Not Very Bright

Mom was in town on Saturday night. We were looking for a casual spot and the idea of supporting local business is very appealing so we took her to Brightwood Bistro which is just a few blocks north of the homestead on the corner of Georgia and Missourri. I had not been to the place since it was the ill-fated Meridian and I have to say that the new owners did not learn much from their failed counterparts.


We arrived at 7pm to a half-full dining room and were told that they were "setting our table." I am sure given the rest of the experience the manager/host was trying to give the wait staff catch-up time. We got our table in about 10 minutes - not bad. The waiter gave us about 3 minutes to look at the menu and then asked for our order. When we said that we needed a few minutes, she did not offer to get our drinks, but instead walked away.

We ordered - fried calamari, grilled hotdog and fries, shrimp and grits and two salads and two orders of mussels. It took an hour and twenty to get food from the time we sat down! The food was mediocre - everything had a bit of saving grace, but overall very underwhelming. the salads were in a deep bowl that caused all the topping to fall to the bottom, but the garlicky, mustard dressing was tasty. The shrimp and grits had a nice flavor and the shrimp was cooked perfectly, but the grits were a bit lumpy. The hotdog was nicely grilled, but the bun was a rock and the fries overdone. The mussels were nicely cooked and tasted fresh, but the broth was bland and grey. The calamari really had no redeeming factors other than it got to the table first and we were starving by then.

The waitress was off. She had a falsely familiar tone and wasn't solution oriented. She spent a great deal of time hangin out in the kitchen waiting for food rather than offering more drinks or even filling waters - in fact my daughter had to ask four times before someone filled her water glass. When I asked for bread with my mussels (before I tasted the unworthy broth, I was told that, "We ran out of bread. Is that going to be a problem?" Um, yes, that is a problem if I want bread.

I saw three other tables complain in the time that we were sitting there. One about their check being inaccurate, and the other two about the length of time it took to get service or inattentive service. When I spoke with the manager I was told that they had had "two groups of twenty" just before we arrived. While I can see how this could throw off service, I don't think that forty people just drop by a restaurant. Surely they had planned for this and had adequate food prepped for the increased traffic.

Given the economy and the fact that a white tablecloth restaurant in this neighborhood is already a stretch, they will need to seriously up their game to continue to draw enough traffic to keep their doors open. Poor service, mediocre food and terrible wines by the glass will keep me from dropping another $130 here. I would rather get in my car and go down to Columbia Heights or U Street where I know I can find great food, great service and a great value.