Bleu Restaurant and Bar

A cute, chic little restaurant tucked away on the corner of Hanes Mall Blvd. We came here for Happy Hour/​early dinner with a group on a weekday and were seated right away. Service was prompt, and our waitress, polite. We were served fresh bread right away.
The food? Ok.
Pad Thai spring rolls (⁴⁄₅): crispy, tangy, with a spicy twist. Pretty good!
Scallops with risotto (³⁄₅): Your average scallop dish. The risotto was creamy and the scallops were well-​made. However, compared to every other scallop dish I’ve had, this was nothing out of the ordinary.
Crab dip (³⁄₅): Hot, straight out of the oven, comes with a healthy serving of baguette. The crab tasted a bit fishy, not impressed.
Overall, Bleu is a decent restaurant, with a nice ambience. However, the food lacked creativity and excitement. While it’s certainly a decent choice for group dinner, I probably would not choose to return on my own.

We were greeted with a smile when we walked in by the hostess & sat immediately. The server promptly came and got our drinks. The menu is pretty intense, a little bit of everything. The beer selection isn’t great, I would go straight to the drinks. Their martinis are half off on Thursdays which is a great deal because all are good. The appetizer selection was great once again a little bit of everything. The prices are very reasonable and you can get smaller portions for some of them if you want.
There are plenty of entrees to choose from with varying prices most in the mid to high $ 20s. The entrees include some pasta dishes, chicken, seafood & steaks. I ordered the scallop & shrimp risotto. It was very good maybe just missing a little green.

Wow… cool restaurant and atmosphere. Food was excellent. I ordered the Sea Scallops which came with a side of mashed potatoes and mixed greens. So good. I was alone for lunch, so I sat at the bar. Service and food were both spot on. Perfect place for business lunch or to entertain clients.

This is my favorite restaurant in Winston-​Salem. I always find myself trying something new and every time it’s amazing. The service is excellent and the atmosphere is very modern and clean.

It is below methinks not. We have had the same problem with two visits. And saw customers walk out of the restaurant. The staff is having a gossip session in the kitchen. I and other people could hear them talking. in the entry way. Noticed there were many people walking out of the restaurant and not eating because of the problem. cannot get seated. some of the people were just seating themselves. the same employees profile. For both visits. The white young females have long or short blond hair. The males were young and white. And they had light blond hair. The white females would not volunteer to help people, hostesses. When came in the restaurant. Just tried to run away and customers had to yell at them to get waited on. The hostesses would throw the menu on the table. and run away and not talk to the customers. And the customers had to wait sometime for the waitstaff. Many tables were dirty. And the floor was dirty. The employees were not busy and would not clean the dirty floor up. The customers had to ask the employees to clean the table. and they pushed the crumbs off the table on to the floor. The waitstaff would not volunteer to give bill and throw it at them. Not volunteer also to give food, silverware, wait on, drinks, come to table to see if need anything more. try to run away while talking to them. and just run away from the tables and customers have to ask them to come back and finish the job. and noticed all the waitstaff would run away from the customers to have a gossip party in the kitchen. The orders came wrong and the staff not volunteer to correct it. We both got both visits a complimentary beverage. The service was below horrible. The staff came to the tables to see if a tip was left. and got angry when there was not any tips. Both visits the employees not want to write down the order. said it was not their job and it was their job.

The service was really great, but we were not impressed with the food. I had the herb chicken and brussel sprouts. The chicken was too buttery and the brussel sprouts had a freezer burn after taste. My husband had the sea food fettuccine. It was very good, but too small of a portion for the price. Overall, not worth the price for the food.

Been here several times, Sam the manager is awesome! Always so nice and accomodating! I loved the Catfish! Another time I got grilled salmon over the mixed green salad with bleu cheese and spiced walnuts — amazing! Prices very reasonable!

This restaurant is way different than what it used to be. It is going downhill.
We ordered grilled chicken and mashed potato; the chicken is wayyyy toooo smal but that was not the problem, it taste like blahhhh and the mashed potatoes had no taste at all!!!
The bread is not good at all too!!!
A friend ordered salmon burger; yukhhhh looks like they fried it with oil used for the past 2 months.
What a disappointment! No wonder, 1 hour waiting time at the restaurant right beside it and we were 8 people to go in right away.
The chef that put the menu together, probably should be working at a take out restaurant and not something like Bleu.
To be fair, I ordered a chicken soup and it was great!

First ever visit to Bleu tonight. Arrived at about 7:15 and my wife and I were seated immediately. When we asked for a booth in a quieter section, they gladly showed us to a corner booth in the bar area — perfect. Very nice ambiance. From that point on, things only got better. The service was fantastic — friendly, attentive but not disruptive, prompt. The martinis were awesome; the bread served before the meal was fresh and warm. Our side salads were served quickly and the flavor and presentation was perfect and the portion was generous. We both ordered filets — mine medium rare and hers medium. Both were cooked to perfection and were some of the best, most tender cuts of filet we’ve found in the area. The seasoning was light and subtle — not too salty or overpowering. My wife loved the fried okra — lightly salted, crispy and fresh-​tasting.
We tried Bleu because we had a coupon. The $ 12 we saved was a great investment on management’s part, as we will definitely be back again.

Overpriced and horrible. I got takeout fish and chips. The slaw was wilted and brown. I can’t even believe they served it to the public. The fish lacked taste and was made of more breading than fish.

Not a restaurant you’ll want you to miss! My family and I have gone on the night of the past 2 presidential elections (as tradition) and we will definitely be going again in the upcoming one. Great dishes and cocktails. Also the live music is a great added bonus!

Had this several weeks ago but forgot to post review. Filet was cooked to perfection and was delicious. Lobster tail a bit over cooked but wonderful flavor. My girlfriend had the scallop risotto and I had to taste it! It was delicious!!!

I had the chicken dish, my friend had the fish, neither of us were impressed. Spending 2 weeks in Winston Salem for work forces you to try new places, but we never ventured back here. Only decent food in the area is firebirds.

Visited this location for lunch today. We had items from the lunch menu. The prices are not bad and the food was very good. This place is quite upscale. The service was pretty good as well. Will return and try dinner another time.

I’ve been to this restaurant a few times in the past, but most recently, I attended a surprise birthday party here over the weekend. Our group of about 25 had a reserved, private room. Despite the number of people, the waitstaff made it all seem effortless, and I was never without a beverage refill. Our group was given a modified, limited menu to order from, rather than the restaurant’s full menu, and this was due to the number of people in our party. I didn’t feel overly restricted, however, by the lesser number of choices.
I had a Lemonhead martini to start (Stoli Vodka, Limoncello, Lemon juice, Sprite & Simple syrup with a sugared rim), but then I switched to wine since martinis (even girlie ones) tend to mess with my world. The Lemonhead was good, though, just overly sweet for my tastes. I shared the Crispy Calamari appetizer with a few friends, and I’m a fan of the creole mustard dipping sauce that accompanied this appetizer. My diner selection was a sesame crusted ahi tuna; this may have been a bit too sesame intensive, and I ordered it rare but got medium/​medium rare. My guest had the angus rib-​eye, and he seemed pretty pleased with the dish.
This restaurant is very pretty and a bit upscale, but don’t let that scare you off. If you’re looking for a local place to celebrate a special event, I’d put Bleu on the list. The price point for dinner entrees is in the $ 15-​$ 25 range.

I had the she crab soup. It had good flavor and nice amount of crab, but it was little thicker than what I expected.
The Cosmo martini had nice flavor but needed a little more vodka.
My friends enjoyed their app’s and wine. Crab dip was good. Creamy and a nice amount of crab. I didn’t try the egg rolls but I heard they were tasty.
The server was attentive and the restaurant had a lovely décor.
I plan to return and try a few more items from the menu.

Great food and service! Warm, inviting environment and knowledgeable, courteous staff.

I’m uncertain about this place. I want to give it a 3 but a big part of me says that’s too high.
I tried two martinis (key lime pie, girl scout). Both were outstanding and I wanted to try more!
Service was excellent.
Atmosphere is relaxing, soft jazz music, low lighting.
But the food…
I started with She Crab Soup. Very well seasoned with a lot of crab. The only downfall was the thickness. The soup was very think vs thin and light, like the way you treat crab.
Next I ordered an Arugula Salad– again flavors were wonderful and married well… Except for the random two dots of what tasted like tomato purée. There were already actual tomatoes on the salad, why the purée? It was disgusting. It was my mistake to mix up the entire salad first otherwise it would have been no big deal to just push aside that bland canned tomato paste flavor. The fried goat cheese on top is to die for! I made that the last bite I had on purpose! I’m not even a huge fan of goat cheese but it was the perfect texture. With the salad I ordered to Spiced Ahi Tuna on the side. The waiter asked how I preferred it to be cooked and I said very rare if at all. It came out medium at first so I sent it back. The second time round it came out rare with a two second hot sear. But flavorless. I had to ask for soy and ponzu to mask the frozen flavor the fish had although the waiter said it was fresh.
The dessert list had many options but that’s when I chose my second martini (the girl scout) and it was the perfect end to a confusing meal.
I’d come again just for drinks :)

My husband and I ate at Bleu for New Years Eve. We made our reservations on open table which I like that you can do that for Bleu. When we arrived we were taken to the bar and they did not ask us if this was ok. We were not happy about that. The bar was loud and dark. I thought is was pretty crappy that we had reservations and were sat at the bar. We also did not order any alcohol. The bartenders were our waitstaff but they did a really good job considering they were covering several tables and also making drinks for the whole restaurant. We were also off put by the message on the menu for people to limit their time to 90 minutes at Bleu. I understand it was a busy night but why does this go on a menu. We wound up being there longer then 90 minutes because because of waiting for service. The food was over priced but really good. We started with a calamari and octopus salad. It was light and refreshing. The octopus was tender and the vinaigrette was very tasty. I had the she crab soup. It seemed like a small portion for 6 dollars but it was really delicious and had a lot of crab in it. My husband had the wedge salad which I tried. Again is was very tasty but over priced at 7.50. I had the scallops and shrimp risotto for an entrée. The scallops were perfectly cooked. The risotto was well cooked but bland. I added squeeze of lemon which helped but it needed salt. There was no shaker on the table and it would have been cold if I waited for someone to check on us. My husband had the shrimp and grits which was really good. The shrimp were well cooked and the sauce was very tasty. I had their white chocolate crème brûlée and it was really good. The custard was creamy and had a nice white chocolate flavor. The burnt sugar was the right thickness and was done well. My husband tried the red velvet cheese cake and we both enjoyed that dessert. I am not sure if I would eat here in the future. This was better than the first time we ate here a few years ago but who wants to eat nice food in a sports bar amosphere?

Just a quick update! Went to Bleu for my boyfriend’s graduation dinner while his family was in town. Everyone was impressed! They couldn’t stop raving about the food, especially their main dishes. I tried out the duck dish they have with the sticky rice and it was great. I felt like it was a bit of a twist on the standard duck you see a lot of place. We ordered a few appetizers, and they were a hit as well, the shining star was that crab and shrimp dip. A few of the other entrees that got rave reviews around the table were the crab cake sandwich, seared tuna, and sea scallops.