Jessica L.
Yelp
Although quite unassuming from the outside, Parizade opens into a shockingly spacious and atmospheric dining room. It's beautifully decorated, with generous seating. We came on a Tuesday night and the place was about half occupied, maybe less.
Cocktails (5/5)
Delicious!! I forget what we ordered.. I think Lavender Fields and Local Garden Martini? Both were fabulous, some of the best cocktails I've had at a restaurant in a while. We had to pace ourselves!
Mezze Trio (3/5)
A colorful plate and pleasing to the eye, but none of the spreads stood out as particularly yummy. It comes with a bread basket including pita, a thin cracker-like bread, and toasted bread. The latter two were too hard so we just stuck with the pita.
Crispy Shrimp Rolls (3/5)
I saw pictures of the phyllo wrapped shrimp rolls online and thought they looked great but what we actually got were like asian spring rolls. Still good (the shrimp is very tender), but a little underwhelming and the portion's pretty tiny. I wish they kept their old shrimp dish.
Grilled Snapper (4/5)
I saw pictures of this online as well but it wasn't on the menu, so we asked our server and it was available! It comes with your choice of a side, so we went with broccolini. This is a very generous portion size. Enough to feed two people... we didn't need a second entree tbh. It's cooked whole but they offer to fillet it tableside, which we opted for. I wish we didn't. It took an awkwardly long time and our poor waitress had to stand there for several minutes digging for bones. By the time they remove everything, they've basically torn up the whole fish so it looks a mess and there's definitely bits of meat and skin that get taken away with the bones. I think it's easier for everyone involved to just eat the fish whole. Otherwise, it was well seasoned and well cooked. I really enjoyed it. Broccolini had huge stems that were probably undercooked because it was tough and woody and hard to eat. Underseasoned too, so kind of bland.
Australian Lamp Chops (4/5)
This was pretty good! Lamb was standard. The couscous and chickpeas were pretty yummy. They come in a slightly sweet sauce, but the dish as a whole is a little dry. We actually ordered our lamb medium rare and it came out very well done, so we let the manager know and they remade it perfectly.
Banana Rum Napoleon (5/5)
So light! The phyllo is thin, airy and crispy. The banana custard is just sweet enough. Well balanced dessert. A satisfying end to the meal, highly recommend.
Service (4/5)
The manager who whisked by and checked on us was fantastic. He took care of our overcooked lamb with grace and got us a new dish. After we were first sat, we were right under the air vent with a pretty cold draft so he let us move over one booth to be more comfortable. Our server must have been having a bad day because she was kind of brusque. Once, she slammed a drink down on our table without even looking at us. She definitely seemed annoyed that we said yes to getting the fish filleted which is why we regret it. Overall, it wasn't the best fine dining experience we've had but could've just been bad luck.
I probably wouldn't come back just because the food isn't anything special. Maybe I would for the ambiance because it is a lovely space and there's only so many fine dining options in Durham.