Bistro du Midi is a highly regarded
restaurant in Boston. It's part of the
Himmel Hospitality Group, which also owns
Post 390; it's chef,
Robert Sisca used to work at
One if by Land, Two if by Sea and
Le Bernardin; and the GM
Federico Salvador has worked at
L’Espalier,
Del Posto, and
A Voce previously.
Yet we have had a couple of very different, but both poor, visits. Our first visit simply had poor service from start to finish. Our server tried to dissuade us from ordering the tasting menu, and then we saw him once more on the night, about halfway through. Food runners brought our food; when we had a question about the
amuse-bouche (which is off-menu), we couldn't flag anyone down until someone came by to clear. She cleared our food, our next course came, and finally someone came by and confirmed that the kitchen had a note that we had a tree nut allergy, so there was nothing to worry about for our meal. With that, we enjoyed the rest of the meal. When dessert came, we were a little confused, when my dish had an extra part compared to my wife's; it turns out they placed the nut and nut-free in front of the wrong person.
More recently, we tried a seafood and caviar themed tasting menu. Arriving at 5:01, we were the third couple waiting at the door to go upstairs for our 5pm reservations. A couple people came in, and walked into the bar section downstairs, as we checked-in. A few minutes later, someone came from upstairs to bring the first couple in line upstairs, and the gentleman behind the desk turned to the second couple, and began checking them in again, requiring the couple to remind him that they'd already done that. Service was not starting well.
It did get better though. Our server Kevin was awesome, energetic, knowledgeable, and accommodating. Unfortunately, our issue this time was with the food as my wife started feeling sick as she started the third course. We decided to leave early, and the restaurant adjusted the bill for our unfinished courses; I was beginning to not feel too well either, but it wasn't until we started home that I began feeling worse, and it had passed after 18 hours.
My
theory had been that the broth for the
amuse-bouche hadn't been properly heated, while my wife postulates that it was the first course which had been scallops. (The second course was calamari which seemed well cooked, and then we were already feeling unwell by the salmon in the third course.) Regardless of the specific dish, we've decided to write-off Bistro du Midi.