La Residence — Restaurant in Chapel Hill

My experience at La Residence was a mostly conflicting one -- the beautiful New Orleans-styled walled-in garden patio, charming decor, and exceptional service make for an ideal brunch atmosphere. What brought the experience down was the quality of the meal itself.

We had the croque madame, beignets, and the decidedly less French huevos rancheros -- which easily outshined the largely disappointing French options.

The croque madame featured a strange grayish roast pork rather than ham. The béchamel was bland and really only served to make the bread soggy and white. The eggs crowning the sandwich were perfectly cooked and pleasant, however.

The rest of the food, while inoffensive, wasn't particularly inspiring.

On the other hand our waitress, Cameron, was absolutely excellent -- she was attentive, fun, and knowledgeable about the menu.

All of that said, I wouldn't necessarily recommend La Residence against the myriad excellent brunch options in the triangle, but isn't at the bottom of my...

We have never been to La Residence so we decided to go for my birthday! It was very cozy and our waitress was wonderful. My wife had the Shrimp & Grits without bacon for $23. I had the Hanger Steak dinner for $29. It had no potato choice which was disappointing. The side was an Arugula salad with cheese on top. The dressing was already added and was a citrusy vinaigrette. However the dressing got on my steak and it was not enjoyable. I did not eat the arugula. Luckily my wife had an ample portion of Shrimp & Grits to share with me. The steak was cooked perfectly and I did enjoy that. I ordered the Chocolate Tort for dessert and they put a candle it for me! The tort was excellent! We’ll come back when they change...

We ate here on Valentine's Day and it was mediocre at best. Parsnip soup was overly sweet, the filet mignons were covered in a Salvation-Army quality sauce, and right near the end of dinner we saw a giant roach strolling across the wall towards my date. She did look fantastic. The manager did not offer to comp even a single drink, and his explanation was that it's an old building. It was hard to tell what this meant exactly, but it definitely seemed as if roaches had gained acceptance at this restaurant. They should at least give them their own dining room. Love won the day anyway and it's a nice looking space, but we...