The Bistro at the Strand

It use dining dollars. It's great!!!

Great venue for a holiday party!

The best sushi ever

Sooooo good!

Really good sushi

Beautiful and delicious

El sushi esta super delicioso.

Love this place, you can use dining dollars here. It's probably the nicest restaurant on campus

Great atmosphere, staff was helpful and nice. Little bit pricey but good food overall

Great quality sushi! One of the best campus food ever.

Amazing food at reasonable prices! I will eat there again very soon.

Best place to spend dinning dollars. Asian fusion food pretty good

Good sushi that you can buy with the campus dining plan

Worth it to use Dining Dollars as a student from UC San Diego.

Great sushi! The sungod roll is my favorite.

Expensive and far but sushi good. Also the exit sign is very high up

Sean

Expensive and far but sushi good. Also the exit sign is very high up

Great sushi options at a reasonable price. Their beef dishes are also very good. Best dining on campus.

food is gas i always get the chicken fried rice but it's super busy. mobile orders take almost an hour to be ready

Aria

food is gas i always get the chicken fried rice but it's super busy. mobile orders take almost an hour to be ready

redaura

Great sushi options at a reasonable price. Their beef dishes are also very good. Best dining on campus.

Parking is difficult, but good udon dish

best place to use dining dollars

Sushi and atmosphere were good

Pretty good service and food.

pretty good

One of the best dining halls at UCSD. It's always the good ones that are hidden pretty far away! I got the shrimp fried rice and it was darn good!

Only good for sushi, the rest errrr...

Nice to have a sushi option on campus that also accepts dining dollars. The Bistro is a bit far from the rest of campus. Almost a 20 minute walk from Revelle college. The sushi rolls taste good, similar to some sushi restaurants off campus, but it is a bit pricey.

The ramen is pretty good here! According to my friend, the sushi is delicious as well.

Cindy Ly

Nice to have a sushi option on campus that also accepts dining dollars. The Bistro is a bit far from the rest of campus. Almost a 20 minute walk from Revelle college. The sushi rolls taste good, similar to some sushi restaurants off campus, but it is a bit pricey.

Vivian Hoang

The ramen is pretty good here! According to my friend, the sushi is delicious as well.

The only relatively fancy place on campus. Food is quite good, although it is very busy and it can take a while to get your food. The sushi rolls are quite large and are enough to fill most people.

Service tends to vary, but overall very good. The food is a tasty way to avoid monotonous dining hall food every once in a while. Their sushi never disappoints. I also recommend getting the ramen with the vegetarian broth, it's tastier. They also offer food to-go through Tapingo which is nice when you want to have their food without dining in.

The ramen was bland and watery, and the toppings were questionable (like raw jalapeños). We expected more from the price points. The wait staffs were all hardworking but they were understaffed, so everything took a long time. Edit: they removed the ramen so I upped my star rating to 4 stars from 2 as their sushi rolls are good in general.

Tries to be "upscale". It's just mostly an overpriced dining hall. Sushi is what brings most people. Other food items most commonly gotten include: Bistro Filet, Sauteed Salmon, Pork Belly and Buns, BBQ Pork and Ramen. Filet is small, pricey, but good. SS is good for the most part but also pricey. Pork Belly is tasty. BBQ is good. Green tea ice cream is good. Red bean one, not so much. Creme Brule is alright. They used to make banana tourouns and those were delicious but they removed them. They also made battered shrimp and they also removed that. They do make pot stickers though.

Tommy

The ramen was bland and watery, and the toppings were questionable (like raw jalapeños). We expected more from the price points. The wait staffs were all hardworking but they were understaffed, so everything took a long time. Edit: they removed the ramen so I upped my star rating to 4 stars from 2 as their sushi rolls are good in general.

Jonathan Mi

The only relatively fancy place on campus. Food is quite good, although it is very busy and it can take a while to get your food. The sushi rolls are quite large and are enough to fill most people.

Elizabeth Gomez

Service tends to vary, but overall very good. The food is a tasty way to avoid monotonous dining hall food every once in a while. Their sushi never disappoints. I also recommend getting the ramen with the vegetarian broth, it's tastier. They also offer food to-go through Tapingo which is nice when you want to have their food without dining in.

Tony Escobedo

Tries to be "upscale". It's just mostly an overpriced dining hall. Sushi is what brings most people. Other food items most commonly gotten include: Bistro Filet, Sauteed Salmon, Pork Belly and Buns, BBQ Pork and Ramen. Filet is small, pricey, but good. SS is good for the most part but also pricey. Pork Belly is tasty. BBQ is good. Green tea ice cream is good. Red bean one, not so much. Creme Brule is alright. They used to make banana tourouns and those were delicious but they removed them. They also made battered shrimp and they also removed that. They do make pot stickers though.

Good food, super slow

Nice service in my opinion.

Overpriced decent food

Good for a dining hall

Food isn't great

放了老干妈的California roll 可还行

although a bit pricey, the food here is good for being a campus restaurant and the service is friendly.

Forgets fried egg on my dish twice now.

I have mixed feelings with Bistro. First of all, there's nothing wrong with the taste of the food itself, in fact, it's pretty nice. The problem is.... there's a lot of problems. The sushi is not real sushi, and NO one puts cream cheese in sushi. Sure it works but it's the equivalent of pineapple on pizza to Italian. Second, seaweed salad is not making a normal salad with different types of seaweed. It doesn't work and I'll never order it again... EDIT: Third, the wait time here's always longer than the other places on campus. With the new quarter starting, it only became worse. I ordered a takoyaki this Thursday, the estimated wait time is 16min but I waited for more than 50 MIN! Also, the bowl contains 3 pieces of takoyaki. Can you believe it?! 50mins for 3 pieces. The wait is not worth it. Either order it wayyyy ahead of time or go to another place.

I feel like the place has downgraded a lot from last couple of years. The menu is really limited and mostly offers asian cuisine. I do recommend the ramen, although it has very small portions for the price. Good thing they take dining dollars. This place is best if you have a lot of dining dollars you have to burn at the end of the year.

Mid. Honestly man: the foods' decent, the area looks nice, the price ain't the hottest thing. But what really doesn't strike a good cord with me is the fact that the food can take horrendously long to be prepared. I ordered a Cali sushi there. THE THING TOON TWO HOURS MAN... LIKE BROOOOO

Limited menu options, but considering that it's a dining hall one shouldn't be too picky with "fancy" on-campus eating. This is not somewhere one wants to go to spend real money, however. Keep it to Dining Dollars.

Ceylanka Hu

I have mixed feelings with Bistro. First of all, there's nothing wrong with the taste of the food itself, in fact, it's pretty nice. The problem is.... there's a lot of problems. The sushi is not real sushi, and NO one puts cream cheese in sushi. Sure it works but it's the equivalent of pineapple on pizza to Italian. Second, seaweed salad is not making a normal salad with different types of seaweed. It doesn't work and I'll never order it again... EDIT: Third, the wait time here's always longer than the other places on campus. With the new quarter starting, it only became worse. I ordered a takoyaki this Thursday, the estimated wait time is 16min but I waited for more than 50 MIN! Also, the bowl contains 3 pieces of takoyaki. Can you believe it?! 50mins for 3 pieces. The wait is not worth it. Either order it wayyyy ahead of time or go to another place.

Daniela Herrera Meza

Mid. Honestly man: the foods' decent, the area looks nice, the price ain't the hottest thing. But what really doesn't strike a good cord with me is the fact that the food can take horrendously long to be prepared. I ordered a Cali sushi there. THE THING TOON TWO HOURS MAN... LIKE BROOOOO

Adarsh Parthasarathy

Limited menu options, but considering that it's a dining hall one shouldn't be too picky with "fancy" on-campus eating. This is not somewhere one wants to go to spend real money, however. Keep it to Dining Dollars.

CC

I feel like the place has downgraded a lot from last couple of years. The menu is really limited and mostly offers asian cuisine. I do recommend the ramen, although it has very small portions for the price. Good thing they take dining dollars. This place is best if you have a lot of dining dollars you have to burn at the end of the year.

Mediocre

With prices like these you'd think Gordon Ramsey cooks here, but no..

I give it 2 stars for the location of the place, 4 stars for the waiters since they try their best. 1 star for the menu and prices. The name of the "restaurant" is misleading and should be changed, with the name, "the Bistro", you would imagine a nice variety of steaks. Instead you are presented with a menu mostly comprised of Asian cuisine, there are exceedingly more variety of sushi platters then there are for steaks(as if this school doesn't already serve enough Asian food on campus). I ordered a steak from the Entree menu, the wait was horrible, approximately, 55mins of wait time, not including the time it took to be seated. We were starving, I had hoped the wait would be worth it but when I received my plate(and it was a big plate) 90%of my plate was smashed potatoes, 5% asparagus, and 5% was my steak, the size of a hockey puck with little to no thickness. It was ridiculous, a big pile of smash potatoes with asparagus is what I was mostly paying for. When I got the bill I was surprised to see that my Entree was $20, $20 for a plate of potatoes and asparagus. I complained at the checkout and was told that the prices were determined by the weight of each plate. Well that explains why I mostly got potatoes and barely any steak, just another example of how this school just loves to rob students.

The Bistro is elegant and sleek yes, but with the atmosphere they bring, the food and staff are definitely lacking. The staff is friendly, but you can tell they are just students taking a job, no real professionalism that matches the restaurant. Food wait times are on the slower side as a single roll of sushi took 20 minutes to prepare on a night with at least 3/4 of diners already served, and at max the food was okay. I recommend staying away from any of the teas as the teas are tea bags you can find at any of the campus markets/dining halls and almost twice as expensive. Also, after dinner don't expect too much as the dessert options are limited, never change, and it's quality the same as the food, just okay. It is a University runned restaurant so expectations weren't super high, but whether your a student spending dining dollars, visiting the campus, or staff going on lunch, it's best to save your money and spend it on something cheaper with equal quality or better on Campus, or just take a walk/drive off campus. Note: according to the waitress who served me "specials are just a way to get rid of some ingredients in stock." Think twice about spending $16-$18 on something that isn't so spectacular.

The atmosphere is nice but the kitchen is super slow. It takes more than 30-45 minutes for them to serve us the first dish. They need to improve that because it is not a nice experience when you are so hungry.

2 stars for the food bc it's good, but the service is the worst I've experienced - multiple times the server will forget to bring water, even when asked, and more often than not I can see the food I order sit on the counter for 10ish minutes before the the server brings it to us. I recommend tapingo bc then you can avoid all this

ifearedfate97

I give it 2 stars for the location of the place, 4 stars for the waiters since they try their best. 1 star for the menu and prices. The name of the "restaurant" is misleading and should be changed, with the name, "the Bistro", you would imagine a nice variety of steaks. Instead you are presented with a menu mostly comprised of Asian cuisine, there are exceedingly more variety of sushi platters then there are for steaks(as if this school doesn't already serve enough Asian food on campus). I ordered a steak from the Entree menu, the wait was horrible, approximately, 55mins of wait time, not including the time it took to be seated. We were starving, I had hoped the wait would be worth it but when I received my plate(and it was a big plate) 90%of my plate was smashed potatoes, 5% asparagus, and 5% was my steak, the size of a hockey puck with little to no thickness. It was ridiculous, a big pile of smash potatoes with asparagus is what I was mostly paying for. When I got the bill I was surprised to see that my Entree was $20, $20 for a plate of potatoes and asparagus. I complained at the checkout and was told that the prices were determined by the weight of each plate. Well that explains why I mostly got potatoes and barely any steak, just another example of how this school just loves to rob students.

will turner

2 stars for the food bc it's good, but the service is the worst I've experienced - multiple times the server will forget to bring water, even when asked, and more often than not I can see the food I order sit on the counter for 10ish minutes before the the server brings it to us. I recommend tapingo bc then you can avoid all this

Yuanyuan Xie

The atmosphere is nice but the kitchen is super slow. It takes more than 30-45 minutes for them to serve us the first dish. They need to improve that because it is not a nice experience when you are so hungry.

Charles Fukushima

The Bistro is elegant and sleek yes, but with the atmosphere they bring, the food and staff are definitely lacking. The staff is friendly, but you can tell they are just students taking a job, no real professionalism that matches the restaurant. Food wait times are on the slower side as a single roll of sushi took 20 minutes to prepare on a night with at least 3/4 of diners already served, and at max the food was okay. I recommend staying away from any of the teas as the teas are tea bags you can find at any of the campus markets/dining halls and almost twice as expensive. Also, after dinner don't expect too much as the dessert options are limited, never change, and it's quality the same as the food, just okay. It is a University runned restaurant so expectations weren't super high, but whether your a student spending dining dollars, visiting the campus, or staff going on lunch, it's best to save your money and spend it on something cheaper with equal quality or better on Campus, or just take a walk/drive off campus. Note: according to the waitress who served me "specials are just a way to get rid of some ingredients in stock." Think twice about spending $16-$18 on something that isn't so spectacular.

It will take minimum 1 hour for anything to come out

You need to wait for such a long time

Bad

Hostess gave incorrect time estimate and then gave me attitude when I complained for waiting double the estimated time. Will never eat here again due to poor hospitality

Terrible service, everyone who works is so disorganized and can't expedite the food.

wait so longgggg

Wait time too long, rude cashier, burnt ribs, oily as hell, sushi is lacking in fish... ._. Bruh everyone hyped up the bistro so much :c

Anna Chen

Wait time too long, rude cashier, burnt ribs, oily as hell, sushi is lacking in fish... ._. Bruh everyone hyped up the bistro so much :c

Terrible. Have to pay $5 for a to-go box plus the cost of the meal and the wait was over an hour long. The rice in the donburi bowl was hard and the sushi was flavorless. Tastes like something you could make at home for cheaper and tastier. Over priced and not worth it.

Ridiculous. Almost 70% seats are empty. They told me: all seats were reserved. I just stood there, waiting for a seat. After 1 hour, the seats were still empty. LOL. Every time.

Rose

Terrible. Have to pay $5 for a to-go box plus the cost of the meal and the wait was over an hour long. The rice in the donburi bowl was hard and the sushi was flavorless. Tastes like something you could make at home for cheaper and tastier. Over priced and not worth it.

Jian Jiao

Ridiculous. Almost 70% seats are empty. They told me: all seats were reserved. I just stood there, waiting for a seat. After 1 hour, the seats were still empty. LOL. Every time.