Bank Street Bistro

We ate here last night before a Ray Lamontagne show at the palace.  We arrived right before the end of happy hour and were greeted by a full bar, a very hard working bartender and a delicious little bowl of Chorizo and roasted peppers with flatbread.  Hello Happy Hour Treat!  Dinner was pretty straight to the point..good, but not outstanding.  I had a garden salad to start and was unimpressed by the raspberry vinagerette...also, the cucumbers were disgustinlgy bitter (probably the result of cutting too close to the end)..they should be more aware of this.  The boy had a trio of empanadas (chorizo,spinach and cheese and chicken).. he liked them but I thought they were more of the texture of a mozzarella en carroza and not like empanadas I had ever had before...ahhh, they were ok.
For my meal I had the Bouillabase Brazil...it was a mix of clams, mussels, shrimp and white fish (although the menu description had said scallops in place of the mussels and shrimp).. The broth was the best part...coconut milk,palm oil, cilantro and red peppers... it was a little too thick but delicious none the less.  The boy has veal chop (never asked for coop temp..but came out a nice medium rare)... mushroom/truffle risotto (which was delicious in taste...but hard rice and def not aborio)...and each came w/ the pre requisite steam veggies of broccoli and carrots.
I understand,. it was a chamber of commerce night and the staff was running ragged. I have no problems with their effort ...it was the food that was a bit lackluster...
I would say....go for some strong drinks and apps...

This was the most wonderful surprise of a recent short vacation!

We found Bank Street Bistro via Yelp, and then had it confirmed as good, generous and affordable by a staff person at the Mattatuck Museum.  
This is a fusion of various mediterranean cuisines -- extremely well done!
I had the Portugues Alentejana - pork cubes, clams, wonderful potatoes, pickled veges -- hard to describe how wonderful the mix of flavors was.  I should have taken home some, but instead I just stuffed myself, loving every minute.
My husband had the shrimp and scallop puttanesca -- one of his favorite dishes and he thought this was about the best he'd ever had!  
In addition the service was wonderful, the appetizer, soup, entre and desserts well timed.  The house wine was great.  The Brazilian snow was a perfect light dessert.

Waterbury is a more interesting city than we'd expected, and worth a return trip just to dine at Bank Street Bistro!

I've eaten here once right after they opened and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. The food was creative, especially for Waterbury's standards and, more importantly, it tasted good. The service was fantastic - I can't stress how well our waiter took care of us. The wine list is different and very reasonably priced. Overall, definitely a place to try.