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Review content:
I am surprised and sorry that I was so completely unimpressed with Hilltop Bistro. It is a romantic setting in a lovely old house and the presentation of the courses is really nice, but the food and the service were not up to par.
Here are the problems I had: No bread was offered, there were bread plated on the table, but I suppose they were to be used for an appetizer. When we requested bread we were brought a crumbly, pale, very bland loaf that the waitress left for only a few minutes and then tried to clear too soon (which, in this case, was OK because the bread was simply not good). I had the house salad, which was quite good, but slightly overdressed. My husband had the soup, Chicken Lemon Basil. It sounded promising, but was a canned-tomato based soup with chicken and dried basil and no discernable lemon (it's early October and I still have plenty of fresh basil in my garden, fresh would have been better)--not at all what I expected. Again disappointing. I had the risotto. I really don't want to be just plain mean, but it reminded me of my ex-mother-in-law's broccoli and rice casserole (you'll find the recipe on the back of a box of instant rice). The rice was over-cooked, or at least, over-stirred and broken down, no recognizable grains of arborio rice at all. And I'm a huge cheese lover, but the amount of cheddar in the risotto was overpowering and made it flabby. My husband had the risotto stuffed chicken. I didn't taste it, but he indicated he was disappinted. The service was also not all that great. The wait staff was pleasant enough, but not terribly attentive. It was necessary to flag them down if we had a request, I don't believe anyone asked us if we were happy with our entrees, and the waiter forgot to bring the wine until he was reminded.
As you can see, I was disappointed in the evening. The restaurant isn't horribly expensive, but for the price I would have expected much better experience.
Pros: Pretty building and nice presentation.
Cons: Food and service not up to par
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