We walked into Bistro 83 on a Saturday night without reservations. The staff managed to fit us in and was surprisingly accommodating for a busy night. I would have to say Bistro 83 is well ahead of peer restaurants in this aspect. The staff was also quite attentive and all were very friendly. The atmosphere is dimmed but not too dark.
We ordered the olives and wanton tacos. The olives were amazing. Served in a martini glass and slightly warmed which gave them a buttery texture. The wanton tacos were very good as well. I wouldn't have expected BBQ pork mixed with blue cheese and wantons to fit in this place, but they were good. As a note however, we ordered two drinks when we first arrived. I had a bottled beer while my wife had a glass of wine. For some reason, the appetizers made it to the table before our drinks. Not that this was bad or good, just strange.
For our main dishes I had the pigs in a blanket and my wife had a pasta dish. The pigs in a blanket were ok. The pork was a little dry and the risotto though good was undercooked. It is actually the first time I have had risotto where the rice was still uncooked in the middle. It was still good though for taste and I finished my plate. My wife's dish actually was pretty poor for the price. It actually tasted like somebody opened a can of spaghetti o's and poured onto the plate, then charged almost $20.
We didn't do dessert because everything on this night was cheesecake and my wife doesn't like cheesecake. However what they offered sounded good. Overall it wasn't our favorite place and we wouldn't go out of our way to stop by, but we would come back if the mood was right. It is a nice addition to the North Ridgeville area with a serious lack of nice places to eat. Compared to many of the restaurants in the Cleveland area however I feel the three stars is appropriate. If there were three and half we would land there.
I would encourage anyone to stop by and try the place out. As I said, not quite what we expected, but worth a try.