Bistro 7 1/4

OMG they have grilled cheese sandwich of the day!!! Ordered the grilled smoked cheese and apple with fries. Honestly the best comfort food lunch I have had in a while.
Highly recommend you give 725 a try, but always my reviews come down to service as well. Food gets 5 stars, but only receive 4 stars due to the fact the bill came in an Amex folder and they didn’t accept Amex. Call me picky, but that’s just annoying!

I decided to be adventurous and try the chorizo, saffron, and paprika mussels (with fries of course) instead of my usual beer, bacon, jalapeño and cheddar variety. I have to say I was slightly disappointed in the flavor profile… But you never know until you try!
The arugula and beet salad, along with the pan seared scallops were bang on!

Location and atmosphere was great!
Unfortunately, I did not realise that most of their menu was very similar consisting of things I do not eat: shellfish, pork with minimal other choices. It would be great to have a couple of chicken and beef entrées too to become better-​rounded.

I definitely didn’t know what to expect going in since i was going in for a party, but I left extremely satisfied.
The best I would describe this place would be huge portions of contemporary food. It’s unique and you can tell they’re passionate about what they serve. I came here with a party and we reserved a quiet room in the back. Despite having 7 of us the waitress was the sweetest I’ve ever met with a vibrant personality despite it being a busy Saturday which is rare.
It was my first time there and I’m more than willing to head back again to try out more of their menu

Went back 3 times in the last few months after staying away for the last few years because the lack of consistency turned me off. Returned to an expanded restaurant that now has doubled in size with a lounge/​bar area beside the restaurant. Ambiance is great as it’s a busy and loud bistro (if that’s your thing). You’ll always feel part of the action as the main kitchen is in the middle of the bistro — which is good and bad as you will smell like food.
Prices are high and not the typical bistro pricing as most entrees run you between $ 28-​$ 33. Small plates $ 12-​$ 16 and the mussels (not even sure if it’s a one pound will run you closer to $ 19. At those prices, expectations run high when I think of the comparable eateries.
First the bad news, the «bacon wrapped tenderloin, back bacon, and a fried egg on toasted brioche, red wine sauce» for $ 33 was terrible. The sauce didn’t eve taste like a red wine sauce, it also overpowered everything and made the brioche super soggy. And to top it all off, the fried egg was over cooked. Not good for $ 33.
The «veal cheek bourguignon with bacon, mushrooms, baby potatoes and shallots» $ 29 was okay but the veal cheek was not tender as it should be considering it was supposedly braised for hours. All I could taste was bacon and mushrooms from this dish.
I did have a great duck breast dish with kale for $ 30. The kale was excellent and the duck, though cooked to medium rare was still a touch tough had good flavour. Also, the «seared albacore tuna with sautéed white shrimp on a green pea purée» $ 32 was a nice light dish that was good.
I would recommend going with the smaller plates even though I think their pricing is more pricey than Segovia and less interesting than Deseo. The lamb meat balls, stewed tomatoes, yogurt, olive oil, were wonderfully seasoned with great middle eastern flavours with great juicy meatballs but $ 14 for 4 regular sized meatballs seems a tad pricey. A fave but definitely a splurge is the «veal and foie gras sliders on brioche buns with sea salt» — for $ 18 you get 3 sliders but hey, it has foie gras so that’s understandable. It’s a fabulous dish with ridiculous juicy flavours. I would order this again.
And of course, they have outstanding complimentary bread with butter, salt and stewed tomatoes. Yummy — I love a good bread plate.
Service is good but food service can ebb and flow depending on how busy the rest of the place is.
This place gets super busy on the weekends so it’s hard to get a table. Overall, I don’t like this place for dinner because it’s price points don’t provide solid dishes. But over drinks and some small plates, it’s alright but there are a lot of other choices that I would select first over this place.

Been here several times and I’ve had uniformly great meals. Their poutine, which I think has actually been removed from the menu, is/​was one of my favorites. A very close second are many of their moule et frites offerings they have. They even made special request version with bananas and tequila.

Excellent and attentive service. Nice beet, arugula and goat cheese salad; good mussels with Pernod (a tad over cooked); duck not a success. A great vibe and a place definitely worth supporting.

Its been a while since we darkened the doorstep of this restaurant. We arrived for a late lunch and found the place almost empty we ordered a couple of appetizers, and another cheese plate with the nothing like blue cheese instruction. Over all this was a cheese plate was a the high-​lite, the appetizers were pale in comparison. Our cheerful and informative server put the plate together herself and did a great job, I almost forgot to take a picture of it while in the hurry to inhale it. Over all a nice place to dine but the price vs quality vs quantity is not in the range I like.

Like it a lot. I am basically from US so for me it looked like a high priced small quantity place. Small bites are really small, but the Italian sausage stuffed olives that I ordered with my wine were a perfect choice. Wine and salty olives wow a dynamite combination which I had rarely had before. The clams were great and salmon looked good. Also my bread pudding was amazing. A tad bit too sweet with no rum or bourbon after taste which I an used to since I eat so much in New Orleans. But it was still a nice French fusion with interesting takes on European food. Liked it and will visit it again. Next time I promised Alex (chef) that I will try the cheese platter. According to him it is great.

I have been wanting to go to this little spot for awhile and finally made it out on this visit to the ‘peg. Started with sweetbreads appetizer. Fabulous! Not gummy, super tender and subtle flavor. The mussels were great. I loved the tequila flavored ones. I think they were better than the beer, bacon and cheese. The duck dish was fabulous. Not as heavy as you think it would be after reading the menu. To end the meal we shared a chocolate banana bread with caramel sauce… to die for! Best dessert I have had in a long time.

The ingenious crew I used to work with in Victoria secretly did some research and bought be a gift certificate for Bistro 7 ¼ as a going away gift, knowing my love of good food and small intimate dining experiences. Even from the on line presence they could tell this would be right up my alley, and sure enough it was!
Imagine if you can, walking into a warm dimly lit room a buzz with the kind of chatter only happy diners can create… fresh out from the snowy Thursday evening in question, the experience could not have started on a better note. Add in a charming and extremely attentive host and as you can probably imagine, promise fills the air.
The menu was a treat to read and ponder, and my husband and I quickly decided that tapas would be the route to go to truly get a good feel for the variety it offered.
Our feast ended up including the olive plate, the dip plate, the beef scraps, a cheese plate (which we ended up having packed for take home because we were so full!) and the little gnocchi like pasta things with tomato sauce and sausage.
We were equally impressed by the ginormous steak that was delivered to the table next to us, a pure spectacle that created camaraderie amongst the diners at our end of the room and just enhanced the great feelings of a night spent in excellent company in a well appointed room.
Everything was excellent and at the end of it all we did say we could hardly wait to come back for a long leisurely lunch on a Sunday afternoon when we were feeling somewhat decedent and in the mood for a real treat.
The only thing that keeps this form being a 5 Star review is the fact that I had to strip at the door when I got home and put my clothes in the basement. The open kitchen, although upon first blush could be a foodies dream come true, was not really vented adequately enough to detract from an otherwise overall beyond pleasure-​able experience.
Until next visit,
PJ xoxoxoxo

Second time here, I find there aren’t a lot of options when visiting Winnipeg (tho’ I have yet to try Sidney’s in the Forks). Service was slow as was the food, but the quality was exceptional and in the end it was a satisfying, though just, experience. Enjoyed the beets with horseradish (side), the baked polenta (almost like mac ‘n’ cheese), and the rainbow trout (delicious with the fennel and tomatoes). My dinner companion tucked into the duck confit, an appetizer and a meal in itself, then struggled with the coq au vin, nearly a full chicken on a bed of pasta with bacon. We got sucked into dessert, which was okay but unnecessary.
I’ll probably be back, as I enjoy the unpretentious atmosphere and the menu selection. I hope service will be better — if the food can’t come any faster, at least give us a drink.

Last night I went with my girlfriend and a few friends to Bistro 7 ¼. The following are my thoughts on our dining experience:
Pluses:
1. The food.
2. The service.
Minuses:
1. The noise.
2. The smell.
I’ll elaborate on each point in turn:
The food: The menu is quite extensive and there were many items which piqued my interest. At first there were the moules frites (I thought to myself, we’re in a French restaurant, so this should be the thing to order), but then my attention was drawn to a few other items. First there was the meatloaf, then there was pumpkin ravioli. I was torn over what item to order. I wasn’t the only one at our table that was having trouble making a choice. In the end I went with the autumn vegetarian tagine with dried fruit. It was a very filling dish, which I would heartily recommend. It was served on a large plate and came on a bed of cous-​cous. The dessert menu looked exceptional; however, due to the large portion that was provided, there was little room for anything more for my stomach to handle.
The service: The waiter was very attentive and patient and stopped by our table on a number of occasions and answered numerous questions about specific menu items. There were other staff that were also very attentive in terms of re-​filling our water glasses and clearing our table.
The noise: what happens when you combine the following ingredients: hardwood floors, open kitchen, many people, tables positioned closely together. You get a very noisy experience. In short, this is not a place to take your grandparents, that is if you want to have an in depth conversation with them. Even with my 33 year old ears, I found that I had to strain a few times to hear conversation at the table.
The smell: Here’s a tip. Do not wear your finest duds. As a result of poor ventilation, you will find that when leaving the Bistro, your clothes will smell of grease. So, if this is something that is a pet peeve of yours, you may want to give the Bistro a pass. My friend pointed out that this is likely due to the fact that the restaurant has an open kitchen set-​up, something which he preferred. He provided the viewpoint that an open kitchen was better than one behind the scenes because he could see what was going on and did not have to worry about any funny business taking place behind closed doors. I feel differently in that the costs (noise & smell) outweigh the benefits.
In the end, I’d give the Bistro a 4 star review (just don’t wear your Sunday’s finest ;-)).