I only had drinks and an appetizer but the menu looks great and I'll definitely be back.

Have lived and / or worked in Kenai for many years. Always wanted to try The Flats Bistro. Before the review, a little history about me. Like a lot of people, I started working in restaurants from the age of 15. I was fortunate enough to work up high enough to train as an Executive Chef. I also was a Server and Bartender as part of my training so I appreciate the work restaurant staff perform. I always tip very well, even when the food or drink delivery is slow because I know it isn't the Servers fault on most occasions. The review: so sad to write this review, but this is Truth! ....After waiting almost 1 hr and 10 minutes (we had a reservation), for the first time ever in my life, I paid for our drinks and left. The menu looked awesome, I was excited to try the food. But we should have known the minute we walked in when we weren't acknowledged that either management or crew training was lacking. We were early for our reservation and waited patiently to be recognized but that did not happen. We stepped up and let the two people know we were early and would be happy to sit at the bar to wait. The staff talked and then seated us at our two-top. To be fair, let me also mention that my wife has been a Server for the majority of her life in the US and Caribbean. We both love and appreciate what Servers persevere through. So, we are seated and water is poured immediately. Cool. Then quite a delay for a server for drinks. She shows up, takes the order but it is approximately 15 minutes before we get our drinks. I am looking around at this not so large place where a lot of personnel are moving but nothing seems coordinated. I notice an 8-top to my right that has drinks and appetizer plates (never saw food) sitting and looking around. They are my baseline.... So we finally get the glass of wine and beer and are asked if we are ready to order. We know the gig....order now! So we order the Caesar salad, Beets, and 1/2 dozen oysters as our appetizer and our two entrees, thinking that this will help. We wait patiently (the restaurant was perhaps 70% occupancy in the middle of prime Salmon fishing) but I defer back to the statement that although people were moving a lot... not a lot seemed to be happening. After one hour and 6 minutes, we received on additional water fill up and one beer. The 8-top still had not received food. The 4 guys to my right were telling jokes and passing time but no food or extra drinks. After both of us took bathroom breaks, we decided to leave. We went to the Hostess station (which may also be their cashout station?), and asked for our tab. Miraculously, as we were pulling out cash for our drinks, the Server walks out with my oysters and the salad. She recognized that we were paying out and stated the restaurant was "backed up with orders". Give me a f$&@&$@ break. Really!!!! We paid, went to my local standby at Louie's Backdoor, got a full order of Halibut Fish'nchips with piping hot delivery in about 7 minutes. I have never left a bad review. I typically try to praise both the quality of Service and food. Not so in this case. I will never step foot in this place again and will tell all locals not to waste their time. If I could leave a less than 1-star I would. read more

The ambience was nice, the food was pretty good, but the service wasn't great. Her server forgot to put it in our order, so we had to wait extra long for our dinner. And then I felt like we were forgotten about, and we sat around for a long time after our dinner. read more

Damn Occasionally I feel challenged to be as eloquent as a restaurant deserves. Today!! I am a sushi snob. Why? It is quite difficult to craft individually strong ingredients into a bite that did balanced. It takes experience. Flats did that. Greeted warmly. Claudia!! The bartender/server was the best combination of smiles, personal chat, and professional service that is possible. Our beet forward orderve had a mild flavor with pistachios and a fiat cheese spread. Our kachemak oysters were fresh. The house salad had a medley of mildly pickled vegetables. The yellow eye fish was a white fish with large flaky sweet meat. My pork loin was the mouth melting art of the day. Jalapeño pepper slivers in the middle. ( like a sushi roll) Bacon wrapped A polenta bed supporting the loin What fantastic experience. read more

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Wonderful place! We were in town for the Kenai River Marathon and a local recommended this place and another restaurant. Cute interior with nice arts. There was a back deck that in the summertime would be very nice to sit that was closed for the season. They were able to fit us in late Saturday's evening. It was super crowded even though we came toward closing time. The oysters are tasty with a very mild flavor. The jalapeno sauce they come with is awesome. I had the Alaskan Spicy Gumbo; it was okay. The Spice was there but i felt something missing and the rice was a little dry. The husband enjoyed his cheeseburger. The fish and chips on kids menu was huge and fresh. Service was a little slow but they were busy. Would recommend and will come back. read more

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Great vibe, decent food. Was a busy Mother's day dinner rush but accommodating to small groups at bar. Friendly service. read more

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We've been dining at The Flats Bistro since they opened their doors many years ago. This place has become family over the years and their food is always beyond amazing. Every dish is beautifully plated, flavors are married perfectly and the staff are incredibly wonderful! Tonight was my son's birthday and The Flats was very busy. Yet somehow in the peak of tourist season and prime dinner time, our food was still beyond perfect, but the staff, especially Claudia (pictured) went above and beyond in making my son's birthday extra special. We absolutely love the Flats on every level! Thank you Flats for EVERYTHING over the years! read more

The Flats Bistro - American Near Me - Soldotna, Alaska

I was down in this area for a weekend, and cheated on Addie Camp; figured it was time to knock some other options off my list. Lucky for me I didn't regret this decision! The Flats Bistro is a nice spot to stop for a sit down dinner in the Kenai/Soldotna area. It's a cozy restaurant with a nice view of the Kenai River. The menu consists of a variety of cuisine so I think it's the type of place that can satisfy everyone in the group. They also have a full bar for those of us who indulge. We started off with oysters out of Kachemak Bay with a cranberry jalapeño mignonette & bacon wrapped dates stuffed with goat cheese. We really enjoyed the appetizers the dates were sweet, salty, crispy & cheesy. I'm a sucker for this simple appetizer. I also love raw oysters with a good mignonette to add some acidity. For entrees we ordered the sesame crusted seared ahi, and the pork belly bowl. I really liked the ahi, but wish it was a bit rarer. Also could've done without the fried onions on top of the ahi. I feel like they distracted from the flavors of the dish, and didn't add anything. I think it would've been better if they were smaller pieces. The pork belly was very flavorful, but could've used a tad more cook time to make it more tender. Pork belly is a tough meat if not cooked long enough. Overall the entrees were hearty, and a good sized portion. There's always room for dessert in our house so we ended the meal with carrot cake & a chocolate chip blondie sundae. I'm a big carrot cake fan, and this one was a bit different with no nuts (my preference), but lots of pineapple chunks. The pineapple in the cake added a nice flavor, but I do wish there was less. Overall if you're looking for a sit down dinner on the nicer end in this area The Flats Bistro is a great option! Addie camp is still my #1 in this area, but happy to know there are other nice dinner options. I also think this restaurant does a nice job of having more of a variety for different palettes! read more

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This is the best combination of amazing food and great service on the entire peninsula. The view of the flats is also pretty spectacular. We had a raspberry wheat from Kenai Brewing to start. It was delicious. We had the rockfish which was very delicious. It was almost like halibut. We also had the shrimp sliders. They were surprisingly sweet and the slaw was a great compliment. All in all a great dining experience. read more

The Flats Bistro - Rockfish and shrimp sliders - American Near Me - Soldotna, Alaska

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The plan for the evening was to eat small and bop around to several restaurants. We Yelp searched where to go for fish and chip The Flats Bistro had good reviews. The restaurant is nice, modern and clean with epic views. Service was okay. We got ignored a little sitting at the bar. It was a busy Wednesday night. The bartender had tables outside the bar and other people at the bar so it took a bit to get served. We ordered a 1/2 order of Alaskan Cod fish & chips to share and a spicy margarita. The fish was underwhelming. The coating was gritty and flavorless. It must have cornmeal in it. I tasted only the grit. The pieces of fish were small. I kept thinking isn't cod cheaper than halibut? Also isn't Soldotna a fishing town? Isn't it fishing season? Where are the salmon and steelhead fish and chips? Well maybe we ordered the wrong thing. We told the bartender we are from Oregon. A little direction of what to order would have been great. I usually ask but at this establishment with the stellar reviews I thought everything will be good. The Margarita was pretty good. The presentation was lacking but it was tasty. It was served in a bucket glass which seems dive bar'ish. read more

The Flats Bistro - Spicy Margaritas - American Near Me - Soldotna, Alaska

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Oh wow the food was just amazing !! I had the rock fish melted in my mouth with the squish rosetta. Hubby had the jalapeño pork he loved it. They had live music which we loved . Will be going back . read more

Went right during high season in Kenai and food ended up taking over an hour to get to our table! Food was good though along with the service and ambiance. Just waited way too long! read more

Walk in to get a eye roll about no reservation. On a Monday... and you can tell they thought we were from Anchorage or somewhere else... we've lived here for years and it was our first time here to finally give them a shot. Definitely never coming back. 20 mins to get oysters. A cold app. That's ridiculous. And currently at 50 mins waiting for entrees and they still haven't came out. Save your money, save your time, and your respect by not coming here. read more

My friend Dina and I were at the Duck Inn singing karaoke a couple nights ago and this very nice woman, Helena, sang duet with Dina and absolutely connected with her and told us she worked at the Flats and we decided we wanted to come to her restaurant. What sold me was the menu item bison meatloaf. We come with 4 of us for dinner on a Saturday night. No reservation we waited for maybe 20-30 minutes. Not too bad considering. Easy parking, nice decor gave a nice first impression. Beautiful patio area in the rear is where we waited for our table. We were served drinks while we were waiting. Great. The food? Amazing, spectacular, delicious. We ate Chinese style, ie we ordered and shared everything. Appetizer oysters on half shell. **** Smoked Rockfish and artichoke dip.***** Fish and chips. Cod. **** Spicy Alaskan Gumbo.***** OMG! this was an incredible dish. My favorite of the evening. Shrimp Scampi. ***** another incredibly delicious dish. Soup was asparagus and a great starter and finisher (bowl was a lot of soup). ***** All in all this was an amazing dinner outing for all four of us. I had not realized Kenai has some fine dining hidden away. They didn't have the bison meatloaf but no matter the other options well made up for that. read more

Came for dinner and it was fairly busy. Got a beet stack for an appetizer and the steak for the main entree. The food was amazing and the atmosphere was good. Only complaint was slow service which the waitress recognized and as a result comped the desserts without us asking. Will return and hope for faster service as 90 minute dinners isn't a norm for me. read more

The Flats Bistro - Beet Stack - American Near Me - Soldotna, Alaska

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Maybe it's just me, but the food options in this part of the peninsula don't really impress me. In fact, with the huge exception of Homer, I find most culinary options on the Kenai to be pretty mediocre. This place is a true *idiom about a valuable rare thing in a monotonous environment goes here*. I would have never found it were it not for Yelp. Just know that, despite the address being Soldotna, it's practically in the town of Kenai. It'll take you about 25 minutes, round trip, to get here and get back to the highway. The food is very good, but very traditional. You won't find anything too innovative...with one HUGE exception: the jalapeno popper stuffed pork loin. If you like any of those ingredients, you will love it. Kudos to them for having lots of local beer options on tap as well! Just choose wisely. (again...I'm not super stoked on most of the Kenai Peninsula breweries...with the main exception being Cooper Landing) Service was definitely the highlight though! I had a beanie on that said "Yakima Valley Hops", and she asked me about it. I started talking about homebrewing and hops and she studiously took notes so she could talk more effectively about beer to future customers. I have never seen that before, it was incredible, give this woman a raise! (for our part, we were sure to tip her well!) read more

Can't beat this place for service and ambiance. It has a great, rather upscale vibe but it's still cool to show up right off the river after a day of fishing. The menu adjusts based on what is available locally so I was bummed that I didn't have the lovely beet salad from a few years ago:-). What we did have was really good. The smoked rockfish and artichoke dip for appetizer was very, very good. I had the chicken primavera. Considering all the other yummy things on the table I probably chose the least yummy off the bunch. It was still good:-). It was lovely to enjoy a good dinner, glass of wine and great company. We'll be back. read more

I visited The Flats Bistro once before today several years ago and wasn't blown away with the offerings or the quality of the food, so even though I came to Kenai once a month for two years, I never stopped in again. The restaurant has a beautiful location and wonderful art hung on the wall, so needless to say I was disappointed. However, when I heard that my friend was now the chef and had changed the menu, I knew it would be worth checking out again and guess what, I WAS RIGHT! Chef Todd offers The Flats so much with his culinary skills, they are truly lucky to have someone like him in the kitchen. I am definitely not the only one who noticed either, as the place was pretty dang packed for a Wednesday night in mid December. I started out with the brussel sprout appetizer, I enjoy brussel sprouts a lot and it has never occured to me to combine them with bacon jam, pecans, and feta...but holy smokes it was to die for, quite literally the best way I've ever had brussel sprouts. For my main entree I has the shrimp and grits. Again, wow. I've never had grits so fluffy and smooth. The closest thing I can compare it to is like eating a cloud. The shrimp were cleaned perfectly and something that I absolute love is how the tails were removed! I know that a lot of places keep the tails on for looks, but it's a pain in the butt to take them off. The flavors were spot on. For dessert I had a pecan chocolate mouse pie which was so amazing. I waddled out of Flats tonight one happy camper. The Flats Bistro will be a must eat at restaurant going forward for me!! read more

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Citrus Chicken Salad & Cajun Seafood Gumbo are terrific: the salad is super fresh, chicken very tender, lots of fruit and veggies; gumbo was superb combo of seafood and spicy chicken + really large bowl nye impossible to finish! Wonderful vibe inside, absolutely fabulous mixed cocktails, just an excellent place to enjoy an amazing meal. read more

From the moment my dad and i walked in, we knew it was going to be a nice dinner. The hostess, Ashley, had a great smile and was so nice and welcoming. (The owner of the Alaska Lake + Lodge at Longmere made a reservation for us - good thing because place was very busy). We were seated and our waitress, Brooke, was probably the most friendly/personable server I have EVER had. She made us feel right at home. We enjoyed some bread and and then I had the Alaskan Gumbo. (My company is headquartered in Louisiana so I have had really good homemade gumbo there... this gumbo was the best I have ever had. Fresh okra, reindeer sausage, chicken, shrimp, rockfish, etc. mouthwatering!!! Dad had the Fish & Chips. Fish was good and French fries were crispy, but my gumbo was better. Vibe is fine dining in Alaska, but very relaxed, and comfortable. Would totally recommend this place. Can't wait to go back. read more

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This is such an amazing place with gorgeous views. Very quiet and cozy, but with very sophisticated dishes and lots of delicious drinks. We were pleasantly surprised with the visit. And the service is amazing! Definitely worth coming in again and again. read more

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Great service! Awesome food! Great atmosphere, Great drinks! Beautiful views! Very efficient and responsive staff.

I was stunned at how good the food was here. The bacon wrapped dates are a must order. Those in my party ordered the jalapeño pork tenderloin, the crispy pork belly, and the chicken pasta primavera. After leaving, we couldn't decide whose dish we enjoyed the best. Our server was so kind and even chased us down to return my friend's phone. If you can, make reservations before you go and ask to sit by the window. On a clear day, it's a once-in-a-lifetime view of The Flats. read more

What a wonderful restaurant Decor inside is stunning and great views of the flats Food was fantastic and we Thought reasonable priced Waitress was awesome and we even met the owner We would highly recommend this place Visiting from California read more

The ambiance was great, our server could have checked in on us a little more, took over 45 minutes to get our food for a small group of 8. The food was disappointing for the price, I had the burger and fries nothing special, burger was burnt and tasted like old fry grease. read more

Absolutely loved this place. We came here for dinner twice during our one-week stay in Soldatna. The pork tenderloin and bacon-covered figs were super good. Atmosphere was very comfortable and the service was perfect. I would highly recommend this place to anyone in the area looking for a nice and comfortable dine-in restaurant. read more

The food, service, and view was amazing. We had the stuffed pork tenderloin and pesto shrimp pasta was excellent. Will definitely go again when we come down next. read more

Oysters were kickin. Jalapeño berry mignonette that I could have just sucked up with a straw. Seafood gumbo was on point. Nice little patio with views read more

Delicious fare and enjoyable ambience. A must reservation while visiting the Kenai Peninsula.

Excellent food and service! It was hard to decide what to order because it all looked so good. We ordered two appetizers to share--the Mac and cheese and the bacon wrapped dates. Both were amazing. Main courses were just as good. My favorite was the pickled veggies with the salad--not to tangy, and perfectly pickled. Beautiful view and great experience. read more

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This restaurant was fantastic, easy and fast drive from kenai. The staff, food, views and drinks were wonderful. Don't miss this stop! read more

The Flats Bistro - Great view, ambience and food! Make sure to thank the kitchen staff, they rarely here the thanks. Easy and fast drive from Kenai. - American Near Me - Soldotna, Alaska

Amazing food and service. We had the bacon wrapped dates and oysters for apps and both exceeded expectations. I have the gumbo and my dining mate the rockfish. Both excellent. Highly recommend read more

We had a mixed experience dining here. I personally enjoyed my dinner, but my sister had a less-than-stellar experience. We did not have reservations, but were accommodated by the restaurant by being offered a seat at the bar. When a spot at a table opened up, they were kind enough to check with us and see if we wanted to move there. Good selection of Alaskan beers at the bar and quick service there. The food was mixed, as I mentioned. I got the New York steak which came with peppercorn sauce, bacon risotto, and mixed vegetables. Overall it was pretty good- I didn't enjoy the whole peppercorns in the sauce but overall I thought it was a satisfying meal. My sister got the fish and chips, which were... interesting. The fish was served like nuggets, which I've never seen before. They were breaded almost like chicken nuggets too. Fries were ok. I think there was a missed opportunity to do a nice beer batter to show off the fish. Dessert was disappointing. The lime cheesecake that my sister got had a distinct freezer taste to it and so did the lime drizzle. read more

The restaurant is gorgeous, as is the view. We had the beet stack appetizer to start. It was light and flavorful, beautifully plated. Next was the Jalapeño Popper Stuffed Pork Chop with succotash and popcorn grits. Perfectly seasoned and the bacon jam was amazing! The other entree orders was the chili lime ahi. OMG! So good! The food is truly delicious and the ambience can't be beat! Staff was helpful and very friendly. We split the crème brûlée, another perfect dish. Definitely a go to place for a nice night out! read more

Great place as always!! The food is always so incredible, and the service is never a let down!

Beautiful location with a modern Alaskan decor. We arrived early, but it was quite busy by the time we were leaving. I had the sockeye salmon special. It was absolutely delicious and the presentation was perfect. Service was great except they lost that one star because my husband asked for only tomato on his burger and got only onion. We will definitely return though and try some of their other menu items. read more

This was the best food we found on the entire peninsula - hands down winner! Good, atmosphere, and setting is all good. We sat near galley entrance/exit and watched all the deliciousness walk by from the servers. Although busy we were attended by our waitress and those in passing. It was a full three-course meal for us. For sure returning when in the area!!!! What a place!!!! read more

We had a wonderful dinner at The Flats Bistro! We loved the view and enjoyed their mai tais, smoked mac and cheese appetizer, ribeye stroganoff, and pasta primavera - all were delicious! The hostess and waitstaff were very friendly and the live music was a nice surprise. read more

The food was fantastic. It's an upscale, trendy vibe with a great view of the river drainage basin. Even though we didn't have a reservation (recommend), they were gracious and seated us close to a window with a view. Our server was attentive and friendly. read more

There were 5 of us. Food was amazing. There was an issue and the staff addressed it asap. 100 percent would recommend.