Lexington Ave. Brewery

The Story
We went to this Brewery/Restaurant, with a friend, to participate in Animal Compassion Network's 10th annual "Dine to be Kind" event.
Since the place is a brewery, we kept our expectations fairly low, thinking that "It's a brewery. They'll just have average bar food."...and, boy! Were we surprised!
Not only does this place have a diverse menu, but also the food is phenomenal...AND the service is fantabulous! Our waitress, Jackie, was amazing! She was courteous and friendly, and ready with good suggestions. And while she didn't hover over us, our needs were attended to almost invisibly!
Everything was so good, in fact, that we even asked to have Jeff (the manager) come over so we could sing praises!

The Verdict
Both Jackie and Jeff invited us back...we, most definitely will be returning to the LAB!

Kale chips drizzled with honey and served with cranberry tzatziki

Casa Torres - Arden

The Story
One of my secret pleasures is to try "Hole in the wall" Mexican restaurants. So, when Katherine surprised me by suggesting that we try Casa Torres, I had to fake my reluctance by suggesting other places...though, on the inside, I was giddy and excited. lol

We were seated quickly (which was good considering that the place was empty. lol), and didn't have to wait all that long for anything...and while the food was pretty good, it was a little overdone.

I found the service to be fairly quick and everyone was attentive to what our table needed.

The Verdict
Casa Torres is a nice little find. Not good enough to go into the "Good" list, but still a place I think we'll go to from time to time.

Sogo Fusion in Gerber Village

The Story:
  Sogo Fusion another gem that we've found to always be consistently good, both with food and service.  No matter how busy they are, they're always welcoming, friendly and attentive...and again, the food is always good.
They tout "Upscale Japanese Food" on their website and I have to agree...but, that doesn't reflect in their very reasonable prices!

The Verdict:
  Unless something catastrophic happens, Sogo Fusion, in Gerber Village, is another place that will remain on the "Good" list for the foreseeable future!.

131 Main

The Story:
  131 Main is ALWAYS good. Always. The service is most always better than par as well. The greeters can, sometimes, be a little standoff-ish...but that's alright. The wait staff makes up for it. They're always personable, and friendly...and I have yet to have an order come to the table messed up!
  Last night was an exceptionally good experience (see the entry below for Travinia).
Basically, we waled out of Travinia and went to 131 Main. After hearing our sob-story, and having one of our entrees come out later than expected, Dan (the manager at 131 Main) bought our dinner...and Rene' (our waitress) was quick to calm us down as we were pretty cranky...though not with her.

The Verdict:
  131 Main is long overdue, not only for this entry, but also for making it to the top of the "Good" list...and judging from our experiences there, they will remain on the Good list for as long as this blog exists. :-)

brioso

The Story:

Well, well, well...
On the recommendation of a friend, we decided to give this place a try while waiting for a movie to start.
So, we walked in to the very nearly empty restaurant and stood there for a few minutes, clueless, about what to do next...do we seat ourselves or wait? There was a girl behind the counter, but she seemed busy flirting with the one person who was sitting at the bar...who turned out to be the manager, I think...really not sure.
We elected to grab some menus from the basket of menus located at the front door and seat ourselves.

By this time, we had been in the establishment for about 3 minutes with no recognition from the staff. As we looked over the menu, we noticed that the staff (who was busy standing around and talking) would walk by and not acknowledge our existence...we started a stopwatch.

A few minutes later, one of the waitstaff had the wherewithal to come up and ask if we knew how the place worked...we had been in the place for nearly 10 minutes, by this time.

We said "No" and he explained that we should have order at the counter (where the girl was still flirting with the one person at the bar). Then, after seating ourselves, the restaurant is full service.

After explaining that there was nobody greeting, and no signage, to explain this, we suggested that the waiter tell the management that they need to improve the joint...and he offered some free desert...okay.

After going up to order, and standing in line (in the cramped entry way), behind some un-sober people who were taking WAY too long, we elected to leave and go to Travinia, where we had an immensely better experience.

The Verdict:
bad, Bad, BAd, BAD...UGLY even.
I'm a little disheartened that a restaurant, in Biltmore Park, would have SUCH crappy service...also that it's been such a short time between adding places to the "Ugly" list.

I am mildly considering trying the place again...since I now know that it's more of an overpriced cafeteria, than a restaurant. But, don't really think that I will.


EDIT:
Word has it this place as done away with the Cafeteria-style and has gone to a full-service restaurant. We actually came close to trying it once...Standing outside and looking in at the nearly empty place before deciding to go across the street, to Brixx.
Perhaps, someday when we're feeling objective, we'll try it again. If we do, rest assured that there will be an update here.

Acropolis Pizza Restaurant

Okay, so...
Set aside the part where this "Greek" restaurant serves more Italian food than Greek, AND the part where the artwork is more French than either Greek or Italian, AND the part where most of the wait staff is comprised of High-school girls with spray-tans and paint-on jeans.  We'll just ignore the badly cut seam between the driven-snow, stark white ceiling and the mauve walls.... Set that all aside, and this restaurant is actually pretty good!

The spray-tan and paint-on jeans clad staff seemed personable enough.  Actually, they were more welcoming than I had come to expect from Asheville!  We could've seen our waitress a little more though.  We saw her three times:
 - drink order
 - brought our drinks and took our food order
 - brought our food and dropped off the check
Oh...there was one time when, in passing, she did ask us how things were tasting.

One other thing that was a little annoying is that they don't take Credit/Debit cards.  Cash or checks only!  Though, they do have an ATM that dispenses in increments of $20, and will charge you $2...so, bring cash with you unless you still use checks.

As I said above, all-in-all, the place was pretty good.  The food wasn't something that we're in love with.  However, it was good...and the portions are large.  So, I think that while we may not frequent the place, we will go back from time to time.

~ Chicken and Lamb Gyro platter ~

Cúrate Tapas Bar on Biltmore Ave.

The Story:

   We recently heard about this place from a friend and made reservations shortly there after.  Our immediate impression was how loud the place is, making it hard to have any sort of real conversation. 

The Verdict:
   Even though it's nearly impossible to hear the rest of your dining party, and the portions are small (even for a Tapas bar), both the Customer Service and the quality of the food have me putting Curate on the Good list.

 

 If you're going to go to this place, do make a reservation and ask them for a quieter part of the restaurant...my guess is that would be somewhere clear in the back.