Emily Benham's New Place

[horseyocala]

Tried this new restaurant/bistro in Jacksonville (Avondale?) last week when I was making a weekly visit for business â€" recommended by a friend who lives there.  From the outside, it was really impressive, with a lot of stonework and glass.  Kind of a weird entrance, through some double doors, with a closed shoe store on one side (apparently it is somehow connected to the restaurant, but I don’t get it)  Really nice interior décor but LOUD.  I was by myself, so I sat at the back kitchen/counter.

After looking at the menu, I was kind of confused â€" it is arranged by PRICES, not by type of food.  Generally, the food was good, although the portions were, to say the least, parsimonious.  The biggest surprise was when I got the bill â€" it was over $50 and I felt like I was still expecting the main course, even after I had “dessert.”

This place needs to worry less about looking trendy, and more about providing good food with reasonable portions.  I wasn’t surprised to hear a couple beside me discussing how they were having some financial woes.  I don’t think I will be back.

[ChriswUfGator]

FWIW, I've heard from several people now that this place is way overpriced and has tiny portions. The few I've talked to that have eaten there say that the food / menu is comparable to the old Cafe Carmon, except with 1/3'rd the portion size and 2X higher prices. I'll be holding out until they get the issues fixed to try it out. Not in a real big rush to drop $100 on dinner and then still have to go to Kickback's later for my actual dinner when I'm still hungry.

[konstantconsumer]

From my experience eating there I actually thought the pricing was very good.  It's not really my goal to get 2000 calories every time I eat out.  When I was there, 3 of us at enough to be pleasently full and also had a $50 bottle of wine.  With a total of $150 I think that's a good price.