Food 101 Bar & Bistro - Fine dining restaurant in South Hadley - 19 College St #10, USA

Made reservations for a special occasion. Never received an email confirming the date/time of the reservation. Ended up calling the restaurant the evening prior to confirm date/time. When they confirmed, they stated the party size and the time. Day of reservation, our full party arrived on-time. The hostess rudely stated that our reservations were for an hour after we arrived. We had confirmed the reservation date and time the night before. The hostess continued to rudely state that our reservations were for the later time and told us that ‘there’s nothing we can do for you.’ When we asked for a manager, the hostess rebutted with ‘the manager would just tell us the same thing’… that there’s nothing that they could do for us. We ended up sitting at the bar until they could take us. The bar tender was quick, she made us our drinks but wasn’t friendly. Once our table was ready, the hostess came over to use and again was rude and told us that our table was ready and wondered if we still wanted it. We were then seated at our table by our waitress. Our waitress wasn’t too friendly at first, but became somewhat more friendly as the evening went on. All in all, the food was excellent. The atmosphere was a little too dark and cold (as there’s a lot of windows and they were cold from the outside.) The service leaves a lot to be desired. When spending over $500 for 6 people to eat, the restaurant’s customer service should be better. It clear that Food 101 does not care about the customer’s experience.

Absolutely awesome. The salmon and lobster chowder was the best I have ever had. Entrees were also excellent. Highly recommended.

I enjoyed the food and atmosphere here at Food 101. The scallops were fresh, and the pork was tasty. I especially loved the wide cariety of appetizers. If you live in Western Mass, and are looking for a nice meal, this is the place.

A really delicious meal— can’t complain at all. Everything was cooked perfectly and really tasty. The service was superb. Definitely will return next time I’m in South Hadley, such a nice dinner.

From the moment I contacted them, they were responsive and accommodating. They even offered to refrigerate my daughters bday cake before they opened for business that day! The quality of their food is exceptional, the wait staff was wonderful,we couldn’t of been happier.

The food is quite good, but it is comically overpriced and the service is truly bad. The waitstaff have no idea how to manage a table, regularly and rudely interrupt diners mid-sentence and have no tact whatsoever. They appear rude and indifferent. Often what sets a place apart is not the food but how well trained the waitstaff are at interacting with diners appropriately, and to get away charging these prices, Food 101 should really train waitstaff to know the basics of how to wait tables

Wow! What a culinary gem to be found in this sleepy little town in Western Mass. Incredible food. Fresh ingredients. 1st grade service. Definitely a 5-star dining experience. I hope we find our way to this part of Mass. again just to get a chance to sample more of Food 101.

Far and away the absolute best food and service in the valley in this price range. The beautifully trimmed beef filet melts in your mouth, perfectly seasoned, done exactly to your specifications. I've enjoyed it dozens of times and it's never varied, except pricewise, which is always comparable to other establishments. All other offerings are equally superlative, the winelist is varied and not overpriced like most, strong pour on drinks Food 101's chef is exceptionally talented, and the waitstaff are consistently well trained. Don't miss an opportunity to dine in this special place. Update: one year later still our favorite, for perfectly executed delicious food, extremely professional and personable service. Two new apps deserve accolades - the crispy shrimp (6 jumbo) and the lobster salmon chowder.