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| - I was in the Euclid area a week back for a licensing exam and a visit with a dear friend. She recommended that we visit Bistro 185, a place she thought might appeal to my generally eclectic sensibilities. It certainly is true that there aren't many places in my present residence of Buffalo, NY that can assemble a menu like that of Bistro 185. But it's one thing to assemble a promising menu and another thing to deliver on those promises.
We started out with their latest flatbread, the description of which I cannot now find on their online menu. (My fellow diner mentioned that she ordered a delicious goat cheese-centered one on her last visit, but this had apparently changed.) I can, however, remember three key attributes of the offering. First, for a flatbread, the weight of the toppings and cheese was surprisingly heavy, and the crust was accordingly unable to support this burden despite its relative thickness. A fork was required, but the fork didn't make much headway against the plywood-like texture of the flatbread. I attribute this failure both to the undercooking (and also underseasoning) of the crust and to the sheer volume of everything above. Secondly, the cheese employed was of a surprisingly low quality, a tasteless gob of dairy fat. Third, the caramelized onions were impeccable, juicy in each bite. I'm not quite sure what it says about a restaurant staff when one item within a dish is perfect and the rest are either mediocre or terrible. My takeaway is that the requisite attention to detail needed to support the ambition of the menu simply isn't there. This supposition was thoroughly reinforced by both of our entrees.
My companion ordered a "sesame crusted, pan seared, wild caught ahi tuna" dish with "wasabi aioli and ginger marinade drizzle, chilled spicy organic whole wheat peanut noodles, and house tempura vegetables." Yeah, a mouthful. I do have to give them credit for deploying this concept dish, which was essentially, "Let's make sushi a platter." But honestly, this was a wild fuckup. The ahi tuna was seared just enough to get rid of the delicious tuna flavor it sports in the raw and crusted with black and white sesame that both my companion and I found simply distracting. The wasabi aioli was slight, so slight that only I was able to in fact discern it on the tuna. (This is almost commendable. If properly executed, this would have been a huge boost to the layering of flavors in this concept dish.)
The risk of serving lukewarm noodles is that they might clump. These clumped. Adding a sauce compounded the problem. Unable to mix the tempura vegetables (mostly edamame and snap peas) thoroughly with the vegetables, they stood out like a sore thumb. I could go further with what-if's on this concept dish, but the ultimate result was a clusterfuck that we both found incredibly disappointing. I get that this is a concept dish. I get that concept dishes don't always work out. But if you are to add a concept dish to your menu, especially if it's rather expensive, you owe it to your patrons to ensure that it is high quality.
Before advancing to my dish, a note about the menu. I appreciate the fact that so many different dishes are offered, but they seem to run into a problem here in that they do prep work for fewer portions of each, allowing them to run out quite easily. Each of the first four items I wanted to order at 8:00 PM on a Friday (not that late) were sold out, and each of the next three I wanted were served with butternut squash. Note 1: Reduce the number of dishes you offer so that you can concentrate more on each!! Note 2: Think about how often you are using sides like butternut squash. If we're talking about multiple entrees, that's a problem.
So as eclectic my tastes are, I wound up ordering veal scaloppini. Short review: don't order the veal scaloppini. The casings of the wild mushroom ravioli were slimy. The fillings of the wild mushroom ravioli were unforgivably bland. The veal itself was overcooked to the level of the dog chew, exuding none of its natural virtues. On the scale of ambition, this menu item ranks about a four. Any Italian restaurant worth its salt will offer some variation. Yet this ranks as THE worst offering I have ever had.
We didn't order drinks. We didn't order dessert. I will offer two other thoughts. 1) Our waiter, though attentive, demonstrated a poor knowledge of the items on the menu and the composition of each and could not answer our questions. Also, in attitude and appearance, he could have stood in for the "O face" guy in Office Space. Ugh. 2) The atmosphere of the place says, "bar," not "$30 entrees and ambitious fare." Take what you will from that.
I don't live in the area. But my companion does. And after this meal, I doubt she'll be back either.
3 stars for atmosphere
2 stars for service
2 stars for food
2 stars overall
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