Bistro 234

Dinner was delicious but the service even impressed my 12 and 15 year old children!

Went for a girls’ night; we didn’t have reservations so we ended up sitting at the corner of the bar
Well that turned out to be the best decision
The service was extremely attentive and the food was exquisite
Great place

Loved the Food ordered crab cakes for appetizers ribeye & halibut for dinner best steak I’ve had in Turlock and Modesto can’t wait to go back the drinks were just as good can’t wait to go back make sure to put in reservations this place always seems to be busy

I was so looking forward to going here, but was underwhelmed. We took staff here for a company Christmas dinner, because we wanted to offer them something nice. Our table was right by the entrance next to the bar so there was lots of traffic. Service was very slow because our waiter was serving another large table. Food presentation of appetizers was good and they were tasty. Food presentation for main courses was really non existent. Dinner bowl with meat, potato and veggie. Like I do at home for the family. They had a special of rack of lamb that was prepared really well, but served in a dinner bowl. Try cutting a lamb chop in a bowl in a confined space … you might end up wearing it. I suggest a flat dinner plate for this type of dish. Dessert presentation was average. All in all we were underwhelmed and will not rush back.

I’m at my favorite restaurant. The food is excellent, and the service is professional and courteous. I’m not here to be baby sat nor to be motherly nurtured. Good food and good atmosphere is what I look for in a restaurant, and Bistro 234 always delivers.
Pamela is our server and we always love her. She doesn’t hover but she takes care of you. And Jayton is always there to greet you and make you welcomed.
Love my Bistro

If you’ve frequented restaurants in NYC/​LA/​SF, are passionate about food, and have a refined palate… just don’t bother with this place. We were on the fence for a few weeks about trying this place as the reviews were so-​so and based on pictures and menu selection it didn’t seem great. However, friends and coworkers kept recommending it and we finally caved.
If you do find yourself here, the mashed potatoes are good and my fiancé’s steak was okay. They overcooked my fish so I sent it back for a burger (thinking that was safer), but it was also overcooked though they didn’t even melt the cheese-​how did they manage this?! The crust on the key lime pie was soggy rendering it inedible. They have a good wine selection but their bartenders don’t make drinks very well — for example, they usually shake their Manhattans– WHAT? Who does that? Why would you beat up the whiskey? Ugh.
Anyway, service was fine but the food was not. Table 26 actually has much better food — I recommend going there instead.

I think people give this place WAY too much credit. It use to be one of the only «fancier» places in Turlock but they do need to step up their game if they want to keep up with the newer places in town. They do have good food and their is not question about that. It is a bit pricey and the service is not that amazing. That last time we went, our server acted like we were asking for his grandmother secret recipe when we asked about what was in an alcohols beverage, when we were actually just asking what type of alcohol was in it. It did take awhile to get our order in as well. The atmosphere of the restaurant is very nice and more intimate which is nice. We don’t have s lot of locations like that in town.

We were greeted immediately and seated. I like the way the place looks. This was our first time here, originally headed for Table 26 but was closed on a Tuesday night. Healthy pour with the wine, nice surprise. Our server was fantastic. Incredibly pleasant. Ordered a house salad and loved it, a huge portion. Things were going well until the main course. I ordered the halibut which came so over cooked almost needed a knife to get through it. I was so disappointed. Decided to take a dessert home so ordered key lime pie. Ohhhh my… no ! It was gray in color when I opened the box. Another disappointment. We will return to give it one more try. Hoping for a better main course next time

We love coming to the Bistro from Merced. We had a very unpleasant experience with our server last month, informed the owner, who by the way was very gracious & appreciated our feedback. The food & ambiance is so outstanding, we were not going to let that one rude server ruin our opinion of the Bistro.
Came back tonight, sat outside on this chilly night with the patio heater on, perfect.
Our experience tonight is why we love coming here. As always the food was excellent. Our server SHAWN was exceptional!!! Thank you for a great dinner!!!

Wow its nice to have a great meal and perfect sized portions. My wife and I both enjoyed our meals the atmousfere

2.5 stars
Food was good, but not amazing. The service was poor. We sat for almost an hour before we got our one entrée. During that time we were never offered more bread, refills of water, nor did the server come and communicate with us. The hostess just pointed us to our table and said «sit there.» Really??? Our son and best friend are in the restaurant business and would have fired her on the spot. Next time we will choose another place for our date night and drop the $ 150 there. Disappointing. Do not come here!!!

We love this place! Just had a wonderful lunch there. Our server was top notch. Very friendly (and funny!) and professional. I had the mahi mahi special and it was divine. We all enjoyed our meals. Both our server and the nice gentleman that brought out our meals were all smiles. Good food and excellent service. This is what keeps us coming back. One of our most favorite places to dine!

Decided to go here after several recommendations. Immediately was thrown off by the table they sat us at. I felt out of place the whole time as I was sitting in the walkway and felt like I was in the way of staff and other patrons as they walked by. Next, the bread they served was cold and hard and seemed like it was a week old.
We ordered quickly: the burger for me and the gnocchi for my fiancé. I ordered my burger medium rare and was really excited when it came out, it looked great! However, after a couple bites I realized they had really over cooked it, it was beyond well done and dry. I’m not one to ever send food back so I resolved to eat my mediocre burger. Finally, our waitress (Pam) checked in when I had two bites left. She had practically been ignoring us the whole night and it was as if she didn’t even want to make eye contact as she walked past. She asked how everything was and I explained how I had ordered my burger medium rare and that is was pretty well past well done. She said, «Oh, well is it okay?» I said «Well, it’s pretty dry.» She literally turned and hurried away. I thought maybe she was going to get the manager or bring us something to the table… nope. She never said another word about it and her only other appearance was to silently drop the check off. Why bother even asking how everything is if you don’t care and don’t want to do anything about it? Why have a job as a server if you don’t want to serve?
The only reason Bistro 234 gets two stars is because the gnocchi was actually really good. However, I’ll gladly go to any of the other restaurants on this street in order to avoid the subpar service that is frequently mentioned here on Unilocal

I went there last night with my wife and some great friends. We made a reservation at 645 and we were given a better table than we requested by the hostess. Our waiter and his helpers were great keeping our glasses full. Our food was outstanding!!! They packed up our leftovers and the price was reasonable. Our dessert was crème brûlée was good not great but I still think this place was worthy of 5 stars… I definitely recommend.

Would normally rate this place 4 – 5 stars, went there today and the chef copped an attitude over adding grilled shrimp to my Cobb salad. Upset that a «special order» was being placed. Wouldn’t toss the salad because «it would take too long». Don’t know if it’s under new ownership but the vibe there has definitely changed.

Second visit within a few months. Still feel the same about the dressing and sauce on each entry, it is somewhat overdo and heavier than average. Overall it is pricy.

Great drinks, good food, bad service.

Always a favorite spot of mine, but last two meals here really missed the mark. Ordered the filet and was extremely disappointed. It clearly was cut into in the middle to check to see if it was done during the cooking process and then continued to cook it. I ordered it medium and was cooked to well done, no pink at all and was charred on the outside. I ate here about a month ago for lunch and ordered the chicken Marsala and the chicken was undercooked and chewy.
Always enjoyed the Thursday night special of ribs and onion rings too. Disappointing that they have removed this from the specials.
This was always my go to restaurant and loved the food and ambience. Having two back to back poor meals makes me question going again. And just when Turlock is getting more choices in fine dining, a longtime restaurant should be stepping up the game, not slipping. I hope to see this restaurant return to its former glory.

I came here with with a group of girlfriends and was pretty disappointed with the service. We were approached by the bar manager who was a really nice guy (the only reason your getting 3 stars) he was really friendly and suggested drinks for us, we did like most of his suggestions but did end up changing a couple for other choices.
I ordered the Bistro House Salad with Grilled Chicken, I’ve ordered this before and have loved it but this time the chicken was not good, kind of gummy, I don’t know if it was old or what but it just tasted strange so I just stuck with my salad. The other girls ordered: Grilled Mahi Mahi which was good, the Potato Gnocchi was overly salty, the Chicken Marsala is served in a dark sauce and had an almost chocolaty flavor, it was just a strange taste but it wasn’t bad.
My over all issue besides the not so delicious food was our unwelcoming server, he simply wasn’t friendly at all, I think the only time he smiled was when he gave us our bill.
On the upside Bistro is a beautiful upscale restaurant despite their food being kind of hit or miss, I really wish they would fix their customer service issue. At this point I will not be back, there are plenty of other restaurants in downtown Turlock that provide quality service and delicious food.

I visit Turlock a few times a year overnight. Its a small town for sure and I normally don’t go out to dinner when I am there. But this last week I went to Bistro 234 for dinner on Saturday.
We did not have a reservation but were seated immediately at a hightop. The beer and wine choices were good and the menu had some nice choices. I had the pork loin with au gratin pots and my partner had the halibut with mashed. I thought both meals were prepared very nicely and served soon after we finished out salad.
I travel a lot and eat at many restaurants at all price points. I thought Bistro 234 was as good as most for the price and better than many at higher prices.
The décor was pleasant and the sound level was fine for me even with my slight hearing issue.
My only criticism was the service could have been a bit friendlier. However the entire experience exceeded my expectations.