Anselmo's Bistro & Bar

Easy, cozy, relatively cheap Italian food. This ranks somewhere between three and four stars; I'm rounding up.

For dinner tonight, I got to pick the restaurant, and I decided to give Anselmo's a try. It is within a few blocks of my house after all.

This restaurant is very small -- maybe 50 people tops, not counting outdoor seating. (Fun fact: Anselmo's allows pets in their outdoor, sidewalk area.)

Anselmo's was full when we arrived, but we were able to get a table for five after a 15-minute wait. And in the meantime, we sat at the bar where we ordered and quickly received wine and cocktails. I tried the mango martini, which towed the line of sweetness without going over.

Once seated, we started with an app, the lox crostini. The goat cheese plus balsamic vinegar plus smoked salmon tasted rich and unique. I want to mix the vinegar with salmon more often now.

And then for dinner, I opted for chicken parmesan, based on the many awesome photos on Yelp. I'm not normally a big chicken parm fan. The tomato sauce on this dish was a bit basic but not bad. I did especially like the breading on the chicken, though. My biggest complaint with chicken parm is that the breading gets mushy and falls off the chicken when it's covered in sauce and cheese. This breading kept its crunchiness.

Also some of the chicken parm in the pics appears to be served with angel hair or spaghetti. According to the menu and based on what I got, it comes on fettuccine. Specify with the server if you want something different.

The fiancé got the Italian beef sandwich. He said it was one of the best he's had. I'll just have to take his word for it because he didn't share.

We did share a tiramisu and cannoli, though. Both were ample servings, more than enough for the five of us.

Our server was on point and friendly, offering menu suggestions. This is easy local Italian, when you're wanting something between fast casual and fancy.

I love the ambience of Anselmo's. It's so cute in there! It's just small enough to feel cozy, and the lighting makes it romantic. The last time I was in there, Frank Sinatra was playing, and it was lovely to enjoy my glass of wine by. The servers are very friendly and accommodating. They're good at checking it at just the right times, and I could tell they cared. You can't get any better than their location (right on Bardstown Road).

But the food just didn't do it for me. That made me very sad, because, like I said previously, Anselmo's has all those things going for it! I started out with a house salad, which was fine. It had shredded cheddar cheese and shoestring potato sticks on it, though? Neither of those things are bad (I enjoyed it), it was just an odd choice for an Italian place. I ordered the chicken alfredo for an entree. The sauce was alright, but the chicken was so overcooked it was very dry. I went back another time with a friend to give it another shot, but my entree again was pretty mediocre.

I would still recommend this place for a glass of wine and an appetizer, as the ambiance is so appealing and they have great specials on certain days. Their patio looks pretty fun too (it's right on Bardstown and is great for people watching!).

Nothing outstanding, but fairly decent in all categories of food, service & cleanliness. Stop and make your own call.

We really enjoyed our dinner here. The ambiance is very classy and the food was delicious. We had the caprese for an appetizer, chicken Alfredo and spaghetti and meatballs for our food. He had wine with dinner while I had a mango martini. Our waiter was courteous but didn't quite fit the ambience. I'm not sure that any of the waitstaff did. I was also saddened when I read about the recent experience of a LGBTQA patron. I probably wouldn't have visited if I'd seen that review first. Because of this, I'm not sure if we'll return or not. Please straighten up your act or you'll lose customers over it.

So this will be my first bad review for a restaurant on Yelp.

I was really un-impressed with this place. I was told that they just reopened with a whole new menu and they must have spent all their time on the menu because every other aspect of this restaurant/customer service was terrible.

We walked in through the Bardstown rd entrance around 8pm on Friday and noticed that their was no host stand. I can't stand walking into a place and having no idea if we are to be waited on or seat ourselves. As we stood their for a few minutes and no one greeted us we decide to go to the bar. I want to believe that all the employees were overwhelmed with service and not that bad at their job. We had no idea what to do once in this place, their was no direction what so ever from anyone that worked their. Like i said, i really hope they were just overwhelmed.

Once we sat at the bar it didn't get any better. The bartender was a nice guy but i ordered a cocktail and he had no idea how to make it or what went into it ( he had to look at the menu) and it was not good at all. Oh.... i also forgot to mention that it took 20 minutes for a caprese salad. 20 minutes for a caprese salad. That was all we could stand and we left shortly after that.

I will always give a place 2 tries but i won't be back here for a while. And i definitely hope they are able to figure things out. To have a restaurant on Bardstown rd you should ALWAYS be prepared.

Really enjoyed the atmosphere and the food was very good. I had the meatballs, which were flavorful, large and authentic. The meal came with a generous salad, I chose the Caesar and it was delicious.

They have a late night happy hour starting at 10pm and feature a nice selection for $5 or so for small plates. I read a so-so review in the paper on this place, I have to disagree with that food critic as I thought everything was awesome.

Finally having a pasta and sausage and marinara plate. Also double glass of white Moscato, which isn't wonderful but ok. Sitting at bar. Not busy place now or yet. Nice setting and seating inside and out. And all was very good.

Not a very good experience, Main entree was good.
Out salads had brown and rotting lettuce. The Manager never came to apologize. The server was not attentive at all. He graded our cheese for entrees upside down where the cheese was hitting his hand and arm before hitting the plate. I will not recommend or return to this establishment.

Had a gift card here so decided to try it. We got the rattlesnake pasta and the meatballs they are known for, served over spaghetti (or any pasta you want, I believe). The service was not too great, however we were sitting outside and there was one server for the whole place-he also had some sort of boot on his leg like he had an injury. Once the food got there though, it was wiped clean by both of us. Only complaint would be that the chicken was a bit dry. The meatballs were very good and definitely homemade. We also ordered canoli for dessert-save room for that!!
Taking off a star for service. Also thought the food was a bit overpriced but I feel that's to be expected of an Italian restaurant with a nice atmosphere, on Bardstown road especially. (Plus, they have a wine list. Tends to loosen wallets)

The food was really good here - the waiter was decent, the guy that sat us wasn't, and the parking was horrible - though I found a decent spot at a business after hours so I guess that's good and I didn't get towed away!

Inside was clean, a bit small, but nothing wrong with that. It appeared clean and the choices seemed endless. I'm Sicilian and it really wasn't that bad at all - this three star review shouldn't have you running away - for me to give it three stars means that the flavor of the food was good and the prices were not bad either.

I would have been more impressed if the so-called grandson of Gramma Anselmo would have come over to our table when we asked what the grandmother's name was - he didn't even turn to look - just continued to chat at the table with evidently were his friends, which were more important!

It isn't somewhere that I'd go back to, but only because of all the other places to check out in the area! AND the grandson was too unsociable - hardly an Italian trait at all - I'm sure his grandmother isn't impressed by him and certainly is wishing they didn't rely on her name or reputation as she was actually loved by everyone!

By the time I was done writing this one - I changed it to a two star as the atmosphere the grandson created was anything but family!