Corner Bistro and Wine Bar

I honestly wish I could give no stars to this piece of trash establishment. I want everybody to know that NO ONE should ever support this restaurant. It all started Mother's Day 2015 and all I wanted to do was take my mother out for a nice brunch after church. I researched and reviewed many restaurants and decided to go with Corner Bistro Wine Bar based off of many reviews. I made my reservation and we arrived promptly at 1PM. First off, we weren't greeted at our table until about 10-15 minutes later (as a server and bartender, it should already be understood that a table should be greeted within 30 seconds to a minute). Upon the greeting, the server already seemed to have an attitude, and when asked questions about their menu (because we had never been there before), his responses were very short and unfriendly. After putting our entree order in, my mother asked if she could have some bread in order to take medication, of which she received the response of, "well we don't give bread." We didn't need anyone to "give" anything, it could've been paid for. My mother felt uncomfortable enough to then speak to a manager. The manager did change our server which seemed to make things feel a little better, however, the foolishness did not end there. Don't get me wrong, we were informed that our entrees would take about 20-30 minutes because of the holiday (even though there wasn't as much business as they would presume), but when the clock made it to 2:30PM and there was still no food for a simple chicken and waffles and chicken sandwich order, anyone would begin to get restless. The manager never tried to check back after all of the issues so we decided to leave.



I'm normally not the type of person to complain, however, this experience was ridiculous enough to the point that I wanted to inform the General Manager or try and call a corporate office. I found out that they have no corporate office because they are independently operated. The process of even speaking to a GM took from May 2015-July 2015. Throughout that time, I've spoken to several different "managers", servers and hostesses that always had an excuse as to why the General Manager wasn't in the restaurant. Sometimes they wouldn't even know when the next time would be that he would be in the restaurant. The only person that tried to help was a gentleman named Jeff, that actually offered to send a voucher for us to return so that we wouldn't have that impression of their business, but funny enough, that voucher never came in the mail.



Finally now in July, I get in contact with Mr. Andy, the General Manager of this independently owned establishment for him to tell me he doesn't believe we should get a voucher even though it was already offered from one of his managers and just continued to make excuses for the rest of his team. He thought that it was sufficient enough just to fire the server, but didn't think it was sufficient enough to respond to all of my means of contact. So, as promised, here is my review of Corner Bistro Wine Bar. The independently owned restaurant that will NEVER get further than what it is because of their service. I'm surprised that they even have the location that they have. I REPEAT, DO NOT EVEN WASTE YOUR MONEY HERE BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY YOUR TIME.

What a strange first time experience. I purchased a DoubleTake deal because the Corner is close to our office and thought we would try for a Friday happy hour. The leatherette on the barstools was cracked and the seats sank - in need of replacing. The owner/manager? was at the bar the entire time and completely ignored us - appeared to be having a meeting with a wine rep and showing off to 2 gals. A giant lobster arrived for them to share, but was undercooked and returned to the kitchen (ouch.) We ordered calamari (average) and cheese plate (nice.) We returned the small baguette because it was charred. The highlight was our waitress, who was professional, attentive and polite. Thank goodness for the $50. DoubleTake or we would have been even more disappointed with the "Corner."

We tried to have a nice family brunch. Waited over an hour to get food. Son could not eat crab cakes which made me sick. Daughter ordered pancakes, they were like cardboard. This was topped off by the waiter telling me the kitchen staff was hung over. I paid a 71 dollar bill for food we could not eat, and no manager was there.

My wife and I dined at the Corner Bistro early on Friday night. We were quickly seated and met promptly by our waiter. I ordered a drink, my wife ordered wine and we ordered Calamari at the same time as a starter. The drinks arrived promptly and we were served bread and butter. We chatted for a few minutes and both agreed that the Calamari was a little slow in coming, given we had ordered it at the same time we ordered our drinks, however, that did not diminish the dish. When the Calamari arrived it was hot, the batter crisp and the marinara sauce was superb. The added cherry peppers were a nice spicy touch. I would definitely recommend this for a tasty starter.



For entrees my wife ordered Shrimp & Scallops which came with mac & cheese. I ordered the Seafood Pasta. The dishes arrived not too long after we finished our entrée. My wife’s said her order was ‘very good’ and was hot and appetizing. I did not get a taste or the shrimp or scallops, but will certainly take her word for it. I did taste the mac & cheese…it was tasty but had a smoky flavor that I did not care for. The Seafood Pasta that I got was also tasty; however it was not hot, only warm. I would have preferred to be hot.



Our waiter was attentive and checked back frequently to make sure we had everything we needed and to see if we wanted an additional drink and again to offer dessert. Overall the dinner was ok, but not great. A little pricey for what you get.

I travel to Jacksonville frequently and I have to say this is one of the best local restaurants. I particularly love their caroaccio...the flavored pickled vegetables are unique and set it apart from the typical presentation with capers and oil. I will definitely be back.

Great food and service! Very forward thinking. This place doesn't belong in Jacksonville, Manhattan more like it!

It is horrible! Manager is rude. Food is cold and poor quality for price. Venue is loud and chaotic. Serice is slow.

I just celebrated my birthday with a group of very close girlfriends at the Bistro and the staff made my special day extra special! The food was FABULOUS! Our waiter was very attentive and everyone enjoyed the evening! Complimentary champagne and delicious dessert sampler put all of us over the top! Thank You Corner Bistro for a memorable birthday!