Bill Sell’s Bold

I dined at the restaurant Bold. I arrived there about 5:30. There is on street parking. It was quickly packed. I sat at the bar. They had a wine and beer list. The bartender wasn’t too sociable. There was a variety of items on the menu. I ordered the duck. The duck came with some green beans and rice. The price was a little high, $ 28.00 for a small portion of duck that was served. It didn’t come with a salad.
The atmosphere was nice. The attire varied. There were men there in suits. They looked very nice. You don’t see men dressed nicely too often. It was a welcome change.
I would recommend BOLD. I would go back and order the Lamb next time.

Bill Sell’s Bold is the Best in town by far, the food is outta this world, I’ve went there on special occasions and even ordered to go! We love it

A large group of us ate at bold for my wife’s birthday last year. The atmosphere is the nicest you will find in Altoona. The customer service was excellent considering there was 12 of us to attend to, and the food was top notch. I had the coffee rubbed filet, and it was amongst the best steaks I’ve had. It was easily on par with Ruth’s Chris. If you want a nice memorable dinner out, then Bold is the place to go. I’ll be eating there tonight actually, and I’m looking forward to it.

Hands down the best food in Altoona and supersedes anything in Johnstown. I have never been let down here at ‘Bold’
Ambience is nice and comforting, food is always fresh and extremely tasteful with the dish always being dressed.
The menu typically rotates during different times of the season.
If you are from out of town and used to higher level cuisine, this will most likely be the only place you will find in Altoona. You will not be let down.

Took my husband here for a whiskey tasting as a Christmas gift, and he absolutely loved it. The ambiance is nice, and what you would expect from a fine dining atmosphere. The service is wonderful, but nothing compares to Mr. Sell’s culinary skills. The whiskey tasting came with five small courses and everyone was absolutely delicious. My husband enjoyed the venison which he said melted like butter that’s how tender it was. I, on the other hand am a vegetarian and tried the salmon course, and have since been trying to find a salmon that comes close, and have yet to succeed. The mussels tapas is my absolute favorite item on the menu.

I’m visiting family from Los Angeles and knew my choices for fresh food were limited. (I think every restaurant in this area buys everything frozen and pre-​made! We are at Jethros yesterday and it was horrible.) With that said, I chose to enjoy my birthday lunch at Bold today with my Mom, sister, and newborn daughter.
The atmosphere was quite nice. And the restaurant at 1pm on a Wednesday was quite empty. With that said, I personally wasn’t blown away with the customer service. We mentioned we we visiting from LA, that we were celebrating a birthday– the waitress never acknowledged.
I ordered a glass of Pinot Noir. It was a light pour, but at $ 7 a glass I can’t complain. (I am used to LA prices). The mussels were a bit salty and the pepper aioli was a bit heavy. But overall decent enough, especially for this area. My mom enjoyed the fish sandwich and it was so big she ended up bringing half home. My sister enjoyed the the fish tacos. They were good she said.
I’d love to come back and try the dinner menu. For where we are – it’s probably one of the best restaurants around.

Very definition of excellent. We travel a lot and have eaten at many great restaurants, that Bold is in Central PA is a real gift. Excellence is the only way to describe this place, excellent atmosphere, excellent cuisine, excellent presentation, excellent service. We highly recommend the tapas plate of apricot lamb. Pear and apple salads are both amazing. For an entrée the blue corn chicken dish is amazing as is the salmon. They also were very attentive to my wife’s food allergies. Great service. It is not inexpensive for the Altoona area but it is certainly priced favorably and has much larger portions than restaurants of this quality in other areas. Check it out. Support local!

This restaurant in the downtown Altoona area is a nice little hole in the wall with good service and great food. The prices are reasonable and if you leave hungry it is not the fault of the restaurant. I would go back as well as entertain clients here again anytime.

I am happy to report that in the year since I penned the previous review, Bold has improved considerably in terms of service and reliability. Bravo!

So disappointed after hoping for a nice place to take my college boy for a nice meal. First, the place was so dark I could barely read the menu. Then it took forever to receive the drinks despite not being busy.
We like small plates which was part of the rain to come here. We were told the tacos were good. After waiting nearly an hour the taco bread was cold, my husband’s fish was unrecognizable and my land taco was grisly with onion I couldn’t bite through. My son’s Flatbread was burnt with that burnt taste all through it
The bill was a lot for such very poor food and service. Iwould never recommend this place!

I was here for a vacation, this was the best place all week. There sea bass was the best I ever had. Great service also

Wow. Great appetizers (small plates). Seared Tuna was so excellent. The brisket was an excellent big plate. It had a spicy sauce that was very nice and added a little kick. The crab cakes were top notch too. The plating was fabulous. Glad that it tasted as well as it looked. Well done Bill. Loved it.

Once again we went to Bill Sell’s Bold and met another couple with us who wanted to try it after we gave it such rave reviews. And once again they did not let us down. We enjoyed everything and our guests were glad we chose The Bold.
This will be a staple on our list of restaurants we frequent.

They catered for my bridal shower and all the food was great! I loved the shimp and pineapple skewers! I tried them for lunch, and the menu was rather small. I would like to try for dinner!

We had a wonderful surprise last night! Traveling through the area, I Unilocaled and found Bold. We showed up with two kids and big appetites and were very pleased. We started with Ahi Tuna (kids said it was much better than Outbacks), Crab Dip (very good, but I’m a Marylander so I’m picky with crab dip), and grilled asparagus-​delish! I got the Shrimp Pasta Purses which was phenomenal! Veggies and a wonderful sauce made this a table favorite. The kids had steak tips, Mac & Cheese; my husband had the sea bass. Everything was the quality we expect on a date night in the DC Metro area-​at half the price. When in Altoona, I will return and bring friends!

I went to dinner at Bold this past Friday night with my husband and another couple. We had an amazing time! For appetizers, we got the crab dip, sweet potato fries and flatbread with steak and roasted red peppers. All of them were delicious! The crab dip is some of the best I have ever had! It was full of crab meat and had a great flavor. For my dinner, I got the seasonal item of pumpkin raviolis with mascarpone cheese and a sauce of brown butter with raisins. It was heavenly! I would definitly suggest getting there soon for this dinner since it is seasonal and probably won’t be on the menu much longer. The atmosphere was wonderful, as usual, and we had a great time. We stayed pretty much until closing and never felt rushed or like we were bothering the staff by staying longer. Worth every penny!

It was a bust. My expectations were high knowing where the chef came from. Everything we were served tasted frozen. It was over seasoned an didn’t even match the description on the menu. I got chicken with molasses and peaches with sautéed potatoes and asparagus. The chicken tastes like the frozen stuff out of a bag from wal-​mart. The peaches were canned and there wasn’t a single piece of asparagus on my plate. Instead it was sautéed broccoli. The best thing on the dish was the potato.
The fish tacos were ok. It didn’t taste fresh either and the sauce was so spicy I could hardly stand to eat it. Also the wrap it was served on did not taste fresh in the least.
I will say that the ideas are original and there is some obvious talent with the chef, however fresh ingredients would have made all the difference. The restaurant is beautiful and has a nice outdoor seating area. But the quality of the food does not come close to justifying the price. It could explain why it’s not busy, but I truly hope things pick and and they decide to spend some more money on quality ingredients. I have hope and will give it a second chance. Altoona is sorely lacking in quality dining establishments and had high hopes for Bold.

I came here while on a work trip with some colleagues visiting the local wind farm. We were seated promptly for our 8:15 reservation on a Thursday evening and the place was pretty empty — reservations were not necessary.
After much perusal of the menu we made our selections. Then began the tennis-​match between our table and the kitchen, with our server being the ball. I have a lengthy list of severe food allergies including some very common ingredients such as onion and garlic. Finding something on the menu was more difficult than I had anticipated. It seems they do pre-​make quite a bit of their menu, which would normally subtract a point in my book because the volume of customers didn’t argue for the necessity of prepping so much beforehand. The potato side dish was already seasoned, the steaks were already seasoned, it was really slim pickings for me. Eventually I handed over a list of good and bad foods for the kitchen to examine and they were able to produce some plain seared scallops for my app (I think they were even afraid to salt my food, but the table had a salt shaker so whatev) and a plain grilled chicken breast with some legitimately tasty green beans caramelized with balsamic vinegar. This is what I end up eating at about 90% of restaurants, so it was fine but not the most exciting.
Bill was in the house and came out to say hi after our food arrived. He was very gracious and eager to know that my needs had been met. My food issues stress out kitchens big time so I totally get it. The (new hire) waitress did a lovely job and was very gracious and patient. We’ll be back again, but next time hopefully I can contact them a day or two in advance to give them a heads-​up so I can get something delicious. We stayed quite late, chit chatting amongst ourselves, and the staff never rushed us. Great service and great food. Everyone was very pleased with their meal!

Nice Setting
Large wine selection, though mine was severely oxidized (opened 5 weeks before I was served it!
Large Portions — low quality —

I don’t have enough good things to say about Bold. My wife and I have been there many times and have always had a wonderful experience.
The Tapas are great, particularly the fish tacos. The combination of the fresh cabbage slaw with the mango habanero salsa, balanced by the light taste of the expertly seared Haddock is a combination that you simply can’t get anywhere else in Altoona. They are really something special. The Ribs are also very, very good. At first I hesitated when I saw a cappuccino crust, but after tasting them, I knew to trust Bill Sell’s choice of flavors. And, as much as I hate to review spinach dip, Bold’s spinach dip is unlike anything you can order at any chain restaraunt in the area. Rich, creamy, and chock full of fresh spinach makes this spinach dip a must order. The two different varieties of asparagus are both tasty and unique.
The Racion (big bites) are just as good. The Veal Oscar and the Crabcakes are both exceptional. The Veal Oscar is so good that one of the members of our party refused to share a bite with anyone at the table. The sides that compliment the big dishes are perfect. They provide depth and are clearly very well thought out and enhance the flavor of the main course.
All the desserts are excellent and very reasonably priced. Hands down the best restaraunt in the Altoona area.
My only problem with Bold is the price of beer. There is nothing on tap, and the bottles are pretty expensive compared to other restaraunts in the area. However, Martinis are very reasonably priced, more than making up for the overpriced beer.