The Mill AKY — Restaurant in Ashland

I’ve had a lot of great dining experiences, but tonight was truly special. I'm going to sound like a cheesy, pretentious Yelp food blogger here (think South Park 😆) because I get really excited when I have a dining experience like this. I don’t often feel compelled to write detailed reviews like this, but I have to share this little gem I found in this small town. I’m from Charleston, WV. I spent Valentine's Day weekend with my boyfriend who lives in Ashland. I’d been seeing stellar reviews for a place called The Mill and was eager to try it. Their Valentine’s Day menu looked intriguing and was reasonably priced for the occasion, so we gave it a shot. We had no trouble getting in around 5:00. The space was much larger than we expected, and while the vibe wasn’t necessarily what you’d expect for an upscale dining experience, sometimes those are the places that surprise you the most. April greeted us at the bar and took excellent care of us. We ended up having pimento cheese with a fresh-baked house pretzel and crab cakes with a garlic aioli. The pimento cheese, served in a tiny cast-iron skillet, was more of a fondue, and was perfectly melty and delicious. The pretzel was soft, fresh, and perfectly baked. The crab cakes struck that ideal balance of breading and fresh lump crab (which is so hard to find!). For entrées, we shared the Marry Me Chicken and the filet, which was served on a 700° stone stone. It is one of those fun culinary trends where you cook the steak yourself with butter. We snacked on the chicken while cooking the steak. The chicken was juicy and flavorful, with perfectly balanced ingredients. But that steak—WOW! A high-quality filet, perfectly seasoned with the butter, cooked exactly how we wanted it. And the mashed chunky red potatoes? Also WOW! I don’t usually rave about sides, but these were perfection. We loved every single bite. For dessert, we chose the cheesecake with fresh strawberries. Cheesecake is my favorite dessert, so I was beyond excited to learn that it was baked in-house. It tasted homemade, super creamy and rich. We ended up going back for brunch the next day. Once again, April took fantastic care of us. We had the crab cakes Benedict and the shrimp and grits. Hollandaise can be tricky, but they nailed it. I already bragged about the crab cakes, so I won’t repeat myself, but the shrimp and grits were exceptional. With both dishes came the breakfast potatoes, which were perfectly seasoned. Now, mind you, dinner was part of a special Valentine’s Day menu, so it’s not a regular offering. They do have some fun themed dinners on occasion so check out their website or Facebook for the events and menus. This was one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time and it was the perfect addition to a relaxing and enjoyable Valentine’s Day weekend. If you haven’t been,...

Update: Disappointed on how the quality & service diminished after moving to the new (3rd) location on Carter.

The menu is misleading. There's an up charge on certain side dishes without anything written on the menu to tell you otherwise. If the cookie supply runs out, then it's not included with the sandwich meals even though it says it does on the menu (which happens early before lunch even starts?) Fyi, there's a charge for using your credit card instead of cash.

Service was terrible, or our waitress was overwhelmed despite an empty restaurant. Either way she along with other staff members had attitudes and were not professional. We were sat at the literal entrance where a person couldn't even maneuver a baby stroller around the table. Even though the restaurant was practically empty. We kept asking for items like water refills which seemed to annoy her. Our bills was printed before we were finished with our meals. When we said we wanted to order more food. She crumpled the receipts and walked away. Dishes weren't cleared at the end before offering dessert (which was not offered) like in other restaurants.

The food does not live up to it's former days. Don't get the steak on the rock block. It's an attempt to look fancy but really disguise that they don't have a proper grill master to even check the quality of the steak cut. Nor do they have quality steak knives to even manage handling the steak you're cooking yourself. Chicken salad was basic. Potatoe salad lacked flavor. Croissant & Foccacia bread was still good. Maybe they should focus on just being a bakery and stick to their roots.

There's a book store in the back of the restaurant. Which may seem clever or economical. But instead, it's just awkward.

The atmosphere is dark and not reflective of the energy the restaurant brand formerly had in its hay day.

Previous Review: The new location on Winchester is beautiful and they kept the quality the food that made them shine in the first place. Sometimes when restaurants expand they sacrifice quality. The Mill did not. So happy to be a regular...

Incredibly beautiful restaurant! The atsmophere was gorgeous, with purposeful and well thought out decor. Sadly, the beauty stopped there for us. We were greeted at the door by a young woman who looked up from her phone when we came in to greet us. We were taken to seats and there were several tables around us with dirty dishes on them. Then our waiter came to our table (in sweatpants) and said he figured we had never been there before because we were looking at the lunch menu and that they only served from the brunch menu on Sundays. Then he was off to take care of other tables. We were not given drunk menus, specials, or any sort of notice that there were special cocktails available for St. Patrick's Day. We ordered our food and when it was brought to us by a waiter in tiny green shorts, who basically set the food on the table and walked away without asking if we needed any condiments (there were none on the table) or even if our food was correct. Later that same waiter started booty dancing near another table while counting his tips. Our food was mediocre. It was well prepared, but the flavors were sorely lacking. I generally hate leaving bad reviews. But this was a clear case of reality not meeting expectation. The reviews were good and the facility was gorgeous. We have thoroughly enjoyed every restaurant we have dined at in Ashland on this trip...except The Mill. If the service hadn't been so poor, this would've been a much better experience. Maybe it was an off day. But seeing as how we are only in town for another day, we'll pass...