Bistro 85

Pretty neat place, hidden off Western and Wilshire (very easily accessible to the Metro for all you public transport fans out there) on the second floor. The ambience is clean and dark, and the food is decent. The restaurant was pretty empty when we were there.
— I had the uni pasta, which was good but not great. It is affordable (as uni pastas go), but there really wasn’t much uni or uni flavor in the sauce. The pasta was cooked well, but it was mostly in a cream sauce with just a hint of uni if you close your eyes and savor. Let’s just say I’ve had better.
— The sliders on the other hand are pretty good, and during happy hour, $ 1! All of them we tried were interesting and tasty.
Not a bad place to go for a bite or happy hour.

Super cool spot. ***Hidden Gem***
You can park in the GARAGE and they VALIDATE FOR 2 HOURS!!!
food — Calamari, Uni Pasta, Kale Salad with Chicken
Calamari– was cook to perfection. Super crispy and not over cooked
Uni Pasta– Saucy/​delicious/​filling probably one of the BEST uni pasta i’ve had (I had it 3 X, hee hee)
Kale Salad with Chicken– Salad dressing was Perfect! not too salty or saucy. Chicken in the other hand could use a little less salt.
Server– He was CUTE! and Courteous!
MUST TRY!!!

I usually try not to write bad review but…
I saw good reviews on Unilocal so I really wanted to try it. My friend and I went around 7:40PM on a Wednesday night. It was fairly packed but the first thing that caught my eyes were the uncleaned tables. There was 2 guys servers working but I guess it wasn’t enough.
After walking in for a good minute or two we stand by the entrance till we get greeted by the waiter. He tells us to sit wherever we would like but tbh… there weren’t that many seats to choose from because the tables were not cleared. My friend and I ordered the same 3 sliders, Brussels sprouts, and a couple other dishes. The small dishes came out first and one set of sliders come out. Since the other sliders were supposed to come out «shortly» i told my friend to eat first. We asked them 3 times where the other sliders were before it came out and by then, my friend was already done with her food… Unless its HH, i dont think i would go there again.

Came here after hearing great things about their Uni pasta and mini burgers. Was able to convince some friends to choose here instead of Korean BBQ and unfortunately let them down since the experience (mostly on wait staff) was definitely not great.
The restaurant was about half full for dinner and we told our waiter we had a movie to catch in an hour and a half. The wait said ok, however we didn’t get any of our food until 1hr later. Our neighbors had already left due to the prolonged wait for their food, but unfortunately for us, one of the dishes came so we couldn’t do the same.
The food that did come, the Uni Pasta (pretty good, but not worth the hour wait), and the mini burgers and tacos (trio of different flavors that was only okay– also due to the fact they gave the wrong ones).
If they basically fired all their staff and used their same
Recipes, I would give them 4 stars. However, for the poor service and not amazing food, I can’t recommend this place.

What a great happy hour find! From 5−7pm, this place has amazing food and drinks specials. Domestic beers are $ 3 and craft beers were $ 5. The sliders of the week are $ 1 each, which were cod when I was there. A decent sized bowl of fries is $ 2. Not to mention, they offer a Unilocal checkin deal for a free drink. Needless to say, our bill for 4 people was only $ 33, food and drinks came super quick, and the atmosphere was nice, yet dark. This place is located on the second floor right by the Wiltshire/​western metro stop. I’ll definitely be back next time I find myself in ktown during happy hour.

It’s not often that I get name checked in a Unilocal review (no apology necessary, Richard K.!) You may want to refer to his review, because that’s where I was mentioned and I was with him at Bistro 85. I’ll wait.
OK, still with me? Wondering if it was that bad?
Well, the appetizers were actually pretty good. We got fried pickles, brussels ‘n’ bacon, hummus, and baby calamari. I don’t remember having to wait too long for them, either. Good thing, because my late lunch turned into an early dinner, and it wasn’t very satisfying. I ordered the trio of fish sliders, but they were out of shrimp, so I received jerk catch o’ the day as a substitution. The rolls seemed like a hot dog bun cut into thirds. None of the sliders were very remarkable, especially the tuna salad with crumpled potato chips, which almost any place would have done better.
The server apologized many times, and I felt bad for him. This was a bad situation for all concerned.
Like Rich, I am also puzzled as to why they get such good reviews. A recent reviewer theorized that her experience was good because the place wasn’t crowded, but we were the only customers present when we had lunch there.
Anyway, caveat emptor. It’s hard to say if this place has any potential, but I doubt I’ll be back.

Review for happy hour: Love this place. Came here during happy hour on Thursday and there weren’t a lot of people. Sliders of the week were $ 1 so why not? It was some fish I forgot but oh my word, it was SO GOOD. I wanted to order more but I didn’t want to spoil my dinner. It was like eating a mini filet o fish. Sauce was amazing, fish was fried perfectly, slaw was delish, ugh mouth watering right now. Calamari was good. Loved the lemon tartar sauce that came with it. Chimichurri fries were ok. Fries were fried perfectly but the chimicurri was just meh to me. Waiter/​bartender was really nice and helpful. Will definitely come back for more sliders!!!
Side note, IDK the owner or anyone working at Bistro (I noticed low rating reviews and their suspicions). I’m not even from here LOL just got to LA and wanted to celebrate with happy hour. I think I only had a good experience because there weren’t a lot of people there.

Bistro 85…
This place is Seriously-​Horrible-​Inadequate-​Terrible.
S-​H-​I-​T
Really, they should just rename it Bistro 666, because that is what my experience was. Look, I trusted the Unilocal reviews, especially the Elite Unilocalers that gave this place a 5-​star rating. On hindsight, I am tempted to flag all the Elite members (especially the one with 10+ check-​ins) that gave this restaurant 5 stars because they are probably in cahoots with the owner. Shameless.
Go ahead, you can flag this review if you want friends-​of-​the-​owner, but there were two other Unilocal Elite members that can back me up. One is even a gold member that I had to profusely apologize to because his fish sliders did not come out until more than 2 hours AFTER he ordered.
Look, I was going to be in Los Angeles on Friday November 6^th and working from my company’s LA office. Since my birthday is coming up, the boss told me to pick a restaurant so that the office could celebrate. So, instead of going to a place I had been to before, I made the mistake of picking a restaurant that has been open for a little over 3 months.
Usually, I know better than to go to a restaurant that has just opened because the Unilocal algorithm does not kick in until there are at least 100+ reviews and the business has been open for at least 6 months. But, I noticed some glowing reviews by Unilocal Elite members so I figured the place must be legit.
BOY WAS I WRONG.
Aside from the shitty design of the parking garage ramp of the Solair Building in which Bistro 85 is located, there was only one server. The server even professed that he works for the shabu shabu restaurant next door (owned by the same owner of Bistro 85) and was helping out because the actual server for Bistro 187 did not show. Say what???
So our table of 14 showed up at noon (I even called the day before to make a reservation). However, we did not leave until 2:30 PM. Simply put, 2.5 hours for lunch is unacceptable. In 2.5 hours I can do the following things:
A) Run a half-​marathon;
B) Be engulfed in the cloud of cow farts off Interstate 5 heading back home to the East Bay;
C) Watch another shitty Daniel Craig 007 movie.
Moreover, the food came out sporadically. Some of my coworkers were done eating before some even received their food! Also, three coworkers ordered the uni pasta that some Unilocalers claim is better than EMC. However, after 45 minutes of ordering and waiting, the temporary server came out to tell us that the kitchen only had enough ingredients for two orders.
Un-​fucking-​believable.
Birthday boy (me) ordered the chimichurri grilled flat iron steak. I requested it to be cooked medium, but it came out well-​done to the point I might as well have chewed by shoes. And the easiest thing on the menu, the thing that they advertise the most, the FUCKING SLIDERS, came out last. How hard is it to make sliders? Apparently it is harder than cooking a steak into leather.
The temporary server kept apologizing and I really do not blame him. After all, the person that should be held accountable is the owner Sophia (aka the tattooed owner who is the daughter of the owners of the Dragon Chinese Restaurant on Olympic and Vermont) who really did nothing to help this guy out.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — -
The bone marrow? At least they crossed that shit out with a Sharpie.
We wanted to order oysters. They did not have any.
We asked for waters for the table. They never came out.
We ordered beers, and some of the beers were not in stock.
Dafuq???
— — — — — — — — — — — — — -
The only time Sophia apologized was when we were leaving. It was at that time she tells us that Bistro 85 had a take-​out order for 40 and so that was why our food came out delayed. And in an attempt to appease my boss she gave him a 15% discount.
Regardless, as a matter of principle, if a restaurant knows that they are not going to be able to bring out food in a timely manner due to a take-​out order, management needs to tell the in-​house customers that they will be unable to provide timely service. That way, customers can go fucking elsewhere to a restaurant that will actually serve their customers food.
I mean, the only other times I have ever seen a restaurant take priority to to-​go orders over in-​house customers are at drive-​thrus for fast-​food restaurants. And honestly, I was even tempted to go to Denny’s across the street because I was so hangry.
Back to Sophia. She was missing-​in-​action (MIA) for most of the service. She reminded me of Sophia from the abysmal 1^st half of Season 2 of The Walking Dead because just like that Sophia who was nowhere to be seen because she was locked away in the barn, Bistro 85’s Sophia might as well have been in the same barn in Georgia because she was UTTERLY useless.
So yes, Bistro 85, thanks for ruining my birthday lunch. If I could give 0 stars I would.
* Sorry Joe L., Vivian W., and all my fellow hangry coworkers.
*They have ZERO beers on tap. LAME.

I came here with high expectations after reading all the Unilocal reviews, but left disappointed without finishing my food (gasp!). I ordered the combo which includes sliders (slathered in sauce, sad cabbage slaw, below average patty and ungrilled bun), fries (served in a plastic to-​go container, tastes like McDonald’s) and wings with very little meat drowned in sauce (again).
The décor is cool but the food is way subpar. There are too many good places in Ktown for this kind of food — won’t be coming here again.

I’ve been here a couple of times now and I am a fan. Food is really good. Combo is a good deal (four sliders, some wings, fries, and a Sam Adams or Blue Moon — but who likes Blue Moon — for like $ 15).
Sliders — shrimp jerk best, then bleu cheese chicken. meatball is meh. BLT is crispy and good, but just a BLT at the end of the day
buffalo wings — hot wings are legit hot
honey butter fries — these are really good
The music = TERRIBLE
Not sure who chose it, it’s not good for a restaurant. No one wants to listen to depressing emo while they are eating.

TL;DR — Bistro 85 just makes me sad. Ten dollars out and lesson learned.
Ok. I was REALLY excited to try this place out because of the bomb reviews! (but seriously, are some of you people friends of the owners? Cuz… we had totally different experiences.) Now, I disdain this place. This place makes me want to change all my 1 star reviews to 3 star reviews (with Bistro 85 as a prime example of a 1 star location).
I wanted an IPA. THEY’RE OUT. I wanted oysters. ALSO OUT. I wanted bone marrow. NOT SURPRISINGLY, OUT. (hey isn’t the rule, three strikes you’re out?)
I got the honey butter fries, the veggie slider and a pilsner. Everything was forgettable and kinda mediocre. Also, nothing is on tap as everything is served in bottles.
The main reason for a one star review? The LACK of honesty and customer service here.
The $ 3 happy hour beers aren’t ALL the beers. They should specify. (And I know they can because they made a freaking neon orange card minimum sign right on the front table). Two. If YOU make a mistake, own up to it. The sign was hidden underneath a potted plant (Like I would see that) and then the server was like uhh… we have a sign but I’ll ask my boss. He comes back and says that the boss wants me to order something else. I didn’t want anything else and asked if I could just leave the rest as tip. He goes back to ask her again and when he comes out, same answer. I have to order something else. Excuse me? You are literally out of 75% of the items I wanted (at 5pm)… and now you want me to order more food that I will just leave on your table? Finally, he said that she will take the payment.
I am pissed beyond belief at this point. She couldn’t come out from her owner cave to talk to me when there was ONE other table in the restaurant? Also… The «sneaky» pricing for happy hour and the lack of actual items on the menu only added fuel to the fire.
I could have thrown 10 one dollar bills onto the streets of wilshire and felt better about how the money was spent. I will NEVER recommend this place to anyone (especially when beer belly is down the street. and trust me. they NEVER run out of beers). I would rather have a giant shark bite off each one of my toes rather than suggest this place to anyone; not even my enemies.
Seriously. Shark. Take all 10 of my toes right now, because I will roll over in my grave before I say a single good thing about this place. (ok fine, the servers are actually friendly. but thats it.)

Bistro 85 is a new restaurant in the space which was formerly occupied by Vinu Wine Bar (same ownership). The menu is pretty simple with the emphasis on their sliders and other bar foods such as wings, fries, tacos, etc.
My friend and I had: 2 beers, four fried cod sliders, pork belly tacos (came with 2), oysters and chimichurri fries, and we each paid ~$ 12 including tip! Some places would have charged that amount for just the bottle of Blue Moon I was drinking. This was definitely a neat bargain :)
Pluses:
–friendly server
–nice ambiance
–easy validated parking at the Solair complex
–happy hour steals!
The not-​so-​great:
–they only had three $ 1 oysters for the night, although we were the first happy hour customers
–check in offer of free glass of wine only applicable to customers who order more pricey entrees such as their uni pasta
–sliders are totally small, you can devour in two bites

This review was long overdue. My friend and I ordered everything on the menu it seemed. First off… Bone marrow. ‘Nuff said. The pickled shallots, and bone marrow on a toasted crustini. I’m drooling thinking about it. This is a MUST TRY. Also, the Brussels and bacon. I mean come ON. And if you want to keep it classy, the salmon risotto. Salmon was cooked perfectly and the risotto was creamy and luxurious. Delish delish delish!

Lowkey confused slash so into this. From the pictures I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, looks pretty hip and kinda upscale but saw the two dolla signs and figured — why the hell not, lets do it.
Grabbed ze BF and went out to ktown, realized we drove by it twice (its upstairs next to the AYCE shabu place at the train station!). Really chill (kind of hate using that word) ambiance — low lit, clean, open, blasting the 90’s hits — easy to seat. Got the menu — immediately stoked.
Sliders. Wings. Fries. oh my! So cheap and so delicious. The best part — making combos for even more bang for your bucks. What did I get?
— Meatball slider — really nice meat, for such a cheap price!
— Jerk Shrimp slider — SPICY but good, shrimp is small but very flavorful
— Fried Chicken with BBQ — CRISPY chicken even with the strong tang of bbq and carmelized onions on it
Note — the sliders are small. Not to a detriment, but its kind of great because you want to taste so many things on the menu. They place everything on a lightly toasted hawaiian roll, so all of the beautiful flavors are tucked inside of a slightly sweet bun, I had those three with the Chipotle bbq wings — they were so spicy and tangy, the sauce was strong and the wings were large! Meal also came with a healthy side of seasoned fries.
Guys — it was so cheap to eat but it didn’t feel like it. The flavors are strong. Get in there and eat a million sliders, y’all! Apparently they have a pretty bangin’ happy hour (oysters and sliders on the cheap), will totally come back for more. (+ all the Mariah Carey hits they’re bumping in there).

This place is a hidden gem. The food exceeded my expectations. Their happy hour is from 5−7pm and they have $ 1 oysters (and they are great kinds each time).
My favorites are the sliders and the bone marrow. You get so much bone marrow for the price which is ridiculous compared to most restaurants these days ($ 5 for Happy Hour/​$ 9 regular).
I dig that they keep an awesome selection of beers and rotate new ones in.
Staff is friendly, attentive, and great. Free parking with validation.
I always leave happy and full.

A great, classy environment to hang out with friends and enjoy a beer!
We ordered the bone marrow, sliders (Sophia’s burger) and the chimichurri fries. I also scored the free beer with the Unilocal check in! All the items were pretty good. (Never had bone marrow before, but was kind of hard to take off the meat off the bone. Was very hot! Chimichurri fries tasted like McDonald’s fries with just olive oil and parsley mixture dumped on top)
I realized that this restaurant is connected to a shabu shabu restaurant next door. There was only one server at the time, and the food seemed like it took a while to get to us. (Maybe they only use one kitchen for both restaurants)
Overall, a nice place I would recommend for anyone who wants to enjoy a relaxing environment with decent American appetizers. Will def checkout their happy hour next time.

Friendly and attentive service by Sophia and her waiter. I came in for lunch around 12pm — there was another group of customers and afterwards had the place to myself until 1240pm when another group arrived.
Located in the same plaza as Gatten Sushi and O-​ren Shabu Shabu on Western Ave and Wilshire, you enter on Oxford Ave for parking. They will validate your ticket good up to 4 hours. That’ll at least save you $ 6 parking fee.
Unilocal Check in for a free beer with a purchase of a burger or pasta meal. Would have been nice if I could select my own beer — woulda gone with Sam Adam Lager, but the waiter brought to me Super Dry Asahi Japanese beer — yuck! The sharp barley taste was gross and left ¹⁄₃ of it behind. As for the food — I guess Bachi Burger in Pasadena spoiled me. If the burger was prep like them that would’ve been better, esp., since it’s $ 12.00 for lunch price and $ 15 for dinner time.
I chose Sophia’s Favorite Burger that came with seasoned fries and a small side of ketchup. I loved the fries, the beef patty (juicy and moist), the two thick slabs of bacons, the two tomatoes slices, and the secret sauce — (I detected hints of creamy dijon mustard sauce with chopped onions and tomatoes in it). I opted out the removal of jalapenos on mine.
The parts of the burger I left behind was the tip bun — it was dried — no toasted bun or butter on it. Sophia even offered me another bun when she checked on me thinking the bun was too thick at first, but I declined. Luckily, the sauce was spread on the bottom bun otherwise, that woulda been left behind. I also didn’t like the raw slice of onion — please grill that at least. Lastly, the cheddar cheese could’ve been melted longer for the gooey effect. It was the Kraft single store bought cheese placed on the burger.
Overall, it was a nice place to try out. The ambience was really nice and cool from the summer heat. Friendly and attentive staff. Lunch time — not worth it, but for Happy Hour and dinner — worth trying again (cuz that’s when they serve the Bone Marrow, grrr!)

Vinu Wine changed over to Bistro 85.
Happy hour is a great deal and staff changes seem to make the experience much better.
No doubt about Sophia’s cooking as she’s a great chef.
Nice American Style Bistro in Ktown if you are in mood for nice high end western food at a reasonable price.

Came here for a dinner on Friday night. Got welcomed by Biggie playing in the background, so right there already is five stars. Parking is parking lot with free 2 hr validation (courtesy of the restaurant)
Ordered Sophias favorite burger, flatiron, and jerk shrimp pasta. Sophia’s favorite burger may become my favorite burger. It was like a big mac infused with jalapeño and juicy bacon. Every bite was good to the last. Flatiron steak was cooked really well, tons of flavor. Jerk Shrimp pasta was solid as well, they don’t skimp out on scrimmmmp and you really taste the jerk seasoning. We also got Hawaiian flatbread appetizer which tasted like miniature pizza, which we all enjoyed.
Great selection of craft and normal beers. Cool vibe, super chill. They have bar and table seating all around. Service was great, super attentive and friendly. Oh and they have daily specials literally all throughout the week (Taco Tuesdays, Meaty Mondays, etc, etc, etc)

I was super excited for this place so my girl friends and I came here on a Friday night and ordered family style.
We got:
–bacon brussel sprouts: really bland and the worst brussel sprouts I’ve had at a restaurant. The bacon tasted like it had been cooked earlier that day and not immediately when the dish was created. There were also cauliflowers in there that took up most of the space so the actual number of brussel sprouts was fairly small
–bone marrow: takes a long time but is the best dish we had. It was piping hot and delicious paired with the bread.
–uni and prawn pasta: I’m not a fan of the type of pasta used for this but judging only for the taste, it was lacking. It definitely tasted like uni, I’ll give them that, but regardless of the fact that I love uni, it was my least favored dish.
–salmon and risotto: I was glad we ordered this because the risotto was flavorful and the salmon was cooked to perfection. However, it started getting bland after eating all our other dishes because the other tastes overpowered it. It’s somewhat a basic dish but I think I would order it again if I ever came back
–spam and egg flatbread: the worst. It was soooo bland and the egg was literally a fried egg on top of the flatbread-​so not all parts of the flatbread got egg in the bite. The spam was also cooked to the point that it tasted like ham or any other meat. nononono it was all sorts of disappointing.
–margharita flatbread: mediocre and a waste for the price, even if it was one of the cheaper dishes on the menu
Service was really nice though with such friendly waitstaff, and there is 4 hour validation in the parking garage downstairs even if the garage signs themselves say 1 hour only with validation.
I was wondering why my rating was so different from other Unilocalers’ so I perused the reviews again-​only to find suspicious users with a limited number of reviews. Definitely raising my eyebrows at this page…

Koreatown’s BEST KEPT SECRET.
Came in at 6pm for ALL DAY HAPPY HOUR on Sunday :) 4.50 beers? I’m cool with it. That risotto that everyone keeps talking about ain’t a fluke. 99c oysters bigger than my palm? Sure why not :)
Great food. Great service. I came out ordered three plates, an entrée, and desert super full wishing I had more room for food :)
Ended the night with that mocha almond fudge :) yum.
Thanks Nick for being a great host and server :) and Chef Sophia can’t do know wrong.
I honestly can’t wait to come back for Taco Tuesday :)

I have to start by saying I love the vibe of this place, it’s got a classy yet non pretentious feel, and I dig it. From the music to the lighting this place has the décor down spot on; simple and inviting.
Another great thing is that the chef here has a different special every day, but the menu alone is really extensive as well, and they offer a good selection of beer and wine. From sliders to bone marrow and all things in between every thing is really delicious and flavorful.
I feel like everything pairs so completely with the humble yet elegant feel of the restaurant as a whole– from the décor to the food, the dots definitely connect at bistro 85. I know I’m definitely going to be a regular here. You excite my palette bistro 85, thank you!

Great ambiance and loved the music– mix of 90s hip hop and r&b. The service was decent and I was warned that the chicken dinner would take a while which was a nice and accurate heads up.
For an appetizer I tried the artichoke dip which was delicious. I didn’t even need the chips, I could eat that on its own. We ordered during happy hour so an excellent $ 5 deal.
The chicken was tasty and moist and at $ 14 a really good portion size. It came with a side of creamed corn which was steaming and buttery but a little too rich for me to finish even though it was a small portion. The potatoes were a nice balance to the meal but I felt like something was missing from my overall meal. Maybe some rice or something to balance the richness?
We ended the meal with some apple pie bon bons which were pretty good. Think I would order the banana cream pie option next time.
Overall, a very satisfactory visit. I can see coming back here again soon.