7 Overall Rating - Restaurant Eugene 4/1/11

Restaurant Eugene
2277 Peachtree Road Northeast
Atlanta, GA 30309
(404) 355-0321
http://www.restauranteugene.com/

Ambiance: 10
Our 5 year anniversary dinner! Restaurant Eugene offers the perfect setting for out celebration. We were seated in a cozy round booth and greeted with a personalized dinner menu, congratulating us on our 5 year anniversary. Very clean, comfortable dining room.

Food Quality: 6
A creative pastry, but it didn't seem fresh.
We ordered the 5 course wine pairing. It's always a treat when you don't know what the chef will be sending out next!

Our 1st plate was peter's point oyster (clabber cream, caviar) which tasted like cottage cheese placed on top of raw oyster

For our 2nd dish, the citrus cured trout tartare (green onion minced fennel relish, grapefruit, buttermilk, benne wafer). Initially, the flavors reminded me of french onion dip, but by the 3rd bite, the combination of all ingredients came together in a beautiful and refreshing way.

The 3rd dish was their english pea agnolotti (crisp shallots, lobster, preserved satsuma, micro broccoli, lobster nage) Initially, I found this to be an average dish. My last two bites were pungent, however. I didn't feel that the flavors worked well together at all. Greg enjoyed it though, describing it as a local, affordable island dish.

Our 4th dish was the herb crusted atlantic halibut (creamed red peas, toasted farro, lacinato kale, coffee smoked onion glaze). Unfortunately, the halibut was overcooked and dry. The salted toasted kale was good, similar to dried seaweed. The puree itself added nothing to the plate other than texture and decor. The flavors did blend well, but because the fish was overcooked, the dish needed a sauce or more puree.

Next, we had the iron skillet painted hills beef ribeye (king trumpet mushrooms, bone marrow, swiss chard, beet greens, fingerling potato & cippolini onions) Absolutely delicious! This dish was worth the mediocrity leading up to it!! Wow...mouth watering!

The next plate, quite honestly, we would have been better off without it. It was interesting to receive this cheese plate in this seq

uence. Oh my, I could hardly swallow the cheese. Strong is an understatement. Everything but the strawberries which were served on the platter was unpleasant. Overpowering.










The 7th plate, a pre-dessert, was some sort of vidalia onion creme brulee with vanilla bean ice cream. Umm, really? I think the kitchen's trying too hard. The sugar coating on the dessert and ice cream were fine, but it was hard to separate from the onion dumpling that was enveloped by the sugar coating. Again, not the best choice of ingredients.

The 8th plate served the hibiscus tea gelee (lemon pound cake, cocoa nibs, buttermilk sorbet). The combination of all ingredients mixed together creates a wonderfully cool and guiltless, yet satiating dessert experience.




And finally, our last dish (the 9th one). Shall we call it the post-dessert?

The pecan cookie was satisfyingly airy, sweet, light but yet rich. The almond marshmallow - dark chocolate flour light almond marshmallow, cakemix w/olive oil - tasted like baked sweetened flour

Service: 10
Impeccable service, but was stuffier than Woodfire Grill. Very accommodating, knowledgeable server. We were impressed that they created a special spiced rum drink just for Greg.

Value: 6
The experience itself was a great value, but we were generally disappointed with the food. Of all the dishes served, we enjoyed only the citrus cured trout tartare and iron skillet beef ribeye.