Last night, some of my girlfriends and I decided we needed a girls night! We got manicures and pedicures and headed out to a relatively new restaurant called Good Food on Montford. One of my girlfriends had been there before so I was looking forward to it, however, reviews on Urbanspoon made me a tad nervous.  Calling your restaurant “Good Food??? seems a bit presumptuous so I was interested to see if they would live up to the expectation.

It was a very nondescript building on the outside, there’s a chance you’d miss it.  Luckily, we knew it was across the street from a bowling alley so we looked for that when driving down Montford.

I called in advance to try to make a reservation, but unfortunately they only take reservations for parties of six and more.  We arrived around 6:45 and were told it would be about an hour.  We planned to hang out at the bar until a table was ready.

Unfortunately, the bar was already crowded with other diners waiting for a table so we spent about a half hour milling about until a spot opened up for us at the bar.  While we waited, I noted the smallness of the restaurant and the subtle decorations. (Sorry for the blurriness on the restaurant shot!)

When we made it to the bar, we perused the wine list trying to decide what to have.  There was a good selection of red, white, and sparkling wine glasses.  Since we all wanted something different, we went with glasses instead of a bottle.  As a side note, I was quite impressed with the bartender.  She was knowledgeable, friendly, and patient, especially with the difficulty she had hearing customers’ orders due to the noise from all of the people in the place.

From left to right, we had Macon-Villages from Burgundy, France, Cava Rose from Spain, and a Chardonnay from Santa Barbara Winery in California.  We were all very pleased with our wines as well as the amount served per glass.

After about an hour of waiting, as expected, a table became available and we had a seat.  At least for me, it was perfect timing as I was starting to get hungry!

Good Food on Montford is essentially a tapas place so the three of us decided to order a number of small plates to share.  We started out with four and then ordered another three, each choosing one each round.  First, pictures and names… then I’ll tell you what we thought…

Seared Scallops with Pumpkin Risotto and Fennel

Beef Carpaccio with hearts of palm, pickled onion, and pamigiano reggiano

Grillied artichokes with pickled chanterelle mushrooms (sorry so blurry   )

Assorted American farmhouse cheeses with truffle chutney and fresh honeycomb (included a blue cheese, a brie, and a goat/cow milk combo)

Prince Edward Island Mussels in a green curry, coconut milk, and cilantro sauce

Fried oysters with a shelling bean salad and oven roasted tomato and chili aioli

Truffled fettucini with lobster, english peas, and Chantilly cream

So, our thoughts? Amazing! Seriously.  This food not only met the “Good Food???mark, it was beyond my expectations.  I enjoyed every single bite that I had as did my girlfriends.  There were actually a handful of things I normally don’t like (cilantro, blue cheese, and artichokes) that they prepared so well that I actually enjoyed them.

During dinner, I texted the Husband to tell him that we have to come back here before we move so that he can experience this place! Likely on a weeknight though so we don’t have to wait an hour

We found that we had ordered a good number of plates.  We were satisfied but not stuffed.  So, on to desserts we moved! With a quick once over on the dessert menu, we continued with our theme of sharing and ordered three desserts to split.

Chocolate Cupcake with graham cracker and toasted meringue

Roasted banana tart with caramel ice cream and macadamia nuts

Pot de creme (chocolate and espresso mousse with fresh whipped cream)

After all the wonderful small plates, we had high expectations for dessert and it did not disappoint.  I believe our favorite was the chocolate cupcake.  I described it to the Husband as more of a chocolate lava cake than a cupcake and the meringue tasted marshmallowy – so good!  The chocolate mousse’s espresso flavor was a bit strong, especially after eating the cupcake, but I still personally really enjoyed it.

Overall, this was a kick ass dining experience.  Our waitress was attentive.  The food and drink were so very good and the prices for what we had were wonderful.  The portion sizes were great for sharing.  Yep, this place rocked.  Looking forward to taking the Husband there when we get back from Australia!