HG Bistro

Reviews 4

HI

Hibbs Family

Pleasant space with an enthusiastic server and well conceived but unevenly executed food. The interior is simply and pleasantly decorated but dark, with tan stucco walls, white trim and pillars, exposed beams and ductwork and a brown faux stone floor. Candles on the table and lights behind large inverted domes of brownish glass suspended six feet above the tables barely give enough light to read the menu. There is dark corrugated soundcatching tile of some sort on the walls and ceiling which damps the noise, making the space lovely for conversation around the table. The waitress was pleasant, very young and not given to much description of the food beyond "its very good", although she did ask the kitchen staff when I had questions she could not answer. She got to me pretty quickly, but it was about 15 minutes between when I arrived and when the first food appeared on the table. Bread was very good -- chewy, crusty, slightly and pleasantly sour, and warm; it was served with balsamic vinegar, oil and mashed garlic. I had crabcakes for an appetizer, which was a mistake. Anyone who has spent much time within 10 miles of the Chesapeake tends to be fussy about crabcakes, I suppose, and I am no exception. These appeared to be made with canned crab of modest quality, shredded finely, overly salty, with no large chunks and a mushy interior texture, though they were browned nicely on the outside. They were served with a pleasant pepper aioli and nicely garnished with brocolli sprouts. For dinner I had pork cheek with a wild mushroom risotto, which could have been excellent. The pork and mushroom flavors complemented each other extremely well, and I like but hate to make risotto, so this was a welcome companion. Like the crabcakes, the pork was heavily salted and perhaps worse, the salting appeared to be uneven, so there were intense bites of salt which no other flavor penetrated. The least salty areas, which the pork and mushroom flavors dominated, were very tasty. There was no vegetable side dish with the entree. I had the wine recommended by the menu to accompany this dish, which was an uninspired Washington pinot noir. For dessert I had three scoops of ice cream, not made by the restaurant but under contract to it. The pear ice cream was really good, the habanero chocolate ice cream was an interesting idea but with less intense flavors than you would expect, and the salt caramel was not much of either. Theyre making a good effort here, the chef has good ideas and Id like to see this place improve, but right now for $55 I found this the least impressive meal Ive had in my trip to Puyallup.

CA

Carissa H

It is difficult to find an aspect of this restaurant that I enjoyed, unless we caught them on a fluke day I cannot see why anyone would ever go back a second time and Id recommend avoiding the first at all. It looks very nice from the road, and the inside isnt half bad either. The lighting is a bit dim for afternoon dining for my tastes, but overall the atmosphere was alright. Now for the food. For an appetizer we got the Cilantro Chicken Gyoza, what came out looked nothing like any gyoza I have ever had. Quarter sized fried dumplings in irregular shapes filled with a fairly tasteless filling, drizzled with what I believe was an attempt at a cilantro dressing, but there was not enough of it to cover the gyoza and the undressed "slaw" beneath it. In the middle was a pile of what looked and tasted a lot like incredibly spicy Taco Bell ground beef. Every bite was confusing and disappointing, and the only thing that added much for flavor was the slice of lime on top. Hoping that was a fluke we continued onto our entrees. The fries were the only good thing about that, and they were desperately lacking in salt/seasoning. I had the Bacon Jam Burger, which didnt have enough bacon to be able to taste, and was definitely not the medium I had asked for. My fiance had the french dip, and felt the meat had a similar texture to rubber, as well as little to no flavor (for reference, he informed me he prefers arbys french dip, and hes a Cordon Bleu student). For the service, it was fairly cold, the server never introduced herself, always let my drink go empty for a while before offering a refill, and rarely checked on our food (never checked on our appetizer). I saw the owner frequently going in and out of the kitchen passing directly by our table (we were the only table in the dining area) and never introduced himself or asked how the food was. As a summary: If you want bad dive bar food and poor service in an upscale environment this is the restaurant for you.

H

H M Dylan

My husband and I came here last December to celebrate an event in our lives and this place was wonderful. My husband had the Basil and Thyme with grilled chicken breast and I had the lamb as our entrees. FABULOUS! Unfortunately, when we came yesterday to celebrate my husbands birthday - remembering how great what we had last ordered had been - we ordered the very same entrees, only they were not so great this time. WAY TOO SALTY!!! It tasted like the lamb had been liberally marinated for days in a brine made from harsh, cheap, table salt and not much else. My husbands was less so than my lamb dish, but mine was inedible and with the couple of bites I took of it I could almost feel my blood pressure rising from the salt level in it, lol. Rather than complain to the chef and wait for something else to eat - as we had already waited a really long time for the food (my husband joked that the chef had to raise and butcher the lamb before cooking it) I had my meal boxed up. Im a very good cook and knew I could turn those ingredients into a small pot of lamb stew when I got them home - which I did. There was so much salt already in this dish from the restaurant, that I was able to make a two qt. pot of lamb and roasted vegetable stew with it without adding ANY salt at all. In fact, Im going to add more broth and veggies to to that stew, because its STILL a bit too salty. The birthday dessert - which was free! - was nice, as was the service. The staff isnt trained at all about the wine they offer, but I chose one on special that was quite nice, so Im giving this place two stars - although 2 1/2 would be closer to the truth, but definitely not 3. We probably wont be back again. For a total of $87+ (including a very generous tip for our waitress) I expect a perfectly delicious meal. Not the sort of much-too-over-seasoned entrees we were served.

A

A Private User

Our third trip back was not so good. The Mahi Special was virtually tasteless. The beef in the stroganoff couldnt be cut and was very chewy and unedible, though the sauce was good. When making our resevation, the receptionist went on a minute long ramble of why they dont take reservations in the lounge, but then set it anyway; didnt make much sense. Upon arrival a couple was obviously upset about something. The recepionist and a waiter were trying to resolve the issue, while the owner looked on, and did nothing. We stood for about 3 minutes without even being acknowledged. Not the best PR. Music was good this time-very marginal on our previous two visits. Our waitress was very good also. I cannot say that I would be returning anytime in the future, nor could I recommend this as a highly rated restaurant, even though the prices would seem to indicate otherwise.