The Alden — Restaurant in Chamblee

Phenomenal experience top to bottom.

Had the chef's tasting menu as of 6/26/24

The space itself is very casual and personable, with a direct view of the kitchen. Chef/Owner Jared Hucks is a true master of the kitchen as well as dining space. He not only commands every station of the kitchen staff while plating and garnishing dishes, but also trains the servers on presentation and interaction. Watching him work is like watching an artist in a flow state. He also interacts with every patron, especially those seated at the chef's tasting bar.

Beyond this masterclass experience, comes the food... which TRULY exemplifies CREATIVITY and UNIQUENESS in every dish while maintaining emphasis on farm to table, local, and sustainably/responsibly sourced foods. Everything you will eat is extremely fresh and expertly prepared. The dishes feature an array of flavors and ingredients which work in perfect symphony with each other.

They start you out with a couple 'snacks', their version of an amuse.

First off is a smoked bernaise popcorn, which they pop fresh in front of you. Topped with a bernaise seasoning, this was light and flavorful, a great intro of what's to come. 8/10

Next comes the first amuse, an array of small dishes that allows you to sample multiple aspects of the menu - an Apricot fruit rollup, peach and cucumber salad with cured iberico ham, and a corn bisque. All three are excellent, with the corn bisque being my favorite, and the Apricot rollup was a close second. 9/10

Next comes a Tuscan kale carpaccio. This version of "carpaccio" features lightly fried kale as the base topped with bits of radish, pickles, and sourdough croutons. These flavors all work in harmony to bring you a light but flavorful 'salad' of sorts. Creative and tasty. 9/10

Next comes the Jeju Pork Belly. Featuring a slow cooked piece of melt-in-your-mouth pork belly, with a side of spicy house kim chi and sticky rice. Topped with sesame greens. Again, a wonderful array of flavors, both savory and spicy, while the greens offer a fresh relief from the heaviness of the rest of the dish. This one brings the heat. 9/10

Up next was one of my favorites from the night, the Mushroom Crepe. Made with locally sourced and very fresh mushrooms, this crepe featured a wonderful 'supreme' sauce, similar to a hollandaise, and various herbs and garbanzo shoots. Who knew mushrooms could be so tasty? Cooked in grapeseed oil, these will confuse your palate with a meaty bite of steak, while the richness of the sauce and crepe pair wonderfully. 10/10

Then comes the delicate bluefin tuna. You are given a generous amount of seared toro, or belly meat, which was fatty and fresh. Paired with some wonderful tomatoes and plum, this dish allowed the flavor of the bluefin to standout with compliments of fresh veggies. Delicious. 9/10

And the final main for this date was the Virginia lambchop. Again, a generous portion of lamb featuring an array of sauces to try. Tamarrillo (tomato), gooseberry, chermoula, and harrissa. The harrissa was my favorite, a smoky BBQ of sorts with a slight sweetness. The other two were fantastic as well and more of a fresh and fruity/herbal combo. The lamb itself was cooked perfectly, tender and pink center and the fat was rendered and edible (not chewy) 9/10

The two desserts were phenomenal ~

First being the Thai tea custard, featuring coconut cream, mango sorbet, crispy rice, and honey. Again wonderful array of flavors that work in perfect harmony and larger portion size than you think! 10/10

Last was the lunar chocolate. A light airy chocolate truffle with a vanilla ice cream and other various bits,which I forgot. Another hit. 9/10.

Chef Jared is willing to accommodate any food allergies or preferences and will even ask you what he can cook you in lieu of dishes you may not prefer (but you'll like them all). And shout out to the kitchen staff, very talented!

Cannot recommend this place more for anyone looking to try out high-quality fine dining or tasting menus. Reasonably priced and generous...

Opted for the 3 course Prix Fixe menu at 6:30pm on a Thursday. The amuse bouche was a little confusing but the rest of the foods were for the most part great. Felt as if there was a strong asian influence on many of the dishes which was unexpected but welcomed. The Alden also seems to also enjoy utilizing honey which as a personal preference also worked for me.

Started with the brisket seasoned popcorn which was popular with seemingly everyone at the venue. Then came the amuse bouche which was aesthetic but lacked presence and synergy to me. Bread served with a combination of honey, olive oil, and butter was enjoyable.

First course was Yakiton and the pork belly albeit slightly fattier than I would have preferred it, was still good and cooked well. Shiso and to an extent the cucumber helped cut the fat. The puree stood out but wasn’t necessarily cohesive with the dish. Texture for the entire plate was a bit monotonous with everything being quite soft.

Second course, Carolina Flounder, very mixed feelings. The protein itself wasn’t cooked well and my knife instead of cutting would mash it. The grilled persimmon on the other hand had just the right amount of char and was the standout. Closely following would be the potato. The rest of the ingredients and sauces were just alright.

My guest opted for the chicken katsu which I can whole heartedly state was one of the best katsu dishes in Georgia. To outperform the recent plethora of Katsu specialty restaurants with chicken no less was quite impressive. Would not utilize the sauce as it was far too aggressive but wasn’t necessary anyways with how moist the meat was.

Wrapped up with the Lemon Meringue Tart, which was attractively plated. The cantaloupe sorbet was a wonderful palate cleanser and well balanced in sweetness and mild tartness. Blueberry compote was also enjoyable with a hint of sour that balanced out the richness and sweetness from the meringue.

My guest had the Mint chocolate cake, which utilized a good amount of actual mint that was subtle yet lingering.

Overall a good experience but I would recommend going earlier or when less busy. As service progressed and tables were filled, there was a noticeable increase of waiting time...

We wanted to fall in love with this place. In essence we did fall in love- with our server. She was kind and very professional. The food was a different story. Just because something looks like a work of art doesn’t mean the people preparing it even tasted it before it left the kitchen. My husband did enjoy his oysters, even though they were the size of three small quarter coins. We thought that the portion was a little underwhelming at $16. Perhaps an even four next time guys. I ordered their artisan lettuce salad with beets. I should have known when they actually described the lettuce as artisan, there would be a downfall. It came with a massive amount of lettuce. Different colors of course, but all the leaves were bunched on top of each other and they were each the size of a small plate. Circling them were four small chunks of beets. No dressing whatsoever…. And I hate salads drowning in dressing but this was completely naked. There was what looked like a crunchy grain cracked on the side. I was half way through ( I was hungry) when I noticed under one almost last leaf on the right side of my plate, was a large glob of some red and white substance. I stuck my fork in it. It was to be some sort of dressing I suppose. It had no flavor whatsoever and my delight if having something to wash down the leaves was diminished. Just awful. Who serves a salad like that! On to the entrees. My husband had the seared scallops, they were a bit undercooked. I had the Dover Sole. It was cooked fine but nothing spectacular as if a home cook made it and oddly plated. We ventured on to dessert. We chose the Lunar Chocolate something. It looked lunar! You had to hack into these grey colored round balls and they had chocolate inside the texture was like very hard candy and the combination it the two was overly sweet. There were also two white balls, we bit into them and neither of us could figure out what they were. The texture was like detergent and the taste was just gross. Disappointed...