Woodfire Grill

My girlfriends and I wanted a girl’s night out. We heard that Woodfire Grill was closing and we all were interested in it, so we grabbed a reservation before closing night. Parking is valet only. I ordered the steak (which came with a mushroom purée) with a side of asparagus. The steak was quite good. I was nervous about the mushroom purée since I don’t like mushrooms, but it was a great complement to the steak. The sauce it came with was also very good. The asparagus was large and tasty. We were NOT a fan of the listed desserts at all. We decided to go home and make brownies lol. Service was hit and miss during the night. One my friends didn’t like the waitress very much. And, to be honest, she didn’t seem very patient or warm. The hosting staff were very nice and took photos of us to mark the occasion.

Can I just say, this place is over-​rated!
We opted for the chef’s menu. 5 courses, nothing stood out! The portions were HUGE for a tasting menu. It felt like you were having 3 main courses one after another. Don’t give me wrong, the food tasted good. But didn’t have anything that tasted awesome.
Won’t go back… not worth the money…

I haven’t been back to Woodfire since Gillespie was the chef. I loved it this time!!! Nick, the owner, is amazing and adds a superb touch by coming around to the tables and helping the waiters and making sure your evening is nice!!! We loved the tasting menu. It was yummy and filling! Wine and cocktails for my husband were superb. I love the renovated front bar area as well. I am definitely going to have to come back to that bar again and we will be back for a yummy steak next time.

My wife and I did the 5-​course vegetarian tasting menu. It’s expensive, but the service and atmosphere are perfect. From the moment you walk in, throughout the meal, and as you walk out. 5 stars for service and atmosphere.
They even constructed a custom menu with our names printed on it. Very nice touch!
The food was pretty good too. My wife is vegetarian and I am vegan. We both enjoyed the plating and the variety of foods (lots of vegetables, quinoa, etc.). I came here looking for variety and in terms of vegetables, I definitely got that. However, if you pair this up against food from Café Sunflower (the only ‘fancy vegetarian food’ comparison though the two places are different in many respects), Sunflower wins out.
This was nice to try. However, I would not put this under a «can’t miss» category.

Poor service. Over priced food. Wait staff got annoyed with me for moving to a different seat at our table. NY strip ordered medium rare and came out medium/​well. My pea soup (which I ordinarily LOVE!) was awful. I confirmed with everyone else who ordered the soup and they agreed.
–Over priced
–Poor Service
–Sub par food
Sad we wasted our money. Should’ve gone to Rathbuns if we were going to spend that.
** they charged me for the soup I didn’t have a half of a spoon of.
** also charged us $ 700 for out $ 122 tab.
Overall group vote was a negative!

This is quite possibly the best restaurant in Atlanta! There is no sense in describing the food because it changes all the time. Here’s the only thing I can say: I’ve never had a bad dish. Every time I get the tasting menu it’s one amazing, perfectly done and portioned dish after another.
What I can talk about is the service. Impeccable! I’ve been to this restaurant several times and each time the staff has been knowledgable and friendly. I had the pleasure of celebrating my birthday there two nights in a row (surprise!) and when I told the staff not to let my party know, the staff went above and beyond to make both of my days special. Not only did they keep my secret, but they were cheeky and witty about the whole thing. Bravo to the staff and the manager who hired them!
I can’t stop raving about Woodfire to all of my friends. From the staff, to the food, to the awesome music playing at just the right volume: this place is perfection!

ATLANTA, GA: You must eat at Woodfire Grill! Empty your piggy bank and get the tasting menu. It’s still a bargain compared to tasting menus you’ll find in most other cities around the country and the quality is probably better. This food is amazing!
High ceilings and simple, eclectic décor welcome you after you valet your car to enter the Woodfire Grill. Waitstaff is handsome but not stuffy.
I tried the tasting menu:
Amuse Buche was a bit of fried mushroom. Yum. The bread was excellent, as well, with a seasoned butter.
Wagyu Tartare (5 stars): Traditional new American pairing with pickles, yolk and some fried deliciousness. This is outstanding.
Tempura Octopus (5 stars): Ginger glaze, sesame, and traditional tempura taste. Delicious.
Foie Gras: (4 stars): Paired with banana and cashew, it was smooth, a little sweet, and wonderful. I could have used some more bread to spread it on.
Squab Fowl (5 stars): Delicious, hearty meat with saffron potatoes and other seasoned vegetables
Pork Belly with Black Truffle Glaze (5++ Stars): This knocked me on my @&$. Made from a flying pig. Porkadise. Porkri-​La. Pigvana.
Lamb Loin (5 stars): So flavorful, so delicious. Squash purée, broccoli and flavorful lamb.
This place belongs on your bucket list. This coming from a guy who eats everywhere.

We we so excited to have dinner at Wildfire Grill and were really disappointed.
The tasting menu was lacking in flavor, other than salt; dishes were gratuitously complicated without direction or, once again, flavor.
Least importantly, portions are really inadequate.
Our meal was priced as a meal to remember. Unfortunately it is one we wish to forget.

We went to Woodfire to celebrate a special occasion, and I’m not sure words can adequately capture the superb experience we had for our dinner. To say everything was top-​notch is an understatement. We were truly blown away.
We opted for the 5-​course chef’s tasting menu and they were able to accommodate one of them as a pescatarian option. A true standout was the first course butternut squash soup. They paced the meal wonderfully and it lasted over two hours. The portions were appropriate as well, as we had just enough room for the delicious dessert.
Yes, this is a pricier restaurant, but it was worth every single penny. We are looking forward to going back for future special occasions :)

We went to Woodfire for the first time for an anniversary dinner. The personalized menus were a really nice touch. We were seated almost immediately for our 8pm reservations even though the place was basically at capacity.
We went with the 5 course tasting and wine pairing, which was complemented by a few «extras» the chef was sending between courses. Everything was great, but the lamb shank was one of the best dishes I have had at any restaurant in my life. The wine pairings were perfect, and the server was knowledgeable enough to answer questions for those of us who are somewhere between «complete idiot» and «connoisseur» when it comes to wine. The personalized desert plate (Happy Anniversary in chocolate sauce around the plate) was another nice touch. The only halfway negative comment I would have is that it seemed to take irregularly long in between courses a couple of times, which I suppose helps give you time to finish the wine but it just seemed like a couple of times you were kind of looking around waiting for the next round.
Bottom line is you are in for a great meal and experience, just plan to be there 2 – 3 hours (if you are doing the tasting) and keep in mind that this will not be an inexpensive experience! Go with confidence and enjoy.

Visiting my family in the area they took me out for dinner and after finding it hard to find a reservation during the holiday time I found this place. First thing you should know is it is a farm to table place. Meaning they deal directly with farms and only receive organic high end food.
The service
It this review was based only on service it would get 5 stars. Everyone we met was so friendly and bent over backwards to help us. Our waiter was funny and friendly and gave us advise on ordering and answered all our questions.
The food
We decided against the 5 course meal because it was our first time there and if you choice it they surprise you with the choices based on your liked/​dislikes. I ordered the foie gras torchon to start with which was ok but nothing great. However my wife ordered the goat cheese ravioli. which was REALLY good! The only problem the the portion is super small. For dinner I had the braised cheshire white pork shank was was very good and fell right off the bone. My wife had the wood grilled grassroots farms chicken with the quinoa which was pretty good too. Both entrees were solid but not breath taking.
For desert we went with the apple doughnuts with cranberry jam, cinnamon hot chocolate, and vanilla marshmallow fluff. This is where the value really came into play. These babies were AMAZING. Let me tell you I was in a fancy restaurant and I didn’t care I was licking my plate clean and didn’t care if people saw me doing it. They made my night! So all in all I give it a 4 star rating due to small portions for a high dollar. Still a place I would recommend you check out.

New to Atlanta and came here last night with some out of town guests based on the great reviews everywhere. Dinner overall was slightly disappointing as everyone loved their starter and dessert but thought their entrée was bleh. Given the cost, this turned into a three star place due to value issues.
STARTER
My wife and I had the lobster salad. The taste overall was delicious and the lobster was plentiful. Interestingly they were short on greens. My brother had some delicious scallops and his wife had a delightful slow cooked egg. At this point we were anxiously awaiting the entrée.
ENTREE
I had a chicken with brocolli and mushrooms and Israeli cous cous. The chicken was well cooked but the overwhelming buttery flavor to everything made it a one note dish. Fail. My wife and sister in law had a striped bass with mushroom purée and sun chokes. Their fish was over cooked and the flavor mashup was too much. Neither finished. My brother had a lamb shank drenched in gravy. Would have been excellent at the Cracker Barrel, but at $ 30+ it’s not going to cut it.
DESSERT
A delicious chocolate roulade. Just perfect.
NET
Meal was above average but given the value concerns, we will not be back again any time soon.

Like most others, I love this place. However one add is that we opted for a pescatarian gluten free dining experience so this may be useful to those who choose likewise.
What we liked:
1) Surprises. The 5 or 7 course menu is the way to go here. We went with the 7 course and I was impressed they can pull that off with a pescatarian gluten free selection. I love that you get different dishes each visit, and so there is a real element of surprise. Plus it frees you from the mundane aspect of selecting dishes yourself.
2) The dishes are perfect. Most restaurants struggle to get fish cooked to the exact right temperature. Not this place. The dishes were all perfect.
3) Variety within the meal. They had a lot of different types of dishes with the 7 course menu — a beet sorbet, salads, soup, 2 desserts, different textures and spices. The variety was awesome.
4) Service is excellent. They operate as a team — you can ask the bus boy for a wine and he will communicate to the waiter and get the drink delivered. They operate seamlessly.
5) Nice location. Decent amount of space, elegant décor, not too loud.
What could be better:
1) No self-​parking only valet. Fortunately the guy sensed my concern and parked my car right in front.
2) A couple of the fish dishes were very similar.
Other tips:
Probably better to go 5 course than 7 course. The 7 course was too much food.

We visited a week or two ago so forgive if the details are a little foggy. We chose the tasting menu with wine pairing. I recommend doing that.
Five courses and 5 pairings that sang. It was especially nice that they had multiple choices for the tasting menu so that you could both order it and yet both receive different dishes for each course making the evening more fun.
Are you listening Restaurant Eugene?
Recent renovations are lovely. Highly recommended.

Just fantastic. Simply fantastic. Yet another amazing meal from one of the more Unilocaled about spots in the ATL. The cool part? It’s all true and totally worth every bit of it. Our experience was, yet again, had with little to no knowledge of the menu, décor, ambiance, service, or even location (even though we had driven past Woodfire like a thousand times). The only things I had come to know about Woodfire were all of the comments about wonderful experiences had in the past. I was stoked to finally have ours.
We had reservations for a Thursday night dinner and, as soon as we walked in, we were taken to our table. I was really surprised by the décor and general ambiance. Again, I had no preconceived knowledge or idea. The entire place really just felt like a cozy den. Dimly lit, simple, but badass, fixtures, cozy seats, and white linens. The best part is that there was not a single soul that makes it feel like a «white linen» experience. Definitely more of a casual feel, but with a totally upscale, adventurous menu — both for food and cocktails.
Drinks — The «As You Wish» and Kumquat Shrub were fantastic choices. I’m a huge fan of Gin and their cocktails were both fantastically perky and bright. Melissa Davis makes one mean beverage, folks. Also, she is the sweetest person to chat to! She actually came to our table to describe some of the drinks she had prepared for us. She is a super fun personality. If you ever have the chance to chat with her, do so.
We opted for the 5-​course Chef Tasting Menu and it was such a treat. Pro Tip: If you have a preference of vegetarian or pescatarian, they will happily oblige your needs for either the 5-​course or 7-​course menu. Here’s what we/​I had –
Starters — Amuse Bouche — A little morsel of pickled GA Peach. Fantastically light and even delivered the perfect amount of «jaw twang» you get from a sweet peach. Lovely.
Popcorn Soup — Imagine someone made you a bowl of popcorn. Then imagine having the same flavor (s) being slurped from a spoon. Exactly the flavor profile. It was truly magical. Easily our favorite dish of the night.
Pickled Gulf Shrimp — A few spicy shrimp in a wonderful molé sauce. Had a good amount of heat to it, too. It was light, and definitely worked well as a second course.
Wood-​Roasted Carolina Trout — Served with a lovely tapenade and fingerling potatoes. Trout is one of my favorites and it was just lovely.
Alaskan King Salmon — Okay… I’m not typically a fan of salmon as it not my favorite fishes to be served cooked. This cut, however, was easily the best salmon I have ever tasted. It was lean, subtle, and flaky. The skin, which was lightly salted, may have been the best part. Goodness gracious. This was just a wonderful dish. Can’t say enough about it.
I really have to give a tip of my hat to their pastry chef. The bread served throughout is simply wonderful. Bravo on utilizing potato bread that is so versatile and fantastically paired with amazing butter. Your desserts show equal care and delight.
The service was just impeccable. Hands to take plates and serve came out of nowhere. Smiling faces, happy people, and so many cool people to chat to. You can tell the atmosphere here is really fun and that everyone enjoys what they do.
Believe what you hear, folks. This place is simply wonderful.

For starters, I apologize for not remembering all the ingredients in each dish. I love the fact that everything was very mild and harmonious and each dish was put together with artistry in both flavor and presentation. We went with the five-​course option ($ 75 per person) and the dishes came out to be as the following:
1) Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho – tasted at first like the non-​cream version of a tomato soup but definitely more complex and fresh; I can till remember the fresh scent of tomato interwoven with a sassy touch of basil. However, I’m not sure if the added squid ceviche (part of the dish) makes sense, flavor-​wise.
2) Heared Georges Bank Scallop. I loved the corn purée and red lentils that came with it. Scallop was fresh though tasted a little salty. We noticed the server about this and other dishes came out to be just right (so much less salty) :)
3) Wood Grilled Grassroots Farms Chicken Breast. The chicken was done just right, succulent and fragrant with a hint of wood fire. I couldn’t remember the rest of the components on the dish but they were very harmonious, nothing too heavy or salty or acidic.
4) Wood Grilled c.a.b. Ribeye. The steak was a little dry in my opinion. Again, I love the flavors that other components accompanied the dish with.
5) I believe the dessert was a chocolate brownie with raspberry mousse on top and a white chocolate sorbet on the side. It was actually really good, without being excessively sweet.
F.Y.I, the portion of each dish was small but to me that was enough, I felt satiated after this dinner. If you’re looking forward to be fed «full» and feel «full» in a different way, this place is definitely not for you. I’m on a diet so I’m grateful that places like this exist; they give me the chance to feel full and satisfied without overwhelming myself with excess and unhealthy stuffs and to leave the restaurant without feeling as if I’ve just dived head-​first onto a heap of cheese and oil.
Staffs were attentive with constant refills of bread and water although I got the feeling that they weren’t very happy to serve us, at times appeared a little cold and superior… but that could be my personal bias.
Will definitely return again in the future.

This place was super accommodating especially for a large group of 16 people. Most restaurants would consider that booking as an event. They took us in with no hesitation and set up a nice private dining area just for us. The atmosphere was soothing like I’m in a European country home. The service was stellar. Woodfire Grill –We truly appreciate the personalized touch. You made the evening extra special for us. The details matter so thank you!
The entrée selection was overwhelming with good choices. Everything sounded good. For first course, we had the lamb carpaccio. It was prepared just right. For second course, well, we ordered two of everything. It was all good especially the foie gras mousse, pierogi and scallops. For third course, I had the ribeye since I can never say no to ribeye. I noticed it was leaner than I preferred –almost like a sirloin. I guess because it’s corned veal cheek. The ribeye was amazing with the unique chimichurri sauce from the pan roasted baby carrots. I hear they have their own herb garden in the back in which the chefs used in some of the dishes. That deserves an extra star. I love chefs who go the distance for fresh and quality ingredients. The dessert selection didn’t entice me much so I skipped dessert. To each her own I guess.
Overall it was a good experience dinning for the first time at Woodfire Grill. The service was excellent. The food was wonderful. Next time, I will try the 5 course chef’s tasting menu now that I trust the chefs. I hope sweetbread is included in that.

Fail. Recommended by some friends, this place is the biggest rip off in the universe. Let’s just put it this way: the worst nightmare you can have going to an expensive restaurant is leaving hungry.
I got a chicken dish that was — I am not joking — a SLIVER of chicken. It looked like a sliced chicken tender. It was perfectly cooked, but I had to keep from laughing out loud when I got it. We are not big, heavy meal eaters, either. Not even close.
Décor is super-​boring for such a pricy place. Service was friendly, but slow and inattentive.
We went out and got fast food cheeseburgers after this meal to quiet our growling stomachs. I’d have more fun dumping $ 250 into a savings account than eating here.
This place is horrifically overrated on Unilocal.Our trip earned one star, and that’s more generous than their portions.

Hmmm, more like 3.5~
It’s better than average but not sure if the 7 course meal is worth coughing up your wallet.
I prefer bacchanalia for its location, atmosphere, and food.
Don’t get me wrong, this place had pretty decent food, one of my favorites were the roasted bone marrow and the desserts were delicious minus the cinnamon bread pudding. I would give it another try in the future as its menus are always changing.

Woodfire Grill is some fancy-​smancy restaurant. Some finalist from Top Chef is the executive chef here. Kevin something or rather.
Woodfire Grill has a nice, simple menu. They also offer 5 or 7 course Chef’s tasting menu with wine or beer pairings. I opted for the 5 course Chef’s tasting with the wine.
Before we ate, they brought out some bread and butter. The bread basket consisted of biscuits and rolls. I liked them. They were buttery and fluffy.
First came the Amuse Bouche. It was a whipped chevre, roasted walnuts and pomegranate gelee. It came on a big spoon you slurp phở with. I love chevre so this was a nice way to warm up our taste buds.
The first course was raw kona kampachi with yuzu marinated roots and cucumber-​cilantro relish with lime. I liked this dish. I loved the flavor of the cilantro relish. However, the fish was hard to cut with the butter knife they gave us. Of course, I could just eat the whole dish with one bite, but I wanted to take my time. Other than that, the fish and the flavors worked well.
The second course was masala spiced North Carolina trout in South Indian coconut curry with three citrus curd. This was not my favorite. It’s only because I’m not a fan of coconut nor citrus curd. Not even Kevin could make my least favorite ingredients appealing to my tastebuds. Oh well. The trout was cooked perfectly though.
The second amuse came out which was warm celery root soup. It was nice, thick, and creamy.
The third course was wood grilled, honey laquered plantation quail. It came with wood oven roasted mustard greens, smoked apples, and sweet potato purée. Now, I don’t like quail, but this quail tasted pretty good. I loved the grilled, char flavor of the quail. The sweetness of the honey provided a nice flavor touch to the quail as well.
Fourth course was Hickory Smoked pork loin and belly with roasted turnips and cauliflower. It came on top of a cauliflower purée. I loved this dish too. The pork had a nice, smoky flavor. It was good to eat all the ingredients at once to get the full flavor effect. This was probably my favorite course. I mean, who doesn’t like pork belly? Muslims?
The dessert was chocolate ganache with smoked vanilla ice cream. It came with marshmallow fluff with graham crumble. It’s like smores with ice cream. I liked it. It was a good dessert.
If you have a big stomach like I do, don’t get the 5 course chef’s tasting. I needed 2 more plates to get me to the satisfied feeling. So if you can eat a lot, do the 7 course tasting or order off the menu. But if you’re a «normal» eater, the 5 course is exactly right.
The hard part is if you’re with someone and one person eats a lot and the other eats little. It’s hard to figure out what to get since the whole table has to participate in the tasting. In that situation, perhaps it’s better to go with the 5 course and get McDonalds later.
I did the wine pairing and man, that got me buzzed pretty good. I loved the wine pairings. It adds a whole new element to the food. And I’m not even a wine lover. My favorite was the Resling that came with the second course. I can drink that like water.
The service was excellent, knowledgeable, on top of things, and friendly.
Woodfire grill is a solid restaurant. I came in with super-​high expectations, so everything wasn’t perfect. But I liked my experience here.