I like the food at Absinthe. I like that they stay open late on weekends so you can get a drink not at a pub. I don’t think they advertise that, but there it is. They stay open pretty damn late as long as there are people there (bar service only).
All their servers are bilingual, which is awesome. The server we had last week was super friendly.
We all had the table d’hote. the first course was excellent. The first courses were all really interesting with multiple elements on each plate, and with different applications. Their dehydrated vegetables are really well done, very very thinly sliced which is key I think to make sure they’re crunchy and not too chewy. Dehydrated eggplant? Sounds terrible, but it’s awesome.
For the mid, I had the salad and the others had the soup, which was excellent. The salad was a bit too acidic and kind of boring. the lime flavor was really good but I think something with a bit of sweetness and color would have balanced it off well. The arugula was excellent, spicy but not bitter.
All the mains were also really great. When I remember going last I thought the plates were a tad small but this time we were stuffed so either I was super hungry last time or something has changed. Either way we didn’t finish our mains.
the lamb ragout was AMAZING. really really tasty, and the peas made the dish. the sauce was really rich but it was really well balanced with the pasta which was on the basic side (not in a bad way, they complemented each out perfectly). the lamb was cooked to perfection.
As is my usual complaint, the places lacks on the veggie side. Story of my life.
My one other complaint was that my beer was served a good CM below the pour line, with way too much head, and then the server took it away before I was done. I hate wasting good Kichesippi.
On the plus side they have Kichesippi 1855 on tap, which is a nice change from most places that if they only have one, it’s the pale.
Service is Central 