back....

What a long hiatus this has been... as I return to the semester, I hope there will be more frequent posts to the blog. A largely uneventful summer - felt good to see the state of the plate especially via out of Richmond dining experiences.

One bright spot in the Richmond dining firmament has to be a recent dinner at Acacia midtown. I'd never been to its earlier incarnation (always thought that a restaurant sharing the same quarters as a hair salon was a bit strange) but a couple of visits in to this "new" location have established it as a favorite.

The first thing that struck me (and my dining companions) was that the decor at Acacia seemed very "un-Richmond". Hard to qualify this statement, but we all agreed that it was true !! With a pretty sleek modern look, it was hopping even on a weekday (this doesnt bode well for the noise level though) and the crowd gradually morphed from an older set to a younger set as the hours wore on . This may have been courtesy of what has to be one of the best deals in the city - a Mon to Thu prix fixe meal by the table for $23. This is absolutely worth it ! While somewhat limited compared to the main menu (obviously), they did have have decent choices (4 to choose from). The one 'beef' (pun unintended) with the entree options was the lack of a vegetarian selection but it really didnt detract from the experience because they were accomodating on that day. We tried different items on both my visits (they do have a somewhat varying menu) and everyone of them was excellent. Portion sizes were appropriate and the dessert while a bit generic (its time to move beyond the obligatory sorbet assortments and panna cotta :)) were quite satisfactory to round off an excellent meal. They have an excellent wine selection too. On a hot summer evening, the wines were chilled to the right temperature and were a terrific accompaniment to our dinners. It was good to note that they didnt subscribe to the philosophy (in so many places here) that result in most red wines being served at room temperature.
Service was ok. On one visit, our server completely messed up one entree and was quite hard to flag down...but...they kept the glasses full (always useful), folded napkins (at times !) when we left for the restrooms and generally provided a pleasant atmosphere.
I must admit that my visits have largely taken advantage of this "promotion" but I am sure that a dinner selected off the menu would be equally good, albeit a bit more expensive. But if you're not counting, acacia is worth a visit on any front.


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