Amazingly Compact with a Few Small Drawbacks
February 20, 2020
I was very excited to have the opportunity to try out this high chair as part of the Stellar Product Testing Panel.
Literally the first words out of my mouth when I unboxed this high chair were, "Wow, I can't believe how compact this is!" I wouldn't say the folding/unfolding was totally intuitive, but after reading the manual, it was very easy; just as you would expect from BabyJogger. I almost want to just keep this in the trunk of my car just to have since it folds up so small.
The overall look of the high chair is very modern and stylish with the black and gray coloring. The fabric of the chair looks very nice and so far has been easy to clean, but I can see where stains from foods like tomato sauce could be harder to get out since it's a darker heather gray color. I had no problem wiping off yogurt, banana, and chicken soup. Luckily removing the fabric for a real scrubbing it not difficult at all - a few clips and snaps.
The City Bistro is definitely a smaller chair, (compared to a Peg Perego Siesta that I also have) but that's the trade-off for a much smaller footprint. I was worried that my son would not be as comfortable in the City Bistro as he is in the Siesta, since he is a very large baby (off the height and weight growth charts), but he still had room on each side of the seat as well as room on the chair back. It looks narrower than it actually is.
The best feature for me about this highchair is how small it folds up, even with the tray attached, and that you can pick it up with one hand. It makes moving it around for storage very easy. I actually put it away in our coat closet when it was not in use.
Some drawbacks for me were the breakaway harness buckle (the pieces never stay attached for me, so I always have to fit the pieces back together before being able to clip the harness straps into the buckle which is hard with a wiggly baby), the footrest fold (it's pretty stiff to fold the footrest up and down into the eating and storage positions. I was looking for a button to push to adjust the footrest, but there isn't one, you just push/pull it down/up and I feel like it could break after a while), and the way the tray attaches to the chair (it's not very smooth and I was always second guessing if the tray was actually locked into one of the 4 locking positions - I always tug on it to make sure it's actually locked into one of the four holes).
Overall I think this chair is great if you are tight on space or you are constantly eating in different houses or areas of the house with baby. It's so easy to unfold, fold and store the City Bistro. I honestly may keep this in my car for when we eat at grandma's or a friend's house rather than putting my son in a booster seat, which he's not as sturdy in. If you are thinking about buying this chair, just also know it does not recline, so you would not be able to put a young infant without good head control in here to have a bottle.
This product review was collected by the manufacturer.