dwight's bistro

highly recommended if:
- you love bland food
- you are happy to pay $42 for a plate of 3 small crab cakes that looks like something put together at a family picnic
- you pay $35 for “veal sausage spaghetti” that really should be called over cooked noodles with veal sausage bits and hints of tasteless marinara sauce
- don’t mind eating in a decor that looks like a men’s only roman steam bath
- if you are willing to believe all the overrated reviews about this place

not recommended if:
- the thought of paying gourmet prices for amateurish food really pisses you off
-you enjoy food that is perfectly seasoned and professionally plated
- you know the food is ok but the location is outstanding - thisplaceis located in a nondescript strip mall and the overkill of tile and cork mosaic decor would make a great episode on restaurant makeover
- you wonder is iceberg lettuce “gourmet”?
- you generally don’t trust restaurant reviews in jax

wow!. from reading other great reviews, i decided to give thisplacea try! wow! i'm glad i did! i ordered the filet and my wife ordered the seabass. both were excellent! much better cut of filet than i have ever gotten from ruths chris. also the atmosphere was pretty cool as we could see dwight cooking from the dining room! we will be back soon!

liked it. fabulous atmosphere with great service and fine dining. dwight makes all his pasta daily. his crab cakes are to delicious! excellent wine list and inviting staff to guide you if you need assistance. great dateplaceor if you just want to go to the bar and grab a nice glass of wine and crab cake it offers that too.

i think thisplace7s delicious. dwight is perfect. his biggest fan.


-----05 oct, 2013-----

dwights is a greatplaceto have great food and see friendly faces. i love it

very good food, very high prices. not theplaceto take the kids or to just drop by for a meal. but, for a special occasion for two, it is a very nice dining experience. if you cannot afford spending $100 to $130, then don't go.
my only real complaint is that there was another diner there wearing shorts and a tee shirt. this restaurant should have minimal dress code.

a complete joke. i went here with my family a few saturday's ago. it was about 6 pm and we drove by to see if it was busy, the parking lot was dead so we decided to try to get in without a reservation. i had heard good things about dwight's from a few friends mentioning they made their own pasta. being a chef myself, i was excited at the thought of finding a new delicious restaurant near my house. the restaurant was cute with mozaik decorations and a small bar area. then a server approached us and asked us if we had a reservation. we said no and he seemed inconvenienced by our presence. he then told us he would check to see if they had anything available. while we were waiting on him, another server came over and asked us the same thing. do you have a reservation? no hello, welcome, how are you tonight, just do you have reservation? we said no again and they walked off. at this point, i was already irritated with the idea that they didn't have a hostess or at least someone who was relatively pleasant to greet us at the door. a 3rd person came over and asked us if we had a damn reservation. i said no, we do not have a reservation and as this was occuring the first person came back over and said he had cleared a table and we could sit. i almost walked out at this point but figured we could at least eat, and if the food was stellar all would be forgotten. so we went into the other room where there was only about 5-6 tables; only 2 of them were occupied. it wasn't busy at all, and remind you this was a saturday night at peak dining hours. we sat and the server came over a few minutes later with some water and got our drink order. he was not friendly but i cannot say he was outright rude; he was pretty much just there.

anyway, moving on to the food. i ordered a daily special, sea bass; my mom ordered a caesar salad and the carbonara(server recommendation); and my dad ordred the scallops. the bread was ice cold as if they had pulled it out of the freezer which was pretty ridiculous since they are right next door to a bakery. sad story.

sea bass-ridiculously over priced for starters. the flavors were decent but portion size was outrageous. i got 1 filet of fish in the center of myplacew/ a horseradish mustard sauce, 2 slices of zucchini,2 slices of carrots, 1 ravioli and about an oz of carmalized onions. it was like a tasting menu with the addition of 1 filet of sea bass. the ravioli was good but it was not enough food. i'm not a big girl and i ate all of my own food and some of my mothers. who serves ravioli with sea bass and 2 slices of vegtables? that doesn't make any sense. the plates were not well thought out and the plate presentation was lacking for the price they charge.

caesar/carbonara- the caesar was just a regular side caesar salad i guess it was dusted with gold because i think it was over $10. i want to say 12 but don't quote me on this. the carbonara was bland, needed salt badly and it was under sauced. the pasta had good flavor but was actually undercooked slightly. it was more than al dente.

scallops- they had good flavor and were cooked correctly but were super over priced.

anyways, i won't be returning and certainly won't be suggesting anyone to eat at this restaurant, ever. the total bill was over a $120 for 3 entrees, a side salad and 1 tea.

very disappointed, more than a little overrated. we went there to celebrate the occasion of two birthdays in our party of four. we had heard favorable word of mouth from friends of ours who frequent the 'jacksonville top 25'.
frankly, we were more than somewhat disappointed - for several reasons. the pricing here is really quite high for aplacethat truthfully looks like a 'neighborhood dive' on the outside and most of the inside as well.
we were seated in the small second room by a party of six who obviously had been well into the winelist (which is quite lengthy and extensive) for a while. before our orders were taken we requested that we be reseated due to the extreme loudness of the other party, although there were open tables visable in the third room, our request was declined and we were told that the other party 'would be leaving soon'. thirty minutes later they did leave - we could not even hear the waiter tell us about the specials & the menu selections due to the noise. conversation at the table was next to impossible until the party at the other table left.
the crab cakes are apparently their best item, and the waiter recommended a 'half salad' and crab cakes prior to the entrees.
crab cakes there are very good and if you dine there you should indeed try them. the salads, however, were extremely ordinary, to say the least. worst of all was the spinach half salad - no more than a few spinach leaves with some carrot & onion shavings and a spinkle of bacon crumbs. no dressing of any type was in, on or beside the salad when delivered. none of the half salads were very large at all either, contrary to the waiter's advisement.
we all had pastra entrees, three different ones between the four of us. they were indeed very good, but averaged more than $25 each. we have to say that there was not $100 worth of pasta there on the table! (you get four ravoli for that type entree) also, delivery of the entrees was awfully slow, particularly as theplacewas half empty at the time.
in our experience, thisplaceis way over priced for the dining experience and atmosphere it presents. the two small rooms other than the entree room by the 'bar' both look like the back rooms of an old house converted into a diner. if you want to order a mixed drink, you are out of luck as well.
in summary, you simply can do much better at most of the others in the jacksonville "top 25' for the money.

a favorite for years. i've been taking friends and family to dwight's for years and have always had wonderful food, service and wine. the atmosphere is perfect and the decor is beautiful. i even feel comfortable eating by myself at the little bar - it's fun! goodplacefor a romantic dinner or a nice birthday dinner. i love the fresh-baked bread - it is the best i've ever had!

best in town. ive been going to dwights for years...and feel that it is hands down my favoriteplacein jax.

it has personality...great staff...and great food. you cant go wrong with the mixed grill...and lobster ravioli...yummmmm