Lunch / Review

Park Café, Duluth, Georgia

Plusses: Quaint house in quaint downtown setting, friendly waitress, food.
Minuses: Traffic/parking, host, food, prices.

I am going to give Park Café three stars after having lunched there today with a guest.

The host was unfriendly, intimating it would have been better if we had had reservations – not a bad point, considering that the place rapidly filled up – and we were then given the worst table in the place, until we asked for a different one, which the waitress cheerfully made available.

My food choice was fried green tomatoes. Having enjoyed them elsewhere with goat cheese and remoulade, I was intrigued by the description (“warm brie, candied pecans, bacon balsamic emulsion”) and it took me a few bites before I began to enjoy the meal. The tomatoes were perfectly fried (topped by a few spinach leaves – what was that all about?), the pecans were nice and the emulsion “sold” the dish. The bits in it may have been bacon, or carrot, or pepper or (red) tomato: impossible to tell. The brie was missing, so I’ll never know what it might have contributed to the taste.

My guest had the fried shrimp po-boy, with a side of fresh fruit (melon, I think), which she said she enjoyed. To my eye, it looked a little, well, “po”.

All in all, this, a first visit for both my guest and myself, was not a bad experience, but $30+ for two (including one iced tea, one water, and no coffee or dessert) is too expensive for a middle of the week casual business lunch. Also, each item was $1 more than published on the establishment’s web site. Also “po”!

I tried to post this on Yelp!, but the effort failed.