Asheville Proper — Restaurant in Asheville

Asheville Proper has the makings for becoming a really great Asheville restaurant - great location, creative dishes and a menu with a central focus, but they miss the mark because of inattentiveness to those things that distinguish great from good. We arrived at 8PM on a Saturday night. The restaurant was busy but nowhere near capacity. We were shown to our table but it was several minutes before we were greeted by our waitress. We ordered cocktails - gin and tonic with hibiscus, which were delicious, but we had to wait 20 minutes to get them. The waitress did apologize and said they were a little backed up. For apps we ordered the charred pork ribs with strawberry-jalapeno glaze, chiffonade basil, and sunflower seeds and the woodfired shrimp with cajun bechamel, lemon, feta and hummus. Both were amazing, demonstrating the kitchen's mastery of the blending of unique flavors to create the perfect dish. On to our main course -- given the focus on wood fired steak, we stuck to the "go to" for Asheville Proper. My wife ordered the dry-aged fillet and I ordered the ribeye. For an additional dollar for each, you can choose from several side sauces. The add-on is a bit surprising as the best steakhouses we've ever traveled to include the sauces as part of the meal. The portions of the sauces were also relatively small. They were all good and provided a different "context", but it seemed a bit petty to us to make them an extra. Finally our steaks arrived. My wife's was cooked perfectly - medium. Sadly, the steak I ordered medium rare came mostly medium to medium-well. The cut of meat was thicker on one end than the other, explaining the inconsistency -- but good restaurants that specialize in steak should know this and either manage it in the cooking process or cut the steak thickness for more even cooking -- even if they have to adjust the weight upwards. At $55 for the ribeye and a place whose go-to is steak, I expect better. We went to AP mostly for the steak and came away 50/50 in our impressions. To accompany the steak, we ordered crispy confit potatoes with smoked onions, black garlic, and tallow vinaigrette. and mushroom ragout. Both were delicious. Lastly, we ordered dessert -- S'Mores: graham cracker semifreddo, dark chocolate ganache, toasted meringue, graham cracker, and strawberry lemon pavlova: roasted strawberries, pepper honey, charred citrus cream, roasted white chocolate. Both were a wonderful conclusion to our meal. especially the pavlova. On a side note -- the wine list is solid and the waitress knowledgeable as she guided us to a very good Italian red. Overall, much of the meal was good, really good, but the thing that mattered the most - the steak, was disappointing. With just a bit more effort and care, AP can make it's way as a top contender in the best restaurants of Asheville -- but for the time being, I'm only able to give it a "B+". It's most likely we will AP again -- hopefully for a better...

If you are looking for an upscale modern chic decor restaurant with made from scratch ingredients from local farmers made to perfection from a master chef this is the place right here. 🤗 Every dish is Prep, cooked, designed, and served to perfection. As I came to the front doors I saw outdoor seating for warmer temperatures to the right with tables with umbrella. As I opened the door I could immediately notice the modern chic decor especially the proper sign lite up in lights with green leaves surrounding with a blue couch. When I say blue it is a royal blue that just pops out behind the gold table infront. To the left corner I see stacked wood nicely stacked all the way up next the a tall table and seating. Turn to the right and you see two cloth chairs. Next the long bar with seating is straight ahead slightly to the left with a fine selection of wine, whiskey, and a assortment. Last but not least the check in podium with not one but two welcoming smiles from staff. I did not have a reservation which I highly recommend doing at this newly opened hot spot but I was well taken care of with minimal wait. I absolutely choose the blue couch to chill and relax while sipping on a nice glass of wine. After looking at the menu throughly for tonight's venue they have many gluten free options that can be made to accommodate most everyone. The best part of having a master chef is they can use their creativity/skills to make amazing food for the toughest allergy accommodation. I settled on the duck , mushroom 🍄soup, with red velvet cake for dessert. The mushroom soup came first as you can see from the photos it looks good. The taste was the best mushroom soup I have had to date. The soup was prepared with three different locally picked shrooms then added nuts with white cream sauce. It is well worth a try trust me. Then the main dish came 😋. The appearance alone made my mouth water. Look at the eye popping colors of the medium rare duck with propaganda seeds bustering with flavor. Next is the thinly slides carrot with cooked greens that are salted. The meal was absolutely delicious leaving me with every taste buds satisfied. Last the red velvet cake came with crunchy chocolate granula surrounding the brownie cake shape with cream on top. This was not made in this restaurant but the bakery made it very well and was tasty. I highly recommend this restaurant and I looked forward to seeing how this restaurant grows after only being open 6 months. It is nice to see businesses thriving during covid. Tell...

I’m a local and this was my second time dining here and I have to say it was pretty disappointing. I brought my sister to celebrate her birthday and let the restaurant know when I made the reservation that it was a special occasion. We were seated in a corner and after our server took our order, it felt like we were promptly forgotten about. We both ordered the filet mignon and my sister’s was unseasoned, undercooked, and streaked with tough tendons. Our supposedly 6-oz filets were served on big white plates, small brown pucks in a sea of white with no colorful garnish to dress them up. It wasn’t an artful presentation for a $52 cut of meat. My sister let the server know she had an allergy to peppers, and we were served the grilled romaine salad without any dressing at all. When we asked about it, the server said that the dressing had peppers in it, but she would bring us a different dressing. It surprised me that we weren’t offered an alternative up front, and by the time the dressing arrived, the warm salad was cold. Our server didn’t check in with us, and in fact, another staff member came by to fill our water glasses, give us dessert menus, and take our check. It took ages to flag someone down to request salt for the unseasoned steak. When my sister got up to use the restroom, I let that staff member know I was disappointed in our meal and there was no effort on the restaurant’s part to make my sister feel special on her birthday. I could see her go and speak with the manager, and the manager instructed our server to bring us a birthday card signed by the staff, but he didn’t come over to speak with us. Overall, this was a disappointing meal from beginning to end, and not worth the $200+ spent on the experience. I will not be returning to Asheville Proper or recommending...