Only Mildly Amused

Lauren and I had a date on Wednesday.  Our schedules have been pulling us in v. different directions, and we seriously needed to sit down and catch up on everything.  We decided to try a new restaurant – or at least one that neither of us had been to before – and we chose Amuse.  (Amuse was recently on Scoutmob, so we had a nifty 50% of discount (p.s. just got one today for Nakato on Cheshire Bridge) - which certainly didn’t hurt in our decision making process.)

inside amuse

Located in Midtown nearby One Midtown Kitchen, Amuse markets itself as a “whimsical, French-inspired bistro.”  Even though I literally live right down the street from Amuse, I found the restaurant difficult to locate because it’s kinda hidden at the very end of Dutch Valley Road.  However, once I found it and parked (free parking lot beside the restaurant - no valet was set up), I was pleased at what I saw.  It’s a surprisingly large restaurant (I guess I was expecting something more along the lines of Tierra on Piedmont Rd.) with a charming, little dining patio next to it.

I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t done a bit of research on Amuse before dining there.  After reading some of the blogger reviews on Urbanspoon and Yelp, I felt pretty badly for the restaurant.  It’s just been destroyed throughout social media restaurant reviews.  You have to know when you are reading a review, that only two types of people write them – those who have wonderful or horrible experiences.  People who have a perfectly fine meal, not the best they’ve ever had – but still good/ v. good, don’t take the time to write up their experience.  (Except for LK + me…)  Further, it’s hard to believe that the majority of folks who so fervently bash a restaurant have any sort of culinary training or experience, have ever worked in a restaurant or really know what they are talking about.  I always try to keep this in mind when I read restaurant reviews, but for the sake of this post, let’s turn it back to Amuse…

Our experience was fine.  I mean, really it was just fine.  Service was slow, but good.  Food was good, but not the most delicious I’ve ever eaten.  (That being said, we got small plates to share – not full entrees.)  We finished everything…  The wine was nice.  I guess, that was about it. 

Here’s what we ordered to accompany our wine:

beef carpaccio

mussels

caprese salad

The best part of the night was:

olive joined us!

Know before you go:  Amuse is worth trying once, but keep this in mind…  There’s not much atmosphere, so don’t have dinner there if you want it to be the beginning of a crazy night on the town.  Also, it might be weird for a business dinner because it’s so quiet and kind of romantic-ish.  Sitting on the patio was nice, but there are a lot of mosquitoes.  I got very bitten up (b/c I’m so sweet, obv.).  The patio has a specific closing time (10 p.m. on weekdays and 11 p.m.? on weekends) so as to not disturb folks living in the surrounding condos.  GPS the restaurant – it’s not well marked. 

In my mind, Amuse is a good “second date” restaurant – some place where it’s quiet, so you can talk and not have to shout at each other over loud music, the food is good enough and no one rushes you out of the restaurant (unless you are sitting on the patio).

Let me know what y’all think if you check it out…

xx, L

Amuse
404.888.1890
560 Dutch Valley Road
Atlanta, GA  30324
www.amuseatlanta.com