If you’ve heard about Raw Bistro and are curious whether it could be the right raw dog food for your dog, this review will help you decide.
As demand rises for fresh, natural diets for dogs, boutique raw food brands like Raw Bistro are gaining popularity.
And you can see why.
With their focus on single-ingredient frozen and freeze-dried recipes, Raw Bistro makes wholesome raw nutrition much more convenient.
But should you take the plunge and order a case? Is this a switch you should make?
In this article, I hope to provide an unbiased look at what Raw Bistro offers including their range of foods, ingredient quality, and general ordering process/experience.
My goal is to arm you with all the information to determine whether committing to Raw Bistro is the right choice, and best match for you, and your dog’s needs.
Short on time? Here is my Raw Bistro Dog Food Review:
Quick Verdict
Raw Bistro Dog Food is a great option for premium raw dog food, however I actually recommend WeFeedRaw instead.
WeFeedRaw can offer highly-customized raw nutrition, to meet your dog’s bespoke and unique needs, without Raw Bistro’s bulk-buy requirements.
And unlike Raw Bistro, they offer free shipping. Straight to your door.
What Food Does Raw Bistro Offer?
Raw Bistro provides a variety of thoughtfully formulated raw food options for dogs including:
Frozen Raw Dog Food
The foundation of their offerings is Raw Bistro’s selection of frozen raw dog food recipes.
These frozen complete meals feature single-source proteins like beef, turkey, chicken, or fish as the key ingredient.
The protein is paired with a blend of organic fruits, vegetables, and other wholesome farm-fresh ingredients to create balanced nutrition.
The frozen raw foods provide the convenience of portioned, ready-to-thaw raw meals.
Dehydrated Raw Dog Food
In addition to their frozen raw offerings, Raw Bistro has a line of dehydrated raw dog food as well.
These dehydrated recipes use the same high-quality ingredients as the frozen foods, but the moisture is removed to create a shelf-stable formula.
To serve, owners simply add water to rehydrate the food.
Organic produce like veggies, kelp, and flax provide natural sources of enzymes, fiber and antioxidants.
The food is carefully dehydrated in Raw Bistro’s own USDA-approved facilities. There are no artificial ingredients added.
The dehydrated recipes offer convenience for travel or when frozen raw food storage is not possible.
Limited Ingredient Raw
For dogs with allergies or sensitivities, Raw Bistro prepares limited ingredient raw meat grinds too.
These feature a simple formula of 100% meat from a single protein source.
The grind contains muscle meat, organ meat, ground bone, and cartilage to balance the nutrition.
These limited ingredient grinds provide hypoallergenic raw nourishment.
What I Like About Raw Bistro Dog Food
Raw Bistro has earned a positive reputation thanks to several key strengths in their approach:
Protein Options
First, Raw Bistro offers a great variety of single-protein frozen and freeze-dried recipes to choose from.
Formulas feature specific proteins like beef, turkey, chicken, lamb, or bison as the key ingredient.
This makes it easy to find a recipe focused on a particular protein your individual dog thrives on while avoiding any proteins they don’t tolerate well.
Their lineup allows you to serve flavors your dog loves while optimizing nutrition.
Highest Quality Sourced Ingredients
In addition, Raw Bistro also spares no expense when it comes to their ingredients.
Their proteins come from ethical sources like 100% grass-fed beef from family farms that is free of antibiotics and hormones.
They emphasize organ meats like liver and kidney which provide vital nutritional components.
Raw Bistro incorporates organic, GMO-free fruits and veggies rich in antioxidants and fiber.
Their focus on premium ingredients results in superior nutrition.
Uncompromising Quality Control
Another major advantage of Raw Bistro is their meticulous quality control.
All their raw food is crafted in small, custom batches at their own state-of-the-art facility in Minnesota.
This allows hands-on monitoring unlike mass production. Raw Bistro has rigorous safety standards in place including Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures, Good Manufacturing Practices, and a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points program.
Their quality control model ensures you receive the safest, freshest raw nutrition possible.
Timely Nationwide Shipping
Finally, Raw Bistro has invested in systems to allow fast shipping of their raw foods anywhere in the US.
Ground shipments via UPS typically arrive within 1-4 days, with priority placement on keeping frozen items frozen.
The packaging is designed to keep food frozen or chilled throughout shipping.
This allows you to conveniently get Raw Bistro’s recipes on a regular basis for your dog’s needs.
What I Don’t Like About Raw Bistro Dog Food
While Raw Bistro excels in some areas, there are a few potential drawbacks to their offerings:
Forced to Buy In Bulk
One major annoyance is that Raw Bistro primarily sells their frozen raw food options in large bulk case quantities.
Most of their frozen items are only available in cases of 6 bags per case.
This means you have to commit to buying a full case worth of product without first being able to try a smaller quantity to see if your individual dog will even tolerate the recipe well.
If your dog ends up disliking the formula or not handling it well digestively, you could be stuck with an expensive case of wasted raw food.
The inability to purchase smaller trial sizes first is frustrating.
No Customization
Another limitation is that Raw Bistro does not offer any meal plan customization or bespoke recipes tailored to your unique dog’s needs.
While their recipes are high-quality, the nutrition is still generalized one-size-fits-all rather than optimized for your dog’s breed, age, activity level, sensitivities, or other individual factors.
Personalized plans make more sense nutritionally.
Costly Shipping Fees
Finally, Raw Bistro charges shipping fees for delivery of their frozen raw dog food, which can add substantially to the overall cost.
They do offer free shipping on some of their largest case sizes of 24 pounds.
However, standard shipping on their smaller 3 pound cases costs $15-$20 per case according to their website. Two-day air shipping is a flat $25 per box.
For dehydrated foods, shipping is $4.99 for orders under $49 or free over $49.
So budgeting for ongoing shipping costs is necessary with Raw Bistro unless you exclusively buy in high volumes.
The shipping fees make frequent purchasing cost prohibitive.
Final Verdict on Raw Bistro
Overall, I am very impressed with the quality and nutrition provided by Raw Bistro’s raw recipes.
Their rigorous quality control and focus on premium ingredients results in fresh, nutrient-dense raw food for dogs.
However, the inability to purchase smaller trial sizes first and the expensive shipping costs make sticking with Raw Bistro on an ongoing basis cost a little challenging.
Their lack of customization is another downside for dogs with unique nutritional needs.
Given the challenges of forced bulk buying and frequent shipping fees from Raw Bistro, I think fresh customized meal plans from WeFeedRaw are a better solution for most dog owners.
With WeFeedRaw, you can get a personalized meal plan tailored to your individual dog’s breed, age, activity level, sensitivities and other needs.
Their formulas are PhD Nutritionist formulated to optimize nutrition for your dog. WeFeedRaw offers more affordable shipping, with free delivery on all orders.
For fresh raw nutrition tailored specifically for your dog and budget, I highly recommend visiting WeFeedRaw over Raw Bistro.
You can do that, by visiting the WeFeedRaw website here, and taking a closer look.
You’ll be pleased you did. Believe me.
Related guides:
I am an experienced pet owner with decades of experience owning a number of different pets, from traditional pets like dogs and cats, to the more exotic like reptiles and rodents. I currently own a Cockapoo (pictured) called Bailey. I am also the main writer and chief editor here at Pet Educate; a site dedicated to sharing evidence-based insights and guidance, based on my vast pet ownership knowledge, experience, and extensive research.