Let me preface this entry by saying that I do not consider myself a "foodie" by any means. I am too incredibly picky when it comes to food. With that being said, I do enjoy a nice meal out and the occasional meal cooked at home. These are my thoughts on our V-Day dinner at Livingston.
Upon arrival at the Georgian Terrace Hotel, we chose the option of valeting the car (I didn't want to park and walk), only to be floored by the ridiculous prices- $15+. After much haggling and almost leaving to park in a different lot, the valet told us it would be free and to get our ticket validated at the restaurant. I'm still confused about that whole situation as to if we would have had to pay otherwise. Finally inside and a few minutes early, we check in and are told that the table isn't quite ready. We ventured over to the bar and people watched while we waited. (Surprisingly, we only saw a handful of Widespread fans.) I grew antsy as we continued to wait and then we were finally seated 10 or 15 minutes after our reservation time. I then realized that there were a few empty tables around us. Why we had to wait so long, I'm not quite sure.
Once seated the experience was much more delightful. Although I can't remember our waiter's name, he was a dead ringer for Oscar from The Office.
I started off with the Black and Blu cocktail, which I thoroughly enjoyed, while my Valentine had a glass of Riesling (it tasted similar to grape juice, it was that sweet!). Since it was past 8:30 at this point and drinking on an empty stomach is never a good idea, we ordered the tempura lobster (my pick) and the crab cakes (his pick) appetizers. The lobster came with a sweet chili sauce that was really quite delicious, so delicious in fact that we put it on the crab cakes as well. Who doesn't love a good sauce??
For dinner I chose the pan roasted salmon with grilled shiitake, braised leeks, and lemon thyme (hold the shiitake) and my Valentine picked the house smoked pork with sweet potato hash and scallion bbq. (The hash was appropriate considering the Widespread concert, his joke not mine.) Seeing that we both just about cleaned our plates, I think it's safe to say that we both enjoyed our meals. The salmon was slightly overcooked to my liking, but the way it was prepared and the taste made up for that. Since I'm not much of a pork fan I can't give my opinion on the dish, but he seemed to like it! I was definitely impressed with the presentation of both meals and only wish that I had taken a picture or two. (Is that appropriate at nice restaurants? I don't know the etiquette.) Unfortunately we were both too full to order any dessert but they sure did sound delicious!
My happiness was put on hold when we had to wait for over ten minutes to get our car back from the valet. Had there been other people waiting too, I would have understood, but we were the only ones there. The valet's tip began to shrink the longer we had to wait and I grew very tired/cranky. The car finally arrived and I tried to give my most "irritated" look at the valet. Maybe the lesson here is to not annoy the valet like we apparently did.
Overall, I would definitely go eat at Livingston again and recommend it to others, although the parking situation was a bit of a hassle. I thought that the food was excellent and it was a nice change to go somewhere other than Buckhead (my comfort zone).
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