Made a reservation almost 2 months ago for my wife's birthday. We showed up at 5:45 for a 6:00 reservation and they were closed. Their website showed they should be open, but not a soul in sight. Very disappointing, especially to have to make last minute changes to what was supposed to be a surprise birthday dinner. We will not be attempting to return here.
Courtney Benitez
DO NOT SUPPORT THIS BUSINESS! Apericena/Bistro d’Helene have 26 open wage claims from former employees. They refuse to pay workers their hard earned wages and have very shady, unethical business practices! A quick google search will tell you all you need to know.
Alternative places to eat with much better food & morals - Alavita, Tavolata, Romio’s, The Wylder
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Chrissy Miller
owner does not pay employees ?
Kailee Menlow
If their alcohol license has been suspended, it would be nice of them to let customers know via their website. Their alcohol menu is still up! So glad I checked reviews before going this time around. Won’t be back to a place that does not care about their customers or their employees.
Kassy Roberts
pay your employees
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Hope GIbbons
Came here in 2023 and had the best meal, unfortunately this was a very different experience.
Would have been nice to know ahead of time that they no longer had their alcohol license. Only after ordering were we told no drinks were available. Not a huge deal but weird to not make that known when we made our reservation or even upon arrival.
In addition to steep prices there were SO many flies. We thought that by dining inside flies wouldn’t be too big an issue, we were wrong, they were everywhere.
Ultimately we chose to leave before our appetizers arrived. It didn’t feel right to pay high prices just to have flies landing in our food.
Sad because this was a special occasion and we were really looking forward to that whipped feta.
Waitress was very nice and understanding.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 3
Service: 2
Brittney Farivar
Not coming back until your employees are paid.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Tim Babichenko
Good thing we didn’t look at the ratings before we came here. The food was amazing. We got the mushroom for appetizer and the lasagna for our course. The food was Amazing. The portions were big. Very satisfied.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
gerald altieri
Food was so good and fresh . Server barely spoke to us . Alcohol license suspended, big let down . Restaurant hot and muggy and full of flies .
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 5
Service: 2
Recommended dishes: Boeuf Bourguignon
Anja Hemenway
My husband and I were really excited to try this place. I started out with the salad that has the lemon Dijon vinegarette, it was so sweet I could not eat it. It tasted like they put grape jelly on it. I was crunching sugar as I chewed. It was awful. They did take the salad off our bill because I could only eat one bite. Then I had the coq au vin blanc, the chicken had the grossest texture and taste. After thinking about it, I think it was probably microwaved for a long time. I could not eat it. They took $3 off as an apology. My husband had the lasagna, we had to wait about 45 minutes for it and it came burnt, with charcoal on it, as you can see in the picture. This is one of the worst meals I’ve ever had. After paying our bill, we left to go find some food we could eat.
I worked here sadly for longer than I should have but I will say what a great menu the food? Top tier. Sadly it all ends there. As many know there’s been rumblings, protests and lawsuits when it come the employees actually being paid at this establishment. I wish I could say it wasn’t all true but unfortunately my experience has not been much different. While I have never not been paid…..yet……I have never once been paid on time most recently as late as a week and a half leading to my unfortunate immediate resignation. There where a fountain of excuses or half thought out lies that were easily disproven with just a little research that us as employees were given as to why our pay wasn’t there always everyone else’s fault but the one person who was in charge of all this. I do not count myself business savvy in any definition of the term but the unprofessionalism of not paying your employees on the day that you set up, repeatedly, for months……seems like maybe not the best path. Writing checks that bounce? Checks that don’t go thru due to insufficient funds? Probably not the way to go either, while neither those two situations have been my own personal experience I know them to have happened to others who have worked for this….brand. One might inquire as to what made me stay if I saw this from day one, it’s simple Apericena is a pretty facade a great brand on paper but not further I kept believing it would change I would listen to the wild stories thrown about of the past employees…..I drank the kool-aid I don’t wish bad upon the business and the employees still there working hard day in and day out I still remain close to them and want them to thrive I just want to be done with this situation and be paid my last paychecks so I can move on with my life and not be under this stress and turmoil
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Christopher Jones
Very strange experience. Tried to make a reservation at their sister restaurant, Bistro D’Helene. They called and said the Bistro was closed due to staffing shortage, and recommended transferring reservation to to Apericena. When we got to Apericena they seated us and gave us menus, but no drink menu. After 10 minutes I asked for a wine list and THEN they said, sorry we are not serving any alcohol. When I asked why, the waitress said she was not allowed to say. No one said anything about this prior to this point. Very odd. As for the food, it was decent but not amazing. Overall a very strange experience.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 4
Keara
I want to love this place so much, but my experiences have been so inconsistent. Last night we were the only guests when we arrived. Once we were seated we found out that they're no longer serving alcohol - we had come for an appetizer and glass of wine, and it wasn't published on their Instagram or website (both of which still have their happy hour deals on drinks) that they've made this change. We still ordered an app, and despite there only be two other tables when we finished, it took about 20 minutes for them to run our card. I love their ambiance and mission, but I think they still have some things to work through.
Tawnika
It was such a fun dining experience! We went for a birthday & were offered the private room upstairs. It was a unique space that felt very homey (in a good way!) and the food was delicious. We got the whipped feta for an appetizer & it fed 5 people very well. Our favorites of the night were the lamb bolognese and the beef short ribs. Both dishes were flavorful with really healthy size portions. The waitress was very kind and brought out a cake for the birthday with a candle and the dessert was so so good! It was the strawberry chantilly crème cake, very very tasty!!
Mishelle
Service was extremely slow. Server took our order went away for a half hour, came back and tried to take the order again. She brought the wrong bottle of wine and then brought the bottle we wanted but it was already open (weird). She has clearly forgotten to put the order in. Two hours in we gave up the idea of dessert and asked for our check.
Made a reservation almost 2 months ago for my wife's birthday. We showed up at 5:45 for a 6:00 reservation and they were closed. Their website showed they should be open, but not a soul in sight. Very disappointing, especially to have to make last minute changes to what was supposed to be a surprise birthday dinner. We will not be attempting to return here.
DO NOT SUPPORT THIS BUSINESS! Apericena/Bistro d’Helene have 26 open wage claims from former employees. They refuse to pay workers their hard earned wages and have very shady, unethical business practices! A quick google search will tell you all you need to know.
Alternative places to eat with much better food & morals - Alavita, Tavolata, Romio’s, The Wylder
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
owner does not pay employees ?
If their alcohol license has been suspended, it would be nice of them to let customers know via their website. Their alcohol menu is still up! So glad I checked reviews before going this time around. Won’t be back to a place that does not care about their customers or their employees.
pay your employees
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Came here in 2023 and had the best meal, unfortunately this was a very different experience.
Would have been nice to know ahead of time that they no longer had their alcohol license. Only after ordering were we told no drinks were available. Not a huge deal but weird to not make that known when we made our reservation or even upon arrival.
In addition to steep prices there were SO many flies. We thought that by dining inside flies wouldn’t be too big an issue, we were wrong, they were everywhere.
Ultimately we chose to leave before our appetizers arrived. It didn’t feel right to pay high prices just to have flies landing in our food.
Sad because this was a special occasion and we were really looking forward to that whipped feta.
Waitress was very nice and understanding.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 3
Service: 2
Not coming back until your employees are paid.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Good thing we didn’t look at the ratings before we came here. The food was amazing. We got the mushroom for appetizer and the lasagna for our course. The food was Amazing. The portions were big. Very satisfied.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Food was so good and fresh . Server barely spoke to us . Alcohol license suspended, big let down . Restaurant hot and muggy and full of flies .
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 5
Service: 2
Recommended dishes: Boeuf Bourguignon
My husband and I were really excited to try this place. I started out with the salad that has the lemon Dijon vinegarette, it was so sweet I could not eat it. It tasted like they put grape jelly on it. I was crunching sugar as I chewed. It was awful. They did take the salad off our bill because I could only eat one bite. Then I had the coq au vin blanc, the chicken had the grossest texture and taste. After thinking about it, I think it was probably microwaved for a long time. I could not eat it. They took $3 off as an apology. My husband had the lasagna, we had to wait about 45 minutes for it and it came burnt, with charcoal on it, as you can see in the picture. This is one of the worst meals I’ve ever had. After paying our bill, we left to go find some food we could eat.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 4
Restaurantji Recommends
I worked here sadly for longer than I should have but I will say what a great menu the food? Top tier. Sadly it all ends there. As many know there’s been rumblings, protests and lawsuits when it come the employees actually being paid at this establishment. I wish I could say it wasn’t all true but unfortunately my experience has not been much different. While I have never not been paid…..yet……I have never once been paid on time most recently as late as a week and a half leading to my unfortunate immediate resignation. There where a fountain of excuses or half thought out lies that were easily disproven with just a little research that us as employees were given as to why our pay wasn’t there always everyone else’s fault but the one person who was in charge of all this. I do not count myself business savvy in any definition of the term but the unprofessionalism of not paying your employees on the day that you set up, repeatedly, for months……seems like maybe not the best path. Writing checks that bounce? Checks that don’t go thru due to insufficient funds? Probably not the way to go either, while neither those two situations have been my own personal experience I know them to have happened to others who have worked for this….brand. One might inquire as to what made me stay if I saw this from day one, it’s simple Apericena is a pretty facade a great brand on paper but not further I kept believing it would change I would listen to the wild stories thrown about of the past employees…..I drank the kool-aid I don’t wish bad upon the business and the employees still there working hard day in and day out I still remain close to them and want them to thrive I just want to be done with this situation and be paid my last paychecks so I can move on with my life and not be under this stress and turmoil
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Very strange experience. Tried to make a reservation at their sister restaurant, Bistro D’Helene. They called and said the Bistro was closed due to staffing shortage, and recommended transferring reservation to to Apericena. When we got to Apericena they seated us and gave us menus, but no drink menu. After 10 minutes I asked for a wine list and THEN they said, sorry we are not serving any alcohol. When I asked why, the waitress said she was not allowed to say. No one said anything about this prior to this point. Very odd. As for the food, it was decent but not amazing. Overall a very strange experience.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 4
I want to love this place so much, but my experiences have been so inconsistent. Last night we were the only guests when we arrived. Once we were seated we found out that they're no longer serving alcohol - we had come for an appetizer and glass of wine, and it wasn't published on their Instagram or website (both of which still have their happy hour deals on drinks) that they've made this change. We still ordered an app, and despite there only be two other tables when we finished, it took about 20 minutes for them to run our card. I love their ambiance and mission, but I think they still have some things to work through.
It was such a fun dining experience! We went for a birthday & were offered the private room upstairs. It was a unique space that felt very homey (in a good way!) and the food was delicious. We got the whipped feta for an appetizer & it fed 5 people very well. Our favorites of the night were the lamb bolognese and the beef short ribs. Both dishes were flavorful with really healthy size portions. The waitress was very kind and brought out a cake for the birthday with a candle and the dessert was so so good! It was the strawberry chantilly crème cake, very very tasty!!
Service was extremely slow. Server took our order went away for a half hour, came back and tried to take the order again. She brought the wrong bottle of wine and then brought the bottle we wanted but it was already open (weird). She has clearly forgotten to put the order in. Two hours in we gave up the idea of dessert and asked for our check.
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