Asian Bistro

The Best Seaweed Salad and Crab Rangoon!

Should have avoided this place like my gut told me.
A few nights before this, a friend and I went to their Williston location (also Asian Bistro) but we ended up leaving since the menu looked meh to me. I wasn’t aware that these two restaurants had the same menus… But long story short, it was 3pm and Tiny Thai was closed, leaving two hungry girls desperate for some grub.
She had the pad thai and ended up sending it back. It is «Chinese pad thai», according to the waitress, which was not included in the description on the menu. It was more like a soup with noodles. My friend isn’t a picky eater but she had to send it back. The shrimp was also bland, to say the least.
I ordered chicken with cashews; it was okay… It just looked like General Tso with some cashews thrown in though…
At least they were polite about my friend’s order.

I’m in charge of complimentary lunches at my workplace (we do one every couple weeks), and recently I’d had a lot of requests for sushi. Let’s establish right now that I know NOTHING about sushi or Asian cuisine, so this lunch order was honestly a little scary for me.
The moment I entered I was greeted warmly and introduced to the chef, whom upon realizing my ignorance when it comes to this stuff asked a number of questions about the number of people in my office (15), food sensitivities, and preferences. After a few minutes tapping away on his computer, I was presented with a wonderful and thought out selection of rolls and sushis.
I picked up our platters the next day, and everyone in the office was thrilled. Not a single piece of food was left at the end of the day!
The food was fresh and tasty, and the presentation and variety was wonderful.
HIGHLY recommended for office parties!

There is no comparison between this Asian Bistro and the one of the same name in Williston.
I had their sushi a couple of weeks back, and thought it was an off day. Today confirms that I will never order sushi from them again, or anything else for that matter.
I ordered the eel cucumber and spicy salmon rolls. The eel was practically non-​existent, and the only flavor came through was the cucumber — the expected flavorful sauce was missing. Just the texture of cucumber and chewy rice.
The spicy salmon was worst. The salmon had a grainy texture and was flavorless. There was a thick gooey sauce. I’ve included a photo of the spicy salmon roll opened up, so you could see the gooey colorful flavorless supposed spicy salmon.
Never again.

Very disappointing. First I made a to go order off of the menu here, called and found out that the menu wasn’t theirs. So we went there and placed an order. The new year roll was ok, the sweet potato tempura inside seemed kinda old.
Thai curry shrimp was decent.
The Pad Thai was tasteless.
Cashew chicken had ok flavor but the chicken was weird.
Egg rolls were dry and tasteless.
The place was nearly empty on a Friday night. We won’t be going there again.

In college, we used to frequent the Williston restaurant so we were excited to try out the Winooski location. The space is very open and was rathe empty given how bustling the rest of the Winooski Circle was. There is a small chained off area on the sidewalk for outdoor seating which we opted for since it was such a beautiful evening. The host was very welcoming and seated us outside but after he left we were left alone for a while before a waitress emerged from the restaurant. We ordered drinks and food and waited a decent amount of time before deciding we would head inside for a booth in hopes of more attentive service. The host who sat us originally was super nice about our switch and the service picked up. The food was presented well and was decent, though one of the orders (beef lo mein) came out chicken lo mein instead. Overall, a pretty okay experience. There was a decent number of people picking up food so take out seems to be a pretty popular choice.
Favorites of the evening: get the creaky chicken (still don’t really know why it’s creaky but it’s tasty) and a hot sake!

Excellent service, good service, the chicken wasn’t the best. It was rubbery. Over all pretty good.

The only reason this restaurant is getting two stars is because their sushi is good most of the time. Their entrees are over priced and terrible! Hands down worst calamari I’ve had in my life.

Had lunch here with my son. Hot and sour soup was very greasy and oily. Pad Thai noodles were mushy and SWIMMING in a strange sauce. My sons General Tsao’s chicken was ok. We won’t go back. The best part of our lunch was the (pre-​wrapped) after dinner buttermints.

I ate here for the first time last night and the food was amazing. Everyone was very friendly and the service was spectacular!

I have had some shitty ass Chinese/​Japanese food over the years but this place just top my list. I went there for a late lunch and it was understandable that the place was empty. I ordered the fried calamari and the Peking duck. The presentation was lacking it was so bad! The Peking duck looked like someone had chewed it and spit it back out. There was also fat poking out from the dish like they just scraped everything off the cutting board and just slapped it on the dish. Really gross. Should have gone to Zen Gardens for the duck. And the calamari tasted like it had gone bad but they just battered it up and fried it. Asians noodle house has better calamari and the quantity is bigger there, at this place they give you 6 tiny little pieces while at Ariana’s they give you an entire plateful and for a better price too. The duck also had a weird smell coming from it. The worst thing I ever bought and paid for and I have bought and paid for some shitty ass crap over the years. My friends didn’t believe since they heard great things about this place so I had the waitress packed all the food and I showed it to them. They were so grossed out. Hell even my broke ass college kid next to my place wouldn’t even eat it because he was afraid of it and he eats everything. Never ever agin will I step foot in this place! Don’t eat here! Save your money and go to Zen Gardens for great Chinese food or Asiana noodle house for great Asian fusion food.

Excellent sushi lunch and they remembered I was disappointed during my last visit. Turns out it was a new chef and they remade my rainbow nurato on the house.

This is a lower quality Chinese Restaurant. Peking Duck down the street has much better tasting food and a cleaner nicer dining room.
Went for a Friday night quick dinner —
Wonton Soup — salty, meat was cold in center
Sesame Chicken — $ 12.50 — seemed pricey for the eight pieces of thin chicken, only 3 pieces of broccoli, side of steamed rice was mushy.
I’m not a sushi fan, but the plates others had looked very good
Eatable, but I won’t be back as there are better choices.

I’ve often wondered why the Asian Bistro is rated so poorly. I’ve eaten at this restaurant 5 – 10 times and always left satisfied. Perhaps the Scorpion Bowels that I have had every time that I have been here clouded my judgment.
I got take out here after a long commute home during a recent snow storm. My boyfriend and I were totally repulsed by two of the dishes that we had ordered. The other dish (pad thai) had no flavor, and I don’t mean that it was just lacking in spices. It tasted like absolutely nothing!
We could only stand to take a few bites of what we had ordered. $ 50 worth of food went straight into the garbage and sadly no Chinese left overs the next day :(
I can’t imagine that this restaurant is busy enough to warrant having a separate chef for take out and another one for customers who dine there, but the difference between what we were served was like night and day. Give this restaurant a shot only if you are able to eat there.

Solid mixed asian fare. Service varies. A decent option for sushi considering that there aren’t many around.

I really like the Asian Bistro! One of the best places in Winooski! And to be honest Winooski needs better food places along side with Asian Bistro and Sneakers.
Asian Bistro is super clean! They offer a quiet setting with dim lighting. It has that classy feel when you walk in. The only complaint about it really is the fact that it can be sorta cold at times. Even during the summer/​spring time. Minor issue? Yes very minor! Just bring a sweat shirt or something with long sleeves if you get cold easily.
The staff here is always polite and ready to serve you! Very friendly and they will answer your questions if you have any about the menu. They refill drinks quickly and in perfect timing! Food even comes out quicker than I thought it would. Win, win for us.
Pricing is fair and just about where it should be. For 2 of us we spent around $ 25 for our full meal. We got Spring rolls for an app, sesame chicken, chicken fried rice and some sticky rice! Everything came out on time and cooked perfectly. The food is also very consistent.
So with consistency like this we will be returning more often in the future. Just make a side note that on busy days parking could be a challenge. However that’s a problem in the city of Winooski in general anyways.

The one big motivating factor for me visiting here was airline miles. That’s right, I had to complete some spend and this was a participating restaurant. I should’ve chosen somewhere else.
This place is the mix of American Chinese cuisine with a dash of sushi to cater to the American public.
On a Friday night, tables were full, but only 3 people were working the floor. As such, service was dismally slow.
After 10 minutes, I finally managed to get water. I ordered the sashimi dinner for $ 19.50, which came with soup and salad. For the person that has had a fair amount of sushi, it’s immediately noticeable that what they serve here is subpar.
I am almost entirely sure the miso soup came out of a packet mixed with hot water. The salad was decent, crisp and cold.
The sashimi dinner was a 20 piece set with rice. I won’t get into the semantics of frozen fish, as nearly all sushi fish are frozen. You simply cannot get fresh fish with the variety presented.
The white tuna was not true white tuna, but the cheaper escarole.
The sabe was yummy, but it’s hard to mess that up. It’s often imported pre-​marinated and frozen.
The tuna was not defrosted properly — too watery.
The salmon, eel, and yellow tail were okay.
You can tell that the sushi «chef» here isn’t really one. The fish was cut into squarish chunks and the ragged edges call for a knife sharpening.
Overall, I got my miles. I wish I chose some place tastier.

Is Asian Bistro the most amazing Asian food ever in the whole wide world? No… but, I’ve had far worse in larger cities where one *might* expect better food. AB gets star power for the booze and the creaky chicken. Wait staff is always friendly, food shows up in a decent amount of time, prices are fair, and it beats the pants off that other place behind the mill. Also, shorter intoxi-​trot back to your abode makes it a pretty convenient choice for the quick and the chopstick.

Worse Chinese food ever. Everything was salty and too much sauce. My husband and I wanted to go to Tiny Thai but it was crowded. We should have waited the extra 20 minutes to get a table.
They don’t chop their own vegetables. Frozen peas, carrots, etc. in cheap sugary and salty sauces. The Phoenix-​Dragon dish was horrific; chicken was rubbery and the lobster was crappy tail pieces. They can’t even cook brown rice! For $ 17.50 all we got was stomach aches and food poisoning.
The place hardly had anyone, which should have tipped us off. The sushi was average and the sushi rice was poor. One should worry when they have 50 dishes of different Asian cuisines. They really don’t make anything here except straight from the freezer. As an Asian this place is an insult to my palate. This place needs to be shut down.
The only people who give this place a thumbs up are people who must be eating the crappy American Chinese take-​out food. I would not trust their judgement on food.

You’ve been to Asian Bistro before. It’s the place that is a few steps above the American Chinese take-​out cliché… but a few notches down from the upscale hotspots that fuse different elements of Asia’s extraordinary food cultures in new ways or elevate the cuisine of one particular region.
We were greeted and seated upon entry at dinner on Sunday of a holiday weekend. The dining room is a large converted mill space with ductwork and plumbing high above masked by black spray paint and track lighting. Scrolls of Chinese pastoral landscapes and kanji adorn the walls and there are bars for both alcohol and sushi.
We started on a low note with an order of scallion pancakes ($ 3.00), which were tasteless fried dough triangles with the complexion of pork rinds, not the puffy tributes to green onion that we expected.
The Homestyle Bean Curd ($ 8.50) is a plate of puffy, lightly-​fried tofu triangles in an understated sauce with mini-​corncobs, carrot, water chestnut, broccoli and sugar snap peas. Healthy, but not spectacular.
Conversely, the General Tso’s Tofu ($ 11.95) is deep-​fried tofu cubes in a thick sweet sauce served with green peppers, celery slices and dried Sichuan peppers, easily the most savory part of our meal. I found myself wishing that the spiciness of the peppers had been infused into the sauce to offset some of the sweetness. I caught myself eating the peppers whole to give the dish more complexity.
Service throughout the meal was friendly and quick, with white rice or brown rice offered with our main courses, which came out of the kitchen almost immediately after the appetizer course.
Asian Bistro is a solid if unremarkable choice for pan-​Asian cuisine in the greater Burlington area.