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Monday, January 18, 2010
Allium
Nashville Originals Restaurant Week has come and gone, and it’s time for reflection on the meal we had. We tried out Allium, sister restaurant to Germantown Cafe. Here’s a spoiler: we weren’t impressed. Here at Nashville Foodies, we don’t make negative reviews lightly. Half of what we want to accomplish by writing this blog is to highlight the talented, hardworking, creative people in food in Nashville. But the other half is to give our advice on where to spend your hard-earned money on food in Nashville. And we can’t recommend Allium.
We were excited to try out Allium, and Restaurant Week has been good to us in the past as a way to try out what a restaurant has to offer. Usually along with the prix fixe format comes smaller portions, but we are all for that. In our minds, Restaurant Week is most successful when you think of it as making a small investment in some restaurants you haven’t tried before. You don’t spend quite as much for a full restaurant meal, but often the payout is great for all involved, especially in motivation to return for a full meal (at full price) later on.
Maybe our first sign that Restaurant Week was a little different at Allium was the online menu. While the Restaurant Week webpage noted that a three-course meal was available for $20.10 a person, this wasn’t clear from the menu, where regular prices are listed for all items. With some investigation we were able to find out that the three courses were house or Caesar salad, entree, and dessert, with the entrees being the same as what is on the regular menu. That seemed a bit much for Restaurant Week, as most full-service restaurants were doing a smallish tasting menu or two courses, but on we went.
The restaurant is beautifully located with a great view of downtown, and the underground parking was nice for the cold evening. We were warmly greeted and taken to our table, and for all we’re about to say about the food, we do think the service was great. Nothing to complain about there.
We each ordered the house salad for the first course, and it was okay. That’s all we really have to say about it. It wasn’t memorable.
For entrees, I ordered the herb crusted skate over sundried tomato risotto, with lemon-caper-brown butter, usually $18. It also came with a few stalks of asparagus. To me, the best feature about the dish was the sauce. The skate was unremarkable and the risotto actually gloppy and cool. Josh ordered steak frites with peppercorn demi-glace and fries, usually $19. He liked the fries alright, although to me they were cold and had a strange aftertaste, as though the oil they were cooked in was a bit old. But he was very disturbed by the large amount of gristle in his steak.
For dessert, I ordered a slice of apple tart, which came with vanilla bean ice cream. The tart was cloyingly sweet, although the flavor of the apples was good. Josh was very excited about his dessert order, a chocolate-pistachio cake, but he thought the chocolate flavor was weak.
Overall, we were underwhelmed by our meal at Allium. Others have reported that Allium’s strength lies in its starter menu, and I have to say that I was tempted to order from it instead of the entree menu. And after ordering just two entrees it’s difficult to say for sure, but at least mine seemed very much like something I would expect to eat at Germantown Cafe, and I was hoping for some obvious differentiation.
I’m sure that forming up menus for Restaurant Week is very tough. The year-as-price plan is a nice one for bringing people in, but that can probably place a significant strain on margins. I think Restaurant Week is done best when restaurants give smaller portions that really highlight what a restaurant is really capable of. Given that what we got during Restaurant Week is exactly what’s on the regular menu, we can’t recommend Allium.
Allium
501 Main Street
Nashville, TN 37206
615.242.3522
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yazzwho — January 19, 2010 @ 9:07 am
You also ought to, if you are supportive to the restaurant community, to *not* bag a joint on your first trip there. That is the very reason that media outlets like the Scene take so damn long to cover a place new or old. They go more than once – more like 3 times at least, before damning them with a bad review. So go easy on them.
Another thought is how many times I have read excoriating reviews during Restaurant week. If you think for a minute that these establishments are going to take it in the pocketbook by not cutting a couple of corners you are dreamin' Paper thin margins and a recession to remember will get you counting individual asparagus stalks per plate, if it saves you a few bux.
Joltin' Django — January 20, 2010 @ 1:44 pm
I hate to hear that. Allium's been on my go-to short list for a while.
http://nashville-eats.blogspot.com
Heather — January 20, 2010 @ 7:43 pm
Yazzwho,
As our byline says, we're amateurs, not professional food critics. We don't have the time or money to visit places multiple times, so first impressions are everything, just as they are for the majority of people out there who not only want to eat well but also want to spend their money well. We try to represent those interests.
yazzwho — January 21, 2010 @ 9:57 am
If your dining experience is not going as planned you have the right to send your food back. In fact, that simple option enables you to say you actually ate there twice – in the same day. Then I could understand your negative review.
You also have the right to complain to the management of the place: they have one of the best websites in the Nashville indy food circles.
Lannae — January 23, 2010 @ 10:31 am
Hey Nahville Foodies, I too think that the space, parking, and service at Allium is really good. Every time I have been to Allium a few times now, and the service has been consistent, professional, and appropriate. The staff has made every dining experience an experience and I would put the service up close to 11 Madison Park. We like the wine list, and like all French wines and 1/2 of them are very reasonably priced by the glass. I also like the fresh white table cloths. Where do you get that in Nashville? Capitol Grille, and Allium. The crisp white cloths are a nice detail.
The fries were probably not cooked in old oil, they are duck fat fried. The duck fat gave the fries a texture and quality more of a lard fried potato stick rather than a veg oil. Think back to the 1970s when fries were lard fried, they had a different texture and flavor. I like lard cooked chips and fries, and the duck fat is the ultimate for me. I don't know of any other Nashville restaurant which uses duck fat to cook fries.
And, I got to agree with you, the entrees doesn't seem to have the same finesse (as Germantown), or some of the other "top" considered kitchens in town. But, the price point of entrees with a side salad is mostly less than $20.10, so it is better to not go during restaurant week. I am really not a dessert person, so many times dessert is a burden for me to eat, so dessert is a loss for me at restaurant week. We have tried at least 5 different entree and 4 starters on various visits. Half of the entree plates had some sort of error, admitted by the staff and served to us anyway. In my opinion, most of the entrees were fair to good, but none of the entrees were *wow-za yow-za* for me, compelling me to think back on them from time to time. 11 Madison Park, Nobu, Bricco Boston, and locally City House, F Scotts and Capitol Grille, all have at least one dish I have tried, I cannot make at home, that I think about from time to time, and the memory makes me want to go back.
The side salad, is virtually the same at Germantown and Allium. I agree with you, it is nothing special at all. As personal taste go, I just want a plate of lettuce and light or no dressing, and Allium can deliver that to me. I do appreciate both G and A usually toss the lettuce in the kitchen, not just pouring gloppy dressing over the top drowning lettuce (personal pet peeve of mine).
OH, so one of your longest comments here, I have to say, I really like the space, the view, good solid service, the wine list, the urban feel and the Americanized French onion soup (glops of melted cheese, yum for me!), the minimalist salads, service and crisp white table cloths. The entree price point is low enough that I have over looked the errors. For me, because the entree prices are just low enough, and the non-food experience is good, I will keep going back to feel like I am dining in a New York neighborhood restaurant, but at a Nashville price.
Heather — January 23, 2010 @ 12:55 pm
Lannae,
Thanks very much for your comment; it means a lot because we really respect your point of view. You had some good points to make about Allium, and we hope that our readers will take both your comment and our post into consideration when thinking about eating there.
Lesley — January 23, 2010 @ 3:41 pm
I liked Allium, too, but I went for brunch. A large part of what I liked was the outstanding service–our server was so accommodating that it made a good meal great.
But I hear ya–I'm the one person in town that isn't head over heels in love with City House based on one very bad visit. I've since been back and had a better experience.
Lesley
lesleyeats.blogspot.com
jenn — January 30, 2010 @ 7:31 pm
The first time I went to Allium (maybe in August), I liked it. I had the baked scallop dish as my main, but yes, the star was the tart appetizer (the details allude me now).
Unfortunately, the second time I went (during fall restaurant week) my creme brulee was basically completely uncooked, and that was enough to prevent me from ever going back.
Jennifer — April 7, 2010 @ 1:32 pm
My husband and I dined at Allium about a month ago. Fantastic service – professional and attended to us well. We had the goat cheese and red onion tart as a starter. Absolutely fabulous. Both had the house salad – one with the house dressing which was great. My hubby ordered the Catch of the Day – Tilapia and it was delish. I had the Raspberry Pork Loin. We got sat right after a table of 8 and my pork came out WAY over cooked. The potatoes and spinach it was served with were great though. I didn’t even need to say anything to our server about the pork. She noticed that I had pushed it to the side. (it really was un-eatable) They handled it so well – manager came to check on us, took the pork loin off of the bill and gave us a free peanut butter cheesecake dessert – also wonderful. We will go back!