Bistro Joe’s

Stopped in for brunch and I wish I went somewhere else. I ended up getting food poisoning from my entrée. Their food is overpriced and not appealing at all. Our waiter was terrible. The only time we heard him talk was when he asked for our drink order and meal order. We had to ask him for the bill since he was MIA after he took our order. Love the market downstairs but will not be returning.

Been here several times… consistently good food!!! Has a kids menu which help me. Atmosphere ok

My family stopped by Bistro Joe’s today to have a late brunch after a matinée at the Emagine Palladium in Birmingham. Although the service was excellent, the food quality was absolutely dreadful! I am sad to report that this was by far the worst meal I have ever had at any restaurant in the Birmingham area.
My husband and I ordered omelets (Farmer’s Grub and Conquistador), my daughter ordered chicken fingers and fries, and my son had the salmon kids meal with fries. Our omelets came with potatoes and fruit. The potatoes were so overcooked that the onions and peppers they were fried with were burned black, bitter and inedible. There was little to no seasoning on the potatoes. Both of our omelets were bland, tasteless, unappetizing and contained inadequate salt. Although the Conquistador allegedly contained chorizo, it was not spicy in the least and it looked indistinguishable from my husband’s omelet which purportedly contained very different ingredients.
Sadly, my children’s entrees weren’t any better. In particular, their fries were cold, rubbery and not the least bit crisp. Clearly, they were not fresh, even though they were served in a «high end» metal container on paper. The «chicken fingers» on the kids menu were actually boneless half breasts covered in a bland combination of flour and parmesan cheese. They were far too large and ungainly for a child to be comfortable eating without a parent to cut them up into manageable pieces. My daughter, who is never a picky eater, didn’t like them at all and would not eat them.
My son had the kids salmon, which at least appeared to be cooked properly. Unfortunately, it was also bland and tasteless, and my normally ravenous son would not eat more than half a child’s portion. Although the restaurant was not busy, his tasteless steamed vegetables took an extra 10 minutes to arrive at the table after he received his entrée.
The only good thing about our meal was my coffee and my husband’s Bloody Mary, which were both delicious. This certainly was not enough to save the worst meal I have ever had in a local restaurant. This horrible meal cost $ 73 before tip for two adults and two children. I always tip at least 20%, unless I receive bad service. Because our waitress provided good service, I tipped her $ 17 to make the bill an even $ 90 for an absolutely horrible meal.
I quietly advised our waitress after paying the bill and tipping her (hey, SHE didn’t make the terrible food!) that we appreciated her good service, but we would never return because the food was absolutely dreadful and among the worst I have ever been served in a restaurant at any price point. For $ 90, we received bland mediocre omelets with badly burned potatoes, and our children received bland fish and chicken with stale french fries. Needless to say, we will never go back, unless we find out there has been a change in ownership (or at least a new chef!). My advice to all Unilocalers is to try out ANY of the other delightful brunch/​lunch spots in the downtown Birmingham area because they certainly could not be any worse and they probably would at least be cheaper.

Amazing restaurant. We went in right before closing time and I hate doing that but service was awesome, food fresh and fast

This review has been a long time coming. I knew it would take a long time to type it and I finally found the time.
Like a lot of other reviews have stated, this place has lost it’s touch.
Let me let you in on some things you might not know, if you’re wondering why this place went so down hill.
chef Jacques Van Staden who was part owner, teamed up with Tony Curtis owner of papa joes to do a restaurant. It became «Bistro Joes» Lets be clear on something. The look and menu is all owed to Chef Jacques. It was his creation. I got to know him from dinning at bistro joes few times consistently every week.
All of a sudden, Chef Jacques and Tony split ways. It was very unfair how it went down but that is between them. As soon as Chef Jacques left, the restaurant took an ugly turn down hill. Most of chef Jacques team left with him, as for the rest, they shortly left after. Michigan needed a bistro like this. It was a breath of fresh air with original new items on the menu. Chef Jacques travels around the world had refined his taste and expertise with fine ingredients. Once he left, the magic quickly left with him. I returned few times after chef Jacques left as I had high hopes that Bistro Joes would continue the same quality. They didn’t.
A few of the staff members that were still there would tell me about the poor treatment they received. One also told me that every time Tony Curtis walked in there, he would verbally say «I wish I never opened this F-​ing place.
I am in the business as well and Bistro Joes started following me on instagram. I didn’t think anything of it. I didn’t follow them back because frankly, I was not impressed in the direction the place was heading in… One day, a friend of mine who did follow them, pointed out that they stole one of my pictures off my instagram and featured it as their own. They screen shot my same picture I took and said they made it. So I took a screen shot of what they posted and I re posted it calling them out. They quickly blocked me and took down the photo.
I contacted Kurt the new manager they hired from mosaic in Detroit. Lucky for me I had his cell phone from previous conversations with him and I explained to him that you cannot steal another chefs work and claim it as your own. He blamed it on a girl who controls their instagram and he said «when we take screen shots of other chefs food, it’s normally from chefs out of town and not local» So I said «that still doesn’t make it right. That broke it for me. I didn’t go back.
Word quickly made its way around town of the dwindling quality of Bistro Joes. You will read similar stories here. Fast forward 2 years. I got a group of friends together (about 10 of us) I told them all, lets go back to bistro joes and see what it’s like today. Enough time had passed, so curiosity was our motivation.
They stopped making the crab Tacushi which was a bad mistake. The tuna Takushi was a joke. Had no toppings on it what so ever and the spicy mayo sauce was completely different. No taste, no soul no nothing. It’s a good thing I have the original recipes from chef Jacques so I can make them any time I want.
I got the Chilean sea bass which used to be my favorite. at $ 44 bucks which is more than Ocean prime, and theirs comes with black truffles on it, The fish was flavorless. It was cooked properly I will give them that.
Me along with all the people I was with were not impressed and we have not spoke of the place since. Such a shame. That is my long story. I have uploaded the screen shot picture they stole in question along with my original picture of my crab bruschetta. They are that un original that they have to steal someone else’s work? Now if they copied my recipe and took their own picture then I would be flattered. But they didn’t even have the drive to re make it, just to steal a pic and post it like they made it…
I never got an apology. Just a block on instagram. I asked them to give me credit by tagging me in the photo title but they never even did that. unprofessional to say the least.
I heard Chef Jacques has opened another concept in Rochester. A friend brought me a carry out and what I tasted was amazing. So it seems this story has a happy ending after all.

Bistro Joe’s is easy to overlook as it is inside and overlooking Papa Joe’s market in Birmingham. The food and service is outstanding.
Crispy deep fried shredded Brussels with shaved Parmesan. A delicious appetizer. I also enjoyed the properly prepared scallops and some Angus sliders. The truffle fries were also very good.
The food here was very good. The service was good and the seating overlooking the market was unique.
I was impressed with the craft Michigan draft beer list. There was also s great selection of wines by the glass.

I just had to jump on here for a quick shout out to their happy hour! Most of their appetizers are half off, flat breads half off, oysters are $ 1, and cocktails are half off as well (I think…). And best part — it is everyday 3 – 6, so you don’t have to worry about rushing over from work in time to make Happy Hour, you can come on the weekend!
Honestly — I do not even consider coming here outside the hours of 3 – 6 because the deal is just too good! It is a great atmosphere as well.
I do not have children, but whenever I come here I see a lot of families/​people with kids, which you would not expect, way better than your local Applebees!

So before I start, let me say I worked here before. We had a choice to eat whatever we wanted and the few things I tried were ok at best. Maybe the reason being is I seen how the food was handled before the customer received it. Even if I never seen it, the food was bland as ever. However the truffle fries are the best thing on the menu and I mean the best. For your information, I quit because how they mistreat staff and unsanitary work conditions. Good luck. Oh and I hadn’t been sick in years. Worked one month and contracted some type of virus. Go figure.

2.5 really. First visit, it’s my hope to revise this. Snagged an OpenTable res about :30 before on a Saturday evening. It still blows my mind how they mashed this spot into a grocery store (brilliant?). Seated promptly and ignored immediately. Bummer. Once our server arrived he was on. Very casual, decent service.
Started with the brussels sprouts, beautiful flavor, small-​ish portion but a good start. Nice drink menu, excellent wine options (it is connected to a wine store… and grocery store for that matter), decent draft options, excellent having the Kuhnhenn DRIPA on tap the rest were decent but nothing special outside of price ($ 6).
Next up the kale salad. Are you serious with this thing? Kale is tough. There are a number of ways to soften it up, not here. They challenge your chewing prowess. Big ol’ leafs of kale. Too bad because everything else in the salad gave it beautiful flavor, unfortunately we spent so much time crunching this tough green the flavor got lost.
We had a French Onion, which was excellent and fish tacos, which were pretty decent too. Maybe it was the shitty kale salad over watching assholes try and park in the one-​way in front of a grocery store on Woodward, or the chilly windows that will be ice cold come January but the return on investment here wasn’t worth it. My wife and I were bummed — close to the house, we love their store but this was not worth the price. The upside? We needed a few things from the store so we popped in and picked them up. Maybe that was their plan all along.

I dined here for the first time on a Saturday night. All around a great dining experience. Josh provided an excellent customer experience. The atmosphere is unique and wonderful. I had the vegetarian sliders with fries. So good! One of the best meals in quite some time. We also had the hummus and pita appetizer, which was flavored to perfection. The bread they give is delightful. My boyfriend had the ultimate bistro burger and fries, which he considers one of the best burgers he ever had. The meat was high quality and cooked as specified. Highly recommend!

This place is pretty great. Been here many times and is usually the place we take people who come to visit from out of town. Great food (variety and quality), ambiance, and service at reasonable prices.
The menu is pretty varied. You’ve got your usual flatbreads, salmon, steaks etc. But if you’re a little more adventurous, you’ve got some escargot and bone marrow. They’re all tasty and plated well. Their oysters seem to be the only thing resembling decent oysters in SE Michigan. Get them during happy hour and they’re only $ 1 each! Happy hour menu is every day except Mondays, 3−6PM with half or reduced price on a fairly wide range of menu items.
Only negative would be their brunch menu. Everything beside their pulled pork skillet «Praise the Lard» is pedestrian and either a bit or way over priced. $ 12 for JUST pancakes. W.T.F.
Their layout makes for a great experience while eating. Inside, you’ve got a partially open kitchen and a view of Papa Joe’s grocery store. If you’ve never been, Papa Joe’s is more of a premium grocery store, and it makes for an interesting view while eating. If that’s your thing, you can be seated outside overlooking Woodward Ave, which is especially fun during the Woodward Dream Cruise.

This was my first time visiting and I enjoyed the food and staff.
I came with my whole family and the staff was awesome with my kids! They were able to split a brunch option for us and the portions were big.
I suggest getting anything with the chicken sausage.

I’ve eaten at Bistro Joe’s many times before and had I rated those visits in Unilocal,I would have given them four or five stars. Unfortunately, today’s visit was marked with several problems.
I had made a reservation through the Open Table app and in the reservation I specifically asked for a quiet table, yet we were seated in the noisiest section (the center of the glassed-​in area). My chair was broken and had I not managed to grab onto the edge of the table, I would have fallen to the floor. I asked two passing waitstaff for help in getting a new chair. Both said that they’d send someone. I waited and waited, standing. No one came. Finally, I moved the broken chair to an empty table and took a chair from that table back to ours. I alerted another passing waitperson that the broken chair was at the other table and should not be used. She said that she’d let someone know. Nevertheless, another patron was eventually seated on the broken chair. I hope that person didn’t get hurt.
The cream for our coffee arrived cold, rather than Bistro J’s usual warmed cream. Not a huge issue but a disappointment pointing towards rushed or indifferent service. We had to ask for refills on coffee.
When the food arrived, two out of the four diners at the table were presented with completely wrong entrees. The steak on the third person’s entrée was brought well done rather than medium; she was so hungry that she decided to eat it anyway however at these price points, more attention should have been paid to the doneness of meat. My omelette got cold while we waited for two new entrees to be brought in place of the wrong ones and the waitress didn’t offer to replace it with a hot one. I had to ask twice for ketchup for the potatoes. One of the people in our party who asked for a side dish of grapefruit got, instead, a dish of berries. He’s allergic to berries. He sent back the berries and had to wait for grapefruit.
We would have ordered dessert however no one stopped by the table to ask if we wanted any. By the time a waitress did stop by, we’d waited too long and needed to get to our next destination, so we paid and left.
On all of my previous visits, Bistro Joe’s had excellent service and great food. Today, the service was sorely lacking.

Yum yum yum! Everything I’ve had here has been REALLY GOOD! The fish tacos were really great — meaty, fresh fish and love the crispy taco shell — you don’t see that at many places! The mussels are also great… that pesto… and the freshly toasted bread to dip in the droppings… delish! Great wine list as well. I’ll come back again!

I went to Bistro Joes’s for the first time on a Saturday. I went with my boyfriend and we both thought everything was amazing.
I prefer to have my drinks made for me but the Bloody Mary bar is the best around. My boyfriend put so many snacks in his drink I’m surprised he was able to add some juice.
The coffee was so good. They bring out a caddy of sugars and warm cream. I could drink it everyday.
We both ordered Benedicts and the sundried tomato magic they put on the bread is delicious.
The service was great too! However, there were only a couple tables there so I’d like to try it on a busy day to check it out.
We will go back for sure!

Nice place with a warm ambiance. Food is plated very well. Our waiter Fernando was a pleasure to have. It was a busy day and the level of service we received was excellent.
I had the lamb sandwich and split the ahi tuna tacos with my family. Both dishes were fantastic.

I really wanted to like this place. I heard great reviews from friends and family, but I can’t find any reason to go back. First of all, the customers fight over the heaters on the tables that face woodward. Some are too hot, some are too cold… and the wait staff is stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Our server was clueless about the menu and offered little with respect to suggestions for both wine and food. Although we ordered both at the same time, our bone marrow arrived before our first round of drinks. It was overpowered with cranberries and herbs. Next we got bread. Not drinks, bread. When the «manager» finally came over to open our wine, he explained that he was having a drink at the bar and apologized for the delay. We went through two $ 100+ bottles with corks that crumbled before we gave up.
For our entrees, I got the steak. It was decent, although the smaller portion was not the cut of meat described on the menu. Truffle mashed potatoes were good. My better half got the salmon. When he ordered, he asked if it could be cooked to temperature. The waitress said sure, so he ordered it medium. It arrived well done. Had our waitress come back to check on us, we probably would have sent it back, but she didn’t. When we were finally able to flag her down, the best we could do was get the check.
So disappointing

Over exceeded my expectations.
I was visiting from Austin Texas so we don’t get very good seafood. Naturally, when you’re up north, you must have seafood.
I eyed this place from across the street. We came in for happy hour and proceeded to like everything on the menu instead of ordering one large entrée me and my boyfriend decided to order tapa style and indulged in a series of appetizers and small plates.
The list of amazing ranges from
1.oysters
2. Tasushi (taco sushi)
3. Dates
Our waiter was so friendly. I wish we had this place in Austin.

After today’s experience, it’s safe to say I won’t be returning anytime soon. Overpriced, disappointing, and bad service. I’ve noticed increasingly disappointing service ever since my first trip to bistro joes. I was hopeful bc the hostess was nice, but our waitress just kinda gave off the vibe that she had better places to be.
We tried:
–tuna tacushi: these come 4 to an order and are good but after trying it at mad hatter bistro, I think MHB does it better bc of a little citrus kick
–truffle fries: nottttttt good. And that’s coming from someone who always orders fries. No flavor and not worth $ 9. Also I wish it came with a garlic aioli or something bc their ketchup, tomato mayo, and truffle emulsion were all just meh to me.
–fish tacos: the best fish tacos I had in the state of Detroit. Very pleasantly surprised.
–bone marrow: not good, would not order again
$ 75 for lunch is kinda steep esp when your waitress doesn’t seem to care and the food is just mediocre.

Nice spot for drinks and appetizers with friends.
I’ve been a couple times, now. Good service, good drinks, good food. Really tiny, as you can imagine: it’s a little café area above Papa Joe’s marketplace. I emphasize the word tiny. This place may be a nightmare on Friday nights at like 7.
This most recent time I ordered sliders, and they were served adorably. They give you this tray. The tray has a grill pan on it with six little sliders with cheese, and then some little buckets with condiments and toppings, a bigger bucket with little buns, and one with fries. All were really good, and I had leftovers.
For an appetizer, my friend and I split the spicy tuna tacushi. It’s basically sushi elements in four miniature taco shells. Really good! The crunch went really nicely with the softer fish, and the ingredients tasted fresh.
All in all, a good place for meeting up and chatting for awhile.