Bistro De Paris - Just bad, bad, bad

[granball]

I had read several gleaming reviews and expected a very wonderful experience. I love french food and was looking forward to this. The ambiance was bland, the seats uncomfortable. The experience was positively icky. The food was expensive, but I expected that. There was very little of it, which I also expected. What I also expected was some flavor.

My husband had the steak which was cooked in front of him. While it looked impressive, it was bland, tough, small for the price and very overcooked. There were 6 french fries on his plate. 6 fries!!!! They were also bland and not even as tasty as a fast food fry.

I had the lobster dish. You needed a microscope to find the lobster and there were 2 very teeny tiny mussels. Not much else in the dish either. Ok, it was an exceptionally small serving, but I was hoping for some nice flavor. It was just bland with a mild, unpleasant flavor.

The service was poor, and unfortunately, there really seemed to be the cliche hating of Americans going on. Even in Disney! I was really surprised as most of the servers in the other countries are very delightful.

We cut our losses and didn't have dessert there. Instead we went downstairs to the bakery for coffee and cakes. It was much less expensive, bigger portions, more choices and more peaceful to just sit outside and munch.

I'd never go back there.

 

[misslissa]

The service was poor, and unfortunately, there really seemed to be the cliche hating of Americans going on. Even in Disney! I was really surprised as most of the servers in the other countries are very delightful.

Sounds like the real France... I have had to soothe everyone I met with the fact that I am Canadian...

 

[Mickey1122]

We have only eaten at Chefs de France, and have never had a desire to eat here.

 

[MrToad]

Our service experience was similar and I have lived in France so I can attest to the "attitude" that you speak of. However, I have only seen that attitude in Paris or the larger cities. The countryside is rarely that way.

Bistro definitely had that aloof attitude the night we were there and the French servers were speaking about things amongst themselves in French that they shouldn't have been (I speak fluent French and understood them even though they did not know this).

At any rate, I too found the prices much too expensive although the food ranged from average to excellent depending on which course we had.

 

[Sammie]

I must say I agree.

This is the only restaurant we will never give a second chance. I am usually willing to give any restaurant the benefit of the doubt, that they were having an off day, but our service and food was so bad here we will not go back.

 

[MickeyNicki]

I agree as well. My SIL picked it for her birthday a few years ago and we all said never again, waste of money. We went over to Germany and filled up on pretzels and beer.

 

[bavaria]

I'm sorry that you didn't enjoy your experience. I had a memorable meal here which I still consider one of the best I have ever eaten in the United States. While the wait staff may be less outwardly friendly than the usual WDW server, I did not have any concerns with service.

As with every restaurant, opinions may vary.

 

[mattsdragon]

I'll join Bavaria with what is apparantly a dissenting vote. My wife and I loved Bistro. It was our highlight meal of our honeymoon. The food was fantastic. The service was the best I've ever seen. And the atmosphere was very true to it's desired style. I always recommend this restuarant to friends as the perfect place to have a wonderful romantic meal.

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy yourselves.

 

[yourgoingagain?]

Sorry about your experience.

My wife & I have eaten there twice in the past 6 months and had a great experience each time. We had a window table each time, good service, and excellent food.

We have eaten at every "sginature dining restaraunt" on property many times. We chose to eat at the Bistro the 2nd time over our usual anniversary meal at V & A. Also, having been to Paris a few times I can say the food is very comparable. We ate at the Jules Verne once, now that was a lot of money (well over $300) for what I thought was bad food.

Again sorry about your experience but restaraunts/people do have nights which are not typical. We had a terrible experience at Choup Chop the 1st time we were there but tried it again a year later and have had nothing but pleasant experiences since.

 

[Luv2Roam]

We have eaten at Bistro once. And while we enjoyed the food, we were surprised at the lack of selection. And we thought the food at Chefs was just as good, and less $. And as DH said, he does not need someone to cut up his food for him.
Your review reminded me of our one and only CA Grille experience. That was the one WDW restuarant we left just as hungry as we went in. Great tasting food. DINKY, bite sized portions. So guests will spend more on outrageously priced food I guess.

 

[swankybeth]

Thanks for sharing your experience, sorry it was not good. I've never tried Bistro, but I expected the food would be outstanding there! Maybe it's a combination of what you order + tastes + expecting service to be more 'typical French' rather than 'typical American'.

 

[FormerFF]

Sounds like the real France... I have had to soothe everyone I met with the fact that I am Canadian...

I went to Chamonix a few years ago. People were very nice, although they don't know how to queue for a bus, and the service in restaurants was uniformly good. I think that attitude thing is mostly Parisian, I wouldn't judge the rest of the country that way. It would be like thinking all Americans were like the residents of NYC.

 

[jayhjay]

Unfortunately I have to say we were not thrilled with our Bistro experience either. We went to celebrate our anniversary and were anticipating the meal being the highlight of our trip. While the food was delicous (although some portions were quite small), I was not thrilled with the service or atmosphere.

For starters, the tables were quite close together. So much so that we felt as if we were dining with our neighbors (who took it upon themselves to continually try to engage us in conversation). Some of this may have been their "over friendliness" but the proximity made it hard not to feel as if they were dining with us. We could hear every word they said (and I am sure they could hear ours as well).

I was also disappointed to find no view out of the windows. I had been led to believe that you could see Illuminations from the window tables. We were fortunate enough to get one, but they were so small DH couldnt' see out of it at all and I could not really see the fireworks. This was obviously not the fault of the restaurant, just bad info on my part, but it was disappointing.

The biggest other issue was our server. First off, unfriendly service. And although I feel bad saying this, his accent was so strong we couldn't understand anything he said. Please don't flame me b/c I totally support having CMs come from the countries they represent. It was just that we honestly could not understand what he was asking or telling us half the time. There are only so many times you can ask for clarification before you (and your server) start to feel like idiots. So we ended up just guessing our way through most of the conversations.

All that being said, the food was wonderful. I have rarely read a bad review of the food and our meal was no exception. But for the price, when considering the service and atmosphere, I just don't think it was worth it for us. Just my 2 cents! JJ