Henry Parsons Project — Restaurant in Pasadena

(Sorry in advance if I slaughter drink or dish names 🤣) Everything from the food to the staff was INCREDIBLE. When you first walk in the vibe is very chill, dim lighting & candles, it made me want to lounge around and have a drink. Which we definitely did. My husband had a Pale red ale from Louisiana, and I had the Kumquat cocktail with sherry and soju(sp). We felt right at home. The hostess was the sweetest, she got us settled in and explained the specialty cocktails to us(I forgot to get her name). Our server Jimmy was so kind and helped us navigate the menu and explained our options. Off the bat I noticed I didn’t eat a lot of the things on the menu, but we wanted to venture out and try something different. We blindly went with the Chefs choice 5 course dinner. FOLKS, IT DID NOT DISAPPOINT! Their menu is subject to change daily since all ingredients are the freshest seasonal ingredients from local farmers markets. The food: first course was the salad. The grilled persimmon salad was reeeeally nice, I love persimmons and had never thought to add them to a salad let alone grill them, and it was great. The puffed amaranth and pomegranate seeds also added a nice crunch to each bite. Did I mention that the chef himself brought out each course? Chef Kevin was so personable and friendly. He explained every dish in detail before we ate it which made the experience extraordinarily special. The second course was the Striped Bass with grits. Listen.. I don’t eat fish. EVER(too many bad experiences in the past). But I came with an open mind and heart. I basically INHALED this dish, and so did my husband. Every bite was creamy and the skin on the fish was crispy and the fish basically melted in your mouth. When we got it we closed our eyes and dug in. We didn’t even get a chance to take a picture of the dish. I would definitely go back and order this dish as my dinner any day! The third course was the Pork belly “tostada”. Anyone who knows me, knows I don’t eat pork, let alone fatty meats. Well I ate this and SURPRISE! I LOVED IT! It was so flavorful, perfectly spicy, and the sauce.. I wish I had taken notes because the ingredient list was a mouthful. YALL! I was still eating the sauce off the plate after I ate the pork belly crisp. Chef Kevin explained that his slow cooking process renders the fat basically leaving behind just the meat and cartilage. It was sooooo good, I could bottle that flavor and put it on everything! The fourth course was the jalapeño marinated hanger steak cooked medium rare(no exceptions), pommes delphine and verdolaga, with a watercress salad on top. The steak was tender and juicy and each bite was perfect. There was notes of jalapeño flavor but it wasn’t spicy at all which was nice! The potato was confit in duck fat and then fried. It was delicious! The 5th course was dessert! Beignets!!!! Light fluffy and dusted in powdered sugar! With a side of coffee icecream😍 Okay. So.. I loved every bite I ate. We had our toddler with us, he had some buttered noodles… he ate more than he usually does so it’s safe to say he loved them too! Hands down one of the best dining experiences I’ve had in a VERY long time. I’ve traveled the world, and eaten in many countries. And have never had such an incredible overall experience. Thank you for the amazing service, delicious food, and the hospitality. I’d give you 6 stars if I could. 10/10...

Found this spot purely out of chance. Was looking for a low-key spot to eat, surprise the wife for her bday. This place looked good, Louisiana style fare, chill environment. The name is what caught my attention primarily because it sounded experimental. Wasn't sure what to expect, but knew it couldn't hurt to try something new.

Come to find out, this place has only been open to in person for about a year. They have a huge catering operation that competes with the restaurant hours - so FYI to those that aren't aware and showed up only to find the shop closed.

Got to the restaurant - they prefer reservations which can be done through Open Table. Hostess was super warm and inviting. She sat us at our table and introduced the menu to us and how the restaurant worked, as it was our first time there.

Menu was nice and concise, offering a ton of variety in a reasonable number of menu items; small and large plate offerings. Definitely not a place that makes it hard to choose. The menu is seasonal and they offer a special Tasting Menu that is $75 per person and includes on and off menu items and changes with the season with so much variety.

So, we definitely got this and a number of other items to try and ended up with a 10 course meal. Um... Soooo much food, but everything we ordered was incredible. I mean, I'm not sure I've ever been to a spot where literally everything we ordered was 100% on point.

Fried oysters Duck liver pate Gumbo Crawfish Etoufee Tasting Menu (includes dessert) Birthday dessert

Chef Kevin paid us several special dlvisits, curating our tasting and the menu items we ordered and offering interesting tidbits about food history and the menu. It was an incredible dining experience. The staff was attentive and courteous and the atmosphere was super chill and loungey. We probably spent about 2 hours there just eating and enjoying ourselves.

Words literally won't do it justice. This is 100% diamond in the rough. Definitely going back and trying new menu items as the...

Nice restaurant with plenty of free self parking.

We went there for a birthday party with a few friends.

There's indoor seating and an outdoor patio.

Service is top notch.

The decoration is interesting.

Inside there are a few tables but the acoustics are horrible. Very difficult to hear or speak to a person sitting right next to you. Maybe the patio is better but there might be a bit of traffic noise.

The food is ok at best. I suppose it's NOLA but some of the dishes seemed out of place. The fried oysters were a bit in the salty side. The dipping sauce was good. The peach salad was good but nothing special. The tomato and cucumber salad was also good but also nothing special. The gumbo and pork chop, which I didn't try but my friends did, they said were good but didn't rave about it. The biscuit was good but also nothing special. The fried chicken was ok but nothing special. The shrimp dish was good but nothing special. The halibut was flavorless and dry. The steak was cooked perfectly. It was juicy and tender. It came with fries that were nothing special. The Chinese noodle was actually very yummy. Perfectly cooked, just the right amount of spiciness.

We ordered three desserts since they wouldn't allow us to bring our own cake (this is the first time I've been to a restaurant that has such policy)

Surprisingly, their desserts are decent. I'd say better than the rest of the food. The ice cream with peach was ok but nothing special. The strawberry pie was ok but nothing special. The berry cobbler was in my opinion the best thing they served.

I'm sure you see an overall theme... Good but nothing special.

I'm not sure what is all the hype about this restaurant. I found it overrated and over priced. Again, that's...