Chef Herb’s Bistro & Restaurant

I want to give this restaurant a fair chance, but I am struggling with lots of issues this restaurant has that can’t be over looked.
We had heard of this place from a friend and based on their recommendation this was the place we needed to visit. So we did.
The limited one page lunch menu had lots of items that sounded good. My first instinct was to order the lentils. But before I could order that the waitress informed us that the chef was out of lentils and another item. There went my top two choices. I then asked about the soup. The name of the soup was called steak soup. The waitress offered to bring us a taste.
It was not soup, it was chili. It was very tasty, but I wanted soup, not chili.
So I ordered the beef sliders. The waitress said, «oh, we are no longer making them.»
So I ordered the chicken curry salad. The waitress returned to tell me they were out. She said they are really focusing on their catering business these day. The restaurant seems to be an after thought.
At this point I ordered two appetizers. The shrimp wraps and the beef, guacamole bowls. (See photos). They looked very pretty when served.
The shrimp wraps were fine. Very simple.
The beef bowls were like eating a wee size bland taco on harden glass chips that crunched like crackling hard ice underneath your feet. Blah, bland and hard.
At this point the waitress came over and asked how everything was. My friends both had the shrimp veggie bowls and nodded ok. (They were not impressed)
I said, «well I will be grabbing a snack at Taco Bell when I leave.»
The waitress said, «Way to be honest».
She handed us our check without asking why I made that statement and rushed us out the door.

Tried this restaurant for the first time yesterday. I got the gyro sandwich for lunch and it was delicious and filling! I didn’t need a side as it was good-​sized and did not skimp on the meat. The price was right too. I got it to go and it was ready when I got there, which was only a few minutes after I called it in. Will definitely be back!

I really hope this was just an off night, but to be honest, I’m not sure how anyone could have enjoyed the meal we were served at this establishment. We should have turned around and left as soon as we stepped in the door and noticed the musty smell. I rationalised this as just being a really old building. A restaurant’s food has always been more important to me than it’s atmosphere or ambiance anyway, and some of the most rundown places can serve the most amazing food, so we decided to stick around and give it a chance. I also really like supporting small, family restaurants, so I was really sad when this place didn’t meet the expectations I had from reading the other reviews.
We were started off with a complementary stuffed mushroom, that was cold and slimy. The flavor was good, but it seemed like it had been sitting out for a while. The Salmon Cakes were mushy, and I couldn’t locate the caper sauce listed on the menu. Being a southerner, I know what a really good salmon cake can taste like, and this was not even close. To make matters worse, they were served on a bed of shredded iceberg lettuce that looked almost translucent, a sure sign that the lettuce was not fresh. Finally, it was garnished with those little canned mandarin oranges, which really threw me. You don’t go out to a nice dinner and drop $ 75 (before tip) to be served anything that comes out of a can.
The Caribbean Shrimp Rolls appetizer was actually very good, so we were still optimistic for the rest of our meal. Each shrimp was rolled in a thin wonton wrapper and fried crispy, with a nice dipping sauce that tasted like a modified chipotle sauce. I think this was the highlight of the evening.
They were out of the Soup of the Day, so we went ahead and ordered our entrees. The Hoisin Pork Tenderloin was actually pretty decent. While not a traditional Hoisin sauce, it had a nice flavour, and the meat was tender. The sauteed cabbage that came with the dish was also good. That being said, the portion and overall quality of the dish did not match the $ 18 price tag.
The Shrimp and Grits were a complete nightmare. The grits were swimming in a weird, thick brown sauce. When I noticed my partner pushing the sauce around trying to avoid it, I asked for a taste, and it literally took my breath. It was so salty and overpowering. It tasted like someone thickened straight worcestershire sauce with corn starch and dumped it all over the grits. I digged below the sauce and was able to make a bite of just shrimp and grits, and they were actually very good. I’m not sure why the sauce was used in the first place, as it totally ruined the dish. This dish was $ 19, and only about half of it was edible (there was about a 1:1 ratio of sauce to grits).
The most atrocious of the entrees was the Gorgonzola Crusted Beef Tenderloin. It was supposed to be tender, medium rare cuts of beef, but instead I received overcooked, thin, grey strips of the driest meat I’ve ever had in my life. The red potatoes were fine, but the meat was just soooo bad.
We tried to make the best of the evening, as it was my mother’s birthday dinner. I’ve never in my life sent an order back at a restaurant, and did not want to embarrass my mom or the chef (who was sitting on a computer 2 tables away) by complaining about the food. Instead, we just ate what edible parts of our dishes there were, and left the rest on our plates. I think the server knew something was up when we refused the offer for takeout boxes, and asked for the check instead of ordering the dessert we had talked about earlier in the meal.
Our server was very nice, and we still tipped her our normal 20% considering she did not personally prepare the food. It looks like most people posting reviews on Facebook are coming for lunch, which has a completely different menu, so maybe that’s where we made our mistake. I will say some of the Unilocal reviews seem a little suspect to me (very short, mostly from people out of state).
I really hope this place succeeds, and Chef Herb seems like a really nice guy, but there is not a single person I know who would have enjoyed this meal. There were about 5 staff in the kitchen preparing food, and Chef Herb didn’t seem to be too involved in the process, so maybe that’s why our dishes failed so miserably. Maybe they are still training, but he should have personally checked the dished before they were served to ensure they were up to his standard.

We took my partner’s mum here to celebrate her birthday. We were really excited to find a new restaurant opening in Goldsboro but sadly, the dinner was a disappointment. We really want this restaurant to succeed, so I will provide a breakdown of our meal:
We started off with a pumpernickel loaf, which was amazing. They offer only two appetizers, so we decided to try both. The Carribean shrimp rolls were really good. They were fresh plump shrimp wrapped in a wonton wrapper and deep fried. The other appetizer, salmon cakes, was extremely disappointing. It was bland, had a mushy texture, and the salmon was extra fishy tasting… not to mention the individual cakes were really small. I think the size of the cake needs to be doubled at the very least… and a salmon cake should have nice chunks of potato and salmon in it, with healthy amount of diced celery and onion and garlic for flavour. These ones we had just had an awful texture.
The entrees were very disappointing. I got the shrimp and grits. It was very bizarre, as the grits had a thick coating of a dark brown sauce on it. The sauce was just so overpoweringly salty… it tasted like pure Worcestershire/​soy sauce and had absolutely no flavour. It was such a shame as the actual grits had a great flavour to them, and so did the shrimp. This sauce needs major reworking. If they want to keep it, they should serve it on the side. My partner got the beef tenderloin. We noticed that our server didn’t ask him how he wanted his steak cooked, but then we saw on the menu that it was cooked medium-​rare by default. Sadly my partner received a plate full of grey steak slices. The meat was extremely well-​done and was not palatable… we wondered if they were cooked beforehand and were nuked for us? My partner’s mum got the hoisin pork tenderloin. It was again a very bizarre entrée, although she did enjoy it. The pork was cooked well and was tender, but the sauce was definitely not any kind of hoisin I’m used to. The tenderloin would’ve shined without the sauce, honestly.
Vast improvements need to be made with the food here, to justify the prices we paid. The entrees need significant reworking, and they should ideally offer at least one more appetizer.

Best restaurant in Goldsboro. Dinner is great. Lunch prices are awesome. The food portions are just right and the quality is amazing. I highly recommend this place.

Found this little gem by accident while walking around town. The atmosphere is great and the food is even more amazing. I will definitely have a return visit!!!

Amazing quality — a chef that knows every ingredient that he serves, he is willing to explain and consider dietary restrictions. This is a gem in Goldsboro.

Amazing restaurant! Elegant atmosphere, amazing food selection! This is a very clean restaurant; you can see straight into the kitchen and watch the chef prepare your meal. I love that! We will be coming back, every time we visit Goldsboro!