Carlos P.
Yelp
Visited with a couple of friends. The place is fairly new - opened about 8 months ago.
It's in a prime location in Gables' famed Miracle Mile (right at the west end of it) and there's a conveniently located public parking garage in back of restaurant.
Place is on the cozier side, but very chic and tastefully decorated - the feel is luxe. Aside from the main dining space and bar combination, which are small/medium sized, there's an ample outside terrace right on the strip, and a second floor private events room.
Menu is adequately stocked - a little bit of everything and something for everyone, even if you are a vegetarian (one of my friends is). While prices have a wide range, in general, they are from good to competitive, especially for the area.
We tried the French Onion Soup, the Pasta Vodka Love (pas de protéines - no protein), the Creamy Lemon Pasta (avec poulet - with chicken), the Chipotle Cauliflower Taco (l'option végétarienne) and the Churros Chimbombo pour le dessert.
The vegetarian loved the tacos, and I have to say they looked appealing - visually there was plenty going on - in a good way. I'm sure he'd rate them a 5 out of 5 from the response he gave me when I asked.
The Soup was good, but a little cold. They melted the cheese with the pot and hoped that would warm soup all the way through such a deep pot, but it was lukewarm inside - still, it was a decent soup and a large size, which for $14/18, it should be a sizeable portion (can't recall exact price but seemed pricey, so I'm tempted to say it was $18). It seemed to be made with a mushroom stock rather than a beef stock, but we asked and were told it was beef. I'd rate it a solid 4 out of 5.
The Vokda pasta was délicieux - chef's kiss 5 out of 5. We got it with linguini - I think it's normally penne for them as well per the standard.
The Creamy Lemon Pasta was magnifique - I asked for it with spaghetti instead of the penne it came with, but waiter forgot and brought it with the penne, which ended up being a happy accident because it was meant to be enjoyed best with penne. You DO need to squeeze the lemons they bring with it to get the lemon flavor, but it completely changes the flavor profile once you do that. The chicken had a nice charred flavor, but unfortunately it was a little overcooked and rubbery. I still won't hold it against them because it was so flavorful. Now, caution, while this dish is delicious, if you like lighter meals, attempting to eat the full portion may overwhelm your system. I'd rate it 4.5 out 5.
We capped the meal with the Churros Chimbombo - these you can skip, there's nothing special about them and while most churros are greasy, if done well they shouldn't be, specially for a place of this caliber, and these were overwhelming greasy IMO - and that's from just a little bite - they come in 6 bite sized servings.
While we didn't try it, the cheesecake sounded a LOT more interesting, but I forewent it because it had apricot sauce (I think) and I'm intolerant to apricot.
Service was nice. We actually were served by the owner (more of a business man) who was filling in because they were short staffed. He was both good and bad: bad because he didn't know how to wait on customers well, but great because he very cognizant abd apologetic, and was super polite and entertaining by spending time with us telling us about his business ventures, specially this restaurant's.
Overall, I'd rate this place at a solid 4.5 stars.
If you have a date you want to take to a classy and nice place, this is a great choice.