Bistro At The Bijou - Knoxville

8/3/24 Edit: the prices are reasonable at least or we'd be dangerously close to a single star on food; at the very least, I didn't feel gouged. Beware the specials, especially the collards and the odd definition of ratatouille they had tonight. I'm aiming to avoid this place in the future. The live jazz was great! A solid choice for downtown dining, though it feels pricey given the served portions. This was the second time I'd been; dinner is better than lunch because the first was around noon and everything was awful: food, service, noise, etc. I know I've only been twice, but I wish they were more consistent.

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.

Best place for live jazz and amazing food and drinks! Tara is a delight to have as a server.

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!