CityVu Bistro - Holland

For lunch on Christmas Eve, our family went to the CityVu Bistro in Holland, Michigan. The restaurant is about a year old and is located on the top floor in the City Flats Hotel. (note: top floor in Holland = 5th floor) It is a very sleek, contemporary building and prides itself as being a "green" hotel.

The view is quite nice, although with the 48 inches of snow that had fallen in December in Holland, about all you could see was white and brown. I'll bet it is stunning in the spring looking down at some of the nearby tulip gardens. It has a couple of little outdoor patios which I'm sure are popular in the summer time.


The menu is modern and features about a dozen flatbreads that are baked in a classy wood fired stove that is located in the front of the restaurant. I liked that the lunch menu lets you combine 2 items and have half of a flatbread, salad, or sandwich. I think the menu was a bit too gourmet for my folks - they had a hard time deciding what to get, but I enjoyed looking at all the unique selections.

My brother ordered a sandwich with turkey, pesto, roasted red peppers, and cheese. He said he enjoyed it. The chips were a nice added touch.


The folks had some kind of soup (can't remember what) and then a 5 cheese flatbread to which they added shrimp. I think they thought it was ok, it just wasn't the kind of food they were used to. The shrimp was a little bit spicy.


I had half of a tangy spinach salad - it had dried cherries and marcona almonds. I loved the marcona almonds - I need to try those on a salad at home! It was swimming in a bacon balsamic dressing which was delicious, but just way too much of it. I also had a wild mushroom flatbread with Boursin cheese. The flatbread tasted a bit "flat" (haha)! I expected a variety of mushrooms but I think there was only one kind (baby bellas?). They seemed to be simply sauted and then plopped down on top of the cheese. There was no sauce or much flavor to them. The flatbread was thin and crunchy, but needed toppings with more flavor. There were enough other topping choices on the menu, so I'd be willing to try another variety of flatbread.


Since it was Christmas Eve we indulged in dessert. Our waiter recommended the carrot cake and we weren't disappointed by it! It was a huge rectangle that was dense with currents and nuts and it was WARM! Then they served it with a side dish of cream cheese frosting, so you could add the frosting to each warm bite. What a genius idea!!


The service was attentive, although our food was slow to arrive. That may have been because it was right before Christmas and they were letting us eat a relaxed meal, which was fine with us. I especially liked the assortment of Harney tea they offered! And note, because it is a green restaurant, they won't bring a glass of water unless you specifically ask! Oh, and the flatware was very cool - I liked the long thin handles. SoI enjoyed eating here - it is a unique place for Holland and I'd like to try it out again sometime.