Bistro 150

Located at 2205 Oak Ridge Road in Oak Ridge, Bistro 150 serves American cuisine for breakfast, lunch, and dinner Monday through Saturday and a brunch on Sundays. Food specials change daily, and there is occasional live music. Outdoor seating is available.

Housed in a nondescript shopping center and blessed by strong reviews, Bistro 150 is a very strange, slightly sad, though not irredeemably bad little eatery. Enter this dark restaurant, and you’ll find a few traditional tables toward the front and a lounge area with sofas further back. Ordering and payment are both handled at the register, perhaps a concession to the very small staff. Only the owner and a chef/cook were working when we arrived around 5 p.m. on a Saturday. Then again, we were the only ones in the restaurant, so it’s possible they had all the staff they needed. A radio playing 1960s hits further contributed to the odd vibe.

In contrast, Bistro 150’s menu is decidedly more traditional. Among the apps, sandwiches, and salads, you’ll find familiar hummus plates, Reubens, Greek salads, and flatbreads. In fairness, the dinner entrees offered some unexpected – and more refined - surprises, such as potato-crusted pangasius or grilled pork loin with a cranberry and red wine sauce. A nice variety of coffee drinks and gelato round out the offerings.

For our visit, my wife and I went with a roasted chicken salad (with sundried tomato, olives, and feta in place of the standard goat cheese) and a Chesapeake pasta (shrimp, clams, and mussels over linguine in an Old Bay, white wine, and cream sauce). The salad was respectably sized for its price ($9.99) but was otherwise a disaster. Overly large pieces of tough chicken lay atop overly large, unsightly pieces of lettuce with chewy sundried tomatoes mixed in. Bleh. Fortunately, the pasta dish ($15.99) fared better. There was a decent ratio of seafood to noodle, and though the Old Bay and white wine flavors were absent, the garlicky, creamy sauce still had plenty of flavor without the heaviness of an alfredo.

Service was also uneven. During our meal, the owner came around to see how we were doing, which was a welcome gesture. Prior to that, however, she expressed indifference and bafflement when my wife tried to ascertain which dressing paired best with the salad, and said salad initially arrived without the one ordered (a problem quickly remedied thanks to the cook/chef). The owner also isn’t the easiest person to understand.

Oak Ridge is not Greensboro or High Point in terms of dining options, and a lack of nearby competition may help explain Bistro 150’s strong reviews. But even in a vacuum, this quirky eatery falls short of reaching the promise suggested by its appealing dinner menu. I don’t see myself coming back.

6.5/10