Eat In Atlanta Blog

We decided to check this place out after our lovely dinner at Cafe Lily. It is very quaint with dark browns and reds as decor, embodying the essence of the whole place. We ignored the glass case full of chocolates and truffles to sit at a table under a chocolate covered cherry canvas.

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

We have been meaning to discover Decatur for quite some time now, and Friday night was the perfect night. We went with a couple of other friends. No one had really been out in Decatur, so we were not sure if the place would be empty. That was definitely not the case. I am pretty sure every table was full, but the place is pretty big so there was no wait. The ambiance was dark with a candle lighting each table…definitely could work for a date.

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

I had been craving a steak dinner for months, so we decided to go here for our anniversary dinner. We walked in and immediately loved the decor. The waiter helped describe it as cabin with a contemporary twist.

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

We went here with another couple who has quickly become one of our best tasting companions! They notice more things about the restaurant and have more comments than we do!

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

Roaches!

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