City Grit
“I'm already going to the Paul Qui dinner and plan to attend many more.”
“Described as a culinary salon, if offers a stage for visiting chefs and well as young up-and-coming chefs around the area.”
“I was impressed by the interesting twist that Chef Sarah Simmons gave to her food–a great mix of hearty and elegant.”
City Grit
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
4 reviews
Rate and write a review Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
I don't know how to review this place because every meal deserves its own review! So this one is for the gluten-free dinner on 4/11/13. It started out great – terrific atmosphere, very exciting Southern menu. The pimiento cheese & crostini, cauliflower veloute – both were tasty! Then it went downhill, unfortunately. The pesto "gnocchi" was so gummy, I literally forced it down because I didn't want to be rude. Then the main course… fried chicken. It came out looking great but fell short. One of my pieces wasn't even cooked all the way through… I almost didn't notice because it was dim and I was engaged in conversation. The best part of the meal was the flourless chocolate cake dessert, perfectly portioned for one. They also provided a nice baby banana cake to take home, which was quite satisfying the next day.
Overall, the meal was kind of a train wreck but I'm not going to give them less than 2 stars because I love the concept, the service was really good, and there were others who cleaned their plates (assuming their chicken was cooked). I'll definitely try another dinner event in the future and hopefully I can update the review with a better rating. I just think that for what I paid for the meal, I didn't quite get the experience I expected and as another reviewer mentioned, they have opportunities to improve execution.
Attended Paul Qui's Dinner, winner of the most recent top chef. While the food and service here was pretty good, the comfort level was probably the worst Ive experienced. First its a prewar building so no central A/C, only 1 small fan for the main room. Also antique table/chairs were extremely uncomfortable, The table next to us had an extremely unsteady table where everyone would have to get up and down very slowly or else table will flip over. And whenever someone got up, another had to get up to counteract the change in weight. Also none of the seats had any back support. Also because its in an old childrens school, the bathrooms are all kiddie sized.
In summary, good food and friendly staff, horrible venue.
We came here for an Urbandaddy outdoor brunch event during the heat wave. In Urbandaddy's defense they could not possibly have predicted the scroching hot humid heat that would envelop even the shade on that fateful Saturday but it was HOT nonetheless.
We arrived at 1230, and walked into the open courtyard. The set up was charming with communal tables, a dj, Perrier, and sparkling wine.
The service was extremely friendly, and as expected the two bottles of sparkling wine were not nearly enough for the four of us, and we ended up purchasing a few more (reasonably) priced bottles to get us through the afternoon. The food was a total rip off, as it could hardly be called six courses of brunch. It was more like six amuse bouche which ranged from ridiculously mediocre to edible. The sangria popsicle we were promised was equally mediocre.
The reason this is a 3 star review is I like Urbandaddy, and we did end up making friends with the people next to us, and danced and played with water balloons.
I cannot slam any afternoon that ends with a water balloon fight.
That said, I am very reluctant to go to any of City Grit's events again, as I can assure you the food is nothing it promises to be, and there will NOT be enough alcohol to justify the price tag.
We attended the recent Paul Qui dinner. As other reviewers have said: It's hot. Old school house + August + no AC = pretty sweaty. In hindsight, I wish I had read some reviews and dressed a bit more appropriately (i.e. would not have worn a tuxedo and fur hat).
I love the whole City Grit idea and concept and staff. Apart from the heat on the particular night we went to and maybe the long delay between the first courses (we finished a bottle of wine by the second course (there were like 7 courses)) and maybe some of the wonky furniture it was all good. We were at a community table and by the end of the night, everyone was best friends and trading contact information. Each dish I enjoyed and tried to not lick the plates clean.