Aubergine Kitchen — Restaurant in Meridian

2nd visit: I bumped up my stars. They gave me a $50 gift card to come back again which was very nice. I ordered the golden curry bowl and it was very good! I also ordered the lemon olive oil cake, and it was different but still good. I am just not used to things being gluten free, but it was still good. I am just used to normal ingredients. The girl at the register this time was very nice! I know they are busy, but they need to stay on top of cleaning tables, picking up dirty plates, and checking on customers. I would definitely come back for the bowls! I appreciate them trying to make a change!

1st visit: Where to start? We walked in and the employee working the counter did not even greet us. He might have only said 5 words to us.

Expensive sticker price, but it was our first time so we thought it would be worth it. Spoiler - it was not.

We ordered the pasture power bowl, Mac & cheese tri tip plate, chicken bites, cheese bread, strawberry lemonade.

We received the drinks right away and don't expect it to taste like normal strawberry lemonade, very watery. The power pasture bowl and the cheese bread came out after 10 minutes. The bowl was pretty decent, but not worth the price. It would probably be the only thing I would order again. The cheese bread was cold and slightly hard. The taste was alright.

The rest of our food was no where in sight, so we had to ask for it. It took about 15 more minutes for the rest of it to come out....

The chicken bites were awful. Too heavily coated in breading. No seasoning in the coating either. The chicken was bland. It is supposed come with sauce, but ours did not apparently. I honestly spit the chicken out. The Mac and cheese reminded me of something you can make at home, too buttery, it kept separating from the cheese, but it was still good flavor. The broccoli was delicious. The tri tip was fairly bland, but the chimichurri sauce helped somewhat, but it was a little strong.

I get they were busy too but the waitress never checked in on us. I am just very disappointed, it sounded so good, but the food was not up too par. Overall...

We’ve been 2 times now. On opening weekend and again today and I was underwhelmed both times with the food. Which is sad because I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE the concept. So happy to have seed oil free food in the treasure valley. Hurray! I’ve been telling lots of people about this place, basically every person I encounter when I shop in the village haha. And all my friend’s & acquaintances.

The first time I understand there are kinks to iron out with it being a new place but definitely hoped it would improve today.

Sweet potatoes both times were burned. Sourdough bread for breakfast today burned to an edible crisp. The salmon was awful. Dry, hard & bland. The steak was also awful. Dry & hard. The proteins definitely stood out as the worst part of it all. Eggs not warm nor soft yolks. Cheese bread was yummie but cold. Respectfully the chai was possibly the most disgusting drink I’ve ever tried in my life - it was absolutely undrinkable. I ordered hot chocolate but it didn’t have coconut whip on top.

Quite widely varying portion sizes on 2 of the same order dishes. Not something that bothered us really but hopefully helpful for management to know.

I liked the staff though, all very friendly. Our wait was significantly less today than the first weekend which was to be expected. On opening weekend we waited over 30 mins for food & some didn’t come out until maybe 45 mins. We had to go check a couple times when stuff never came & no one checked on us (opening weekend). I think the tip options should be lower for non table service. Asking for 18-22% seems steep when you’re only being served at a register. I have owned a restaurant myself in the past & I know what it takes to open and run - & I have the UPMOST respect and appreciation for the owners, staff.. a company over all doing more natural & healthier food.

I will for sure go back many many times & support & hope the food improves 🤞🏽🤞🏽🤞🏽 We shop at the coop just across the way weekly and we will pop in & eat with ya’ll & keep giving you a try!

Thank you for opening in...

We came on Saturday, the day after grand opening, so I am mostly posting this as feedback for the management, and not as a “don’t come here” post. I will give a ton of credit to the fact that the rush of customers was insane, and I hope to come back in a few months when everything is ironed out.

Pros: The food was amazing. I want to make sure I put this down first. The portions are fair for what you pay.

I don’t have any guilt about the meal knowing the ingredients are high quality.

We got there 15 minutes after opening, and the rush didn’t start until 11:30. Once the rush began, it never ended, but we were able to get a seat without any real issue.

Cons: The music honestly made me want an icepick lobotomy. It is the most gentrified music that has no soul to it whatsoever, and sitting down for 45 minutes was enough to get under my skin. Give me soft jazz or anything else because the constant covers of classic hits lacks both passion and soul.

The wait staff needs to figure out a system to help guests. The amount of “deer in the headlight” looks that I saw while watching the staff try to figure out where the table they were serving was located was preventable if they didn’t use the placard system in place.

The kitchen needs to figure out timing on group orders. My food came out 16 minutes before my wife’s food.

There either needs to be a place for guests to bus their own tables, or an employee who specifically goes around to clear tables. The amount of guests looking for a place to sit was interesting to watch.

The hospitality overall was a miss. We showed up originally around 10:20 for breakfast, which is advertised on their website and the hours are posted on their front door, but when I asked if they were open I got a very curt response. We assumed that the opening weekend the weren’t doing breakfast so we came back later, but it was a terrible first impression.

Overall: I hope this place gets their soft skill improved. As it is right now, I would never do anything other than a...