Rebecca and I are down here in Bandon for a bit of vacation. Â A friend suggested this restaurant and it was a good one.
Tuesday night in April is a quiet time in this town, which means we get all  the attention at the restaurant.  It turned out to be a very nice meal.
We started with a papaya salad that was dressed with a sweet onion dressing. Â Dressing good, but not too much. Rebecca had a Tuscan fish stew. She liked it, but would have liked a bit more spice. I had lamb Osobuco. My dish was wonderfully tender. It was served with artichoke hearts and peas. We were lucky enough to pair our meal with a nice Vino Nobile di Montepulciano from 2009. Â It was a great pairing.
Dessert was a chocolate mouse. Â In this case it was in a dome shape with a hard chocolate cover. Â It was then covered in a wonderful sauce. Â Two truffles graced the side of the plate. Â It was one of the best chocolate mouses I have ever eaten.
Service was just right. It was a very nice relaxing dinner. I would encourage anyone to stop by for dinner. We will stop by again.
This was the best meal I have ever had in my life. We came in bedraggled vagabonds with disheveled beach hair, and left kings and princesses. We had no reservations, Â I recommend getting reservations if possible, but we were lucky enough to be squeezed in. Each dish that we sampled was delicious. One conversation went like this, "you should try this" Â
"What does it taste like? Oh my god! That is exactly what food is supposed to taste like."
Another, while I was devouring the panna cotta, which had a delightful rhubarb compote  went like this, "blah blah blah"
"I'm sorry. Were you talking to me? I'm in heaven right now. If you'd like for me to get back to you please leave a message."
This restaurant is a huge waste of money. And I mean HUGE! Everything from the food to the decor/atmosphere to the service came off as mediocre and pretentious. Just because you shove a bunch of trendy flavors together doesn't actually make the food good. I could do without the truffle oil and vanilla scented food and just have someone actually cook something that is tasty and well put together. The decor is supposed to be artsy but it doesn't pull it off. It is just cramped. The service was adequate but pretentious. I also don't appreciate the wait staff phrasing their inquiry in a way that made it seem like the salad was part of the meal. Nope! Two $9 salads! That weren't even very good! They were overdressed and the dressing flavor was way too acidic and overpowering. All in all it was a dreadful night and I was absolutely appalled that it came with about $100 price tag. Skip this place!!!
Review Source:We are in love with this small town gem! Â Our meal was memorable from start to finish. Â We arrived early and decided to sit at the lovely granite bar for a couple of glasses of wine. Â The service is gracious and homey. Â The atmosphere is lovely, small and intimate. Â The bread was soft and delicious. Â We each ordered half a dozen Northwestern oysters, which I have grown to love living near the coast, and the cucumber mignette was the perfect compliment to the briny, sea-tasting succulent meat. Â I moved on to the grass-fed short-rib, I'm a sucker for short-ribs, and these were quite possibly one of the best I've had so far. Â A reasonable portion, two meaty short-ribs, lightly bathed in a divine red wine sauce, a nice compliment to the slightly-sweet potato-parsnip vanilla mash, and the small onions. Â I savored every bite. Â My husband had the duck, it was cooked perfectly. Â We already knew to save room for the dessert, our serve had tasted it when she was pouring our first glass of wine, a perfectly chocolate cake with a warm chocolate oozy center, strawberry sauce, and fresh strawberries, it was to die for. Â I wanted to lick the plate. Â
We've dined at many fine restaurants all across the US, and Alloro competes with any of them.
Some of the best food in Bandon.
We were sat promptly and ordered. Â I had the Osso Bucco and my sister had the pasta with the sausage.
We are both from major metro areas and have eaten in many highly rated restaurants. Â This was top notch and the service was excellenet.
I would definitely eat here again.
Wow.
We are still raving about this place three days later. Seriously one of the highlights of our trip down the 101.
We almost didn't make it in, we arrived right after they flipped the sign to closed but luckily we were waved in. The staff here are great, really helpful with questions and recommendations.
But the food. Oh my. It is amazingly delicious. We had a beautiful crab and avocado salad, lamb, and the beef short ribs. The food here is seriously inspiring, and did I say amazing?
Please spend a little extra and have a meal here, you will not regret it in the slightest!
This place is excellent. It's not just "good for Bandon," it's gooood--for any location. We come to Bandon about once a year, and always stop here. The food is consistently several levels beyond delicious with creative execution. Vanilla bean scented parsnip mash would just be pretension almost anywhere else. Here it is ambrosia.
Tonight we ordered the braised short ribs, so flavorful and rich I was glad to be sharing. Along side we had a pumpkin gratin and an apple endive salad with warm bacon dressing. Everything was fabulous, but the short ribs with parsnips and spinach was out of this world.
Other things we've really enjoyed here are the Gorgonzola steak and the pumpkin brown butter ravioli.
OH! And don't forget the tiramisu. It's the best I've ever had by a landslide.
We eat here on our golf trips to bandon dunes. The food has never disappointed us. King salmon and halibut usually are on the menu this time of year. And I like the fact that they change the way they prepare them. Great bistro atmosphere and the service is good. I would not call this Italian although they serve pasta. It is a wine bistro imho
Review Source:Recently tried this restaurant while staying at the Bandon Dunes resort. Â Since the food at the resort was mediocre, we decided to venture in to town, and this restaurant was recommended by our caddie. Â Had I known about Allloro earlier, I would have been there several times during the week. Â Charming, small place. Â Great service. Â Interesting menu. Â And wonderful food. Â I started with the crab bisque soup. Â It was creamy, full of crab and had excellent flavor. Â My main course was the lamb. Â Falling-off-the-bone tender and flavorful. Â My wife had a salad of artichoke. spinach and radishes. Â Her main course was the shrimp pasta. Â She found both were excellent. Â Most of the ingredients were local (Oregon lamb and duck, local crab).
For anyone staying at Bandon Dunes, I highly recommend this place over anything at the resort. Â And as another reviewer states, make a reservation, as the place is tiny and fills up fast.
I highly recommend making reservations. Â We were here when it's not considered "high golf" season (starts in June and runs through November) Â and we made reservations well in advance and had no issues, Â We thought it was so good that we would try to go the next night but couldn't get in until after 8 PM. Â
Our party of four shared a bottle of wine, a Pinot Noir from OR, of course. Â I had the crab bisque soup, the pistachio encrusted halibut and the white cake dessert (the name escapes me at the moment). Â The crab bisque is very rich and could be eaten as an entree if you weren't that hungry. Â The halibut and gnocchi with pea puree was wonderful. Â It was cooked to perfection and the gnocchi wasn't rubbery. Â The white cake dessert was also very tasty, although the slice was large enough to share with the whole table. Â It reminded me of strawberry shortcake. Â Not too sweet, a delicate balance between sweet, cream and tang. Â
Others in our party had the salmon ("to die for"), the tempura veggies and the seafood delight (not sure the official name of the dish). Â Everyone was very pleased and happy with their food. Â Our server was wonderful and we were very happy with our experience at Alloro.
We spent the weekend in Bandon this time on our way up the coast, having just stopped here for lunch in the past. Â The harbor "Old Town" area is quaint and very touristy. Â With only two dinners in town, we tried Alloro as the second one, and we should have gone here first. Â It was by far the better of the two meals, both in terms of food quality and wait staff. Â
The food was imaginatively prepared and the quality of ingredients was fairly good.  The salmon wasn't caught that day, but was good.  The lamb shank was strong tasting  but tender. The only down was that my husband asked for different sides with his salmon, and made it clear that he was not asking for them in addition to the ones being offered.  He was presented with the ones he asked not to get and the ones he wanted on another plate.  That error should have been fixed in the kitchen before it was brought out.
All in all, we'd highly recommend when you are in Bandon.
My fiance and I have eaten a lot of good food in a lot of cities in a lot of states; most recently we've dined at popular Las Vegas restaurants (i.e. Craftsteak, Tao, Cut, etc). The reason I say this is because Alloro's ambiance, service, food presentation and flavors surpass them all - and at a FRACTION of the price!
From seating, to appetizer to entree to dessert and coffee, we felt - and the food tasted - like we were in a 5 star restaurant. And the live music offered by a local guitarist was the icing on the cake.
While I suspect everything on the menu is a 'winner', we ate (and adored, and would have licked our plates if we were alone):
Starter - Crab and Avocado (surprise - it's served chilled!)
Entrees - Alaskan Halibut / Salmon Fettuccine(?) (was a seasonal dish no longer on the menu - picture added)
Dessert - Tiramisu, Gelato, & cappuccinos (excellent espresso, too!)
Do yourself a favor if you're visiting or passing through Bandon - eat at Alloro's!
From beginning to end, this was a fabulous experience. My husband and I aren't real food snobs, but we like what we like and everything about our meals was memorable.
Having stopped in Bandon on our way up the coast, we had no idea where to stop for dinner, so made somewhat of a random choice, based upon some google reviews (all good). Calling ahead to see if we needed reservations was key, since the dining room turned out to be an intimate room that fills quickly - so as a result there was no awkward wait at the door.
The wait staff was professional and helpful and gave us just the right amount of time before approaching us.
The seared tuna appetizer was a perfect start to the meal, with perfectly blended flavors of pepper, onion, tuna and basil. Wonderful. I had a Cali zin, which was amazing, and my husband had a local beer, which was also perfect.
The entrees were delicious and really perfectly prepared. The rabbit, which was tender and delicious, came with carrots, beets and potatoes which perfectly complimented the rabbit. The steak was really delicious and we tried both the gorgonzola butter and white truffle oil, which were both so good!
I had panna cotta for dessert and practically licked the plate, it was so good. The caramel sauce was rich, wonderful yum and the perfectly creamy texture of the custard was simply heaven.
Like I said, we're not food snobs, just know what we like - and we liked Alloro - a lot. We'll be back.
The service was great. I accidentally spilt my glass of water and the waitress immediately came over and changed our table cloth, brought us new water, and new napkins. She was very friendly and nice.
The food was delicious from beginning to end. The presentation on all the plates were beautiful. I would definitely recommend this place! And they will surely see me again when I am in the Bandon area.
The only thing I disliked was that there was no hostess so when you entered you stood in the entrance awkwardly until a waitress had the time to sit you.
Amazing find on the Oregon coast. Â We stopped at Bandon after a long drive from Mendocino, and when we saw how small the town was, we were afraid that a good meal wasn't in the cards. Â We're from San Francisco, and Mendocino restaurant choices left us underwhelmed, so we were feeling pretty pessimistic. But we knew about Alloro and decided to give it a try. Â The staff kindly fitted us in at the last minute, and we had a great meal. Â The crab and avocado appetizer was perfectly executed, and the halibut entree with potato slices and pea puree was lovely. Â I hate overcooked fish, and the halibut was cooked exactly the way I like it. The wine menu is eclectic - I had a Sicilian white that I had never heard of before. Â We would definitely return to Alloro.
Review Source:The ambiance was intimate. Â Booths or tables for 2 Â or more are available. Â The wait staff was very friendly, knowledgable, and accommodating,
My husband had a pasta dish with sausage and black truffles.  I had the halibut in a lemon crab sauce.  I had not read  the menu carefully enough as I am allergic to crab.  The waitress happily took the meal away and had the chef prepare the halibut again sans crab and lemon sauce.  It was delicious.
For dessert I had the Tiramisu. Â It was excellent but was a serving size enough for two. Â My husband had the raspberry sorbet which was very good as well.
We felt badly about the halibut meal re-do and offered to pay, but the waitress would have none of it. Â
We would highly recommend this eatery.
Maybe I'm spoiled. Â
Maybe I'm tired from a long day of driving.
But, it was the first decent place we ran across in the small old-town part of Bandon. We were lazily greeted after we awkwardly stood at the door for a while...looking around for some direction. Â
Upon seating, the waitress guided us towards appetizers, so we ordered several, foregoing full entrees. Â We went with the sea scallops and bacon, duck empanadas, the crab bisque and a salad. Â They were all fantastic- the bisque was among the best we've ever had. Â
I took one star off because the wait staff was a bit rude. Â There was a point at which I mentioned I didn't need the desert menu, she responded with an "anyways..." and then turned to talk to my partner. (What was that?! we both wondered...) Anyways, it's fine- I guess it's a big fish/small pond thing.
Cons:
-Pretty much everything has dairy, meat, and/or gluten (all the veg options were pastas) in it. Â
-Wait staff was there to do their job- good suggestions but not friendly (or even very nice for that matter).
-A bit on the pricey side ($8 for a small caesar salad, $26 for salmon)
Pros:
-Decent food, nice wine list.
-Nice ambiance- clean, some romantic booth seating in the back...(but then you're on the way to the bathrooms, so you see everyone walking by).
A 4.5 for Alloro. Now that Wild Rose has moved to Ashland, Alloro is the only game in town for excellent bistro food. The crab bisque, venison with chestnut spaetzle, and duck breast with a cranberry-chestnut salsa, were all superb. Easily as good as anything we get in the San Francisco Bay Area, and a whole lot cheaper.
The tiramisu was a throwback to the classic recipe. There is a real difference in using true Savoiardi biscuits (ladyfingers) instead of cake; it had a lightness that charmed rather than an overwhelming richness that satiated.
It's a small restaurant, so make reservations in advance!
Four of us ate at Alloro Monday night. Â Both the food and service were excellent. Â I had the halibut which was cooked excellently with a nice crisp crust. Â Even though Alloro shows up as an Italian restaurant, I would put it more in the seafood category. Â They have a nice wine list and we chose the Acrobat, an Oregon Pinot Gris from King Estate that we all enjoyed and complemented the entrees well.
Review Source:This is one of the most authentic Italian restaurants. The meal wasn't heavy like Italian food tends to be at restaurants and very full of flavor. It was a small place but felt quite spacious. It seemed a little out of the way but totally worth the trip. I would recommend spending the day in Bandon and ending it with a lovely dinner at Alloro.
Review Source:We had been here several years before and had actually made reservations in Bandon in order to return to this restaurant, not because it's the best food in Oregon (or even on the coast) but because the small town feeling and care that is offered here makes it worth a return.
We arrived in town around 5:45pm and were told that we better make a reservation because the golfers were in town from the nearby golf course and the place would fill up quickly. Â We were told at the restaurant that we could have a table in the back room (which was currently empty) at 7pm or a table in the front at 8:30pm. Â The back room seemed a bit dark and secluded but we decided to go with that anyway. We were glad when we returned to be in the back room because it was noticably quieter and by the time we were ready to leave (around 9pm), the room was empty except for us.
The wine flights that so impressed us on our first trip were gone so I was a bit worried. However, we tried the two wines recommended on the chalk board, both French, and enjoyed them both (one was a Chenin Sec the other a Cotes du rhone). The white Chenin Sec was excellent, crisp but fruity, minerally but also with some body. Â I almost ordered a second class which is rare for a white. Â The Cotes de Rhone was good but not as exceptional as the white. Â
We were intrigued by the menu and had a hard time deciding what to order: we wanted local (surprisingly, there were very few local wine choices on the glasses menu or we would have had local wine as well). Â The menu included local dungeness crab. The halibut was Alaskan, we weren't sure about the salmon. There was also rabbit and steak. Â While we mulled these choices over, we started with a piquillo pepper appetizer: the small, sweet red peppers were lightly roasted (I think) and filled with smoked salmon,cubed potatoes and some kind of cheese. Â We had mixed feelings about these. Â at first, it seemed as if the salmon was overpowering the peppers but then after a few bites they seemed more balanced. The little squares of potato were just strange and probably could have been left out. These peppers sat on butter lettuce in a very light vinaigrette. But I loved the flavor of these. The olive oil the restaurant uses is very tasty and a bit spicy, so I liked everything with that oil on it (including the sourdough bread in the basket which I normally don't eat).
What next? Â Crab bisque? crab and avocado salad? Â More dithering led us to select the duck empanadas. We found these to be excellent. We are not empanada fans: too much greasy, soggy tasteless pastries in the past. But these pastries were crisp and flavorful, almost as if they'd been baked. The filling was shredded duck, olive and raisins but the predominant flavor was the duck complimented by the fantastic cranberry ancho sauce (I hunted through town the next day to see if I could find this sauce for sale--it was excellent).
We finally decided on a bowl of the crab bisque--best choice of the night. The bisque was excellent and startingly full of sweet crab meat. Â The soup had a slighly nutty and fish broth taste with a smooth cream base (very rich). Â I think a acidic white wine would have complimented in nicely while also cutting the cream.
After savoring every bite of the soup and wiping the bowl clean with more of that lovely sour dough bread, we turned to the mains and ended up ordering a caesar salad (with dressing on the side), orrecchiette pasta with a italian sausage ragu and truffle oil and a side of green beans wrapped in proscuitto.
The ceasar salad came dressed (and, as usual, way over dressed) but the waitress noticed almost immediately and whisked it away to return quickly with an undressed version. The salad was fresh and crisp but nothing exciting.  The  pasta was surprisingly flavorful. When it arrived, I thought "Oh no" dry and boring. But, it was made in the italian way with a very light, but very flavorful sauce that was tasty in every bite and light on the oil.  The green beans were disappointing. The salty flavor of the proscuitto was dull, and I'm not sure why. It seems like the beans needed to be quickly boiled in some salty water to add a bit of life to them.  They weren't bad, but they lacked the powerful smoky, salty flavor I expected.
I would rate the food as really good, but again, we had come here for the experience and we were more than happy with that. We like to eat slowly, to drink our wine slowly and to not feel rushed. Our waitress was completely on board with that, returning occassionally to make sure we were doing okay but not hovering and not making us feel like we better order soon. She was also very friendly and seemed to like her job, without being ingratiating or pretentious (nothing about the place is pretentious. the wait staff all wears black and mostly carries itself professionally--one water filler person seemed nervous). Great experience.
We stopped in here on our overnight in Bandon (what a great little coastal community!) and enjoyed a nice meal.
I started with a duck empanada that I found to be cold and a bit greasy and bland. The duck flavor wasn't particularly pronounced against the weight of the empanada and there were no other flavors incorporated to give it zing. Just ok.
For an entree I ordered the salmon. It was fine - well cooked, not overdone. But again my tastebuds searched for something zippy to make it sing a little...
Wine choice was a Dorigo Sauvignon Blanc. Nice, crisp, full bodied - a good suggestion from the restaurant staff.
Finally, we had the tiramisu for dessert. The waitress told us that she has customers who come from all over just to get their tastebuds wrapped around that tiramisu. And it was good, but I couldn't see making a special trip to find it. It had a nice balance of mascarpone to coffee but I found the "dusting" of cocoa powder across the top to be too heavy and the dryness of it stuck to the inside of my mouth like cement, requiring swishing it out with water before I could continue to enjoy the underneath layers. A lighter hand on the cocoa application would make all the difference to this yummy dessert!
The decor is clean and ocean-centric (modern driftwood art on the wall) without being kitschy. Overall a really lovely space.
Would I go back? Certainly. But I'd probably try a couple of the other restaurants in town first.
Amazing food!
We had an anti-pasta appetizer which was beautiful and delicious. The lasagna and lamb ragu pasta were both out of this world. But the climax was the dessert, which was a vanilla custard with an orange sambuca sauce and drizzled caramel.
The portions are small sized so that you can get a dessert, which I'm glad we did! Â The price was not bad sticking with the pastas. Their entrees were about $20-$24 each. There were so many good looking choices.
Although I don't drink wine, they seemed to have a nice variety of wines available.
I would highly recommend a visit for dinner here! Â I know that I will definitely be going back as soon as I am able.
Spent the night in Bandon on our drive up the Coast and had dinner at Alloro. Â Its located in the "Old Town" area on 2nd Ave. Â The dining room is small and smartly furnished. We had an excellent dinner. The clams and linguine were delicious we also had sea food stew of Halibut, mussels, crab, prawns, calamari, manila clams, Â tomato-herb broth also excellent. Â The Caprese salad had local tomatoes was good but as expected. For desert we had a Semifreddo which was primarily a home made gelato cake. The price was reasonable for the quality and I would definitely go back.
Review Source:Fantastic. We went to Alloro for the second time last month and ordered up a seafood feast of mussels, linguine with clams, grilled salmon, and seafood stew. Everything was top notch. I'm not a wine person, but the beer selection at Alloro is pretty good. Dessert (Baked Bandon) was excellent. All in all, a great choice for a night out on the Oregon Coast.
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