Blu Bistro

I don't know why this restaurant is tagged as French, but having been to REAL French restaurants in San Fran, LA, Vegas, NY, NO, etc. - this is NOT French. It's basically American. There are so many mediocre restaurants throughout the gulf coast that charge a lot of money for basically the same menu, it's so disappointing when you come across yet another. I'm sure anyone who's never ventured outside of Mobile will think this place is great and bash any review that says otherwise (e.g. come across as an arrogant ---), but truth be told, if you've really experience good food at great restaurants, you'd know the difference between superficial and authentic. And the BEST food in the world does not require a snobby environment in which to be eaten. That kind of environment is reserved for those who judge the quality of the meal based on the price and how drunk they've gotten off their cheap wine. This place is OK, meaning nothing exotic worth going out of your way for and definitely not worth the price. A true foodie would know this. However, if you're looking to impress someone solely by overpaying for their meal, well, your choices in Mobile are limited... more

Not sure what all went wrong with the negative review from citysearch, but I have been to the Blu Bistro and found the food there to be absolutely wonderful and the overall experience great as well. Service was good, food was of high quality and the chef/owner made a point to come out and talk to the diners more than once when he had the opportunity... kind of nice to develop some rapport with the person cooking your food. The lamb we ordered was cooked perfectly... served over some white truffle mashed potatoes that were just excellent. I'm fairly positive any red meat you get from here is not going to come out of the kitchen unless there is some red in it, because the chef appears very appreciative of the fine meat he's using and the potential that can be met with each properly prepared cut or chop. Not sure what was wrong with one negative reviewer's salad, but I suspect they were put off by the slightly pretentious tone that the salads do emenate and lack of a drenching dressing. Their homemade dressings (especially the berry vinaigrette) are very very good and you can ask for more if needed I'm betting. Nevertheless, their salads, like all of their other items, put first and foremost freshness and simplicity and are not overdone ... local food, hand chosen, simple, well presented.. and most importantly well prepared and cooked. Pros: excellent food, accessible chef more

Reservations at 730 on Fri 2/6/09 - Once recognized and seated, it took a long time to get a request for drinks (wine is only alcoholic beverages available) - so we got a bottle for the 4 of us, after having dirty wine glasses replaced. Our waitress disclosed to us that there were only 2 wait-staff for the restaurant this night (we should have left at that point). Appetizers on table included Oysters Rockerfeller - only 3 on a plate, but upon eating them, one had an oyster with the spinach, the other 2 had only spinach on a half-shell -- How Unique!! My wife had a Greek Salad - consisting of greens on a plate with one black olive & one artichoke heart halved. Being a big salad eater, she surprised me when she just stopped eating not even halfway through - telling me that it was the most bland salad she'd ever had. My seafood topped steak filet ($38) was pretty good, although a lukewarm topping helped push my undercooked ""medium"" steak over the bad side of experience for the evening. Why I gave our waitress a 15% tip - I really felt sorry for her, but in reality should not have given a tip for the agonizingly slow 90 minutes there. We asked for nothing after our main courses, and if it had not been for the companions there, we would have walked out after the oysters & salad debacle. Not a place to go to, if you like to eat, but great place to burn up a couple bottles of wine and waste an evening! Pros: easy access & parking Cons: food, service, concern of staff more

My husband and I went to the Blu Bistro last night for dinner. We had the best food we had eaten in a very long time. We would highly recommend going there. It was very quiet, the food was superb, and the service was wonderful. I had the filet and it was cooked to perfection. My husband had seafood and it was also wonderful. The side dishes were some of the best we have had out before. more