Bistro 1896, Asheville

I am rarely so critical of a restaurant and try to always give the staff a chance to make things better, but all the chances in the world could not make our visit to this restaurant worth one good word The food was cold and dry, the service was slow and impolite and the worst part of it was that our silverware and plates were dirty and in once case crusted with old food stuck on it. In a town that has so many good places to eat, even up and down the same block, save this one for one of your enemies!

I have never seen a menu like this one. If you want standard meat and potatoes this is NOT the place for you! Pork loin with coffee, banana sauce was excellent. Server was helpful, pleasant and efficient. Forget the dressy part of dressy-casual attire as printed in some guides - it's casual. Try it for a taste adventure.

I love this place! My husband and I were on a trip to the asheville area and on our first day we found Bistro 1896 and decided to stop for lunch. We had to wait for a few minutes to be seated because this place was packed! You could tell it was a local fav. Once a table opened outside we sat and was greated right away with our outstanding server! She was very attentive and had great menu suggestions. We tried an appitizer that she recomended and 2 entrees. They food was GREAT! so good that I even asked if I could get a recipe for my dish. The service was outstanding our food was even better and we got to sit right in the middle of the hussle and bussle of downtown and people watch and just enjoy the outdoors...What could be better? Nothing, we had a great time and would recomend this place to anyone visiting. We stayed in Asheville and ended up eating there 5 times that week!!

I have eaten at this restaurant many times. I especially enjoyed eating outside. Generally speaking, the food is good but the service is bad. Once I walked out after 25 minutes of being ignored and never went back.

We live in Asheville and frequent many of the downtown restaurants. On this occasion we were seated quickly and our order was taken fairly promptly. As has become a constant fad in Asheville, the menu was once again changed to dishes where presentation outweighed the art of good culinary taste. We sent back one of the entrees. While visually attractive it was cold, overspiced and just plain unappetizing.

great food and service, we ate at Bistro 1896 3 times during our 4 day stay. we were very happy to have found the bistro. we will be back!

Traveling through Asheville from Chicago. Came upon this place through the advertisements in the books claiming good food and extensive wine list. Upon being seated the nightmare began. The waitress did not know much of anything about wine list. Asked for a recommendation on the Chardonnays and were recommended the 2 wines served by the glass. Finally got a manager who was a little more helpful however most of wines we were interested in were sold out. This after advertising their exptensive wine list. After some prompting the waitress finally came back and took our order. This alone took 30 minutes. Never explained what came with the food, never asked if we wanted a salad or anything else with meal. Took order for one of the specials for my son and came back telling us it was sold out. Waited 45 minutes for food to arrive and when it did it was lukewarm at best. At this point I was so hungry and upset that I told my family to eat and let's pay our bill and leave. I advised the waitress of the food being cold and she went for the manager. Best the manager could come up with was to offer a free desert. I declined and advised her that we would be leaving as soon as we finished our food. In my opinion the place is a complete rip off. Happened to speak to some locals at the next table and they agreed that the place had really gone down hill. My advice is to spend your money elsewhere. This place is awful.

I live in Asheville and eat at Bistro 1896 all the time. It's one of my favorite restaurants in the area and i would definately recommend it to anyone.

Perfect spot to people watch and the service is always perfect. Great place to take relatives coming in from out of town

Great food and great service and an unbeatable ambiance! The customer is not hurried in any way to finish and you really feel at home there. the wait staff is attentive to your needs and the restrooms are spotless.