Bistro 2210
2210 4 St. SW
403-228-4528
Hours of operation: Tues – Fri, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Tues – Sun 5 p.m. to close, Sat and Sun, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Rating: * 1/2
Price range: $$
Reservations: Yes
Client negotiations: Yes
Lunch w/co-workers: Yes
Social Lunch: Yes
Quick solo lunch: No
Time in: 11:30 p.m.
Ordered: 11:40 p.m.
Food arrived: 12:00 p.m.
Time out: 12:30 p.m.
Total time: 1 hour
Low $: Sweet Potato Frites, $6
High $: Seared Rare Tuna “Nicoise,” $16
Lunch menu: Same Menu, daily lunch sets
Licensed: Yes
Everyone is entitled to an off day here and there. But for restaurants, a bad meal is all it takes to turn most diners away for good. Unfortunately, the day my mom and I ventured to Bistro 2210 for lunch, they seemed to be having an all-around off day.
It started off rather well. We were seated at a nice table in the middle of the busy, modern restaurant, where the quirky artwork, charming chandeliers and large windows all make for an ideal lunch setting. I ordered a café latte to start. It was made as a cappuccino, with foam on top, and it also tasted as though it was made with regular coffee beans, not espresso.
Both my mom and I ordered the Ricotta and Spinach Crepe ($12), which contained chopped spinach and lemon zest and was baked in a tomato sauce. The tomato sauce tasted like it came right out of a can of Ragu, with a heaviness and pastiness that clashed with the delicate ricotta and spinach. The crepe itself was overstuffed and the flavours were unharmonious.
To give them one more chance to redeem themselves, I ordered the soup of the day — seafood chowder ($7). Too bad this last dish solidified the meal as a total bust. It was grainy, abundantly fishy and inedible. Because I have been to Bistro 2210 in the past, I know that they usually make lovely, interesting dishes, such as the Moules et Frites, which I would have gotten had they not removed it from their lunch menu. On this particular day, there was nothing positive about our meal. Hopefully it was just an off day, and not a sign of a restaurant in peril.
