O Bistro at The Inn On Main

216 Stitch

We have patronized this restaurant regulary for years when staying at our vacation home. That said, we had always been very pleased with all aspects of the restaurant (food, service, cleanliness, etc) and considered it to be the best eatery in Wolfeboro. Unfortunately, after two visits to the restaurant during ths past week, we have pledged not to return in the future. The first of the two visits was sub-par (we generously considered it may have been an anomaly) , but the second visit was deplorable and confirmed in our minds that the restaurant was now totally unsatisfactory. Specifically, the overall attentiveness of server was horrendous (had to wait far too long for menus and water which were totally under her control...and her attitude was uncaring and unpersonable); bar service was terribly slow, and I'm making generous allowances for the restaurants understaffing; entrees were exponentially lower than we experienced in prior seasons (my son wouldn't eat more than 1/2 of one of his steak tips, and my wife's salmon was extremely low rate). And, we waited more than 1/2 hour post appetizers ( which we delivered slowly but, in fairness, were OK) I can continue , but will sum it all up by saying that dining at this restaurant (at least at this point in time) should be avoided if you value quality, service and fare.

Jodi Bezanson

I feel really bad leaving this review. I've been a server for quite a while, so I get the whole under staffed aspect of things right now. And I'm not one to typically leave a review because most of the time I can find a positive, even if things weren't top notch. We had made a reservation at O's Bistro in Wolfeboro for 6pm. We waited at the hostess station for 20 minutes to be sat with not a single wait staff looking our direction. When we finally were sat, we were sat at a far table under the AC. I was being dripped on the entire dinner experience, but I could tell there weren't any other tables to be sat at, so that was only one small fraction that I could stand to deal with, it was 90* today so I understand. We then waited 20+ minutes just to get water and our order taken. Luckily we both knew what we wanted by then so our order was placed all together (drinks, aps, meals). We ordered the pain killer for a drink. Side note: I've also bartended in my lifetime so when I took a sip of it and it was sour and curdled I knew that something wasn't right. By the time our poor (probably very stressed and over worked) waitress finally made it around again we asked for something different. We then got bread and butter. The butter was some attempted version of fancy. It was a strawberry lemonade butter that tasted like butter mixed with strawberry syrup. I'm sure some people might enjoy it, but we did not. However, by the time we could even ask for regular butter for our bread, we were starving and had just eaten it plain and dry. My side Caesar salad had little—to no dressing on it. I covered my salad in salt and pepper so that I wasn't just eating plain lettuce. (By the way I had to take the top off of the salt and pepper because they were filled to the brim and nothing would come out.) I finished it because, again, I don't prefer to complain and I could manage with tons of salt & pepper😂. When we got our meals (both steak tips and frites, one with mashed potatoes, one with garlic parm frites.. one order rare, one medium) our server asked us to cut into them to make sure it was done right.. as if she knew they wouldn't be. Both were well OVER done. One of us said it was fine and he would keep them, while my rare tips were sent back. Both of our meals came with very cute-looking, cooked carrots. However, the carrots on one plate tasted like fish and were hardly even cooked. When my steak tips finally came out, the waitress said "I think we lost your carrots, do you care?" Again to make it easier on our very overwhelmed waitress I told her it was fine. The mashed potatoes were delicious and so were the garlic Parmesan frites (fries). My rare steak tips were now too raw. I ate maybe one steak tip. When we got our bill it was $95. Unfortunately it didn't seem right to pay SO much for such an unenjoyable experience. Our waitress was so busy that we ended up calling another server over to fix this. I know that there are some people who will complain over the smallest thing and ask for things to be taken off their bill just to be greedy. This was not the case for us, and I've never asked for something to be taken off before in my entire life. The waiter that helped us was super accommodating and apologetic. We told him multiple, multiple times, that it in no shape or form was any of it the wait staff's fault—And we're sure that the kitchen is also understaffed as well. I will give 3 stars out of 5 because I don't believe, even with our experience, that a restaurant should get 1 star. It is one of the hardest industries to work in. I can't imagine working in a restaurant right now with how the service industry is lacking. I feel for the owners, and the kitchen staff, and mostly for the wait staff because their income comes directly from handling situations out of their control. This review is hopefully for the owners to see so they're able to make some small changes to the restaurant even with understaffed conditions.

Chip R

Almost a great experience First time visitor. Anniversary dinner with my wife so I was hoping for a very very memorable experience. In making reservations, was overwhelmed by the politeness and courtesy of both the hostess, Patti, and the front desk innkeeper staff person, named Shannon. This first impression was in dramatic contrast to our actual dinner experience. When checking in for our 7:00 PM reservation, there was a back up at the hostess stand. Patti appeared to be doing everything on her own, and had no greeting assistance from additional staff. After being seated, things started to fall apart. Though Patti had prepared and presented a bottle of our select white wine at the table, my preference for a cocktail was the start of our service issues. Possibly due to a back up at the bar, my cocktail wasn’t delivered to my table for at least 20 minutes. It was apparent that they were short staffed this evening, and the wait staff was being assisted by bussers who were trying to help. It was clear that the wait staff was overwhelmed, and that the bussers weren’t necessarily trained to properly assist. A request to have our wine put on ice at the table was met with a “deer in the headlights look”, as if it was out of the ordinary. The wine requested in advance was in a bucket without ice. We ordered a dessert to share, vanilla bean crème brûlée, which was tasty. At the same time, I ordered an after dinner drink, that arrived 10 minutes after we finished our dessert. The crowning blow, was when a busser came by when I was in the middle of my after dinner drink, served 10-15 mins after our dessert, and asked if we would like dessert. I had to remind her that we had already been served dessert. It was clear that the right hand did not know what the left hand was doing. I attribute this to being short staffed. In addition, it’s clear that there needs to be more training for bussers who are assisting the wait staff. Patti was friendly and certainly open to feedback and advice. I appreciate that. The food was certainly tasty. We recommend the bistro chips, and for an entrée, both the stirfry with ahi tuna, and the steak tips & frites. The drinks were also good, but as implied above there was a disconnect between orders and promptness of service at the bar. We might return, but it is so competitive in Wolfeboro with other great restaurants. We will probably first try other venues to see how they compare.

Shawna Tinkham

Beautiful looking restaurant, lovely ambiance. Our waitress started out great but peetered out. She forgot our second round of drinks which we ordered before our meal arrived. We had to remind her and ended up getting our drinks after we already ate all our meal. The filet special was amazing however! Great flavor! I got the vegetable pad thai. The dish was super tasty but it was definitely not pad thai. It was more spicy soy, it was good but not what I was anticipating. I will try this place again as all the O's restaurants are usually fabulous.