of the best red sauce you’ve ever tasted. Excellent portions, great taste, good price.
Not much else to say, great job here Chef. You have created something really good and the quality and so many homemade items really make this place stand out miles above everything else locally. We will be back very often.

Went to lunch here with my parents and everything was fantastic! I got a chicken spinach salad and cup of clam chowder. The salad was fresh and delicious, and the chowder was hands down the best chowder I’ve ever had! Topped off this meal right with homemade cheese cake which can’t be beat! Definitely check this place out!

OK… I need to just CALM DOWN. Let me start by saying that after spending 7 yrs in the foodie-​Mecca, Portland, OR, it’s been… interesting…relocating here to Springvale when it comes to what I consider tasty food. My favorite food, hands down, is pizza. My heart broke a little when I found out the norm around here was getting pizza from a gas station, so you can imagine the joy I felt when I noticed a wood-​fired pizza place opened up right across the street from my office! Tonight, I could quell my craving no longer, so I ordered a pizza for take out. The margherita, to be precise. Not only is it my favorite pizza, but it’s a great barometer for finding out if they really have pizza chops. You’d be surprised the wrong that can be done to a simple pizza… soggy crust, weird garlicky sauce, rubbery mozzarella… well you will find NONE of that here! The crust was perfect — thin and crispy with that delicious wood-​kissed, smokey whisper. The sauce was simple — perfect texture, not soggy or greasy and with a great ratio of sweet to acidic. The mozzarella was just as it should be — lightly sitting atop the sauce with just the right chew. And the basil… not overwhelming, but just daintily perfuming each bite. I LOVED IT. Obviously, this was my first time and I can’t comment about the service or other menu items, but I could not stay silent as it seems we FINALLY have the perfect (for Maine) pizza!!! I’m gonna shut up now, cuz I need another slice…

We’ve dined here twice (the restaurant only recently opened) and this place is both great and also shows great promise.
The star of the show is the brick oven pizza. Sausage and caramelized onions, yum! We’ve also tried the steak and cheese pizza with red peppers. The cheese on top was just showing some brown spots, and the crust bottom featured crispy dark spots. Not only appealing to the eye, but a pleasure to chew. Perfectly done.
The chicken parmesan was delicious too: a very generous portion of excellently breaded and prepared chicken and pasta, served with garlic bread, a red-​sauce with a garlic kick, and a side of sauce, just in case that makes you happy (and it did make me happy). All that for under $ 13 = great value.
The entire restaurant is newly renovated, nicely clean, and the service was good too. There’s ample staff, and we were well attended during both visits.
There was one service faux pas (only on our first visit): we were asked if we wanted to box up the pizza before having an opportunity to actually finish lunch. The dining room was not full, so they were not being pressed to turn the table. This is a pet peeve of mine, and unfortunately this mistake is made nearly everywhere we go nowadays. So it’s a very minor ding for what was otherwise a great experience.
Let’s applaud and support this place. We have too few local, clean, and well-​run restaurants in town and this one promises to be a winner.
They should have wine and beer by December 2013, and we’ll certainly be looking forward to that, but we won’t wait that long to return.