We were invited to have dinner at Tarbell's by some friends who were in town for a weekend getaway. The restaurant was highly recommended to them by Geoffrey (The Concierge at the Biltmore where they were staying!).
Pre-dinner drinks at the bar (we were early) were nice with a very generous pour of Crown Royal from the bartender for me and a wonderful glass of Pinot Grigio for my wife! The atmosphere is relaxed and casual but leave your t-shirts and tennis shoes at home!
Once at our table, our waitress Wednesday was very helpful in making suggestions about food choices. The Butternut Squash Soup was excellent. Our food choices included; Scallops (excellent), Salmon (good), Chicken(Excellent) and the Fresh Mozzarella plate. In addition, Wednesday brought us over a few other dishes (on the house) for us to sample. Mac and Cheese and Brussels Sprouts. Now I love Brussels Sprouts anyway but these were to die for and while Mac/Cheese has never been one my favorites - YUM. Oh and the yellow beet salad was very pleasant departure from the typical salad.
Desserts here are for sharing and while the Crème Brûlée was OK, the Southern Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce was excellent!
While we were eating Mark Tarbell did wander in and he made a point to visit every table and have a quick chat with all the diners that evening. An added bonus was meeting Geoffrey (who was picking up dinner to take home) and he insisted (that even though we were eating sweet stuff now) we try one of the meatballs that Tarbell's makes for their spaghetti and meatballs dish. Wow, that was excellent! I now know what I will be ordering next time we come here for an evening out.
I wouldn't say that this is a romantic place to dine at as the noise level did increase as more people arrived but, it is a great place to come for a meal. All in all this was a really nice dinner out and we'll have to treat ourselves to another visit in the future.