Bistro 5 Reviews

Very good food and presentation. Nice decor. Not too noisy, and pleasant wait staff.

My wife had the chief's tasting menu with the wine pairing which she loved. I had the gnocchi which was also fabulous. The cocktails were also excellent and original.

Always a fantastic experience! Cozy environment, great staff and delicious food. Tonight we had lamb tenderloin and a burger after a set of small plates as appetizers.

I've been to Bistro 5 a couple of times now and really enjoyed it. It has a nice bar scene and little buzz and is a great place for a group of friends or family to meet and linger. The layout is a little crammed but so amiable it doesn't detract. Service can be a little erratic and slow, but lovely people and if you can relax and enjoy then it's great. The weekly burger night is fun and definitely worth a visit. Buck a chuck oysters on Tuesday are also terrific. Great cocktails (among the best in this area), a nice wine list and interesting beer selection (including local Lord Hobo options).

Last night the special truly lived up to the name and should be a review in its own right. Perfectly cooked lamb, with fennel bulb, pickled rhubaeb, chiles and an exceptional lemon-cardamom sauce. I will dream about this dish for years to come. I added a star for this alone.

Every town should be so lucky to have a local joint like Bistro 5.

I sent my friends to this restaurant with my warmest recommendations. I visit this place often. This recommendation is always successful. The the cooking is yummy and the team is attentive and cooperative. Whenever we visit this place we have a splendid time. I recommend this place with pleasure.

Drove from far away and was disappointed, will not go back.

Pros:
Service was great, place was nice, the sirloin stake was delicious cooked to perfection and the side Yuka was amazing.

Cons:
Im a big calamari expert person, never order their calamari, it's extremely under cooked and tasteless, worst I've ever had.
The price is way too high for the type of food served.

The environment was great!
Excellent food and delicious drinks!
Alex and Gabi were very professional and attentive!
I felt special with a private safe space reservation. I was celebrating my birthday, me and my guests loved it. We had such a great time! Definitely will be back! Thank you Bistro 5 Family!

Another lovely meal at a local favorite. The signature cocktails were well made and the rabbit ragu pasta was a highlight

I've been to Bistro 5 a couple of times now and really enjoyed it. It has a nice bar scene and little buzz and is a great place for a group of friends or family to meet and linger. The layout is a little crammed but so amiable it doesn't detract. Service can be a little erratic and slow, but lovely people and if you can relax and enjoy then it's great. The weekly burger night is fun and definitely worth a visit. Buck a chuck oysters on Tuesday are also terrific. Great cocktails (among the best in this area), a nice wine list and interesting beer selection (including local Lord Hobo options).

Last night the special truly lived up to the name and should be a review in its own right. Perfectly cooked lamb, with fennel bulb, pickled rhubaeb, chiles and an exceptional lemon-cardamom sauce. I will dream about this dish for years to come. I added a star for this alone.

Every town should be so lucky to have a local joint like Bistro 5.

Really good Italian restaurant! the Gnocchi with hen-of-the-woods mushrooms was to die for!

Outstanding food and ambiance. Jane was very knowledgeable about the menu!

This place has wonderful food and very nice staff good prices!

Excellent fine dining, new menu items often, great drinks.

Excellent restaurant. Great service, great food, and frequented by equally good people! We had a minor medical emergency. The owner, the staff, and especially the other patrons rushed to our aid. Exceptionally helpful and attentive. I can't say enough about the decency of the people here. If you believe good people help good people, then go to Bistro 5. You'll have a great meal, be truly cared for, and will not leave disappointed.

Special shout out to Luke and the man in pink. You'll always be remembered with warmth and respect. Thank you!

Excellent food drinks and chef he comes around to see how u like the food and very friendly

Great good, Details can be improved in table settings and service

This lovely neighborhood bistro style restaurant has a lovely menu and bar.

I think my favorite thing to do here is grab a great drink at the bar and pick out an appetizer or two and call that dinner on a casual Friday night.

Their prefix menu is amazing.

The atmosphere is funky and fun offering upscale secluded dining.

We ordered all of the appetizers on the menu (an olive platter, prepared sardines, savory mascarpone cream, and croquettes)- they were lovely.

Excellent upscale restaurant in an unlikely location. It is awesome for people that live close by but I know many people that make trips from all over Boston to indulge at Bistro 5.

One of my favorite restaurants. Excellent menu that changes with the season and excellent preparation.

love this place - know everyone very well, have spent last three birthday dinners there. that says it all.

Nice atmosphere great food and service. I'm sold at all entrees availed in appetizer size and all wine by the glass available in flight size.

Wonderfully accommodating location for our private party. The food was great and the staff was very accommodating and professional. Great experience and enjoyed it!

My first time and I loved it! Our meals were off the charts good.

We arrived early for our reservation with the intent of having a drink at the bar first. Instead we were seated and told to just take our time with our drinks and ordering. Our waitress was very sweet and patient but still attentive. We were probably there for over two hours (we went for the full tasting menu) and we really enjoyed ourselves. The cocktails were creative and yummy, the beer list local and varied, and the food felt very fresh and original. (And I cannot recommend the duck appetizer enough!).

My favorite app is the Calamari....best ever!!
Had the flank steak and my wife had the Scallops....both were excellent! For dessert you must try the peach - awesome!!

The food was good but a little pricey for my budget. Each plate was about 24 to 32 dollars. They have very limited menu. The portion for food is not like normal Italian restaurants. It is portioned well. The restaurant atmosphere is romantic and cozy . The service was good.

Went there for the first time for the Burns '17 dinner and found the waitstaff very attentive and professional, the bartender was funny and very personable and the chef/owner was very nice and welcoming. Will definitely come back with my gf for burger night

I love this venue a lot. It has a happy mood. The food is splendid. the service is powerful and the team is professional. The pay is satisfactory. profoundly recommend.

Good place but too pricey! Went there for valentines and had a lovely experience, it was great. Service was awesome.

Wonderful when they were seating, still wonderful during the pandemic. My wife and I have ordered their weekly specials with wine pairings several times. Delicious and well paired. Try the lobster rolls and, on Fridays, the fish and chips. Pick it up, take it home, and continue to enjoy one of Medford's best restaurants.

Great food and great service. Atmosphere would have been better if air conditioning had been more effective.

Great atmosphere, romantic and classy. Classic, authentic Italian dishes with homemade pasta and fresh ingredients.

Absolutely delicious food. Pricey, but worth it. Shrimp appetizer and veal milenase were fantastic.

Delicious steak house. Go before you're hungry so you have a chance to lounge at the bar and get a drink. Great atmosphere, Delicious steaks, garlic mashed potatoes!

The drinks were well made and the food was delicious. Would come back again.

Would surely recommend trying this place. Fantastic vibes, yummy food, fantastic service. Highly recommended.

This place is a joke. We made the trek from Boston to see what it was all about. We got up and left after enduring 45 minutes of bad service, a terrible first course, and loud college age girls who acted as if they were in the bar room with piercing laughs and speech. Management should have done something.

Maybe this is ok in medford, but if you have any sense of fine dining, you will not appreciate this establishment.

Hidden gem! Food's delicious service is great! Nice atmosphere

Whether you are stopping in for a quick mid week meal at the bar, planning a special dinner, or planning on ordering their tasting menu (which changes every few weeks) you won't be disappointed. This continues to be my favorite restaurant in the Boston area. Pricing is very reasonable for what you are getting, but would happily pay more for the impeccable service, inviting atmosphere, and always perfect courses. Just typing this, I'm starting to think when I will be there again.

Would never go back was in Saturday night 8/15/2015 , only had a beer bartender charged us $9 per beer, and rang it up as no sale, Figured he just put the cash in his pocket, because we saw him, and it was a terrible pour top inch of glass was foam.

Phenomenal restaurant tucked away in Medford. Better than most of its Boston competition. Creative thoughtful cuisine, great cocktails. Go here.

Nice place for two. Space is a bit tight, so you will sit very close to other tables. Chocolate cake taste really good, not too sweet.

Consistently excellent food and a fantastic bar. Don't miss $1 oyster night!

Compared to other options at this price, flavors are bland and not interesting. In particular, the house made ricotta and corn did not taste of corn and the pumpkin risotto with scallops had no detectable pumpkin flavor. The rabbit pasta was good but I expect better and more consistent food at this price.

Very very excellent one of the best and restaurants around

Love the veal. Servers and atmosphere are great. Desserts are yummy

Excellent food; friendly knowledgeable staff; and adventurous cuisine

Food was good for the most part, but it was very pricey especially considering the microscopic serving sizes.

No complaints at all about anything except ... well ... the food. It was even well prepared, but not good, enjoyable cuisine. Perhaps it's a laudible minimalist style to let the natural flavors show through, but it didn't even succeed there for me.

Some of the food was adequate (at this price point), but the low point for me was the wild boar "free form lasagna". My alternate menu description would be: "ground meat, pasta, broccoli rabe boiled in light stock, heavily salted, with ricotta salata". There was little flavor other than salt. I'm not a fan of wet boiled meat and veg, even with the novelty of wild boar. If you have fond memories of institutional food from childhood, perhaps you'd love it. Ok that's unfair - the veg was not overcooked. Well prepared, like I said.

Another good thing that the menu is quite original, with interesting ingredients. Sadly reading the menu raised my expectations and made the experience even more disappointing.

I wanted to like it, and I'd give it an enthusiastic 5 stars if I just ignored the actual experience of eating the food, which is what I came for.

My baseline of comparison at this price range would be EVOO (Cambridge), where I frequently take a mouthful and then just sit back to delight in the interplay of flavors. Bistro 5 is another on the list which comes up short - though so much shorter than I expected.

Overall very good experience (again). Minor complaints on a busy Saturday night... Slightly too long a wait for the meal to arrive (we worked our way through appetizers, bread and more) and a seared scallop dish arrived cool.

It's not bad. Service is ok. Food was good but they were out of several items.

Reduce options in the menu, the burger was not the best one we ever had, and the fish plate was not attractive as it came with excessive chickpeas in a watery sauce. Great service by the way.

Delicious food and drinks! Dollar oysters on Tuesdays and Burgers on Thursdays at the bar. Entrees made with seasonal, local veggies and meats.

Pleasant enough. It's not a destination restaurant or worth significant travel, but if I lived in it's neighborhood, I'd be a regular.

Out of the way for us but a nice find. Cozy atmosphere great night for a date.

What can I say. Vittorio is the best. Always innovative and striving for excellence.

This place is actually pretty good! The menu is inventive, fresh and fun without being pretentious or overpriced. The interior is small but charming and the staff is what they should be: attentive and professional. If you like good food this is a great place. You can also come here to feel classy if you aren't usually classy.

The negatives are the tiny menu and the fact that this place is an hour and 15 from my house.

Great location! The staff is very friendly and helpful. The food was delicious, also the macrons are very tasty.

Generally truly exceptional food. Spotty service. Expensive. The arancini di mare were very good as a starter and the cheese plate was a fine way to end the meal. We had lobster rolls in between; the lobster was tender but not very flavorful and it was sauced too much and dripping. When the check came we were shocked to discover that the lobster rolls were $29. (Maybe we're spoiled by Gloucester prices.)

This is a good place for a special occasion or if someone else is picking up the tab but it gets pricey quickly. Otherwise, there are $1 oysters on Tuesday and Thursday is Burger Night in the bar.

Nice place to eat that's a little upscale without being uptight. Can take the train there from Boston since it's right next to a commuter rail stop. Good cheap ice cream joint around the corner for a change of scenery.

Love this place. The food is always excellent. All the servers are friendly and the bartender makes some really amazing and interesting cocktails.

Great night at Bistro 5 last night. Should have noted the name of our waitress she was wonderful! Thanks so much for a great night.

Enjoyed the Burns night dinner. The Cullen sink with fried oysters and salmon sausage on top of leeks and potatoes in a smokey chowder is especially memorable. The venison take on haggis was inventive and highlighted by foie gras. The whiskey based cocktails were also very good. The raspberry trifle was delicious. Appreciate the poetry and Scottish music. A gastro pub with Scottish fare would be a welcome addition to Medford.

Veal/Branzini/scallops/pasta: all four entrees were excellent. Vegetables especially shone. Prices good. Drinks a bit slow, but it was crowded. Overall, very enjoyable.

Bistro 5 is located in west Medford and it is pretty easy to get to just from about anywhere in town. Offering modern Italian cuisine and a cozy neighborhood feeling this place will not disappoint you. I had dinner with friends there two Saturdays ago and loved it. We will go there again soon. Give Bistro 5 a try and I think you will love it too.

Went for Dine Out Boston a few weeks ago with a friend and it was excellent! The portions were a great size and the food was excellent. The atmosphere is really cozy, and the service was also excellent!

Wonderful food and atmosphere. Upscale but welcoming

one of my most favorite Italian places in the area. The lasagna is awesome!

I wish they could have a big ppatio/deck to stay outside but even the current improvisation works. Food is really good and the service is even better. One advise for them would be to increase the wine selection but even the ones they currently have are fine

Ordered at 6:15, main course served 7:30. Salumi appetizer spare but flavorful, Foie gras mousse unrecognizable in taste or texture, sorbet unnecessary as there was no lingering flavors. Lamb special featured tasty rib chop and flavorless saddle. Carrot risotto very tasty but lacking any creaminess. Desserts in serious need of attention, as rhubarb corn-meal cake featured sour and gritty rather tart and crumbly. Wish I visited when food was 27.

Just had the lamb shank from Bistro 5. Probably the best take-out I can remember having. The lamb was fall off the bone, the cabbage was really nice and tender, and the polenta tasty!

I absolutely liked the food and service, excellent location next to my apartment. The staff members are always very kind. Highly recommended.