We got a wonderful table outside. The street noice was not too loud and the breeze was perfect. Immediately, warm Italian bread, olive oil and parmesean cheese was placed on the table.placed It could have been real easy to eat that bread for dinner

Instead we ordered two of their specialty pizzas for appetizers. We were not too adventurous-and went with the caprese and margherita. In case you are not familar with the two, niether have red tomato sauce-instead the focus is on the cheese. Everyone thouroughly enjoyed both pizzas. Their flavors were immense, but they were not too greasy/heavy.

Three of us ordered Chilean Sea Bass, which was a special for the evening. It was covered in artichokes and tomatoes and was accompanied by roasted potatoes. I honestly thought the sides tasted better than the fish, I think there was a tad too much olive oil that the fish swam in. Mitchell got the veal marsala, his go to Italian dish. He felt that the meat was a little rough/dry. As if we did not order enough food, we also got a side of spaghetti. The sauce was scrumptions-I literally scraped the plate clean–even when there were no noodles left.

Next time we go back, we will look into the mussels and salads for appetizers and be a little more adventurous with the pizza. Hey, maybe even get a pasta on the side. Either way-we will be back.

We went to FAB with Jenny’s parents when they were in town. It was MONSOONING outside when we went. That definitely made it difficult to gauge what the real scene would have been like on a Saturday night. For us it was a lot of conventioners and also couples. The restaurant has a good look to it with tall ceilings, an old-school kind of look. When you walk in, the circular bar is right in the front with flat screen TVs on all four sides. The problem is, the TVs are stuck on old French movies most of the time. Thank God the cool bartender let us check out the UCLA/Xavier game by going against the boss’ wishes and changing the channel. OK, sorry, back to the review. Anyway, the restaurant had a cool ambiance, nice decoration, cool bathrooms, etc. So the look of the place gets a double thumbs up.

Our waiter was not from the US of A. Very difficult to understand him and because it was loud, it was extra tough. By the end of dinner, however, we somehow began to understand part of his heavy European accent. Nice guy. We were starving when we sat down. We (kind of) made him bring us rolls right away. Delicious. It was really some of the best bread we all have had. They rolls were warm and the butter was soft.

Jenny and I immediately decided to go with the seafood tower with oysters, clams, mussels, lobster, shrimp, and crab. It was definitely plenty for two….hang on…back to the appetizers. Jenny, Mr. Menkes, and I got salads which we all thoroughly enjoyed. Mr. Menkes went with the filet and potatoes as a typical man’s meal and Mrs. Menkes went with skirt steak They both really enjoyed their meals and claimed that it was the best meal of the weekend. Jenny and I’s was the best though. I was extremely hungry and probably ate 75% of the platter, and I must say all the seafood was just REALLY good, especially in a land locked Atlanta. They also had a number of dipping sauces for the seafood including a flavorful cocktail sauce, and drawn butter.

We are definitely going back. Maybe you will be the lucky couple that comes with us. Oh yeah, the coffee was really good too.

My initial impression of Kyma was that I was a little disappointed in the interior of the restaurant. Except for the huge greek style pillars in the middle of the restaurant, there wasn’t much else that impressed me. It was all white and just didn’t have any WOW effect. Also, the seats were really hard, like sitting on concrete, which doesn’t make me or my bony ass happy.

Opening the menu, I was initially surprised at the prices. It was certainly pricey, from the appetizers to the salads to the soups.
We started with two appetizers that we all shared. The spanikopita and mussels in a saucey bowl were our choices. The spanikopita was good and was enough for 4 to share, but the $10 mussels that came de-shelled in this feta cheese sauce was not a good share dish with 5 mussels.

Now we must all understand that I am not a fish conossieur or even a fish eater, so this place did not impress me off the bat. Apparently, this is one of the best places to go for fresh fish. This was confirmed by Jenny and the rest of the fam, but I cannot comment here. I ordered the lamb chops. They were good, but again, not enough food for the $35 that they cost us. It’s a little after the fact that we are writing this so………………..let’s just say that the other three all got fish and agreed that they were all extremely fresh and were really good. Mr. Menkes took the waiter’s suggestion and really enjoyed it (actually, I don’t think we heard from him the entire time food was in front of him), so we should all trust the waiter’s suggestions at this place. Safe bet. Safe, like putting the Braves bullpen in charge of the game when we are up by one run. Safe, like putting Blaine Boyer in the game with runner’s in scoring position…….oh, nevermind, I’m just kidding. It is safe to trust the folks at Kyma.

Good people watching spot, kind of expensive, solid fish option, good waiters.

We headed out to Brookhaven on Saturday night to watch the Dawgs win themselves a spot in the NCAA tournament. We met up with some of our favorite people and ended up with a group of about 13. We were seated in a back room..fabulous! Two flat screen TVs, a little quieter and a fireplace.

I think most people know that this is not the place for a delicious meal–and honestly we are not sure if it was going to even make the blog. It is really not all about the food-but about the big TVs and the beer.

However, we thought we had to mention how that fabulous back room turned into a disaster. Some people had finished their meals, others hadn’t. There were definitely a few full pitchers of beer left on the table. All of the sudden, the channel was changed-and the Georgetown pre-game appeared. We were told that the room had been rented out and we had to leave. What?! There was food and beer on the table and the Georgetown game hadn’t even started yet!! We were all way confused, and our waiter was of absolutely NO help.

Luckily the Gtown fans were pretty decent-and we switched the channel back to the Dawgs–hurried up with our beers-and left to go watch the game elsewhere.

So in our opinion…Taco Mac it is…..

When we first arrived at six for the tasting, the place was empty. Good thing we decided to make reservations, because it was packed by the time we sat at 7:45.

I loved the decoration. Very simple, light colored walls and table cloths–mixed with dark wood chairs.

However, I did not immediately love the menu. A $26 hamburger, a $21 “fish and chips” dish and a pasta with chicken livers all definitely concerned me…

The table ordered shrimp and grits, crabcakes and duck with almond risotto. I must say all the dishes were fabulous. The shrimp and grits came in a big glass mixing bowl, and Mitchell counted over 12 shrimp in there-so that was exciting! The grits were cheesy and very rich. The crabcakes were wonderful as well-very little, if any, bread filling-leaving each bite full with tasty lump crab. I got the duck. It came as the chef suggested-medium. It was extremely tender and juicy with just the right amount of crisp on the skin. I must say the best part of the meal was the almond flavored risotto. It had an almond extract taste-more on the sweet side and it paired excellently with the duck.

I think we all ordered the best dishes Shaun’s has to offer. The menu is not gigantic–so with the 3 dishes that scared me a bit and the 3 dishes ordered, there are probably only 4-5 dishes left. We did thoroughly enjoy our meal–the service was on point and the atmosphere was pleasant.

We will probably not go back anytime soon–too much else out there. However, this is not to suggest that you shouldn’t put Shaun’s on top of your to go list, you should make it to this spot sooner than later. It’s just we got everything we needed and did not leave feeling that we are missing out on the wagyu meat hamburger…..

Shaun’s site

The waiter was young and definitely nice, but also inexperienced. Literally a minute after we had our menu he asked for our drink order..we needed a few minutes to figure everything out After we ordered a bottle of wine, he never once refilled our glasses. He was always a bit awkward, and didn’t add anything to the experience.

I am not sure if anything on the menu stuck out to any of us. We had a hard time deciding. The other girls opted to get an appetizer and a salad as their main course. I was leaning towards the salmon, but the waiter told me the trout was the best option. He seemed pretty confident, so I went with it..not sure if it was the best decision. Some of my bites had flavor, but the others were dry and almost tasteless. Also, polenta is one of my favorite accompaniments; however this polenta did not do it for me. Again, it was a little on the dry side.

The others had a spinach salad, fresh tomato and mozzarella salad, crab cakes, scallops and a cheese plate. Everyone enjoyed their dishes, but I do not think anyone will be running back. The best part of the meal was without question..the company 

Portofino Website

My parents came down on a Sunday to play a little Wii at the house and hang out. Obviously, the most obvious next step was a little family dinner in Decatur because the ‘rents hadn’t been there for more than 10 years. We decided Sage was the place for their menu choices and spot right on the square next to city hall in the middle of Decatur.

Walking into Sage it didn’t feel like anything special or different. It was a quiet night in Decatur so there weren’t that many folks in the restaurant. Hard wood floors, brick walls, simple bar, simple tables, nothing to write on a blog about….wait a minute….Anyway, we sat in a booth ordered some beers and because of our extreme starvation we ordered some hummus and pita chips. Satisfactory.

The problem with Sunday dinners is the fact that it is after the weekend and deliveries new food deliveries don’t happen until Monday at the earliest. Well, we were struck with this problem at Sage as a number of items were out. Not a huge deal as only one of our meals were affected, but a point to note nonetheless. The menu is southern based with all the typical sides of okra, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, etc. I ordered the meatloaf which was served with the obvious mashed potatoes, Dad got the Sunday special which included a piece of country fried chicken breast with white gravy that came with two sides and a side salad to start, Jenny got the halibut, and Mom got roasted chicken. We got a number of sides to share at the table.

My meatloaf was two huge pieces that should have fed a family of 3, but I took care of it…no problem. It was good, wasn’t like Mom’s at home, but it was good and I would probably get it next time I went back. Jenny’s halibut was good as well as she finished her meal, but they just weren’t meals that you can’t find at any other typical southern/american type place. You know what I’m saying here? It was all good (okra, gravy, potatoes, fish), but not one of a kind.

So we left satisfied, not poor, full, but our night was not over. We had to hit up the Oreos and Milk at Chocolate bar. See that review for more information, but FYI we cannot make a night of it in Decatur without making that stop.

If you are hungry for a hamburger-don’t go there! It is a 100% vegetarian restaurant, filled with organic and even vegan options. Mitchell was a bit confused on what to order, but our laid back hippyish waiter was willing to help. I ordered the black bean cakes and Mitchell got a stir fry dish with tofu.

I must say the black bean cakes were fabulous! The dish came with 4 or 5 cakes, grilled vegetables and coconut flavored sour cream. Every bite was filled with a great combination of spices. My dish was the winner as Mitchell took quite a few bites, which was totally fine because of the large portion. His stir fry was good, standard soy sauce seasoning, also a nicely sized portion.

I am definitely a bigger fan of the lunch menu versus dinner. None of the choices stood out to me for dinner, and I had a hard time choosing my lunch dish. For dinner I went with and eggplant lasagna dish and my friend went with the tofu fajitas. The lasagna was average, not bursting with flavor, no sides and on the expensive side. I took quite a few bites of the fajita dish, but the whole time lunch stood out to me as better.

I think the place is a great option when you are looking for a fresh, healthy, veggie meal!!

Cafe Sunflower Website

Jenny tried it once with one of her friends and came back totally disappointed with the rolls and the fish and the scene, however we decided to give it another go. The decision came because of so many recommendations from other people that raved about it.

We went on a slow night. It is very simply decorated with minimal decorations on the wall. The two of us sat at the sushi bar. We ordered our traditional house salads each and three rolls. I’ll be honest here…I can’t remember for the life of me what rolls they were. However, if you have read any of our other sushi reviews before, we aren’t the most savvy on which places have the BEST fish or most sophisticated negri or sashimi. We are simple roll people, who like a nice-sized roll (bigger than Taka, yet smaller than Typhoon) that tastes pretty damn good. This place covered both bases and also had pretty creative presentation with its rolls. We were extremely impressed from the house salad all the way to the rolls.

Great experience all around. Service was fine, prices were good, food was delicious. It’s moved to the top 5 sushi places in Atlanta to us…..

The waiter was very laid back and friendly. We took a few minutes to look over the menu, which consisted of different cheese plates, popcorn, nuts, wine and of course chocolate desserts. I had read the oreos and milk was the best choice, and our waiter confirmed it. I really can’t tell you how good this dessert was. Here is exactly what we ate: DARK CHOCOLATE SOUFFLÉS, WHITE CHOCOLATE GANACHE, MILK SORBET. That is straight from the menu, but it did not mention the sugar sprinkles that added a perfect amount of crunchiness to the dish.

I was describing the oreo over lunch today, and my boss suggested getting audio for this review, because reading these words do not accurately portray my excitement over this dessert. Maybe 9 bucks is kind of expensive for just dessert, but I promise you it is worth every single penny.

Oh, and by the way. Mitchell said they served the best coffee he has had in a while.

We will definitely be back to munch on the cheese, sip on some wine and indulge in oreo’s and milk.

The website

Our waitress was friendly. She let us a try a few kinds of wine before we made our final decision, which is a huge plus. We ordered a Mezze plate as an app-it had falafel, lamb, spanikopita, hummus and pita, plenty for four people to share. Honestly, everything on the menu looked great, so we all decided to make a decision and then share. The table ordered lamb braised with spices and potatoes that were somehow sweet on the side, chicken stuffed with prosciutto, grilled salmon steak and pork chop covered in a delightfully sweet/salty red sauce. Hmm-the best on the table–I think the consensus was the pork-but honestly everyone loved everything. That rarely happens.

We loved the atmosphere. It was crowded, but not too loud where everyone has to scream to be heard. The prices were extremely reasonable, everything was in the teens to low twenties versus the usual high twenties to thirties. Plus, the portion size was perfect. The only somewhat bad thing I could say is that nothing screamed out to us on the dessert menu…so that is why we walked over to Chocolate Bar…..but you guys should definitely check this place out. We are also meaning to go to Cafe Alsace, Feast, Sage and Eurasia in the Decatur area.

The website

We were not sure which wine to choose, so our waiter let us try a few. I love it when they do that! He ended up making a suggestion (based on our taste) that only came by the bottlle. We were not able to taste it, but we both really loved it.

Our waiter was very attentive and helpful through out the whole evening. He explained the menu well and helped us make some tough decisions (which sides to get). We ended up splitting the chopped salad over an onion ring as an appetizer. The kitchen split the portion for us. We then went with the Porterhouse for two and the mac n’ cheese, jalepeno creamed corn and the garlic spinach. I mean spinach is spinach, but honestly-the two other sides were delightful. Just rich and creamy enough without giving you a stomach ache.

As for the steak, medium style left the perfect amount of pink throughout. Every bite was tasty-not even sure if the filet or the strip tasted better. The only complaint was that some bites were a little charred on the outside. But all in all, it was the perfect amount and made us both very happy.

They tricked us by bringing us the dessert menu and then a few minutes later a chocolate cake for our anniversary. I am a huge chocolate fan and this was delicious. It had all the right combinations of the harder icing on the outside, and the moist deliciousness throughout.

We left feeling full but not disgusting. The service, atmosphere and food all impressed. We definitely recommend this place for a special occassion or just a great meal. Just be aware, reservations can be hard to get on a weekend unless you want to eat at 6 or 9. Plan ahead!!

The website

Let me start that we aren’t usually fans of the nice Mexican restaurants and would often choose to go somewhere and order a numero dos (or #2, for those that took French in high school) than eat at a fancy Mexican place. However, we are always up for anything. Anyway, we had reservations on a Friday night. It wasn’t overly crowded, good looking crowd. We sat right in the front next to the bar and the kitchen. I got a margarita when we walked in. It was good, better than most, but nothing worth writing in a blog about…..whoops. Anyway, we sat down rather quickly. They immediately served us chips and salsa, both of which were really good. The chips were not like the cheap crappy ones from Chilis, but were thick and hearty, like I like ‘em (no not like that). The salsa was spicy enough and had a good flavor. It was a good start.

The menu was large enough. It had a good amount of fish dishes and all the spicy Spanish dishes that you could want from burritos to beef medallions in chile sauce to Mexican rack of lamb. Main entrees range from $14 to $25, so it is cheaper than Rosa Mexicano, but is certainly no Cazedores. I ordered the burrito, looking for something more Mexican than Spanish and Jenny got the chili rubbed swordfish. The lady friend we were with got the salmon and the other dude got the beef medallions special. My burrito was just, “EH” and Jenny’s swordfish was really good. I should have gone with something more exotic because my plain Mexican burrito, was just that, plain and boring. Jenny enjoyed hers and our friends were pleased with their choices.

Service at this southwestern joint was ok, nothing out of the ordinary, which is just fine by us. Prices were reasonable. The place is tough to find if you are a suburbanite and don’t happen to travel by Oakland Cemetery too often. Agave is worth going to, but no need to full out rush. After coming back from Tempe, AZ recently, this place ain’t as authentic as it looks, but still not a bad place to grub.

Agave’s Website

Ok, just keep reading. I promise it’s a worthwhile review and a worthwhile restaurant. Even though we had an eventful evening at the cool Highlands spot, most of us had a pretty good meal. We had reservations as the younger brother was in town from school visiting. It was eight of us on a Thursday night and by calling ahead a week in advance, you can imagine, it wasn’t a problem getting seated. First off, their wine list is pretty darn good, and since I have been on a wine kick lately I went for a couple great glasses. I had a merlot/cabernet mix that was AWESOME. Really enjoyed it.

The décor of the place is simple, brick walls nice bar area, and a pretty small quaint restaurant. Good for dates and couples, but not really too much room for many more groups than the one that we had. Service people were nice, but that was too be expected with the friends that we encountered. =)

The menu is different. Lots of appetizers and enough pasta selections (which can be ordered as appetizers or entrees), but very few main entrée selections, with a couple seafoods and one entrée with each type of main meat. Made the selection process easy, but I like a little bit more variety and choices with my dinner. We started with plenty of appetizers. We got the grilled calamari, brushetta and salads around. I ordered the Caesar salad which was better than average and picked on the calamari and bruschetta. We had heard good things about the grilled calamari, but were not too impressed. It was a little too fishy for my liking and lacked a lot of flavor; however, we would certainly re-order the bruschetta and Caesar salad.

It was about this time that we all caught a glimpse of our first (and to find out later, only) little friend was crawling up the brick wall of the restaurant. Matthew (younger brother) proceeded to take his shoe and take care of that roach. We moved on to the main course.

I ordered the pork saltimbocca. It was DELICIOUS. The meat was so tender and wrapped in the prosciutto with the cheese on top made this an awesome choice. I ordered some pasta on the side to go with it and I enjoyed every bite of this dish. Jenny’s meal, however, was not so exciting. She got the swordfish again, and it was dry and totally uneventful. Not that it was terrible, but you would expect more from an entrée when the menu only has seven of them. Everyone else at the table seemed happy with their dishes, but you never know with the Reiners, they don’t often have grand opinions that they make known.

Then the mysterious companion showed up again. As Momma Reiner motioned to the wall, trying to silently let everyone at the table know that the roach was back without letting Jenny know, we all saw the roach was baaaaaack. As Mom was not too secretive with her newly spotted intruder, Jenny stood and awaited Matthew to really kill the fella this time. See, the first time, Matthew missed (the high school baseball player that he is) the roach and pretended it was gone so that everyone could go on enjoying their meals. Fooled us…..

Anyway, this was the last straw, and the manager proceeded to treat the table with a sampling of all the desserts and a free meal for Jenny. The desserts were fine, but the only one we would definitely recommend would be the bread pudding. It was delicious.

Overall, a mixed opinion with some good dishes and some not so good. Despite the infestation problem and the solid apology by the manager, we had an OK time at La Tavola. A good spot in a prime location at Virginia and Highland, but not worth dropping your bug spray to rush to.

Here’s La Tavola’s real website

Speaking of our waiter, he was not so fabulous. He took forever to bring my friend her glass of wine, forgot about bringing us our straws and made us feel stupid when we asked for some bread. He also messed up my sides, and was actually very unaccomodating when I let him know about the problem.

Listen, with so many great restaurants in Atlanta, this place is definitely not reccomended.

The lunch menu features Italian sandwiches, including: roasted veggies, fresh mozzerella and tomato, grilled chicken and eggplant with bacon and an egg on top. Pasta is the staple part of the menu. They are known for the dish stuffed with granny apples and sausage in a buttery sage sauce. We ordered that dish as an app–and everyone loved it. The sandwiches mentioned earlier were the orders for our table. I got the eggplant-it was delicious but maybe not the best for a client lunch because the egg was oh so runny. They all came on the same thick pieces of Italian bread, which stopped everyone from cleaning their plate–except for me of course

We ordered the tiramisu for dessert-which was good but did not overly impress anybody. I believe for dinner they offer a few meat specials, but as previously mentioned (and included in the name of the restaurant)-pasta is their main deal. I think this place would be great for a date..it is intimate, the service is extremely friendly and prompt and you are right there in midtown if the urge comes to go out when you have finished.

http://www.pastadapulcinella.com/

They have a pretty big menu with a lot of specialty rolls. As you may know from our previous sushi experiences, we are about the rolls, not the negri or sashimi, so we like this place for their abstract and different roll choices. Some of our favorite rolls: Florida roll, Happy Sumo roll, and Graduation roll. The House Special rolls are a little pricey in up over $12 a piece, but the regular Specialty rolls are OK priced under $11. The fish is good and fresh and the rolls are the right size…not HUGE (like Typhoon) or too small (like Taka).

Not much else to say about Sushi House. It’s a typical sushi place, without too much fluff, decent prices, nice staff, and relatively quick service. Sake is fine, not a huge number of choices, but enough to enjoy the meal. Great quick place that you don’t need a reservation for and can get good sushi. Period. I’m out.

Sushi House Website

We made reservations in the small restaurant and was initially concerned because we heard that noise was an issue at the restaurant. We requested a table that would be more quiet because of the group that we had. When we got there, the host was trying to require us to have all of our guests before he sat us, then he sensed that we were getting antsy so he sat us. Traffic was holding my parents so we went ahead and ordered a couple of drinks until they got there 30 minutes late. I have to admit that the restaurant was rather understanding (at the beginning) of the traffic issues. Once my parents showed up we got to ordering as we were delaying the late seating for the restaurant. For appetizers, we ordered, mussels (x2) and a sampling of a couple pasta dishes. FYI-Their pasta dishes are all available as appetizer portions or regular entree sized dishes. The mussels are enough to share for 2, were delicious in a creamy sauce, but rather pricey. We ordered the seafood risotto which was awesome and definitely recommended and also an eggplant dish that was good, but not nearly as good as the risotto.

For dinner, there were a wide variety or orders placed, with some ordering meat, some fish, some pasta. The definite hit of the night was the halibut. Jenny got it and everyone loved it because of its less fishy and awesome taste. My veal parmesean was very rich in taste as the cheese and sauce were absolutely delicious. The meat was juicy, but they may have fried it a little too much. I ordered a side of noodles and red sauce and it was nothing that would make you say WOW. Other than the halibut the rest of the meals were enjoyed, but nothing to absoutely rave about. The dessert menu is less than spectacular. We ended up getting some Chocolate “Soup” which was rich, but again nothing raving…….

Our dinner lasted almost 3 hours and they needed the table, so we were somewhat rushed out at the end. Obviously this was our fault for being delayed with traffic, but we still would rather not be rushed out of the restaurant. Service was OK and experience was OK. It was an expensive meal that was above average, but nothing spectacular. We will be looking for a favorite Italian place, still………….

It is located pretty far downtown, on streets I had never heard of before..Haynes and Walker. It is the Castleberry Hill area..again another growing area in Atlanta. They have a sushi place down there called Wasabi that I have heard good things about.

The space looks to be an old warehouse. It is huge and decorated with a lot of lights and plants. In fact, you can buy all the decoration at a store right next door. They give you free chips and salsa, which is a must to us for any Mexican restaurant. The salsa was unique, it almost has a chipolte flavor-but was definitely enjoyed.

I guess the menu is a little bit upscale Mexican. They do have some taco and enchillada dishes for around $10. I got shrimp stuffed enchilladas. The shrimps were tiny but plentiful and the amount of cheese on top would make anything taste good! My favorite dish I tried was chicken stuffed with poblanos and cheese. It had such an orginal flavor that was thoroughly enjoyed.

They have a good drink menu. Beware, the tequila shots are 13 bucks a piece-was not really expecting that. The server was pretty good-he did not having a problem splitting up the bill and was pretty attentive. He brought the cake out at the end without me having to ask-which was nice.

We went on a Tuesday night-so it was not too busy..but I could see great potential for long meals on their fabulous patio on nights closer to the weekend. If you feel like taking an adventure downtown-check this place out!

www.nomascantina.com