6 Overall Rating - The Brickery 4/8/11

6125 Roswell Road Northeast
Sandy Springs, GA 30328-3905
(404) 843-8002
http://www.thebrickery.com/

Friday night dinner with Chris, Julie, Aubrey & Greg

Ambiance: 5
Opened in 1992, this family-operated eclectic restaurant is one of our regular neighborhood spots. It has a loyal following, as evidenced by its clientele. We've found that there's something familiar that keeps us coming back as well!

Food Quality: 7
We had the steak kabob, chicken fried steak, luchen kugel & banana pudding. Chris & Julie loved it!!!

The food isn't the healthiest, especially since many dishes are typical southern meals, but it's pretty darn good.

Service: 7
We usually have good service here. We enjoyed the owner, Bruce, stopping by our table and sharing some of the family & restaurant history. It's surprising how steady their business is. They draw an older early crowd or empty-nesters between 5-6:30p. By 7:30 - 8p, you'll find more families.

Value: 5
Prices are a little more than I would expect for a "regular local spot", but I do like their weekly customer specials which makes it more affordable. If you sign up with them, you'll receive an email each week which will include a discount on their weekly special.

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.

3 Overall Rating - Platinum Blue Sushi 3/31/11

Lindsay and I stopped down here for an impromptu dinner. There was an unpleasant odor at the bar, so we chose to sit at a table. The restaurant was empty, which was surprising for a Thursday night, especially considering how packed the parking lot was that night.

Overall, I found the food to be disappointing. It was average at best. The eggplant appetizer tasted like watered-down hummus. We didn't stay for dinner after the poor start. I can see this being a decent place for a quick happy hour, but wouldn't recommend eating here.

10 Overall Rating - Woodfire Grill 3/24/11 (see bottom for add'l comments)

1782 Cheshire Bridge Road
Atlanta, GA 30324
(404) 347-9055
www.woodfiregrill.com

Dinner with Amy
This was Amy's suggestion, having heard about it from Michelle & Sheila.

Ambiance: 9
Surprisingly spacious. They make great use of the long dining space. Some artsy influence with a pleasing noise level providing a comfortable, yet energetic experience at the table.










Food Quality: 10
Unfortunately, there was not much on the menu that appealed to me. Woodfire Grill is another one of those farm, organic-themed eateries. As evidenced in earlier blogs, I'm not a big fan of these restaurants as they tend to be overpriced and are not that satisfying. I opted for the Chef's 5 course meal, and boy, I wasn't the least bit disappointed with my choice! The experience was truly fantastic! If I had to criticize one thing, it's that the entire table has to participate in the 5-course or 7-course meal. Luckily for me, Amy was all game! This can be a pricey option, but if you're a foodie, then it's well worth it. Everything was deliciously prepared. I loved the artful presentation and creative use of ingredients. Their pastry chef did a wonderful job with her homemade breads, offering a variety of breads in their bread basket, all of which were fantastically moist.

Amuse: compressed celery root with lemon marinated raisins, pecan aioli and micro celery.

First course: olive-oil poached florida rock shrimp, first of the season snap beans, roasted golden beets, lemon emulsion, spring onions, sweet pea tendrils

Second course: pan roasted diver scallop, crispy red potatoes, local argula, spicy tomate frito






Service: 10
Our server was phenomenal. She was incredibly polished, eloquent and really connected with the food. They used a team approach to serve our table. Each plate was delivered by a different server who could describe every ingredient on the plate and could explain the preparation method used. The menu changes daily; they may use the same ingredients, but the culinary team will prepare the ingredients differently each night. I was impressed by how well the staff knew their dishes.

Value: 8
This was an expensive experience, but the food quality and service were worth the price.

Taste: chilled potato soup, crispy country ham, chives

Third course: wood grilled local quail and smoked pork belly, wood oven roasted farro, rutabaga, roasted beets with romanesco and cumin

Fourth course: wood grilled grass-fed colorado bison, roasted red potatoes, turnips, sunchokes, maple sweet potato puree, smoky greens, sage butter

Dessert: chocolate bread pudding, frangelico bavarian, coffee ice cream, hazelnut-cocoa nib crumble

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Follow-up visits:
I've been back to Woodfire Grill twice since March 2011, once with Becky and another time with Don. In both cases, I was fortunate enough to have the same server (and had even put in a special request for her on my 3rd visit) and ordered the 5-course meal on all occasions. The service remains impeccable! However, my overall satisfaction with the food diminished with each experience. Perhaps it's because the first experience was such a pleasant surprise that it naturally received a very high rating; or perhaps the expecations were set so high that it's inevitably going to be disappointing from that point forward. Either way, the food quality would be as follows for the subsequent experiences:
2nd visit(Becky): 8
3rd visit(Don): 6

I would definitely still recommend the 5-course meal if you've never done this before. However, I did find that some of the dishes were very similar, if not the same, with each visit such as the quail and rock shrmip. Once you've experienced it at Woodfire Grill, I would suggest ordering off the menu the next time.

4 Overall Rating - Zen on Ten Asian Bistro & Sushi Bar 2/27/11

Zen on Ten Asian Bistro & Sushi Bar
1000 Northside Drive Northwest
Atlanta, GA 30318
(404) 879-0999
http://zenontenatlanta.com/

We stopped by Zen on Ten after several fun games of volleyball at Georgia Tech with Rod & Cheryl.

AMBIANCE: 8
They did a great job with their website. Was impressed with their modern decor and cleanliness throughout the restaurant.

FOOD QUALITY: 4
The Thai dumplings served with Panang curry sauce were very good. They were a little too spicy for me, but were quite delicious. For my entree, I ordered the Pad See U and it was absolutely awful. The entire dish lacked flavor, as if they simply tossed the ingredients in olive oil without anything else. I sent the plate back and ordered the Panang Chicken at the server's recommendation and was equally disappointed with this dish as well.

Everyone else seemed to enjoy their meals. Cheryl had the Chicken Lettuce Wraps, Rod ordered the Panang dish, and Greg had the Mongolian Beef. So maybe the spices from the appetizer killed all my taste buds...? Or maybe I'm just a tad bit more critical and a pain in the "you know what"!

SERVICE: 4
Mediocre service, but I think it was due to the fact that they were understaffed.

VALUE: 3
The Thai dishes were fair, but the sushi menu seemed overpriced for the location. Although Zen on Ten did a nice job creating a Corner restaurant in mixed-use development, surrounded by a Crossfit gym, Smoothie King, Jersey Mike's sandwich shop. Although the attached parking garage is a nice feature, this restaurant is misplaced and wouldn't expect prices to be what they are.

3 Overall Rating - The Old Crow 2/26/11

The Old Crow Grill & Tavern
8540 Roswell Rd
Atlanta, GA 30350
(770) 998-9449
http://www.oldcrowgrill.com/

With Wade and Greg

Ambiance: 6
This convenient neighborhood tavern offers live music on weekends. Just opened in October 2010 with clean, upgraded bathrooms - big plus!

Food Quality: 2
For starters, we had their homemade potato chips w/Gorgonzola sauce. I'm not sure what happened to the sauce. The bland homemade potato chips were served on a plate with some chunks of Gorgonzola cheese half melted on top of the chips. The dish definitely needed the sauce.

I ordered the Greek salad. Disappointingly, they don't serve their Greek salad with Greek dressing. Instead, it comes with balsamic vinaigrette. The side order of their vegetable special, tomato casserole, was delightful. Rich with crumbled Ritz crackers, I couldn't indulge too much.

Service: 1
We were originally greeted by the friendly owner, but things started going downhill after that. Our server didn't take command of the table; she was too meek for this type of work. At best, she was an average server for the first half of dinner service.

After our entrees were served, she failed to keep waters refilled and then completely checked out at the the end. I went to the restroom after eating and when I returned, I intentionally remained standing at our table as an indication that we were ready to get our check and leave. Our server was behind us talking to another server and eating food at the bar. After several minutes, she went to the kitchen and we never saw her again. We waited another 5-10 minutes and then I finally asked the bartender for our check. When she resurfaced, she had the stupidity to tell us that she was in the back eating Girl Scout cookies and apologized.

Value: 5
Appropriately priced for menu and restaurant.

6.5 Overall Rating - Roxx Tavern Food & Spirits 2/25/11

Roxx Tavern - Food & Spirits
1824 Chesire Bridge Rd NE
Atlanta, GA 30324
(404) 892-4541
http://www.roxxfanclub.com/

Tema, Brian and Greg

Ambiance: 3
Casual, which was perfect for what we wanted tonight. Bar/restaurant environment. We sat outside in their covered patio area. Although there was an industrial quality heater/blower installed above us, we were very cold. We spent a good part of the night standing up near our table just so we could feel the heat blowing from the unit.

Food Quality: 6
Great menu with lots of variety! Absolutely loved the quotes scattered throughout the menu! Be sure to take the time to read them; they’re quite humorous. Tema and I were amazed by the number of creative salad options on the menu despite all the other “not so health-conscious” items offered. There’s definitely something on the menu for everyone, whether you’re trying to watch your calories or seeking a little grease or just something heavier.

We shared an order of fried pickles…interesting:-0.
Tema ordered the Roman Holiday for her entrée, one of the many house favorites according to our server. I treated myself to Fish & Chips, which was average, but I did especially like their cole slaw & tartar sauce.

Service: 10
Our server was quite fantastic. He was very helpful with recommendations, patient & friendly. We received prompt service and all but one drink request were responded to with great speed. I appreciated the efficiency with which they operate!

Value: 8
Good value. There were several low-cost items on the menu. Split appetizer, 2 cocktails, 2 entrees for $54 (including tip).