Rocky Road

Tonight seven of us met at a new restaurant in downtown, Strada. After drying off and ordering our wine we started to take in our location. We enjoyed the atmosphere but there was something that was not quite right. The general consensus is that the lighting was off and perhaps the space a little to large for that cozy Italian feel, giving the atmosphere a 3. Some of us ordered drinks and it took around 20 minutes for them to arrive. This was our first hint that our waitress was not overly attentive. Unfortunately the restaurants fryer was down so we were unable to try the calamari that sounded so delicious. Instead we decided to try out the cheese pizza, it was delicious! The perfect combination of light fluffiness and crispiness you crave and a yummy sauce. The only complaint from a few of us was a little more cheese, which who doesn't love a little extra cheese. Needless to say we enjoyed it ...

This got us all excited about our pending entrees. The menu had so many delicious sounding items that many of us had a hard time picking the one thing but thankfully we all share. While we waited on our food to arrive we were brought bread and oil but for a long table of 7 women there was one basket, one oil, and no bread plates which made enjoying this delicious bread a bit difficult.  Next our salads arrived. Overall we were pleased, and the dressings were fantastic. One of us ordered the figs instead of a salad and they were nicely done as well. When our food arrived we were all excited to dig in. One nice thing about the menu is there are large portions and small portions. The down side to this option is that they are not balanced for the pricing. For example one of us got the large portion of ravioli and another one of us the small portion, the difference was one ravioli and $5.00. The menu also stated that the pasta dishes came with garlic bread and a salad. When the pasta dishes came out with no garlic bread, we asked about it. The waitress said that it was a misprint on the menu and they didn't actually come with garlic bread, but that she would get us some anyway. Okay. Well she brought out totally burnt pieces of bread that were harder than croutons. Another person from the group got the chicken piccata. At first they were impressed at the dish, but half way through eating my chicken, she then noticed that the top 1/4 inch of the chicken was raw! I showed Diane, the hostess, and she brought it back to the kitchen. The waitress addressed it and asked if she wanted another one, but she declined and the waitress took it off her bill. After we were finished, we got three desserts which were all wonderful. We did e-mail the owner of Strada about our experience, cause our goal here is to not bash the wonderful restaurants of Asheville.

Keep chewin' til next time!

Overall Score: 2

How it all began

Buy yourself a nice dinner was created by a small group of young women in Asheville, NC. Some of us are new to the area, some of us have just moved back, and some of us have lived here for years. It was decided that there are so many amazing restaurants in Asheville that we all wanted to try that we should meet once a month and "Buy Ourselves a Nice Dinner" ... cause lets be real we all deserve a nice dinner from time to time! Each month we meet at the chosen restaurant, eat food, have a drink, and enjoy each others fabulous company. This month we meet up and found ourselves compairing and critiquing our experience. After much laughing and a little wine we decided to start this blog. Why not share our experience with other people and give them a little insight to what we are learning as we dine around town.

During each dinner we will keep a notebook on the table and take notes on what we like and don't like about our experience. We have come up with a list of categories we will rate on a scale of 1 to 5 to share with you (5 being the best of the best). You will get a sneak peek into our girls night out and how our crazy brains work!

Hope you enjoy!