Laughlin's Hearty Buffalo Bistro

I just had the BEST Italian Wedding Soup here for lunch!!

I've come here twice now for lunch and both visits were very similar. It's very nicely arranged, but the entire time I'm there, my eyes are adjusting from the sun coming through the huge windows to the restaurant itself being incredibly dark. When I leave, my eyes are killing from the adjustments. It's also hard to read the menu because of this. I also don't think the music matches the atmosphere. It's a dark, cozy restaurant with almost a cigar bar feeling to it. The first time I was there, they were playing some Josh Groban and and other classical artists. I thought that fit. The second time, they were playing Taylor Swift and more "club" style music. It did not fit the atmosphere and was way too loud.

The time before this, I've had the Caesar Salad and that was very good as well.

I have no complaints food wise. I will definitely come back here!

Tried this restaurant for the first time today since it's restaurant week and they had a restaurant week lunch menu. I wish I could give them at least one more star or just a half a star because the food was average to decent, but unfortunately the service was lacking a bit.

Food: It being restaurant week, my boyfriend and I opted for the special restaurant week menu for lunch. We could choose an appetizer to share and a sandwich from a list for each of us. We ordered the fried calamari. It was a nice sized appetizer for two people to share. The taste was average. I say this because there was not much flavor to it. I'm used to going ordering calamari that is seasoned and flavorful and this one was lacking on both. The dipping on the sauce did however make up for it because it had some good flavor to it, For my sandwich I ordered the cheesesteak. Having grown up around Philadelphia, I'm very particular about my cheesesteaks, but this one I would call decent. It could have used more cheese, but have lots of peppers and onions which I love. The roll was great...not to tough, not to soft.

Service: Upon walking in to the restaurant we noticed that there was no hostess. We waited for a bit at one appeared to be the hostess stand and no one even acknowledged that we were there. We overheard someone at the bar asking what the wait was for a bar table and they were told 30 minutes. We didn't want to wait that long for a table for lunch so we sat at the bar and decided we'd eat there. We sat in our seats for over 10 minutes before the bartender even acknowledged up. I understand it was busy and that there was only one bartender, but a simple "hey I'll be right with you guys" would have been sufficient, but didn't get so much as a glance. We finally were able to order some drinks and while waiting heard the bartender tell a couple who sat down right before we did that the wait for a table would be only 5 minutes. I didn't understand why we were each told different things, but at this point we didn't feel like switching things up. Once able to order food, the service seemed to be a bit more sufficient, but "sufficient" was as good as it got.

I wouldn't say that I'd never come back here since I enjoying my entree, but if I'm considering restaurants to go to or even bar & grill type of establishments, this would likely not be on my list.

I have been coming to this restaurant for years now. It's located in an excellent location, in the heart of downtown Buffalo. My favorite thing about this restaurant is the atmosphere. I love the dark, swanky, modern look. It has a unique bar downstairs when you first walk in, and additional seating is located upstairs, which has a loft overlooking the bar and TV downstairs.

The food here is usually great; my favorite is the banana peppers.  However to contradict that statement, on my last visit I was extremely disappointed with the banana peppers I received.  They were very hard, almost like they weren't cooked long enough and the stuffing was cold.  They were so bad they were inedible and I just kind of sat there staring at my food.  I didn't want to complain to the waitress, but I finally said something.  She took the banana peppers back.  When they came out the second time, the stuffing was hot but the peppers just seemed hard (like the texture of a fresh pepper, uncooked).  I don't know if this was a rare occasion or if they have a new chef, but I hope if I do order them there in the future that this won't occur again.

The prices are decent, and not too expensive. This place is worth going to especially if you are downtown for a show at Shea's or before an event at the Arena. (Note - if there is an event or a home Sabre's game this place will be packed!)