Abigail street — Restaurant in Cincinnati

Abigail Street- Five Star Food in a Casual Setting with Fabulous Service

From the moment we entered Abigail Street we were treated royally. My husband had made reservations for my birthday on the Resy app. We arrived an hour early wondering if we could be seated sooner. Turns out my husband's app skills were lacking and the reservation had not gone through! Laura, the general manager immediately eased his pain. " We will make this work," she assured. Then Laura graciously ushered us to a table for two. Our waiter Alex was exceptional! He answered our numerous questions, as we were not especially familiar with Mediterranean cuisine ( beside Italian). I had Googled ingredients from the menu before getting there but his input was invaluable. When my husband was uncertain about a wine that was new to us, Alex offered him a taste. Very helpful. I could not resist a cocktail and was very pleased with the gin-based Zahra with Italicus and rose liquors. The menu consists of small-plates served one at a time and meant for sharing. We started with Roasted Beets and Lebnah. I never can resist beets when they are on a menu. Locally sourced beets were served on a bed of baby kale accompanied by Lebnah (similar to Greek yogurt but creamier)and toasted hazelnuts. The lemon vinaigrette gave it a tangy finish. Delightful! Next came what is now one of my favorite dishes of all time - Wood Grilled Octopus! Laura had recommended the dish, Alex had concurred it is a favorite and the cooking staff even wear T-shirts with an Octopus on the back. It was so tender and perfectly seasoned. The octopus sat on a bed of hummus and was garnished with meriguez sausage, parsley, tomato, jalapeno, lemon and yummy fried chick peas. The flavors were WOW! When the 3rd dish came, I was getting full but the crispy fried Moroccan Spiced Broccoli with Berbere (Google it like I did), sesame seeds, miso, tahini was so fragrant and finely seasoned we had to indulge. For our 4th dish we decided to choose between 3 seafood dishes that sounded good to us. Mussels Charmoula, Gambas Al Ajillo (garlic shrimp) or Bouillabaisse. We went with my husband favorite - bouillabaisse. We were not disappointed. It was tres magnifique! Halibut, shrimp, mussels and rouille (a French version of aioli infused with fish fish liquid) in a luscious saffron broth. with a mildly spicy bite and topped with grilled toast. It was an outrageous party in my mouth! I was tempted to order more bread or toast to sop up the incredible liquid but because of my expanding waist-line I made due with laddling the broth into my mouth when no one was looking! Perfectly satisfied , I was still happy when Alex brought out two more empty plates for what I expected was a birthday surprise. Correct! Accompanied by a single birthday candle were two generous triangles of pistachio Baklava dusted with powdered sugar Then my husband started singing happy birthday and the entire restaurant and staff joined! So embarrassing but all embarrassment vanished when I bit into the warm exquisite baklava. Heaven!! I couldn't ask for a better birthday dinner. Wonderful service from lovely Laura to Amy the hostess who checked on our comfort and our splendid waiter Alex, only surpassed by the intriguing, fresh and so flavorful dishes. ( Can I adopt the chef?) On leaving I was wished happy birthday by several random strangers. Even their customers deserve kudos for helping to make this a memorable evening. We are making a list of loved ones to take with us to our next visit to Abigail Street so we can try the Lamb Spaghetti, Crispy Falafel and Sweet...

One of the best restaurants I have ever been to in the whole country, and that's no exaggeration! The food here is so good, that a couple of dishes I specifically mentioned to my waiter that they were the best I have had anywhere in the United States. I cannot recommend this place enough. Period.

I started with the roasted beets and lebna, and that was easily the best beet salad I have had anywhere. First, the amount of beets, both red and golden, were abundant, and the earthy flavor is kept, which I believe should be the case. The toasted hazelnuts were very appropriate as the flavor of toasting, along with the crunchiness of hazelnut, offered both flavor and texture elevation. Then, the baby kale honestly tasted like spinach, which was such a pleasant surprise because kale itself doesn't taste good, but spinach tastes much better, and the baby kale in this dish offered a very enjoyable experience! Then of course, the lebna was very effective at reducing, but not eliminating, the earthy flavor that beets are supposed to have.

The potato gnocchi was a pleasant surprise because I did not expect it to have corn curry puree, and it worked so well! With the mushrooms and sweet corn, the gnocchi had so many layers of flavors that it became a whole new flavor itself, and the tastiness was even bigger than the sum of these flavors combined.

My partner had the bouillabaisse and enjoyed it very much as well! I don't have any more to contribute for that dish. But I then ordered a wood grilled octopus, and man, it was out of this world. The octopus itself was juicy and succulent. Tasting it by itself was one flavor. Dipping it in the hummus and tomato, onion, and lemon mixture was another flavor. One could enjoy multiple flavor profiles with this one! But I actually would highly recommend eating the octopus by itself, and then mixing the shredded merguez sausage with all the other stuff in there, like chickpeas, tomatoes, onion, lemon, jalapeños, and hummus. The sausage bits themselves were juicy for sure, but one could get tired of the oiliness after a while, so combining everything would allow one to easily consume everything. If I had to nitpick, I would prefer the chickpeas to be in their original forms, and just lightly toasted, because I think fried chickpeas tasted less like chickpeas but became less distinguishable from other kinds of fried nuts. Maybe this is because I follow a pretty vegan diet at home and love chickpeas. Regardless, this dish was nothing short of amazing as is already!

And dessert, pistachio baklava, the best baklava I have ever had. Before I picked it up, I could literally see the pistachio sweet mixture overflowing, which meant that it was freshly made, and honestly, that made all the difference, because it didn't taste dry or hard like how baklava would taste if placed for a long time. The freshness was what made it taste so good, and I would highly recommend it.

After dinner, we just took the connector train to take a walk by the riverfront. I couldn't stop talking about how happy I was about the food. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if I'd come back to Cincy just for this. Either way,...

This was a terrible day to be using a loaner phone while mine is in the shop because it means I don't have any good pictures. So I will attempt and fail to do the place justice with words!

Abigail Street would best be described as a Mediterranean fusion tapas restaurant, except that the "small" in small plates is larger than typical. I reserved a seat at the bar because I'd heard a ton of recommendations for it.

First of all, the servers and bartenders...you guys are amazing, and I'm sorry I didn't get your names to shout you out. If I'd let the guy showing me the menu describe everything on it the way he did a few items, I would have been paralyzed by choice because he made everything sound amazing. They were very friendly, always checking in to see how I was doing without being overbearing. It's also just fun to watch a pro at work making cocktails!

In the end, I got:

Fig & Thistle cocktail: Sort of a cross of a whiskey sour and old-fashioned, very well-balanced, went down scarily easily. I had to hold myself back from getting another because I knew I'd be walking back in the snow

Fattoush: Just a classic dish that highlights the quality of a restaurant's ingredients, and it did not disappoint. The crunchy pita, eggplant slices, and za'atar dressing were highlights that popped with flavor and cut across the tomatoes.

Bouillabaisse: Legitimately, this may be among the top 20 things I've had, and I've had a lot of food! It probably got extra points because of the snow outside, but that saffron-seafood broth was divine: just enough cream to balance out the tang and brine. Fish was cooked perfectly to retain its tenderness and flavor.

Emperor Fish (off-menu special): Recommended by the bartender, this is probably top 100 things I've had. Grilled skin-on emperor fish with a light seasoning, on top of a bed of roasted potatoes, vibrant green olives, and some sort of cilantro tapenade/pesto/sauce thing? Great contrast of the char from the fish skin, the distinctly marine fish, and then the bright, herbal flash of the sauce.

Even though I'd saved up an appetite, I wound up bringing back some of each dish, the portions are actually pretty reasonable.

Needless to say, I recommend this place. I never go to the same restaurant twice, but I'm seriously considering it because there are like 15 delicious things...