Bistro At The Bijou - Knoxville

The food was fantastic! There were plenty of options to choose from. The waiter was friendly, and the hostess was warm and welcoming.

After the baseball celebrations in downtown Knoxville I went to bistro by the bijou for dinner. Place was medium busy. The bathrooms/bar/kitchen are close to each other. As I was walking out of the bathroom, someone tried to clip my leg and tried to trip me. I turned around and the server apologized for the person that tried to trip me. Found out it was the owner. Said something to the owner and got a smug/smirk response. We left and won’t be back. I live and work downtown and food and service has always been average. But tonight takes the cake. Won’t be back.

I really enjoy the jazz music, and the food is delicious. My server Tara was excellent—she was very helpful and provided great information about the menu items.

Used Google assistant to call ahead, and was told wait was little to no wait for party of two and when we arrived, were promptly seated. We ordered drinks and an appetizer and put in our entree order and were left to sit without follow up for the better part of an hour after receiving the one drink each and the app. There did seem to be an understaffing issue, but also the brusqueness of the responses when we finally managed to speak to waitstaff was perplexing. Our waitress actually raised her voice to my dining partner without provocation because she asked if the food could be checked on. While our waitperson seemed to have decided we didn’t exist, overall it was a fickle and chaotic environment. I’ve continually lowered my expectations of restaurants in the past couple of years, but my base expectation is I receive food, and if not, I’m given status periodically. I did leave a normal tip, and disliked myself for not having the courage to address poor service through monetary measures.

We saw Emily Ann Roberts on the 21st and she was terrific. Everyone at the Bijou contributed to our total enjoyment and comfort and they treated us so well. The theater is lovely and clean. I love it when a landmark is maintained and used to its fullest potential. Great sound!