Yes Bistro

Did anyone know that their kitchen is split into two parts? Apparently if you order a pizza on the wrong side of the restaurant (not next to the pizza oven), things get confusing. We waited about 40 minutes for our orders, but our server was very helpful and gave us complimentary salads. I was very happy with all of the gluten-​free options on the menu, but our Poke appetizer was flavorless and not spicy. Maybe I’m just used to the awesome stuff that New Sagaya makes.
There were only two of us, yet we were seated at enormous table near the windows… this tells me that they anticipated a slow night and wanted some bodies in the windows. The place has a weird layout and it wasn’t great when a bottleneck of people coming and going gets queued around your table. I think I’ll try this place again because the menu looks great and I enjoyed my steak, but I will be more decisive where we’re seated.

I recommended this place for a business lunch on Sunday since it seemed to be central for all parties. I hadn’t been here since the last time I reviewed, but I remember feeling fairly positive about it. The experience didn’t live up to that memory. It took 15 minutes just to be acknowledged and given a glass of water. It took another long while to order. I got the burger, because most places just cannot screw up a burger, but this place somehow managed to. The main issue is that the burger had ZERO seasoning and was undercooked. From appearance it looked delicious, but just had very little flavor. The fries were kind of limp and lukewarm. The waiter mentioned it has been sitting under a heatlamp, but offered no replacement. The waiter also spilled a glass of water and it took my companion asking twice for a new glass before he got it. My companion’s bowl of chowder came with a layer of crust on top, which no doubt came from spending a good amount of time under a heat lamp sitting. He had me try the broth and we both agreed that the milk or cream in the base got scorched. The bottle of white wine we ordered needed chilling down and this also took a lot of time and the wine still wasn’t chilled once opened! It was just one thing after another and practically comical. Had it not been a Sunday afternoon where we had a leisurely 2 hours to experience this comedy of errors, I don’t know how anyone on a work lunch could go here.
overpriced, slow service and only «ok» food. I had really wanted to see this restaurant succeed, but I doubt I’ll be back.

Situated in East Anchorage across the street from Costco, Yes Bistro is housed in the old Birch Tree and Phillips International at the corner of Debarr and Bragaw road. The inside has been transposed to a mixture of earth tones and shiny steel with circular booths and just an overall welcoming and warm change to its previous environment. This was actually my first visit since they had opened and since I live on the East side of town and was on staycation, I decided to drop by for lunch.
It was a Friday around 2:00 when I finally arrived and the restaurant was not completely empty. I would say there were 4 – 5 families seated and eating their meals. I was quickly greeted as I walked in and even heard a loud and cheerful «Welcome and hello» tossed out from the chef in the kitchen. Can’t say that is a common thing but it lent credence to my visit and assurances I had come to the right place.
It is obvious upon stepping inside that there was a lot of money that went into the renovation of Yes Bistro before it opened. Everything is still crisp and new with the exception of some of the booth seats which I noticed were showing some peeling. Probably just the wrong material chosen. The menus are trendy with a heavier cover to match the overall trendiness of the interior. On this particular visit I decided to order a glass of Matanzas Creek Sauvignon Blanc paired with their arancini appetizer and the house bistro burger as my main meal. The arancini appetizer is house risotto, prosciutto and swiss served with romesco and pesto.
I do have to say that Yes Bistro has a fabulous wine list as well as an assortment of crafted beers to chose from. The Matanzas Creek Sauvignon Blanc was crisp and mellow and an excellent pairing with the arancini. The arancini was flavorful and the romesco blended wonderfully with the pesto sauce offering a perfect balance of flavor and sweetness. It was an appetizer I would definitely order again.
On this particular day I believe my eyes were bigger than my stomach. Or it could be the bistro burger is that large. There was no way I could finish it all. It was a hefty hunk of meet and served with steak fries. Might want to cut it in half because unless you have a big mouth this burger is tough to wrap your mouth around to get a bite. I had ordered it medium but it had a bit more pink to it than I was expecting. Regardless it was still good, just very messy.
The servers that stopped by to see how my meal was were certainly not intrusive and were happy to answer any questions you might have on the menu. Overall I highly enjoyed my experience at Yes Bistro and certainly will make a return visit.
It also should be noted that with the ambiance Yes Bistro would make for a great date location.

We went way out of our way to give this place a try, and it ended up being not worth it. All aspects of the meal took a very long time, the food was cold, and nothing really excited us. Looking at the choices on the menu, it was easy to get excited by the possibility of the food being amazing, but it all fell flat. Nothing that we had was offensively bad, the service wasn’t completely terrible (although it was excruciatingly slow), but there aren’t really any reasons to try Yes again. In this price range, there are much better options, and we’ll stick with those.

Good flavors, horrible execution. Ordered steak, no steak knife. 30 min wait for our food. App came out cold. I’ll give it another shot because I like their ideas and maybe they had an off night. We talked to the manager about our experience, and it was an off night. Manager is very approachable and genially concerns for his staff, consumers quality of dinning and the overall success of his restaurant. We will definitely give it another shot.

Let me start by saying I NEVER leave reviews and I simply HAD to! The service was catered to us, the ambiance nice, the food beautifully plated, and the taste was amazing! I can’t believe I hadn’t tried this place yet, leery because of bad reviews. Being dairy, gluten, and refined sugar intolerant, it’s so hard in AK to find a good restaurant that I actually can eat at. I had the free range chicken and oh man, it was amazing. The chicken tortilla soup was great as well. Everyone in our party liked their food. For $ 160, 7 adults are very well, including drinks and apps. That’s pretty comparable!

Went here when it was absolutely dead, 3 o’clock on a Friday. It took almost ten minutes for the waiter to take our drink order, and then another almost ten minutes to bring our drinks, and take our food order.
We ordered steak nachos, and eventually got a plate of nachos fit for 8 people to share (I would recommend to management offering a half-​order at 60% of the price). They had this odd sweetness to them. Pretty good though. But 3 minutes after the nachos arrived, our entrees arrived.
I got the Reuben, and my wife got the ultimate meatball sandwich.
The Reuben was good, like a 7 out of 10, but it seemed like they tried to get too cute with their coleslaw, it had some odd notes I couldn’t quite place. As a side, I got a cup of seafood chowder. The chowder was incredible, the star of the visit. There were two big delicious scallops, two shrimp, and chunks of fish. Spot on.
The meatball sandwich was a bit odd. About twice as much bread, and half the sauce you’d expect. Decent flavors, but poor construction in my opinion.
I’ll be back for the chowder, and of course I’ll try a few more items.

My family and I stopped in for breakfast one Saturday morning and were satisfied with our meals. At first glance we weren’t even certain the were open seeing as it was 9:30 am on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and there were two cars in the parking lot. They could’ve made an effort to salt the walkway as it was a skating rink just trying to gain entry. Once inside though, the dining area was very pleasing to look upon, and since there were no other diners in evidence we were promptly seated with a nice view of the mountains, at which we spent a bit more time looking than I expected while waiting for our meals to arrive. The coffee was entry level, but the scones were excellent when they finally arrived. My son wasn’t impressed with the corned beef hash as it was bland and had no dimension to the taste; not even the saltiness simply due to the fact that it was corned beef. The omelettes were alright, but I don’t think we ordered anything that would warrant 26 minutes from order to table especially in light of the fact that there were three chefs in evidence and no other diners. Still, we enjoyed the ultra low noise level and the atmosphere of the place. Try the scones. They’re excellent.

Atmosphere was nice, server was pleasant and professional. Unfortunately, we had the Greek pizza and got sick from the Hero meat on it. Sorry, «Yes» — you better check on your expiration dates.
The smoked salmon fresh rolls might have been edible if you didn’t fry them and make all the fresh ingredients soggy inside or serve them with the meal not 20 min. after.

Best brunch in Anchorage to date! My husband had the sourdough pancakes & sausage ($ 8!!). Best hotcakes he’s ever had in a restaurant period. Fluffier than trad’l sourdough with a touch of sweetness. I had corned beef hash & poached eggs ($ 11) — steaming hot, eggs perfectly done (not too runny) with light drizzle of hollandaise. We’ll come back here for sure — now one of our (only) two favorite breakfast restaurants in Anchorage (the other is Snow City).

Two stars based on: painfully slow service, underwhelming lunch/​dinner food, and high prices.
Good service comes and goes. Sometimes you get a good server, other times not. Servers are human so even the good servers have bad days. Let me just say that our server was a very nice person, just not a very efficient server. I put much of the blame on the management for not monitoring the staff to see how efficient they are.
Watching our server work was nothing short of painful. She started to pour the beer I’d odered but then stopped to go do something else for some reason. Then she came back and finished pouring the beer. She finally brings me the beer after what was at least 5 minutes after she’d first started pouring it and it turned out to only be ¾ full of beer and ¼ foam. For what they charge for beer, that was not acceptable ($ 8 for a pint of the Pleasure Town IPA Whoaa! They don’t even charge that much for a pint at the airport!)
I ordered the cheese steak ($ 16) which came with fries. I’ve had better and I’ve had worse but I do have to say for the price I was expecting something a little tastier. It was just sort of flat with no real discernable taste to speak of. Again, not terrible just not that good.
I then decided to tempt fate and ordered a second beer. We watched our server go through a similar routine as during the pouring of the first beer. Pour some beer, leave it set, leave the bar area completely, come back, take orders from the guys that had just sat down at the bar, get their beers going and then finish pouring my beer. Oh and guess what, I only received about ¾ of a pint.again. Ugh! Very, very frustrating.
So after finishing our food and my second ¾ pint of beer we were ready to go. You’d think at this point getting the check and getting out there might go smoothly… wrong. The server takes the check and my credit card up to the bar area, sets them down and then starts to do other things.again. get the guys at the bar another round, goes to the kitchen and then finally comes back to run my credit card. Painfully inefficient service experience overall.
This is a nice place. The décor is very eligent and it’s always clean but unfortunately the experience I just described is one we’ve had before during lunch and dinner at Yes! Bistro. We enjoy going there for breakfast and I think after this last experience that’s what we’ll be sticking with from now on.

Yes Bistro is one of those amazing places that combines really high-​quality food with a very reasonable price. I would say that that is almost exactly the very definition of value. This is one of those places here in Anchorage that if you have not at least eaten here once, you are missing out.

Terrible service. We heard good things about this restaurant and went in for a late lunch one day. It took a long time to get seated. About 10 minutes for someone to bring us water and another 15 before the server showed up. During this half hour we received a few grunted words in our direction. No friendliness what-​so-​ever. The server was short with us when taking our order and didn’t return until she brought the appetizer (almost another half hour — my husband began timing her on his phone!). She didn’t say a word as she dropped off the apps and five minutes later brought our food. My husband signed the ticket without a tip and write, «very bad service» on the ticket. As we where driving out of the parking lot — the server took a picture of us in our truck and waved!

Love Yes Bistro. Great food great service! I actually used to work there and I know how professional and caring they are about the quality of their food. A little on the pricier side but well worth it.

After living in Anchorage for 3 years, I’ve only endorsed 3 restaurants. Yes Bistro now makes it 4. Rarely do you find a restaurant in Alaska where pride in one’s kitchen is so evident. From the ambiance to the skill and craft of the server, Yes Bistro does everything absolutely perfect, hyping the kitchen to perform at the expectation set so far. Needless to say, the kitchen does not disappoint! Taking new approaches to cuisine favorites, Yes Bistro completes the dining experience. Make sure to try the shrimp scampi, the lasagna, and the sweet potato raviolis. Take it from me, a random guy who’s review most likely means nothing to you, check out this place. I’m lazy, but the fact I’ve spent the last 4 minutes typing this out, should say something.

I like this place better when it was a Big Boy circa 1978
Way too fancy for east anchorage
Weird food. Didn’t taste all that bad but too pricey and too foo foo.

We have been going to Yes! since they opened. We love the food and the atmosphere. And it is so nice to have a great restaurant on the east side of town .
We went for dinner last night and I think it was one of the best meals we have had there yet. My husband had the Aged New York Steak and I had the Coconut crusted Halibut with curry rice. Both entrees were amazing and every detail of the meal was very well executed. The vegetables were perfect and the overall presentation was beautiful.

Worst waiter we’ve ever had; ~45−50year old guy, tall, reddish blond hair. See the picture for his professional reply
We ordered my wife’s filet minion as we ALWAYS do, well, and said to butterfly it if necessary. I should add, that the waiter asked once if I said well done, and I confirmed that is what I had said; that completed our order process. They served us a piece of leather; it was so dry and tough– way overcooked. When the waiter asked how It was, we told him that it was very dry and tough. His response in an incredibly condescending tone, «you ordered it well done, what did you expect?».
WTF?! Seriously?
Never once did he apologize, he just asked, «what do you want me to do about it?» He just kept telling us how qualified the chef was and that he’s worked at restaurants for 20 years and he knows.
Right. I’m sure the 1000 other restaurants we have ordered her well-​done steak from got it wrong, this is the first restaurant that got it right. Somehow everyone else manages to serve us a steak with no pink that is still somewhat tender and juicy.
The other food was pretty good, but the attitude from this guy alone is why I will not go back. It was the second time we had been stuck with him as our waiter and had a similar experience with his attitude last time. I don’t give a damn if you used to work at the Captain Cook, it doesn’t make you any better now
***Update: I’ve learned that Jay is no longer employed by yes! Now we can go give them another shot without being harassed. The management was very apologetic for Jays actions, and invited us in to give them another shot. We will gladly go now

Unfortunately this experience was underwhelming and dissatisfying and way over priced for the quality and taste of the food. My husband and I each ordered a shrimp scampi entrée. The two were drastically different from each other. My husband’s was a dark overly smokey sauce with undercooked noodles stuck together. Mine on the other hand was decent. The only thing we approved of was that the three pieces of shrimp we received was perfectly cooked. The rest of the meal was underwhelming, way over priced and and overall let down of a meal. There are many other restaurants in this city that will offer you much better quality and taste in their food with cheaper pricing.
Also the service was a bunch of young kids with a lack of professionalism and knowledge about the menu and especially the bar menu. Definitely not worth it.

I always hate leaving lackluster reviews, but I want to be truthful otherwise what is the point right?
Let me say that the outside is not that impressive, still looks pretty much like the old Phillips International Inn restaurant, but the inside is beautiful. Trendy and very classy looking. The booths are huge and very roomy and perfect for groups of 6 or 8 easily. I really want to see this place succeed just because its so nice inside, and while I’m not big on the location I would make the trip if the food was amazing.
This was my first time eating here, had high hopes as I had heard wonderful things from several friends about this place. Not sure what happened. maybe we caught them on a bad night or something. But underwhelmed is the word that pops into my head. We ordered the calamari, which I do have to say was very good. I don’t eat much fried food, so I could only eat a little bit of it, but what I did have was tasty, crisp, and well seasoned, and the sauce was very good. That’s where the ove affair ended.
For dinner I ordered the Shrimp Scampi for $ 24.00. This was the menu description: «Grilled tiger prawns served on fresh fettuccini with a sage cream sauce, button mushrooms, onions, and julienned carrots. Served with grilled baguette.»
Sounds good on paper, not so good in my bowl. The tiger prawns were big, but bitter and not good tasting at all. The cream sauce would’ve been ok, except that it had way too many barely cooked onion slices in it that overwhelmed the sauce and made it taste like onion cream sauce. The Al dente carrots and onions in it didn’t pair well with the soft pasta, and button mushrooms. It made it hard to eat, with stiff carrot sticks sticking out and it was just NOT GOOD. Also it was supposed to come with a grilled Baguette which I never got.
My friend ordered the Lasagna $ 16.00. It looked ok, but came served in a shallow bowl. Description read:
«Medley of homestyle flavors deconstructed and reassembled in layers of homemade Lamb Bolognese, Bechemel, Fresh AK Pasta Lasagna sheets, and a variety melted white cheese served with garlic bread.»
She said it was OK but nothing remarkable or that stood out. Neither of us went OMG this is delicious. I left most of dinner in the bowl and didn’t want a to go box (which hardly ever happens.)
I this point I have no desire to go back here for dinner unless something seriously changes. I would go try out the lunch menu and see if that resonates better, but for now I have to say I’m disappointed and sad that it wasn’t amazing! I really wanted to love this place!