Bistro 54 Italiano - Perth

My partner and I went to Bistro 54 for dinner with my aunt and uncle. We are visiting friends and family from the Calgary area and were looking for something special, and Bistro 54 exceeded our expectations. The flavor combinations were unique, delicious, and memorable. The service was exceptional. The ambiance was tasteful. Looking forward to dining with Bistro 54 again the next time we're home.

We had an excellent dinner at Bistro 54 in Perth, Ontario in early August 2017. The restaurant was recommended by our B&B and it met and exceeded our expectations. Bistro 54 does not accept reservations, but when we arrived at 7:30, we were warmly welcomed and seated immediately. We shared an order of Bruscetta Pomodoro (amazing), followed by Arrabiata Rigatoni (outstanding sauce and pasta) and a refreshing Insalata Mista accompanied by the house red wine and concluding with an incredibly light lemon tart and coffee. Everything was delicious and the meal was made even more enjoyable by excellent service from Emily. Overall, this Italian restaurant in Perth is a real treasure and a really great value too.

It is the go-to place for fabulous Italian food in Perth. The atmosphere is the best, wonderful service and the most delicious food.

Well, colour me impressed. I had heard rumblings about this little place from clients and friends, but nothing prepared me for the experience I was about to have.We arrived, in a rush-a little after 5 on a saturday night, prepared to walk around the pretty town of Perth if the place was booked for the night. We lucked in to the only 2 place table, and immediately knew that something special lay before us. The open and friendly staff that greeted us set the tone, and the obvious expectation of delights from the crowd pressing in through the narrow doorway told us that we will be having a memorable experience in the least.The room is tiny and filled up instantly, it was as thought we were being let in on a closely guarded garden of delights, which is exactly what happened.I ordered my obligatory beer, and was very happy to be presented with half a glass of Stella, and the rest still in a cold can on the table. My wife had a full glass of prosecco-not the usual half glass we see in most places-great start.The menu is small but concise and drool inducing. If you can't find anything here to seduce you, get back in line at the drive thru.There was wonderful assortments of devine concoctions-the smells of which were utterly seductive.I settled on the mixture of chicken and seafood risotto, but my wife had already pegged that as her own!! So, to get a broader experience from the menu-I ordered the tantalizing sounding porchetta.The food is not rushed, and we waited patiently with growing anticipation as a medley of astounding looking and smelling plates drifted teasingly past us, and each plate had an abundance of food atop them.The first sign of quality came in the shape of two slices of garlic kissed bread with an utterly mouth slaying tomato vinaigrette-simple, delicious.When our plates arrived, we shook our heads in pleasure at the medley of splendour we saw.The risotto was beautifully plated, in an almost abstract painting style: the moist chunks of chicken as soft and buttery as possible-the scallops and generous fresh shrimp atop an unctuous creamy rice. One generous forkful from my spouse was utterly delicious and I was slightly envious of her choice....But.In front of me lay a road map of Tuscany, replete with the mind boggling salty chewiness(in the best possible way) of a perfectly prepared and cooked porchetta. It was crunchy and tarry, sweet spicy and truly remarkable. Surrounded by tubetti in arribiatta marinara. It was a treat for the senses-a snap of spice on the tongue, and the umami from the textures present. I am a cantankerous omnivore with chef envy, and this was my waterloo. I happily could not finish my dish-although my companions plate was squeaky clean by now.I washed this down with lashings of Chianti and was sated in a fashion I have not experienced in sadly a very long time, this is the standard to which Italian bistros simply have to up their game to compete with-and it is doubtful if that can or will happen.Hats off to the staff, front and back of house-very well co ordinated group that made it all flow very smoothly.I have a couple of minor twinges, but nothing that took away from our night.The room is small and a little too dark-some soft candlelight would bring up the romance just a little. for me, a background of interesting music adds to the proceedings too.Simply one of the best dining experiences we have had in a long while, the bill reflected the quality to a tee, and was exactly what I thought it would total.Excellent.Well done-cant wait to see you again.No reservations, so you have to go early-but do it and do it soon.

Food was amazing! This is not a huge space so it was a little noisy but I guess it's part of the ambiance :) It's not cheap but their portions are huge. I highly recommend this restaurant.