Bistro Henry

Food was good but very overpriced. Atmosphere is institutional — think assisted-​living center dining room (circa 1980s).
I had the soft shell crab special, which was fine, but expensive at $ 32. My friend ordered steak au poivre, medium. It arrived at the table almost raw. She sent it back for additional cooking but the steak returned in basically the same state. Finally, she cut the meat into pieces and had them re-​fire it that way since the chef didn’t seem to be able to handle the large slab.
Our server was knowledgeable, sweet, and attentive. Plus, the bartender rocks!

Bistro Henry is our absolute favorite in Manchester for years. Henry is a great chef and real personality. He is always willing to prepare anything you want in any way you want. One night we went there and he knew it was my birthday. I had mentioned on a previous occasion that I liked fried bologna sandwiches, partly as a joke. When we ordered our drinks and apps, Henry himself brought me an absolutely amazing, gourmet fried bologna sandwich. It was probably one of the best things I ever had, made even more special since Henry went out of his way to do this. After a great dinner you MUST have one of Dina’s fantastic home made deserts! Great restaurant!!!

I’m a real foodie, and rarely review on Unilocal,but Bistro Henry is superb! The ambiance is the only thing holding it back from 5 stars, for me. Lovely wine & cocktail list. Escargot was presented in a fresh preparation. Arugula salad was chilled, yet the chèvre was slightly warm. Lamb chops, perfectly medium rare, with thoughtful touches to the carrots & haricot verts. French food that’s not stodgy. I’m impressed.

Visited for Valentine’s Day which was my second time dining at Bistro Henry. My first experience was very good which is why I returned. In short, it was disappointing. To start, it was a very cold day but was also cold inside. The ambience wasn’t the greatest for V-​day because there were a lot of small children with families and making a fair about of noise.
Onto the food… Started off with crab cakes which were very good. Main courses ordered were trio of filet and lamb «porterhouses.» The lab was a joke. They are small lamb chops and were overcooked and dry. Not something you expect at what is supposedly fine dining. The trio was ordered medium rare. It was served first as medium well and the filet’s were tiny to say the least. Size aside, temperatures were off. They offered to re-​fire and again, temperatures were medium well. When asked if they could make yet another, we refused because there was obviously no point to trying. We were told the trio would be taken off our bill. Dessert was crème brule and very tasty. A nice finish to the night.
However, things got odd once the bill arrived. The trio did not come off the bill but a drink and desert was not billed. When questioned, the waitress stated that the chef instructed her to charge as such because «most of the filet was eaten.» I suppose the fact the temperatures were off was unimportant. What were we supposed to do? Not eat at all? Just a way for the chef to maximize profits by going about this sneaky way.
I have read and heard posts about this chef being arrogant. Here’s a prime example. A man that cannot own to his mistakes. I will never return here. For those that decide to eat here, definitely go on a slow night when the chef can make food correctly without pressure. They obviously cannot handle a full dining room NOR any criticism.

Meh. It’s alright, can’t say anything bad about the place or the food. But it’s pretty overpriced for what it is. Nice service and cozy atmosphere, we got lucky to sit right by the fireplace. The food was decent. We got arugula salad, it came with a few pieces of sliced beets and a piece of goat cheese. Looked more like a side salad that you get for free with an entrée at a diner. French onion soup was too salty for my taste. Prime rib steak was undercooked. And the fish special (I believe it was tilefish) wasn’t worth $ 27 for sure. Little piece of white fish with some spices on top, sautéed, nothing special at all. Maybe my expectations were too high because this place was recommended to us by our hotel’s front desk manager.

My bf and I ate here tonight, and it was amazing! He got the 16oz sirloin w/​horseradish sauce and Mac n cheese side. I got the linguini and lobster dish, it had spinach, chunks of lobster, scallops, shrimp and a crab claw topper with a creamy, buttery tomato sauce. We also got the calamari w/​garlic chili aioli as an app.
This place was awesome! It was a bit pricey but worth it. Service was great! Not to annoying and not forgetful :-). drinks were strong and delicious. We were both really pleased with the food, service and drinks! Totally stop here for a great meal!

Bistro Henry was fantastic. Took us in when all other restaurants were full. Food was delicious. Henry himself came out several times bringing food over. Staff was amazing. Great kids menu. Overall fantastic experience. Very low key Manchester restaurant with a great family vibe. Highly recommended.

Quality food. The room looks like an airport Marriott restaurant.

Excellent food and service. For first visit, had lamb shanks which were excellent. On second visit accidentally came early and discovered that they have a special 3-​course fixed-​price meal from 5−6pm (must order before 6pm). They had several selections for each course and the price was only $ 25 per person. The portions were still normal size and both my and my spouse’s dishes were excellent!

The food and service were both fantastic. What was particularly impressive was their attentiveness to my wife’s gluten-​free needs. The chef was able to modify a regular menu selection (Chicken Francese) to create what my wife said was one of the best dishes she’s ever had. We’ll definitely go back!

We recently celebrated my brother’s birthday at Bistro Henry’s. It was my first time there and everything was perfect!
The staff was so accommodating and even allowed me to place a few football decorations on the table. And our wonderful waiter Chris went along with the football theme quizzing my brother on trivia questions I’d written in advance. He was the best!
The food was delicious and the chef graciously whipped up a special pasta/​chanterelle mushroom dish for the birthday boy, which he loved. My rib was perfectly cooked and seasoned. And, to end our amazing dinner we enjoyed the most scrumptious profiteroles.
Wow! I can’t wait to go back to Bistro Henry! If you haven’t been, you should!
PS Heads up… if you are taking pictures there’s a good chance you will be photobombed. Chris, our waiter was a master. Very, very funny!

The service is outstanding and they are very nice staff. The food is so good I never had bad meal here and been here many times. Prime rib, Steaks are always my favorite and cook to perfection. They always have great daily special. Great place.

The service was great — the wine a bit expensive. We enjoyed tuna tartar nachos for appetizers — were great! I enjoyed a raw grilled tuna dinner (great) while my husband had a barbecue platter. He said the smoking of the meats was great but one of the four was quite dry. (It was a large sampler platter — he didn’t eat the dry meat.) The other three were amazing. The rubs and sauces were all homemade — as were the desserts. A great meal.

Came here years ago and was underwhelmed. Came back tonight and can’t say enough. Delicious apps, dinner and desserts. Nice, simple and casual. We always dine at the Wife, but now we’ll be sure to come to Henry’s when we’re visiting too. Excellent food.

The wife and I ate at Bistro Henry the first evening in Manchester. The restaurant is easy to find for an out of towner, and looks great on the outside and is nice inside. The waitress we had was very friendly and a lot of help for us.
We started out with the mussels. They were just OK. They were cooked in a white wine sauce, and needed something else like — garlic. Very bland, but done to perfection.
Next, the wife had the trio filet and I had the 14 ounce ribeye. Both of these dishes were done perfectly and the sauces we got with them were great! I got hand cut fries with mine and the wife got Au Gratin potatoes with her’s. My fries were great and the wife’s potatoes were very good. We were both to full to try a desert. You need to realize before you go to Bistro Henry’s that this is an up scale restaurant that could exceed $ 100 for a party of 2.
So, how do I rate my experience? The mussels were just average so they get a 3. The steaks were great so they get a 5. My fries were great and the wife’s potato better then average so they get a 5-​. The facility gets a 5. The waitress gets a 5+. The value gets a 5-​, because we knew what price range to expect before we went there. So, we would rate Bistro Henry’s a 5.

Haven’t been to this place in probably 15 years and man, what a disappointment. What was formerly a great restaurant has become just a plain old family dining experience but at a 5 star price. Steaks were mediocre and overcooked, portions were very small and wine prices were very high.

Decided to visit Bistro Henry for dinner on ⁷⁄₂₂. Sat at the bar, order two appetizers escargot & duck liver mousse. Had a Pinot Grigio while waiting for the food to arrive. There was a basket of warm bread with butter. The bartender Giovanna was very pleasant.
Had the escargot as my first coarse, delish, better then Brassarie’s L’Oustau. Then came the duck liver mousse, nice portion for an appetizer, with cornichons, arugala, pickled onion and crostini. The mousse was nice and smooth & quite tasty.
Shall visit again

Ambiance (⁴⁄₅): family oriented, Italian feeling, jazzy dinner location.
Food (³⁄₅): Mediocre– but I only had appetizer and soup.
Lobster bisque soup was good.
Calamari was too light on matter and too salty. It was a good combination with its sauce.
For the price, I would not return.

Bistro Henry is an okay restaurant. In the appetizer Wild Mushroom Risotto, my friend found a stone in his second bite. It also didn’t look to good. He also said it was inedible. The Yellow Tail Tuna was very good although the Pad Thai that came with it had zero flavor. The Lobster Bisque was delightful along with the Duck. All in all, Bistro Henry is a fairly good restaurant with good service.

We went to Bistro Henry our first night in Vermont for dinner and it was a fantastic meal.
The restaurant is in a cute little house. The dining room was well spaced and they had a nice fire going close to our table. We were both craving seafood, so we started with the crab cakes with the spicy remoulade. These were delicious and it is easy to understand why they are one of BHs signature items. No filler and all crab meat, lightly cooked with a sauce that compliments with a nice kick. You’ll want to have those.
Entrees were served with a house salad and that was good too. Kris got the yellow fin tuna-​grilled rare with spicy pad thai noodle, wasabi, soy vinaigrette & pickled ginger. I had the Linguine with Lobster, shrimp, crab & sea scallop in a brandy tomato cream that was served by the chef himself. Hello children. My wife loved the tuna, it was perfectly grilled and as it was a huge piece I got to have quite a bit of it. The Asian preparation was nice and the spicy noodles were tasty. My bowl was overflowing with pasta and seafood. I cleaned out the meat of the stone crab claw and got to work on it. Huge chunks of lobster, shrimp and scallops all through it. This was a great dish and exactly what I was looking for. For dessert we had the Maple Pecan Pie, maple ice cream and caramel. I’m a sucker for pecan pie and this was a great one and that ice cream was excellent too.
Service was spot on and we had a great evening. It wasn’t all that expensive either, and the quality and size of the portions was very good. As we made our way out to the lot, I stopped by our car to look up at the starry night and held Kris a little closer. The stars were all out on this crisp Vermont evening, sometimes it’s those little moments that make the night.