Bistro 1860

I have been an idiot. I live less than 3 miles from 1860 and it took me over a year to go in. Maybe it was the odd yellow color of the outside walls, maybe it was the used car dealer across the street, who knows. But once I crossed the door step and entered this Walhalla of food I was hooked. Chef Michael may be one of the most creative I’ve ever had the pleasure of enjoying dishes of. Who would have thought of seared goose liver with peanut butter and jelly? Moreover, who would have thought it would be so incredibly delicious? Or the 72-​hour braised beef that is still medium-​rare but melts under your fork? He even made my wife like oysters, a first in decades. True, 1860 can get pricey, but that’s not for the food — the wine list could use some more lower-​priced options. With regards to wine by the way, 1860 has an incredible selection of «by the glass» thanks to a futuristic climate controlled contraption in the bar — that is actually pleasing to the oenologist eye. All in all, this is now my go to place for any celebration, out-​of-​towner, and just a great evening. I am no idiot!

We really enjoyed our date night here. The ambience is perfect and the wait staff is excellent and patient. We were pleasantly surprised to be greeted and appreciated by the head chef when I made his rounds table-​to-​table. This made a great impression on us. Everything we ordered was either really good or outstanding. The menu has a variety from land and sea, and one may select from a range of portion sizes. The one and only issue I had was the price. Yes, the presentation, flavor, and feel of the place are remarkable, but the price tag I won’t soon forget either.

Great service and food. We tried the duck confit streudel and lobster hushpuppies yo start and they were delicious. The short rib was like butter. Great evening.

Incredible place for dinner. Try the lobster hush puppies, chicken skins, and rabbit tortellini.

I’ve been using Unilocal for a couple of years and this is the first restaurant that has compelled me to write a review. The atmosphere is great, the service is awesome, and the food is incredible. I’ve eaten at the nicest restaurants on the planet and this place is right there with the best.
Get the rack of lamb, the brussels sprouts, and the cobbler a la mode.

Nice place and location, but the bar area is very tight and the kitchen opens into the main walkway by the bar, so its pretty busy in there. I only had an old fashioned, but not sure what it was that I was served. No muddled orange or cherry, could not taste any bitters. Pretty much a bourbon and water.

Walked in on a foggy Fri night with no reservations and were delighted how quickly and happily we were seated. There was a nice fireplace near our table which was not quiet enough to keep me warm. The room in the back stays chilly it seems. Our server was knowledgeable and went over the many specials in detail. We tried the strudel on her recommendation, it turned out to not be my cup of tea. The flakiness of the pastry was spot on but I don’t think all the flavors inside complimented each other. The cheese and pepper over powered any flavor of the duck. My next choice was their escargot special just because you can’t get that anywhere in this town. The snails were good size and cooked with lots of butter and cheese. I’ve only eaten this dish a couple of times before this and in my previous experiences the snails tasted better. The best part of the meal was by far the rack of lamb. I would come here every week just for that lamb and the red wine reduction sauce it is served with. The meat is so tender and juicy, cooked to perfection! Everyone at this restaurant is very customer centric, even the chef himself who made rounds to all the tables. If I was ranking the lamb and service alone it would be a 5 star restaurant but because the other dishes were not on par with my expectations, I’m giving it a 4.

I could easily give Bistro 1860 five stars for the food. The downgrade resulted from a less than enthusiastic server. She didn’t seem happy to be at work that evening. I thought when we told her it was our first visit, she would explain the three level pricing. She did not so we had to ask. She also told us the lobster hush puppy appetizer would serve the four in our party. It did not so we had to cut one in half. Speaking of the hush puppies, they are very good, as was the side of brussel sprouts. I would not have expected the side of roasted red potatoes to draw rave reviews but I was wrong. Crisp on the outside and tender inside, served with the most amazing truffle and bone marrow butter! Trust me – order the potatoes. My companion was very happy with the sun fish special and my black pepper ahi tuna could not have been better. The plate was beautiful and full of fantastic flavor from the orange gelee, red miso mayo, bourbon soy, and the star player – soy caramel. Oh Wow!

Excellent food. Excellent service. Excellent atmosphere. Raspberry cream salad dressing was a disappointing appearance. Small portions and high prices.
We happened upon this place by accident, and we’re very pleasantly surprised.

Love everything here! And thank you to chef Michael for making peach cobbler for my boyfriends birthday! Made the night extra special.

I have to say I really like the creativity of this place. The menu gives you three portion sized options from one person app, shared app and entrée. The only thing I ate that didn’t impress me was the salad with beets. I swear they were canned. But they quickly redeemed themselves with the lobster hush puppies and the peppered ahi tuna. This is the kind of place you want to try over and over again. The attention to detail really shows in the presentation and taste. While I didn’t have room for dessert I can strongly recommend the corn chèvre pudding. It’s a side, it’s tasty and the serving size is huge. Good looking out Bistro 1860.

Snozberries. Our meal was snozzberries good.
Visiting a friend in Louisville as we headed to Florida and with dinner here, vacation officially kicked off in the best way possible. This French fusion menu was awesome with multiple size options for everything (bite size, appetizer, or entrée). It allowed us to order WAY too much and our bellies were full and our wallets were empty, but I don’t care, every lick and bite was worth it.
Our table of three shared everything, which included:
Steak tartare — perfect and a first for my guy, a good first experience for a dish like this
Lobster hush puppy — I want more in my mouth now
Duck confit strudel — Our server declared this as a favorite and our table agrees!
Brussels sprouts with bacon — only thing that I wouldn’t order again, nothing special and everything else was so good I wouldn’t waste the room in my tummy on them again!
1860 champagne cocktail — perfect
Garnet (pinot noir) — delightful
Beef cheek (special) — we actually ordered two of this entrée and were so glad we did. I love that their menu really reflects what is available and amazing
Clams (special) — excellent portion that the table split with more than enough
Chocolate banana pot de crème (OMG) — SO good and creamy with just the right hint of banana. Our hostess was so sad when we arrived that they didn’t have the Fruity Pebbles ice cream anymore, so we will have to go back.
The staff was lovely and accomodating and it was a night of drinking and laughing in a wonderful environment. Perfect for a special occasion or if you an afford it, just because!

Fois Gras ala peanut butter and jelly? If you take nothing else from this review get yourself down here and try this strange yet satisfying creation. I won’t hesitate to call it a mouthful of bliss, ethics aside.
I enjoyed having a party of four and being able to order a few small plates at a time to our hearts content. It was like a tastebud tour around the world.
I am a girl who likes her raw fish and was excited to find toro on the menu although I don’t want to ring any fire alarms but I’m not convinced it was actually toro. Having had the real thing in Japan I can say this did not resemble the real thing in any way, shape, color, taste, or form. Not that it was disliked, just that I’m pretty sure we may have a case of misbranding going on. I suppose this takes us back to the ethics piece… The restaurant does serve fois gras, after all…

I absolutely loved this restaurant! The food was amazing and I really liked the fact that they had a ‘small plate’ option which allowed us to try multiple things! I definitely recommend the lobster hush puppies, they were sooo good! If you are feeling adventurous, you need to try the escargot! The salmon was cooked perfectly, it basically melts in your mouth and the corn pudding was like no other I have had before!

I have been here several times, and the food is excellent. BUT, it is not a good value, as the prices are exceedingly high for what you get. I recently went in a party of three and we had four small dishes and a double order of the heirloom tomatoes. This equated to a bite or two from each dish and 3 – 4 tomato slices each. Add two drinks each and it was $ 50 apiece plus tip.
Nice service and an inviting (if sometimes loud) ambience. My wife loves this place, but I am recommending alternatives whenever she brings it up.

Wow! Bistro 1860 makes a great argument for best restaurant in town. Love the option to have small portions to allow you to taste several of the deliciously crafted dishes. Will definitely return for the lobster hush puppies, oysters, heirloom tomato salad, Ahi tuna & duck breast!

We stopped in for appetizers and wine, we ended up getting the Lobster hush puppies and a bottle of their half priced merlot.
Our waiter was a gentlemen with long hair, he was very professional and knew his trade well. The Merlot was excellent and the food was even better! Well worth the price, ended up being 50 $ with a generous tip. We plan on going back soon!

I liked the place, the food was very good, waiters, they knew what they should do.
I will definitely go there again.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU UnilocalERS?! The fact that this establishment has less than 4 stars on average is appalling to me. Shame on you!
My husband and I opted to dine here on a Monday night for our wedding anniversary. I haven’t been here since it was L&N years ago, and I have to say it doesn’t disappoint. The highlight of our evening (besides the wine that I’m still recovering from…) was a character of a waiter named Marty. I know bad service can ruin a meal, but I’ve never had service so good that it makes your night. Bravo, Marty!
But obviously you’re all here to read about the food, which absolutely did not disappoint. I love the concept of small dishes as I’m one of the most indecisive people you’ll ever meet. We split the lobster hush puppies, duck confit strudel, corn pudding, red potatoes with bone marrow butter, beef tenderloin, and seared duck WITH PEANUT.BUTTER.DUST. The meat dishes melt in your mouth (like butta!) The sides were good but not the highlight of the meal. Still necessary though. But seriously. Get the seared duck and the tenderloin with bernaise. That’s the glory of the small portions!
Also had a celebratory chocolate pot de crème on the house. Thank you for the impeccable experience!

So this is a little bit of a story. My family went to Bourbons Bistro a few years ago and my dad had this AMAZING pork chop dinner that I’m pretty sure he dreams about. When we went back the chef was no longer there and they didn’t make the dish any more. My dad was heart broken, UNTIL! we found out that the chef now works at Bistro 1860.
We went there for my moms birthday and it was delicious! I had the lobster hush puppies (a must have!), the arugula salad with a bourbon poached pear, and the duck which was really good. And then we had the ice cream tasting for dessert — you get all the types of ice cream in tiny little bowls and they’re made in house. It’s nice because you can choose how big or little you would like each of your plates to be. My only annoyance (which is listed by most people) is that there are a TON of specials and it’s very hard to remember them all.
So the chef came out to see how our meal was and dad was ohhing and ahhing over him and asked about the pork chop dish. Chef Michael said you give me three days notice that you’re coming in and I’ll make it for you. WHAT?! Yes!
So of course my dad’s birthday is in a month, so my mom calls Chef Michael, tells him we have a reservation and he says he’ll have pork chops.
Well I ordered the salad and the lobster hush puppies again and also had the zucchini Parmesan soup which was delicious! My dad just had the pork chop and let me tell you about this thing. It was a pound at least with the bone in — stuffed with chorizo and mozzarella and topped with bacon and the most amazing bourbon sauce! Served with delicious light mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus *drool*. My husband, mom and I split one because it was MASSIVE!
And THEN! since it was dads birthday he got a free dessert — vanilla bean crème brûlée. WOW! Soooo yummy: D The service and the food are all amazing!