Reports are in that Parkside Cafe (3514 Forest Hill Ave) opened yesterday for lunch and dinner, sans ABC license, so no booze, yet. Did anybody stop by there yesterday? I hope to go today or tomorrow.
Your Neighbors are Talking About
- Whitney Holt on RPS Board moves time of today’s re-zoning meeting and up to 4 schools could be “repurposed”
- Kasey Lindsay Terrill on RPS Board moves time of today’s re-zoning meeting and up to 4 schools could be “repurposed”
- Ben on RPS Board moves time of today’s re-zoning meeting and up to 4 schools could be “repurposed”
- Page Miller Hayes on RPS Board moves time of today’s re-zoning meeting and up to 4 schools could be “repurposed”
- eblacroix on Taxing incompetence
My hubs and I drove by and I squealed with excitement as I saw lots of people sitting inside! I cannot WAIT to try it! Maybe this weekend. :)
Finally! We’ve been patiently waiting and waiting and waiting. When the menu leaked, we were even more excited! Going to run by there today to see if it’s open for dinner! Yea!!
Ate there last night. Food, atmosphere, and staff were all excellent. Quaint and cozy. Well worth the wait! Can’t wait to eat there again!!!
Melvyn & I went last night–food was wonderful and the place itself is charming. Servers were attentive and obviously proud of the place and the menu, which has lots of innovative dishes and a variety of price points. The one drawback was a crying baby who was not attended to by his/her parents. But that’s not Parkside’s fault.
Question for all those that have gone. I haven’t seen the full menu, are there many vegetarian options? Not for me, I’m a carnivore but have veggie friends.
Yes there are several vegetarian options–my husband had a stir fry dish with tofu, eggplant, bok choy, noodles and ponzu sauce. I had three-cheese lasagne with asparagus, artichokes, and spinach. Both were deeeelish!!
Had the pork chilaquiles tonight, and loved it. The pork was flavored like the pork tamale meat my mother makes. And the decor is beautiful, with natural woodwork and cool colors. The music was also fantastic! Really excited that the place is open, and hope to make it a weekly visit.
The baby thing is really unfortunate. It would be inconsiderate anywhere, but in a space that small it’s just plain unpardonable.
If I were a restaurant owner or manager, I would have no problem directing someone to take a crying baby outside.
I’m probably going to get slammed for this post. I’m not anti-baby. I’m pro-peaceful dinner.
So looking forward to this place! A real restaurant just a couple of blocks from my house. And there are a lot of things to recommend it. The decor is beautiful — lovely colors, great “art”, just the right amount of quirkiness and Elvis Costello in the background. The informative, attentive staff is terrific and some are also from the neighborhood. The menu is interesting, diverse and not too over the top.
Great concept — but the entree execution is somewhat lacking. I say this not to be overly critical — I so want this place to be a success — but to point out some things that might keep us from making this our regular dinner out spot.
Husband and I ate there this week. Mac and cheese was bland, a little undercooked and way too white. The meatloaf was ok (but husband complained about the price). Disappointingly there was nothing green on the plate (collards would have been nice) and the horseradish showed up in a little plastic cup (??). Crab cakes had a great flavor, but oddly moist (husband says “slimy”) texture. The remoulade also tasted great, but strangely dissolved into an oily puddle.
Desserts are over the top wonderful and more than made up for our lack luster main courses. So husband and I will be back, saving room for dessert, and enjoying the company of our neighbors.
Anne–I’m totally with you on the baby thing. If you don’t have a child who is old enough to be reasonably quiet (and stay in his/her seat)during a meal, you need to go to Chuck E. Cheese or somewhere else child-centric. Or get take-out and eat it at home. At the very least, you need to take the little one outside if he/she is fussing.
I never understand why people bring babies out to eat. The kid probably hates it and all the folks around them are made to share in their misery and pretend like their sooo cute!
We tried it tonight! Love the space, they did a great job and it’s SO wonderful to have a place like this in the neighborhood. Worth the wait!
I am no food critic but here is my take…
We started with baked VA cheddar, came with some fruit and grilled bread. It was pretty good and nice to snack on while waiting for our main courses, truthfully though, won’t order it again. Didn’t wow us!
I had shittake and spinach risotto with roasted tomoatoes and shaved parm. It was cooked perfectly. I would have like a little less garlic and more mushrooms. Husband had pork tenderloin with collards and spoonbread. Pork had great flavor, juicy and tender. Hubs wasn’t amped about the collards, he says he “doesn’t like them” but they were gone quickly! They were a bit spicy at the end which was a welcomed surprise! Spoonbread, delicious.
We finished with an apple dumpling with bacon ice cream. Need I say more?
We can’t wait to go back and try more dishes! I was excited to learn that they are growing a garden behind the restuarant, so very Forest Hill. :)
We ate there this evening and had the risotto dish and crab cakes. Loved it! Excellent flavors with all the food and enjoyed the unique selection of desserts. We will be back and will bring friends!
Larry – stay inside if you don’t like people.
Brian W.–
In Larry’s defense, wanting to have a squall-free evening out has nothing to do with not liking people. While Parkside’s prices are reasonable, they still are at a level where a diner would expect to have a nice relaxing meal. Plus it’s a small place where noise travels easily. There’s a time and place for everything, and there are venues more appropriate for eating out with fussy young children. A screaming baby or a wandering toddler should be attended to by his/her parents rather than ignored or “shared” with other patrons. It’s the courteous thing to do.
I’m with Foust. We took my son out frequently when he was a baby, but usually not to places as small as Parkside, and regardless of where we were, the second he LOOKED like he might fuss, we did something about it, whether it was food, a toy, or out the door for a walk around the building.
It is rude to let a child or baby disturb the meal of other paying diners. If you are the parent, it is your responsibility to disturb your own meal and remedy the situation. Or stay home.
In a city where successful restaurants find a niche, or die hard, Parkside needs to find out its identity, and fast.
I went to Parkside for Sunday brunch and was confused. I’ll give this place some time to bring its decoration concept together, but in the meantime–my biggest suggestion is that the wait staff be kept to some type of professional appearance and that the kitchen staff stay in the kitchen.
What I did understand about the place (or maybe I don’t because I am still confused here) is that Parkside wants its food to stand by itself, but it doesn’t, yet.
I was disappointed when my entree of buttermilk biscuits with bacon gravy and sunny side up egg came out minus the egg…and even more so when another patron ordered the same dish and his biscuits looked like fluffy goodness and not like the dense hockey pucks I was served. My boyfriend ordered the huevos rancheros which weren’t traditional, but were tasty scrambled eggs with cheese on top of rice and beans. I was also impressed with another table’s dish of quiche that i saw come out of the kitchen. I wish I would have ordered something different, maybe my whole brunch would have been more positive.
I also was confused as to why i couldn’t have a bottle of ketchup. Make it easy on the kitchen and plop the bottle of condiments on my table because the kitchen needs to concentrate on the food, not portioning my condiments or worrying about the wait staff who keep stepping into their station.
I realized Parkside just opened and that maybe I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, but I would have gladly waited another month for a restaurant that has its act together–considering I’ve already been waiting a year. I’ll wait a few more months before I try it again and I really sincerely hope that it will be a better experience because I would love to have a high quality restaurant in neighborhood setting on my side of the water.
If you consider “ketchup” an essential condiment, dearest, I suspect you may not be quite the clientele Parkside are hoping to appeal to…there’s a McDonald’s just a mile or so further down Forest Hill…
Wow – some of these comments are certainly making me think twice about my friendly and unpretentious neighborhood. It sounds like the mixed reviews are due to the fact that all of us have been so excited to have a new restaurant within walking distance. It’s long overdue and I’m sure that we’re all hoping for it to meet all of our various needs. I can’t wait to check it out with my baby in tow. And Marc – I hope to see you there so that we can have a lively discussion on how ketchup is an essential condiment in any class of restaurant. I hope that you don’t save all of your wittiest comments for a semi-anonymous comment board.
We ate at Parkside last night. Food was great, atmosphere was enjoyable. It’s wonderful to have a place like this close by. I hope the neighborhood supports it. We’ll definitely be back.
Wow, I can’t tell if I even want to try the place from all of this…..do folks expect perfection on day one of an opening? I have found, in my lifetime, in the service industry, every day is a learning experience. Though the missing egg is a bit much….It’s a ‘you make plans and God laughs’ type of enviornment.
Foust-bummer about crying baby, hopefully it will not grow up to be as disrespectful of others as are it’s parents;
CAD-good luck with your life-long search for perfection;
TMC-you would be an excellent restaurant critic;
Brian W.-let us know where you live so that you can babysit for all Parkside Cafe diners;
Anne-you are a thoughtful person;
hopeful-has your boyfriend left you yet? Maybe you can find another at Micky D.’s;
For all of you who have “waited so long” for Parkside Cafe to open, they do not “owe” you anything. They trade food for money. Dining at a new restaurant is like buying the first model year of a car, you should expect that it will have problems.
BTW-I thought everything was yummy!
I feel like I tripped and landed in CHPN. Can we get some zoning complaints in here somewhere?
Yo Jennifer and MikeS. Too bad we can’t apply zoning complaints to these forums….they have been so dull for too long. Need a little controversy to take it up a notch. I personally do not want to live in a neighborhood where political correctness is a way of life. By the way $16 for a small piece of meatloaf with a small potion of extremely bland mac and cheese is simply outrageous…I am better off at the Forest or O’Toole’s a lot better bang for my buck and similar quality.
We ate at Parkside on Saturday night – we initially came in at 9 pm just for dessert, but decided to share an appetizer and entree first, then do desserts. The staff was attentive and pleasant and the chef later came out to ask for our suggestions. We loved the cauliflower mash side dish ($3, I believe) and enjoyed the risoto ($14), the desserts were weaker but we ate them all (banana beignet and apple turnover w/ bacon ice cream). The prices are reasonable – entrees $12 – $19 but the portions are small, but having said that I’d rather have the more reasonable prices and smaller portions, than pay more and get more food than I probably need to eat at one meal – in short we will go back and are delighted to have a nice restaurant in the neighborhood.
@MikeS, where do I sign up? Dream job!
Just want to add that a friend and I stopped in for lunch today, really surprised (and disappointed) it is the exact same menu as dinner! I had the pimento cheese and blackened fried green tomato sandwich, not again. She had the bacon and avocado salad, it was good but she would have needed four of them to call it lunch. Rooting hard for these guys!
I work over on Semmes and would love to try the place for lunch one day. Is there any way to post a menu on this site by chance? I had used 7 Hills Market before and have been watching this place’s progress and was looking forward to its opening.
While there seems to be a bit of constructive feedback on this post, I understand that it sometimes may take a while for a new restaurant to “get into their groove”. Higher prices and smaller portions aren’t bad but they need to position the value to their customers. Crying babies do not add any value to a restaurant’s customer base though!
Just for the sake of a longer thread, I heard the city was planning a roundabout in front of the restaurant…
:-O
Really cruel, Phil. That’s in Marty’s district, so there will only be a roundabout if it sells 40 ounce singles.
Thanks for the laugh, guys…
Classy, Mr. Sundagger.
What was that old saying about throwing stones in glass houses?
Yo! Sundagger don’t you be dissin my foties….that and a lottery ticket from the Shoot and Kill Mart been keeping me a happy man in this hood for the past 20. And what kinda name is sundagger anyway?
My daughters (4 & 6) and I had lunch there today – shared the risotto, cauliflower mash, sauteed spinach and flourless chocolate torte. All were delicious. For anyone who is gluten intolerant, there are a number of gluten-free items on the menu. The torte being one of them.
Anyone know if they have their ABC license yet?
Dee, they didn’t have it as of a few days ago. Their number is 864-8888 if you want to give them a call.
I met some friends for brunch on saturday morning at Parkside and was very pleased. I had the quiche, a friend and the pimento cheese sandwich, and my other friend had a steak omlette. We were all really pleased with our meals, and had really great service! I absolutely loved the decor and look forward to checking out the ambiance at dinner. They do not have their ABC license yet, but I have a feeling this little place is going to be a gem in Southside once it gets going! Can not wait to check it out again!
We (four adults and an almost five year old) had dinner at the Parkside last night, and it was killer. L has the grilled chicken Ceasar salad, J had the spinach, avocado & shrimp salad, T had the crab cakes, the other T had the tandoori chicken and E had the mac & cheese and apple sauce. All the food was mad tasty, and served in generous proportions. Server was very attentive, although a bit inexperienced. The banana beignets were the icing on the cake.
I cannot believe that this restaurant is within walking distance of my house. I’m extremely pleased by this.
Oh, and they have their ABC license; but only wine, and a small selection with no sparkling wines. I’m sure it will expand in time.
We went for dinner and enjoyed the atmosphere. We had samosas for appetitzer came with a mango chutney and another sauce which was great. I ordered the tandoori chicken which I hate to say was bland and further disappointed when I had the same exact chutney and sauce on my entree. It wasn’t fun eating the exact same thing again. My man ordered seared meatloaf w/mac n cheese which was OK. I wouldn’t get either again but his was better than mine. We had lime aids, pretty much a dessert. I will go back to support them and keeping my fingers crossed that I will be pleasantly surprised second round. I hope they put the side sauce in ceramic not plastic. Small things make big differences. Either way- so happy they are here!
My friend and I went in for lunch the other day and had an excellet time. The owners Katie and Milton are wonderfuly friendly and have worked so hard on this new addition to our community. It’s great to see a happy husband and wife team devote so much time and thought into their dreams. The food was excellent and having the owner as your waitress ensures great service. The food was wonderful,(I do wish there were more lunch options/portions)and I hope everyone gets a chance to taste the menu and keeps this place alive!
[...] think nearly everyone in the H&H area as already chimed in on Parkside in this post but now Richmond.com has an official review. Overall, we see great things in Parkside Café’s [...]
[...] original post with many customer reviews here, I Could Go On and On blog write up here, Richmond.Com review here, and now Style Weekly has [...]