Wistaria Restaurant and Bar

Great food!!  Service was amazing! Love this restaurant!

Service was fine - not the friendliest or most attentive, but not terrible. Our waitress made a couple errors with the order and bill, which we had to ask to be fixed. Water was filled consistently.

- Bread: Wouldn't be so terrible if it was heated!
- Mushroom & riccota ravioli: The only "miss" of our entrees, with just four raviolis in the dish and nothing standing out with flavor.
- Tai Snapper: Pretty good fish, but the really excellent parts were the sauce and veggies, particularly the grilled sweet corn. Each was delicious on its own, and also went wonderfully with the fish.
- Burger (beef): Meat cooked to a solid medium rare, nicely toasted bun, and overall great flavor with the fixings.
- Pork chop: Very well cooked to a medium on the pork - it's rare to get such a juicy, flavorful chop! The polenta and vegetables were good, and I particularly liked the sweetness from the currants.

We didn't opt for desserts, but the ones that went by looked nice. I'd come back, particularly once the limited menu rotates.

I'm on the fence with this place. It's quite the mixed bag. The outdoor seating is cozy and pleasant, overlooking downtown Sierra Madre, but the indoor area is extremely noisy. The menu is extremely limited and the prices are high, but the food is tasty and well prepared.

My boyfriend and I have been there twice. He likes to eat vegetarian, and there was only one choice on the menu for him (a lot of red meat, with one fish and one chicken dish), the spinach and mushroom ravioli, which he enjoyed both times. Because I don't eat red meat, my only choice was the Jidori chicken, which comes with roasted potatoes, string beans and mushrooms -- all things I loved. However, the first time I ordered it, it arrived drowned in a plateful of flavorful but very oily sauce.

The second time we went, I ordered the same dish, but requested it to be prepared very light on the sauce. When I received it, it was like a completely different dish! The flavors of the individual components were able to come through when the excess sauce wasn't overwhelming them.

Fresh bread was provided (with more cheerfully brought when we asked for it), and water glasses were kept filled. But my boyfriend had to ask for his ordered beer three times. So, service varies.

If you live in Sierra Madre or nearby, it's a nice place to have a gourmet meal (as long as it's warm weather and you can eat outside). But I wouldn't make a special trip from out of town. I would like to see more variety on the menu, with more fish/chicken/vegetarian choices.