Back to Modesto
Burly's California Bistro - Steakhouse in Modesto, California

Burly's California Bistro

4.5 (181 reviews)

1219 N Carpenter Rd suite 5, Modesto, CA 95351

Bistro
American restaurant
Charcuterie
Hamburger restaurant
Pasta shop
Restaurant
Seafood restaurant
Steak house
Wine bar

About Burly's California Bistro - steak house in Modesto, California

Customer Review Summary

Overall, Burly's California Bistro offers a mixed dining experience. Many reviews praise the food quality, particularly the appetizers, cheese board, and entrees like the peppercorn steak and almond crusted chicken skewers. Portion sizes were considered generous, and the service received high marks for being exceptional and accommodating, even for large groups. However, some diners noted issues such as overcooked steaks and burgers that did not meet their requested doneness. A few reviewers expressed concerns about the freshness of the food and the atmosphere, describing it as bland and uninviting. Despite some negative experiences, many patrons are enthusiastic about returning, highlighting the restaurant’s good service and tasty offerings. Parking can be limited, and the location might be hard to spot.

Key Features

Service options

  • Delivery
  • Takeout
  • Dine-in

Highlights

  • Fast service
  • Great beer selection
  • Great cocktails
  • Great dessert

Popular for

  • Lunch
  • Dinner
  • Solo dining

Accessibility

  • Wheelchair accessible entrance
  • Wheelchair accessible parking lot
  • Wheelchair accessible restroom
  • Wheelchair accessible seating

Offerings

  • Alcohol
  • Beer
  • Cocktails
  • Coffee
  • Comfort food
  • Happy hour drinks
  • Hard liquor
  • Healthy options
  • Small plates
  • Wine

Dining options

  • Lunch
  • Dinner
  • Dessert
  • Seating

Amenities

  • Bar onsite
  • Restroom

Atmosphere

  • Casual
  • Cozy
  • Trendy

Crowd

  • Groups

Planning

  • Accepts reservations

Payments

  • Credit cards
  • Debit cards

Children

  • High chairs
  • Kids' menu

Parking

  • Free parking lot
  • Free street parking

Customer Reviews

Rating Distribution

4.5 out of 5
5
138
4
23
3
9
2
1
1
10
Based on 181 reviews

Kayla Tabaldi

6 months ago

Appetizer was very good, food was also pretty good. The pasta sauce had an excellent taste but my steak was slightly overcooked for how I ordered it and the gravy was just alright to me. But overall enjoyed it. The atmosphere (walls, decor, lighting) were pretty bland but the food on its own was good.

Gabriela Cadena

1 year ago

Loved the beer! Would return for beer and cheese board. The peppercorn steak was liked by my husband who rated it a 5, while i gave it a 3.5. The portions are great. Pro tip, the dinner menu starts at 4 so we missed the lunch menu by a few minutes. It's inside a little strip center so not very visible from the street. Seems like not a lot of parking available.lovely mural.

Brent Jackson

1 year ago

Can't say enough good things about this place Burley's Bistro. Went here for my Birthday dinner. The food was amazing we had appetizers, cheese board, Brussel sprouts, lamb meatballs, almond crusted chicken skewers. All of it was absolutely delicious. We had 18-20 people all of our food came out at the same time it was all hot fresh and delicious. We tried several different entrees and everyone loved what they ordered. They severed the kids first as they should have. Service wow I really want to express how wonderful our service was. These days you just can't find good service anywhere and to find exceptional service anywhere is unheard of. Well this place checked all the boxes of exceptional service. No one in my group had been there before with the exception of my son and every single person said they would be back. Excellent Food excellent service if you haven't tried Burley's Bistro you are missing out.

Rose Rose

10 months ago

Our food including our calamari appetizer was all so tastey . Alexandria was so nice and helpful a great first time there. We will be back! I will always bring someone new.

Rick Gaeta

Tried this place today. Very empty. That's never a good sign. I went with the reviews. The menu is small easy & simple. Service was excellent. When you order a Medium burger and it shows up well done? My suspicions are as follows. The food was not fresh. You can be the best chef in the world but without quality "Fresh" food everything becomes suspect. The food was not fresh so the eating experience was mediocre at best. Reflects poorly on management and or owners. Example? Texas Roadhouse that's busy all the time with a high turn over the food is fresh and you can taste the difference and the end result is a similar meal there will be better tasting and less expensive. Wife & I didn't leave feeling good. Felt taken advantage of. It wasn't a fair equal good value experience. Not sure if we will try it again.

Brian Landingham

My favorite restaurant in Modesto. Never had a bad meal here. Food is fantastic. Service by every staff member is great. Atmosphere is typical for a restaurant. Not loud and easy to talk to one another. Extremely clean. Cannot say enough about this restaurant.

Josh

6 months ago

This is one of my favorite 😍 Saturday Night Bar/Restaurant Mike's a Great Chef 👨‍🍳 👌 👍 😋 👏 🙌

Elianna Nielson

Service was excellent, wait staff were very friendly. The food, however, was very subpar. The house baked bread was bitter and almost chemically, and the butter they served it with was rock hard. The fries were pretty good, but the burger was burned on the outside and mushy in the middle (asked for medium). The chicken was cooked well, but the sauce had a really extreme lemon flavor (I like lemon, but the sauce tasted almost like lemon juice instead of a little lemon in the sauce). The flavors in all of the food were just really off and missed the mark. A lot of the food was bitter, like the seasoning or pieces of it were burned. Overall, while the service was great, we didn't really enjoy the food.

Location

Contact Information

Hours of Operation

Friday 11 AM–9 PM
Monday 11 AM–8 PM
Saturday 5–9 PM
Sunday Closed
Thursday 11 AM–9 PM
Tuesday 11 AM–8 PM
Wednesday 11 AM–8 PM

Price Range