Antebellum — Restaurant in Flowery Branch

May 2023 update to my review: we celebrated our 18th anniversary and wanted a guaranteed great experience, so of course we returned to Antebellum. That butter lettuce salad is without a doubt the best I've ever eaten every time I've had it. We opted for many of the Chef's specialties of the night and had no regrets!

Also, update to my last review, they've fixed the parking lot, so that, in addition to the newly open downtown parking, is excellent.

FYI we've eaten here at least 6-8 times since 2016. Reliably perfect food every single time.

Review from November 2022: First, who we are: we're 40ish with a 9 year old and 6 year old. Prior to kids, we went to trendy, fancy restaurants in Atlanta every Friday. After kids, er, not so much. We've lived in Flowery Branch for 5+ years and the culture here is very important to us. The small town+lake life+Atlanta suburb mixture makes for a unique culture. I'll just say, Antebellum expertly captures the culture. It's not a quiet, intimate atmosphere. The old house creates a cacophony of joyous conversation. It's frankly a contagious happiness of you're open to such an experience.

I have to be honest. Downtown is going through serious growth pains. I get it. Regardless of that, a restaurant of any caliber shouldn't have a muddy parking lot. My first impression was cringing at every step through mud in the gravel/mud parking lot. There wasn't a valet option. Any place of this price point in Atlanta has valet.

Fortunately, everything after this was exponentially better. The decor of the restaurant is gorgeous. This was our third time dining there over the last few years and it's noticably updated and perfect. The sound proofing panels on the ceiling aren't concealed, but they're effective. But the paint colors, tables, chairsz lighting, all of it, are current decor but perfectly fitted with our unique culture. I really loved it.

As for service, we were greeted right away, and seated despite being early for our reservation. Our server was a bit over loaded with tables, but exceptionally gracious and genuinely loved talking about the wine and dishes. He was supremely supported by runners and other servers, and even the floor manager. Overall, exceptional service.

On to the most important part: menu. Absolute perfection. (Almost. The vodka selection was not great. No belvedere and my ketel one martini was barely drinkable. But the drive 71 Pinot Gris more than made it for it.)

The appetizer! We're south Alabama natives but we've never had North Alabama pork belly or white sauce. It was without a doubt tht best pork we've ever had. Pairing with peanuts was genius and simply made the appetizer.

And then the salad! I'm a salad snob. I admit it. Local butter lettuce sounded simple. But it was the best salad I've ever had in my life. The goat cheese was so creamy and the beets and other flavors added such depth. I'm sure I'll crave it for the foreseeable future.

On to dinner! I splurged on a bottle of an Oregon Pinot Gris and they kept my glass filled. It was exceptional, with all the right notes. I know it's not traditional, but I paired it with the duck. And the dish was absolute perfection. Every single bite was an explosion of competing but also complimentary flavors. It was the most complex yet enjoyable dish I've ever eaten. A truly memorable experience. Hubby has the shrimp and also loved his meal.

I'm so sorry we ran out of time for dessert (our fault, we intentionally set a slow place thinking two hours would be way too much and then time got away from us. Many other tables completed their meal much faster and I'm grateful for our server trying to accommodate a skow place that we wanted). Overall, despite a couple of places with room for improvement, Antebellum is still 5 stars for us. We'll be back soon.

Footnote: there wasn't a single child present. And there aren't any kids friendly menu options.. Message me if you need a babysitter, but don't try to force your kids on this environment. It's a no. Pick...

We have been coming to Antebellum since it first opened and have always enjoyed a stellar meal. This time we were not exactly bowled over with the food. Service was fine, though nothing out of the ordinary. We sat on the porch because it was freezing inside. We actually liked it better because it was much quieter. We have always enjoyed choosing wine with the servers. We always learn something and get a great wine. This server was not really into it. We asked if we could have a taste of one. Although he brought it, he didn't seem particularly happy about it. The wine we chose was ok, just not anything special. The salads , both Caesar and Strawberry were swimming with dressing. The Caesar was very tart and unbalanced. Combined with the huge amount of the dressing, I was unable to eat it. Our server didn't comment when he took away my almost untouched salad. My husband ate his, but he said there was way too much dressing. The choices on the menu were pretty much the same as on past visits.To us, the choices were tired and disappointing. Lots of the dishes have still goat cheese, which we don't care for. There weren't any specials that night to chose from. My husband had the salmon on a grit cake. It was overcooked, but tasted fine. I had the halibut. It was cooked very nicely, but was small. It was served on a bed of mushroom risotto. The risotto was gluey and heavy in texture. It's dark purple color, along with the gluey texture was not very appetizing, especially on a hot summer's night. I ate what I could, mainly because of its $50+price tag. I would certainly not recommend it. The entire meal was way overpriced (almost $200 with tip) for the quality of the food. This meal was definitely not up to the usual high standards of Antebellum. I hope they will consider updating the menu and I also hope this was just an off night. It has always been a star, one we have visited many times...

Antebellum is one of the top 100 restaurants in the US on Open Table and I'm here to say it is well earned. DH took me here for my birthday tonight and everything was amazing. Service was wonderful and our waiter was both informative and enthusiastic about the menu. The restaurant is a converted older Southern home and quite unique.

We started with the complimentary cornbread and green tomato jam (warm and fresh, very good) and then we had the baked brie appetizer. I love baked brie en croute anyway but this was next level with the port wine reduction.

In between apps and entrees, we had a lovely small butter lettuce salad with goat cheese and lemon vinaigrette, which was refreshing and flavorful.

DH had the halibut entree. He said that it was cooked perfectly and really delicious, but found the seasoned popcorn a bit of a misstep with the textures on the plate. I had the braised beef bolognese and no exaggeration, it was the best bolognese I've ever had (and I've had some good bolognese). It was rich, comforting, so many layers of flavor. The house made gnocchi really complemented the sauce and braised beef and the pepadews and goat cheese took it to the next level. DH liked it better than his halibut.

For dessert, we had the sticky toffee cake and I thought I was too full to enjoy it but it was so amazing I found room for it anyway. Definitely a must try. As it was my birthday, they also brought me a warm skillet cookie with ice cream and a lit candle. A lovely touch.

Ambiance, service and food were stellar. My most sincere compliments to the...