AB Kitchen — Restaurant in Atlantic Beach

After seeing that a new restaurant opened in AB, of course we had to give it a shot. We came for a late lunch around 2pm.

Upon entering, we were impressed with the upscale beachy decor. We were sat immediately by a friendly waitress. We did have to wait over 20 min for our cocktails bc our waitress was taking care of a birthday party and multiple other tables … (I had the Gin Gimlet and my bf had the Spicy Margarita). Both were delicious but for $10 each, we were hoping for a little more volume than was given.

For appetizers, we ordered the Ramen Deviled Eggs and the Wild Mushroom Flatbread. I have to say the deviled eggs were probably my favorite that I’ve ever had anywhere! They soak the eggs in some kind of umami soy sauce and top them with bacon and scallions. The sauce that the eggs lay on (teriyaki glaze or eel sauce?) was sooo good we wish they had drizzled some on top of the eggs. As for the flatbread, it had all the salty buttery cheesy sweet flavors you’d expect, and topped with arugula. Well done. Decent portion size for $15 for a higher end beach restaurant.

For our main meal, we split the Crab Fried Rice. Don’t let the basic name turn you off from the dish… bc it was SO worth it. They are NOT stingy with the amount of crab in the fried rice. It came out piping hot, the flavors were rich, and it had a good mix of textures I’d hope from a good fried rice re: fresh vegetables that were crunchy and not overcooked. The only negatives are that the dish was only slightly drizzled with shrimp sauce/spicy mayo which left us wanting more. Also, for $21, they don’t include fried egg unless you want to pay a $3 up charge. I understand eggs are expensive but at $21 you can afford to mix some in there. We found the portion size to be decent and enough to split between two people who had already ordered appetizers.

Lastly, for dessert, we ordered the Lemon Mascarpone Olive Oil Cake. This was by far the biggest disappointment. Our waitress described the cake as “light, airy, creamy, and the best cake [she’s] ever had,” which is the complete opposite of what this cake actually was: basic lemon pound cake. I did not taste a hint of olive oil, the cake was extremely heavy and dry, the “mascarpone” tasted like very sugary frosting, and the only good part of the cake was the lemon curd sauce at the bottom which was only 1 tbsp worth. If the cake was soaked or even drizzled with this sauce, it could’ve maybe saved it, but that’s probably a stretch. I expected more for $9 tbh.

Overall, we had a great time. We spent just shy of $100 tip included. We would DEFINITELY go back, just maybe save $$ and pass on the drinks and dessert next time. I’m very glad AB Kitchen has opened in our backyard and I would definitely put it up there with Mezza, Ocean 60, and Doro. We can’t wait to see what else ABK...

EDIT: 2nd time here. Take out. Burrata and Beets! All pkg'd separately, brought it home, plated, AMAZEBALLS. Its the combo of everything that makes each bight so flavorful. Side note, there was a snafu, but Oliver addressed it and everything was perfect. Thankyou.

First time here. Three of us Sunday for happy hr/dinner...Originally had reservations for 4 pm, ended up arriving early, at 3 pm. We were the only patrons at that time, which was nice as we had our server's undivided attention, and the noise level was acceptable. small establishment, intimate, nicely appointed, warm/welcoming server was Ryan (AKA William)...amazing, helpful with suggestions and accommodating for the picky people We did not experience the issue with noise as we were there early, but Ryan noted the noise level goes up substantially as the evening approaches the food: We tried the deviled eggs (mine with no bacon), we agreed they were flavorful, not salty as others have mentioned, and at happy hr you can order as many or as few as you choose. The hummus was meh, bland actually, aside from the tapenade sprinkled over top. The pita points were tasty however and complemented the hummus. The rib(s) were tender, moist, noted to be alittle spicy, overall enjoyable as well. We shared the fried rice, I probably would have enjoyed it without the crab...I was surprised to see the crab meat placed on top of the rice rather than fried with it. Generally speaking, it was tasty, reminded us of hibachi rice lol. My favorite was the burrata and beats...LOVED this. Balanced, light, melt in your mouth burrata. Sorry, no pics. I will be back to try the scallops and will def get the burrata again. the drinks: This is probably the area I struggled most with as I dont drink wine or beer. We initially tried the sake negroni, i got an old fashioned vibe, it wasn't for me but I can see the popularity. Ryan adjusted the watermelon cocktail with prosecco to suit my taste. Fresh squeezed watermelon, it was delicious...

Food was good but our waitress chose to have an issue with me from the moment I walked through the door and I'm never coming back because of the weird experience. I didn't get her name but she had a Southern accent and I overheard that she was from North or South Carolina. Based on the fake reviews she had her friends write right after mine, that do nothing but further expose her character, I'm guessing her name is Mikie. My boyfriend and I came here for lunch yesterday to celebrate my birthday and we both noticed that something was very off with her but couldn't pinpoint it yet. She was very curt with us but friendly and talking a lot to other few tables. We were polite with her, said our pleases and thank yous, and didn't complain about anything. I noticed her giving me dirty looks and then putting on a fake smile when I caught her. I don't expect servers to worship the ground I walk on or anything but I do expect to be treated with kindness and fairness. It's not hard to be a decent human being. I'm not sure how someone sees you for the first time and then decides that they dislike you and will treat you awful based off of a story they made about you in their head or some sort of bias. We did nothing to her. She rarely checked on our table and was always at the other few tables. Took over ten minutes to give us the check even though it wasn't even busy at that time in the slightest and she was just taking her time chatting it up with other staff and other tables. It was so bad that another waitress noticed and kept glancing over at our table, that's how bad at it was. I don't know if she had her own personal bias against certain people based on looks or color, didn't like that my boyfriend and I are two different colors, or what but we're not coming back because of that strange experience even though the food was good. Please keep an eye on her because that behavior is based on ignorance and bias and should not...