I grew up in a family with three sons and no daughters. So I like "guy" places like South St. Smokehouse or 9 Irish Bros. There are some places that I call "girlie" places. Bistro is a "girlie" place. All French country decor and pastel colors and tablecloths. However, the quiche is excellent and I highly recommend it. (Yeah I know, quiche is girlie no matter where it is served, but I love quiche.) The service is excellent. But, I would not go here unless someone else wanted to go, or I wanted to treat my wife. It's one of those places you can suggest to a woman and she will be so impressed that you suggested it. Major brownie points, guys. So take the special woman in your life to the Bistro and enjoy good food and good service. And don't worry, your buds are not going to walk through that door unless they are being dragged their by their own special woman at their side, so you don't have to worry about your manly image.
Review Source:Bistro 501 is my go-to place for fancy dinners. When I start to get down about the lack of really good food in town, this is where I do. Waitstaff are AMAZING. Food is always good. There's martini specials on Thursday which are phenomenal. It's of course not cheap but it's the place you go to when you don't want cheap. Worth every penny.
Review Source:8/23/12 - I was in town driving my dad to Purdue to give a talk, and I was very fortunate to tag along for dinner afterwards. It was the first time I had tried escargot; the texture was interesting, though I was hoping the snails would come in the shell. The bread was ok; not very warm or hearty but they did kindly offer seconds. I ordered a fish over pasta dish which was creamy and strongly flavored with white wine. I did appreciate the professional service who consistently filled water and asked whether we would like freshly crushed pepper on our salads and pastas.
Overall, Bistro 501 is a standard classy restaurant. If you had the money and wanted to impress your guests, this would be the place to bring them in Lafayette, IN.
I have never been disappointed with any meal I have ever tried at Bistro 501. This is the downtown lunch or dinner place where you would want to take a guest you want to impress. I love their quiches for lunch. It's a beautiful place to go with friends in the evening for wine and appetizers. Their food and service are always outstanding.
Review Source:I love this place!
If your appreciate fine foods and drinks, this is the place for you!
 The staff are always friendly and professional, making sure you are always taken care of and enjoying your time there! The food has NEVER disappointed me! And they have a great selection of liquors and wines.
 I really enjoy their lunch. Normally I order their "Bistro lunch" that includes a cup of their french onion soup or soup of the day, a slice of their freshly made quiche, and a serving of a fresh side salad. The soups served for the day are always satisfying! The french onion, which they serve daily, is actually my favorite french onion soup served in town. Every different slice of quiche I have tasted in the Bistro has always melted in my mouth! And the side salad....it's great! You can tell it is fresh and also comes with your choice of dressing. I love their home made ranch dressing!
 Also, I enjoy the dinner menu as well! They serve great steaks at the Bistro 501. I must say that I could live off of their starters though! The Tempura Shrimp is one of my favorites! It is served with a mango relish and a ginger soy cream sauce that just makes it! The French Farm House Pate is another favorite! Genuinely taste like I am back in Europe.
 Desert! Not much of a sweets fan but in the Bistro 501, it is worth saving that little bit of extra room in your stomach!!
 I highly recommend the Bistro 501
I've always loved their classic salads, pate (mmm... pate.. ) and their fruit/cheese plate.
I'd.. I'd write a really long review about how I love almost all of the staff, love their salads, pate, fruit/cheese plate and have enjoyed the special meals that Jon C. and I have had there together.
I had a really unpleasant experience here at lunch a few weeks back. Â Â I'd gone in for a glass of wine after working really hard at home all morning. Â I do this sometimes, it's a nice refresher, a 'victory lap' for the brain, a chance to discharge cortisol. Â A nice thing to do for ones self.
I'm one of those people that really really tries, very hard, to give people the benefit of a doubt. Â And sometimes this leads to me smiling and nodding when I probably should be talking to the manager.
So, I had to really think about this... but at lunch time the daytime server that was taking care of me.. didn't.. I felt kind of uneasy about the interaction. Â I talked it over with Jon C.and without him being able to witness the tone of the interaction, we did determine that the service was not friendly and was actually rather rude.
Though I have enjoyed their food, enjoyed the evening bar service and had excellent service in the dining room, I have to say that any visits here will now be very infrequent.
Maybe it was just a bad day for the guy, maybe the bar was closed and I made a wrong assumption that it was a valid area to seat myself at, as it is in the evening. Â Maybe there were a bunch of other reasons that the interaction was my fault or that it wasn't the fault of the gentleman taking care of me.
But.. I think I'll either stay home with a nice glass of wine, or find somewhere else to do my 'victory lap' early-afternoon glass of wine.
Bistro 501 has the best bar in town, bar none! Barkeep Billy Brand is consummate at his craft, personable, and knowledgable and generous in his suggestions and recommendations. He is also a very creative mixologist, and will "take requests" based on ingredients and come up with something new and interesting. The bar is well stocked, and the wine selection is very good.
The servers are excellent. It is refreshing to see a professional staff (many of whom are excellent chefs in their own right) whose members are attentive but not cloying, know what they serve, and are willing and empowered to make honest recommendations.
The food can be excellent, although it's a bit unpredictable in quality. I recommend the salads and appetizers. Ask your server or bartender about the entrees first.
The atmosphere is quite nice. Highly recommended for both business (they have a lunch menu) and pleasure.
This place is usually spot on, but I can remember two times I've felt pretty lukewarm about my food, and I eat at Bistro once every couple of months or so. They have great lunch specials and know how to make a salad. All of their dressings are made in house and the raspberry one is awesome. The vegetable Napoleon is delicious. If you're unsure about desert you can just get the dessert spoons and sample them all! The pot au chocolat is apparently an old family recipe and it's definitely worth trying.
Review Source:This is one of our "special occasion" places. Â We go sometimes for our anniversary, a birthday, things like that. Â It's one of the priciest places in Lafayette - so needs to be kept to those occasions.
The food is always spectacular. Â The menu changes seasonally, though they do keep some things, such as Steak Frites, throughout all the seasons. Â
Another reviewer commented that their steak was not a proper medium rare and sent it back. Â That is the proper action to take. Â Dinging them a bunch of stars, well, that's your right - but keep in mind even the best cooks in the world have "off" nights. Â Try going a few times before making your review. Â (I usually don't review places I've only been to once...except in certain rare cases.)
The fruit/cheese plate is amazing. Â They make a real Caesar salad with anchovies as it should be. Â Steak frites is awesome. Â Their lamb dishes are always excellent. Â
They make a KILLER cheesecake. Â I am a cheesecake snob, and if I could only ever have one place's cheesecake, it'd be here.
There isn't a better "fine dining" restaurant in the Lafayette area. Â 501 is good, very good!
If you enjoy a loud, catered-food hall environment for your meals, then this place is for you. Bistro's owner has decided to schedule large groups of diners in the main dining area. Prior to this, groups were relegated to the separate bar area. We've experienced several occasions where groups were placed in the main dining area for socializing, appetizers drinks and their meals.Of course, the noise level gets ridiculously loud with other diners unable to converse at their tables. This is the fault of management, (not the groups). The owner told us to expect more of the same.
Well, no thanks!
Like some have noted, this is not a Bistro in the true sense of the word. It's a restaurant serving American cuisine for the most part, so go there with this attitude. Don't expect French cooking to match the faux Provencal interior decor.
That said, it is an overpriced restaurant for the food it serves. Most entrees are over $20 but I don't think it is much better than, say Applebee's food.
My date had her Filet mignon overcooked and my steak frites too was overcooked. The cook obviously didn't understand the meaning of medium rare, so we had to send it back.
I really wish they would hire a better executive chef so the food doesn't suck so bad. I really want to like it, but the food is very disappointing.
This is a French-country restaurant, thus the "bistro," but don't expect some elegant french dishes like snails or duck livers. Having said that, lunch at this place is pretty nice. Nice environment, spacious, and bright. I had a crab BLT sandwich, and let me just say YUMMY! It was probably the best BLT sandwich I've ever had! They also have quiche on the menu, great! It's definitely one of the nicer restaurants in Lafayette.
Review Source:A pretty solid restaurant for downtown Lafayette.
As others pointed out, some of their fare isnt exactly French but as we all know when you add the word Bistro to the end of anything it simply means that you are allow to bastardize how ever you see fit ;) Â
That said, the food is actually very good.  Appetizer wise, the brie en croute is great. You get  a large piece of brie and a good amount of fruit with it  , all of which tastes amazing.
Ive had both the rack of lamb and the duck breasts here. Â They were both high quality and very rich in flavor. In terms of which I liked better, id give the edge to the rack of lamb. The plating on it is very nice, the flavors are bold and compliment each other very well. I loved the gastrique it was served in and the potatoes were on point. The duck was a nice flavor as well, particularly the raspberry gastrique but the rest of the meal was just ok.
Dessert... well id love to say everything at this place is great.  If you are coming here for dessert to be the piece to really make this meal great, id just save your money.  While the dessert is good, it is no where near great and the offerings are far from French.  They have some good flavors but they are nothing to write home about. If they wanted to be a 5 star in my book, they would need to get some better choices.  Some ideas for you owners of Bistro 501 reading this : French pastries of any sort, if you dont care about keeping French (which seems to be the case) add a Panna Cotta with some sort of berry sauce, a  chocolate mousse, that would be a good start. Then if you want more, move into tarts (pear or apple are traditional French),  and a succès  cake.
The food is really good, not sure how french it actually is though. The filet mignon with blue cheese on top is amazing. I also had the toffee pudding and it was simply amazing. I wish they had more interesting desserts though considering it is a French restaurant.
Good wine, good food, and nice atmosphere.
I took away one star because the first waitress we had was a bit crass with me and my boyfriend.
Overall, very good and I would go back for sure!
Decent food and service and decor, but the main complaint I had is that this place confused me. Â i don't know whether it was French, southern, or what...Everything was kind of confusing. Â I got some sandwich that was quite greasy and unappealing. Â I think people can do better than this place.
Review Source:French bistro??? Anyone who thinks this place is a French bistro has clearly never been to an *actual* French bistro. Or even a fake French bistro. This place is the concept of what someone in Indiana, starting a restaurant, though a French bistro must be like. Without doing any research. Or thinking.
Some of the other reviews complained that the menu wasn't very inspired--which is true--but forgivable. In a classic sense, a bistro isn't supposed to be about expensive, haute cuisine. A bistro is supposed to be about simple dishes, well executed, in a comfortable atmosphere. Bistro 501? Fail on all counts.
First, the menu, while uninspired, is *confused*. There are some classics, like "Steak Frites" and some just plain weird stuff, like the soup when we were there: Italian Wedding Soup. Maybe it's not trying to be a French bistro. Maybe it's trying to be an international bistro?
Okay, I could look past all that, too, were it not for the fact that the food pretty much sucked. I had the aforementioned "Steak Frites" and the steak was meh. The sauce was more salty than drinking straight soy sauce. And the frites were cold. Cold. Frites. Seriously??
Add to that the fact that, although we were one of only a few parties in the entire restaurant it took almost an hour for us to be served food, and you have a major fail.
Add to that the cost of a mediocre steak with cold frites, and I'd say it was a cluster****.
If you want to see a real "French" bistro done correctly, drive north to Chicago and visit Le Bouchon. If you want some great eats (and for cheap) in Lay-Flat, stick to the Triple XXX--it's a better value and frankly, better food.
Yes, Bistro501 could be spendy but when you put their food in your mouth, the world stops and all the sudden you are in love?
I have been here countless times during my years of getting ripped of by Purdue. Â But it's ok, Bistro501 was there to comfort me during my harsh times. Â Bistro501 serves awesome lunch and even more awesome dinner. Â I have been here for both and I'd suggest coming here for dinner. Â
My all-time-favorite dish here is their Roasted Duck Breast, so tender and it just simply melts in your mouth. Â If you are here for lunch, definitely try Eggplant and Proscuitto Sandwich. YUM!
There are many complaints about this place being expensive.  One thing to do to avoid thinning your wallet is get a WBAA Radio Station member card by donating.  You can donate the minimum to get the card, and use this card to for buy one get one free with the participating restaurants.  I believe there are tons of places that are participating like Scotty's, Bistro501, Great Harvest Bread, Arni's, Great American Grill and MORE.  Although, it's only valid for a one time use per restaurant but I have used mine several times at Bistro501 because they never marked my card.  :)  If you eat out a lot, this card is definitely going to save you money in the long run.  So, definitely check out the participating restaurants in your area: <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.membercard.com%2Fstations%2Fone.php%3Fstation_id%3D240&s=b23bf7e4107726c25a469e715c734583e2ca8935090981624c090930e248584f" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.membercard.co…</a>
When I walked in my first impression is "This is cute, definitely a ladies lets do brunch and talk about our husbands while they are at work" type a place.
When I looked through the menu, I did not see anything different or exciting. Â Pretty plain. Vanilla.
But then I had the bread pudding for dessert and it was good.
Granted it was sitting in a puddle of Carmel sauce and I was just thinking how awesome it would have been if they made their bread pudding with croissant bread. but I can say after that dish "I can appreciate the SPICE in Vanilla" :)
Have to admit, didn't expect much. After all, it's french cuisine in Indiana. I was surprised, and I will admit when I'm surprised.
Food was really solid. Really nice selection of wines, and we had a great red one that kept flowing all night. Brie plate was excellent, and I don't even like brie. Steak frites were very well done, and yes, I know it's just steak+fries but they did a real nice job.
My largest favorite? The "dessert by the spoon" model. Never have I seen it before, and I really hope it catches on. I submitted a photo of the menu writeup so you can check that out if you want. What a great concept, and was the perfect end to dinner. Was safe to say that none of us wanted dessert, we didn't have room, but 5 of us ordered dessert by the spoon and when you add up the cost of 5 "dessert by the spoon" selections, you just sold a dessert. Great idea there.
The best place at Purdue to take a date. A solid wine selection and a creative but concise menu keeps things delicious without being overwhelming. I'm consistently impressed with the taste, freshness and presentation of the foods, as well as the quality of the service.
Be prepare to drop a solid c-note for a glass of wine, two courses and desert for two. However, consider it money well spent.
My brother and I went to Bistro 501 a few weeks ago and I'm just now finding the time to write a review. Â We had a very positive experience. Â Great wine, delicious food and excellent service.
First, some menu highlights:
Started with the country pate, served with cornichon pickles, greens, dijonaise and thinly sliced bread. Â Delicious, and the thin bread is a nice touch, as you don't fill up on it.
We each had a petit salad with creamy balsamic. Â I had a small cup of French onion soup. Â The soup was a little salty, but otherwise nice.
I went for the whitefish topped with crab and hollandaise, served over mashed potatoes and asparagus. Â The fish was cooked perfectly and well seasoned. Â It was wonderfully rich and filling. Â (I could only finish about half.)
After deliberating over several meat dishes, my brother surprised me with a last minute choice of the vegetable napoleon. Â It consisted of various veggies sandwiched between a few layers of fried eggplant, and was topped with goat cheese and a balsamic drizzle with greens on the side. Â It tasted amazing. Â I would order it again.
We closed with the bread pudding, which was perfect.
Also, the wine list seemed extensive, and there were a good number of wines by the glass. Â I didn't have any, but my brother was duly impressed with what he ordered.
I must also say our waitress, Kate, did an excellent job. Â The meal was well paced (on the slower side as we prefer), and she was very knowledgeable and objective with her recommendations. Â She said she's been there five years and it showed. Â A real pro.
I have a policy of not giving five stars to a place I've only been to once, but four-and-a-half rounds up to five, right? Â I can't wait to go back...
Very cute spot. Â CUTE waiters. Â Very good food. Â OK, so it's not really French but who the hell cares?
Everything we ate was great. Â My one complaint would be that the waiter didn't tell us we were ordering too much and that we were going to get a lot of repeat flavors. Â The three of us ordered:
Tempura fried shrimp - came with a great ginger soy sauce and an awesome mango salsa which I wish I'd ordered a little side of for my arctic char
Pizza with olives and feta - OK not great not terrible
Caeser Salad - Yummy! Â Comes in a bowl made of parmesan cheese very well dressed. Â Only problem for me is that it comes with a filet of anchovy...yuck
Goat-cheese salad - Yummmy!! Â Big salad with artichoke hearts and a big golf ball size ball of fried goat cheese.
Seared Char - FANTASTIC! Â Very flavorful fish. Â Well seasoned, hot, the risotto that came with it was not very good but the fish was amazing.
Veggie Napoleon - FANTASTIC!!! Â Veggies were very fresh and the herbs totally popped. Â Lots of goat cheese on this dish so that's where the too many repeated flavors comes in. Â There was a lightly dressed salad with this dish as well. Â I really liked that the dressing was different from the other salads.
The entrees came with a soup or salad and since we had so much salad already, we did soup. Â The soup was FABULOUS!!! Â Spicy black bean and chicken vegetable soup...it sounded too complicated but totally worked.
They have little $1.50 offerings of bites of creme brulee and pot de chocolate and cheesecake...we did the first two. Â Great finish. Â
I'd definitely check out if in the area.
I am SHOCKED by the quality of this restaurant. This was my first dining experience in Lafayette and I'm a little blue by how much the remaining experiences will pale in comparison.
We didn't have reservations but they found us a nice spot on a busy night. A party of 30 had just ordered before us and our server sweetly explained that it would be a while for our meal, but that we could expect free dessert. After the salads and bread (they make their own dressings, breads, and desserts), we weren't desperate for our entrees anyway. The martini/cocktail menu was pretty distracting anyway since on Thursdays they offer specials.
Our meals were worth the wait! Get the stuffed chicken - AMAZING! The sour cream mashed potatoes are excellent without the sour cream being an obvious ingredient. I can't believe I ate almost ALL of my entree - it was a big serving but I could NOT stop! PURE DELICIOUSNESS! And then there was that free dessert...
Pot au Chocolate. Get it. It's small and life is short. The peach cobbler with homemade vanilla ice cream was pretty stunning as well. I seriously don't know how I'll live in this town and resist eating here once a week, probably on Thursdays so that I can order their tasty whiskey cocktail called James and the Giant Peach at a discount!
Bistro 501 is a charming French bistro in downtown Lafayette. The wine list has some excellent, inexpensive selections.
I was torn between the pate and escargot appetizer. Went with the pate and it was excellent! I would have preferred a crispy cracker or toast with it over the soft, not warm bread that was offered so I just ate the pate on it's own.
The Caesar salad was perfect. It was not too cold or drenched in dressing and came in a Parmesan cheese bowl. There were actual anchovy fillets on top of the salad too.
The French onion soup was a major disappointment. It was think and flavorless. The bread crouton was soggy and the cheese topping was skimpy.
My husband had pecan crusted trout that he said was excellent. It was accompanied by a bland couscous and asparagus. The asparagus was perfectly cooked and flavorful.
The dessert menu was tempting and I went with the spoons. For $1.50 each you can taste three of the desserts. I went with the cream brulee and the pot au chocolate. Dee-Lish!
Our server was attentive and did an excellent job.
Don't miss the fun martini menu. Bistro 501 is a terrific gourmet choice in Lafayette.
One of my favorite places to grab a glass of wine and spend time w/ some of my favorite people when I'm back in Lafayette for a visit. Â Waitstaff is incredibly friendly and helpful with wine suggestions. Â Dan makes the best cosmos ever! (seriously, my friends all agree too) and the atmosphere is perfect for a relaxing evening out. Â Try the Cheese Plate next time you are in there. Â If you are going for lunch, make sure to get the Black Bean Burger.
Review Source:The best thing about this place is their martini Thursday. They have a huge selection of martinis, if only I could drink more at a time. The food is OK to good, depending on what you order. Their rice dishes almost always seem to be undercooked. Crunchy rice is so gross. Salads are good, as are the soups, but my french onion soup is totally better than theirs. How does that happen?
Review Source:Easily one of the best, if not the, best place in W Lafayette.
Food: 5
Wine: 5
Service: 4.5
Value: 4.5
Quick summary: On my last visit on a business trip, I had two large absolutely fantastic glasses of wine (at $9 each) and a terrific steak. Â People will pay a lot for a great steak dinner. And this was it. Â Only not for a lot.
I love their wines by the glass. Â They have one of the best selections any place and I'm from Northern Calif. Â Their list puts most big city restaurants to shame. Â I had just the loveliest Carmenere and a Nero d'avola. Â After dinner, all I wanted for dessert was another glass of either of these, but dcorum forbade that.
The food is very solid across the entire menu (salads, pasta, entrees, desserts), especially their steaks. Â
If you are looking to get business meal in W Lafayette, just eat here.
If you're a local, it is a great hi-end restaurant.
My boyfriend and I decided to try out this restaurant since they had a coupon on <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Frestaurant.com&s=c5fe485af4df376130bee54f875814d79c4d7913e1258123b1206d2bdbf4873b" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://restaurant.com</a> ($25 off if you purchase 2 entrees), and we were pleasantly surprised. Â The restaurant is BEAUTIFUL, and the ambiance is what really makes this restaurant. Â They were playing great jazz music while we were there. Â The service is intentionally slow, so you have time to socialize and digest each course. Â The food was good, but not fantastic. Â It's a little expensive but you do get bread and soup or salad with your entree, so that's nice. Â We'll definitely return again just because it's such a pretty place - a real treasure in downtown Lafayette.
Review Source:I cannot believe that with Purdue's Hotel Tourism Management Program and with the popularity of Yelp that this place has not been review yet. Â It appears that Purdue might need to step up its HTM program and have students venture over the river for new experiences in dining. Â
Bistro 501 has to be one of the best places to dine in the Lafayette area. Â This bistro has a nice relaxed ambiance in the theme of the French countryside. Â For dinner I chose the pork shank while my girlfriend decided to go with the duck. Â My pork shank was absolutely fabulous! Â The meat fell right off of the bone and the sauce that accompanied it was so so tasty. Â Our waitress mentioned that this dish is usually offered as a special but alot of the regulars order it, if this is the case they should just make it a regular menu item. Â The duck that my girlfriend had was good but i thought they could have done a better job at crisping the skin on the fowl. Â For desert we decided on the avocado ice cream. Â Yep, you heard right. Â Avocado ice cream. Â It was nice and light, just perfect for a summer night. Â
In essence, Bistro 501 is a great place to go in the Lafayette area. Â The service was acceptable, food is excellent, and on Thursday's they have $5.00 premium martinis!
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