The Blackbird Restaurant — Restaurant in Asheville

Spoiler: Bugs. I honestly hate to do this but I don't want people like me who like to spend their limited funds on nice meals here and there wasting thier money here. We ordered two $29 plates. When I spend that much money on a single plate I expect it to be delicious and it simply wasn't. The risotto wasn't well cooked, very grainy and underdone and it didn't taste of the advertised truffle at all. It really just tasted like slightly elevated Mac and cheese with some frozen veggies from the grocery store thrown in. The Vegetable Wellington.... Ok, so they sit the wellington down in front of me and it takes me a few seconds to really process what I'm seeing. Several clover mites or something similar are swimming in the shallow condensation on my plate. I'm frankly empathetic to fault, so I simply look at my partner and say 'Oh no, I'm going to have to send this back. They have bugs in the micro greens. :/' I tell the waiter 'I'm so sorry, but I think you have bugs in the microgreens' handing her the plate. She looks at it and says 'probably' and hurries it back to the kitchen. Im not making a fuss at all because I know this is both embarrassing and maybe even a little scary for a restaurant and all it's staff. A very short time later a man comes out and I smile politely at him fully expecting the 'I am so sorry, we are remaking the dish, it will be free, heres a drink on the house, yada yada' .... But no. He says "Did you see any bugs on the table?" "No, it-they were on the plate.' "ok because they can't find anything in their produce." "...they're tiny ...It was definitely from the produce." "Well, we're having it remade." And they did remake it... Quickly, to their credit, honestly too quickly but I don't have the proof to harp on that insinuation so I won't. And would you guess what was missing from the second plate? Yeah. The micro greens. Anyway, the wellington was nothing spectacular, frankly not sure where they get off calling assorted cooked veg in pastry a "wellington" but it wasn't a $29 dish. Our bill came with both plates fully charged. No discount offer, no free desert offer, not even an apology. I know businesses and restaurants are struggling right now. My partner who was there with me works in the industry and was more appalled then I was. There are so many points in the service they could have made this right and I wouldn't have felt compelled to warn others but instead they left me feeling straight up robbed and disrespected. I didn't even take pictures because I never wished to embarrass them nor intended to write this ... But my God, just like, say sorry?

Edit: and they gaslight locals that are also trying to recover from a hurricane. 😒 Either you're lying about not seeing the mites that were moving and conciously changing their direction of movement on the plate because you're embarrassed or you and your staff just aren't very observant and don't care about your customers enough to take their calmly communicated concerns seriously. Both options are great reasons not to eat your food. The issue really is not the bugs, it's not shocking that their were bugs in the microgreens and no one acted shocked or made a scene. Like a stray hair, it happens but I'm not gonna eat it. The issue was the gaslighting. Which you continue to do publicly online. Good job being consistent I guess. You can ask your waitress, we didn't ask for anything free and we certainly don't expect to receive anything free from writing this review. I was simply illustrating how I've come to expect a respectable dining establishment to behave in these scenarios. You probably should have slept on it to consider how you should have responded to this review instead of not even waiting till your kitchen was closed for the night, because it's not a good look and it's not going to help you recover. Now it's a one star instead of a two. Another squandered opportunity...

Blackbird April 9, 2025

Things didn’t start off well. We had an early 5pm reservation to help with my elderly folks. The front desk person likely came from working another full-time job that tainted their outgoing unpleasant presence and overall energy. I had asked about parking validation and they reacted poorly as if someone was berating them while we were engaging. Website says one thing, this gatekeeper front desk person here does another regarding parking. Onto the seating, and refreshment ordering with seemingly no issues. Cocktails were pleasant- we remember coming to the bar 8(?)ish years ago whilst we were downtown attending an event- it was good then, and these cocktail reminded us of that time and we were looking forward to our time here. We’re a party of 4- we order the charcuterie board and an order of the olive bread. The charcuterie arrives- we get zero explanation for this giant spartan display board, and everything is refrigerator cold. Nothing was tempered, and we have no idea what anything is. I expected just a modicum of effort for this- there was none. We are 4 people and there are 3 slivers of each of 3 cheeses and 3 paper thin salami slices each of 2-or 3 types (9 slices total). The mustard and pickled beets overpowered everything, and what was supposed to be a crusty cracker element was stale and rubbery like they were left out all night- zero crisp whatsoever. The olive bread arrived in a warm cast-iron vessel and was drowned in olive oil. Good bread needn’t ever be swimming in olive oil prior to service. Then there were 2 Caesar salads, a greens salad and a fruit compote/cheese salad for our next course. The Cesar salads were 100% wilted and not dressed. I did see the the words ‘lightly dressed’ which was encouraging as so many Cesar salads come dripping and over-saturated with dressing.. but this was the exact opposite with almost zero dressing on this bed of wilted, not-fresh, not-green lettuce. The fruit compote and cheese salad was described to me as a dessert salad with a piece of cheese covered in a cinnamon & sugar fruit composition that was only sweet and cinnamon-y. There was no balance and the sugar-cinnamon goo overtook everything. Entrees- there were 2 Mahi specials that were beyond overcooked and looked a bit burned, a pork chop that was dry and unremarkable, and a couscous dish that was the heaviest vegetarian dish conceivable. One forkful of the couscous was more than enough- and it had zero depth as it was a mono flavor, despite a vast ingredients list. Desserts were coconut cake, bread pudding and s’mores. The coconut cake was fair- quite dry an crumbly, likely not fresh, the bread pudding was atrocious and the s’mores was served in a mini cast iron pan with chocolate at the bottom and caramelized marshmallow at the top. The chocolate bottom was burned- burned chocolate = no one was watching. Which seemed to be a common thread for our time here- no one was watching, and no one really cared. The ambiance was overshadowed by a continuous noise of a dot-matrix printer screaming louder than the music, empty water bottle went unnoticed until passed to the server or helper 2-3 times. Again, no one was watching- nobody home. A not cheap and considerable disappointment at every opportunity. Will...

We (party of 2) came for dinner after reading the Chef's online menu offerings and "Farm-to-table" descriptions. It started with my better half ordering a spicy margarita, and I had a sparkling water. Unfortunately the manufactured jalapeno infused Tequila was the only effort placed into this spicy margarita. No Tajin as requested, no muttled peppers as expected. Just an overpriced tasteless miss. I'll address our menu items as we go, seems the pragmatic way to continue this review. We ordered the "Pork Rinds with Honey" since my girlfriend had never had the oppurtunity to try this southern snack. Unfortunately pouring pork rinds from a bag, and drizzling some local honey does not impress, especially when charged $6. Yes, the pork rinds were room temperature cold. No hint of freshness, or attempt to heat slightly to make it appear anything but what it was...pitiful. Next we ordered the "Caeser Salad" which sounded refreshing with house made caeser dressing and tallow croutons. The salad was a very generous portion, but for $17 it should've been. Unfortunately it fell short.The croutons were not fresh, and quite soggy, the dressing albeit generous was bland and tasteless. We ate less than ½ of the pork rinds, and less than half the salads. Next were the entrees, I wish I had better news. I ordered the crawfish stuffed flounder and fingerling potatoes.The potatoes and the sauce were excellent. The flounder was stiff and dry as though it was wrapped around the crawfish mash days ago. Yes I said crawfish mash, the crawfish were clearly frozen as their texture was dry without spring (yes, I know crawfish), and worst was the baseball sized burnt area of the flounder that was like a charred wafer, but thick. At $32, someone besides myself should be ashamed of this being served. My better half ordered the "Shoulder Steak with Asparagus, and Fingerling Potatoes ($46)." She ordered the steak "medium-rare-plus." Her potatoes, sauce, and first bites of steak she said were "very good." The asparagus was cooked beyond recognition and left untouched. After enjoying the start of her meal, unfortunately the hidden pieces of shoulder steak were found to still be very rare, purple in color (see photos). Very disappointing. Just to note...I will not send back food to a chef. I am paying for what is on the menu. I expect him/her to do their job. I am not there to be his preceptor or his Quality control officer to correct the errors. And this evening, choosing this restaurant was a complete error, not to be repeated!!! (pictures upon request). If we would like to discuss "kitchen appreciation added" topic to the discussion. Yes, it is in the small print on the menu. An amount or percentage are not explained ahead of time and just added quietly to the bill. Just because it is on the menu does not make it an expected and routine charge. This is deceptive. You should be better than this, especially at...