Bistro 501 - Lafayette

For a long time Bistro has been the tried and true upscale restaurant to go to, as other upscale restaurants around Main have come and go. It was never my fave food wise, but after trying to host my wedding rehearsal dinner there, I realized that I can 't trust what food I 'd actually be getting. As we were trying to figure out whether to host the rehearsal there or not, we tried out all their food we were able to. Despite being told what our dietary restrictions were, the manager offered to add a meat appetizer several times to our menu. She seemed like she knew the words vegetarian and vegan, but not what they meant. Finally we decided on a testing menu with fries on it. Later on I found out the fries are fried in duck fat (this was about a year ago, early on in my vegan journey when I would just ask if it 's vegetarian/vegan, not specifically what things are fried in). Thankfully we ended up not doing our rehearsal at bistro but I 'd also never go back aside from the food issues, the manager was incredibly rude to my mother while being friendly to my now husband 's parents (guess which set of parents are the foreigners). They do have a vegan pate but alongside it they have regular pate. Updated from previous review on 2019 09 05

I’ve gone here with customers a few times and I really enjoy the food. It’s hard to find upscale restaurants with vegan options. There are a few things already vegan on the menu and a few others they can make vegan upon request (all options clearly marked on menu). The curry is good and the banh mi is amazing!

They consistently have 1-2 options on the menu that are listed as Vegan or Vegan Option, which is great to have in a town where many don't know what vegan means. My favorite is the Vegan Bahn Mi with their house made lentil walnut pate--it's delicious!! They also currently have a Vegan Pad Thai that I hear is great, but I haven't tried yet. A very nice restaurant with interesting vegan choices.

We had an amazing experience here! The food was outstanding and we could tell only the freshest ingredients went into it. The portions are large and left all of us with leftovers! Mary, the owner, is amazing, so lively and extremely personable. Will definitely be coming back here and we can’t wait!

Dining at this restaurant was an absolute pleasure. It is definitely a place worth trying if you haven't already. We plan on returning and bringing along some friends as well.