bistroMDReviews of bistromd.com

Horrible customer service and communication regarding how to work with the plan. If you don't read every email they send you within 24-48 hours you will be charged and you will have no choices. I only signed up on Monday - received my account information on Tuesday - and by Thursday I was being shipped a $140 (discounted) box of food with NO INPUT based on what I like and will eat. Sent emails, left phone messages and called directly - no answers were concise and consistent. At $170-$210 per week - this kind of "service" is too expensive for the average person. There are other programs that win out.

I was told if I customized by a certain day I could get what I wanted. However I got shipped random things that I can’t even eat due to allergies.

You sent me food I'm allergic to, i.e. shrimp which is on my list. I've lost faith in your company

After reading the descriptions of the food and viewing the raves about flavor and the many options - and true, there are many options and a variety that should satisfy any appetite and reading some of the testimonials, I decided to give it a try. I recognized from the onset that it was very expensive - $30+ a day - making each meal over $10. If it was as wonderful as purported, however, I was willing to try. The ordering process was simple, I felt, and the order arrived promptly as promised. So far so good. The first shock, I guess I would say, is that the box arrived with massive amounts of padding - several feet of 1.5" fluffy blanket like pads - with no instruction about being able to re-cycle. I still haven't found out whether or not it can be recycled. The food was attractively packaged with an instruction sheet about each days' menu. The problem is the print is so fine and the ink so pale, you need a magnifying glass to read the information. The brown cardboard covers also have green print so fine that you need a magnifying glass to read the prep instructions - seriously, the font is so tiny I had to get a magnifying glass to read the teeny amount of time to microwave. The food which looked so inviting, so appetizing was a HUGE let down. If I were asked one word it would be bland. A second word would be tough. Seriously bland. The portions are ample, so no issue with that. But the lack of any spice, the promise of flavors that simply were not there, the "gravy" which was like water were just some examples. There were only 4 out of 20 meal items that I could say were acceptable. The others I ended up throwing out about half of each meal - sad. A summary of the food: Breakfasts - the eggs were tough and rubbery. The crepes were tough and flavorless. The crepe fillings bland - mushroom filling - no mushroom taste; cinnamon filling - no cinnamon flavor. The sausages were rubbery and tough. The only thing that was tasty were the berry compotes. The only breakfast that was decent was the oatmeal. But overall, a grade of "F" Lunches and dinners - the flavors were bland. No mushroom or marsala flavors in the pork tenderloin entree; no garlic or prosciutto flavors in the mashed potatoes; the jerk spiced chicken was the one item that was way overly spiced - and the unappealing flavors hung on way after eating. Chicken Cordon Bleu - bland. The ham was pulverized like from a processed can of ham; no cheese flavor whatsoever - no slice of ham, no slice of cheese - just a mast stuffed in the chicken. The chicken itself was tender however, and the portion size good. Breaded catfish - bland. The tartar sauce boasted as homemade was watery and bland - not even close to a normal tartar. Garden marinara chicken lasagna - where was the chicken?? No chicken flavor. None. Hickory smoked pork - too much artificial hickory - again, one of the only entrees that had any flavor and that was so overwhelming, you couldn't get rid of the smokey taste for hours. The only 2 entrees acceptable were Meatloaf with honey bourbon glaze and the Chicken Rice Casserole - both had flavor, good size portions, tasted like the description. This wasn't everything, but a good sample of what is meant by bland and tasteless - or in the 2 cases, over the top. Overall rating: "D-" Snacks - the bars were tasty I feel. The 2 different jerkey were just ok. The cheesecake was quite good actually - chocolate espresso - problem was, very nice chocolate flavor, zero coffee flavor - overall rating "C" Healthy eating?? The biggest shocker was the amount of SODIUM and CHOLESTEROL and SATURATED fats in the food!! MASSIVE amounts - not acceptable at all. Chef Prepared and factual? For a plan to be chef prepared - leading one to believe of somewhat gourmet quality - and then "MD" leading one to believe these would be HEALTHY choices from a medical perspective, when with the fat, cholesterol and sodium contents of most of the entree items ARE NOT very healthy, I believe the advertising to be somewhat misleading if not actually false. Anyone planning to look into this eating plan needs to carefully review all the labels and also to read the significant amount of negative feedback this plan receives. I should have been more careful, but maybe this review will help others make a more careful decision. One other piece of information: While I didn't experience this - because after the first meal, I went online and cancelled the next 2 shipments pending my review of the rest of the food - and then I cancelled entirely - several others have complained about difficulty in cancelling due to deadlines and accounts being charged without authorization. I am not validating any of these claims, just something to be aware of.

Meals are not consistent in flavor. Company often substitutes meals which is not ideal as you often pay for choices you didn’t make. Not a really consistent meal service

The food came late and was mostly defrosted. I wrote to the company to complain and was informed they would get back to me. That was almost 2 weeks ago and I have yet to hear anything.

Overall I like the idea of getting a meal made for me by a dietitian to my door and am willing to pay a little more for this, but BistroMD's prices are way too high and their service is not as advertised. I expected to talk to someone who would learn about me, my eating habits and learn my nutritional needs. Instead, I get a meal program like any other that is impersonal and made for the masses. How can a dietitian make meals specifically designed for me when they know nothing about me other than my sex and date of birth? On top of this, you want to charge me $200 a week for this plan. This is way too much money for the services you are providing. In reality, I can get another meal plan for half that price and use the free App "My Fitness Pal" to get the same computer advice and the ability to watch what I eat. I am extremely disappointed. I think there is a need in America for a program like this, but unfortunately, BistroMD missed the mark. IMHO the meals and "service" are not worth their exorbitant $200 per week fee and I think they know this. Hopefully, they will fix their model and let see if this review is even published on their website or will they delete it.

Inadequate is a great word to use for these meals. They taste pretty good, but BistroMD considers what are mostly 200-300 calorie prepackaged meals “entrees”. Paying $10+ each for what is considered a snack is not ok! If you eat their meals 3 times a day, you’d be totaling between 800-900 calories per day. Completely unsustainable, and overpriced. In addition to the above, I received meals I didn’t order, and plastic containers broken upon arrival. Buyer beware.