A Place to Impress!
Dining at Gabrielle's is a delight. The menu changes from season to season. Here is one place where the word exquisite could apply, but I won't use it here because it's so overused in the Asheville dining scene.

Gabrielle's is a restuarant where you could bring your date to impress. If you have a relatively tight budget, save up for this once a year treat. I think you'll enjoy the dishes, the service, and the ambience. Quite special.

By the way, if you time your dinner reservation with the fireworks display from the baseball stadium, you'll get lots of eye candy by the porch! Your date will be quite impressed :)    [27 Mar 2005 16:49:03]

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Recommended Dishes: almost all the dishes on the menu!

     ­The Critique, asheville   

Overrated in my humble opinion
I must say that while we were thoroughly delighted with our recent stay at the Richmond Hill Inn, the dining experience at Gabrielle's left something to be desired.

There were really two options for dinner, both basically a Prix Fixe menu - with or without wine pairings. Wanting to make the most of our experience, we chose the "Gabrielle's Grande" experience. With the wine pairings, the meal was $130 each.

I must say that for this to be listed as "the" place to go in Asheville, the food was very disappointing. Sadly, the most memorable dish we had was the corn bisque. The foie gras was pretty bland compared to the dish we had the previous night at Savoy. The tuna tartar hit all the basics as well but wasn't anything more than what you would expect in a fairly good sushi restaurant. My fish (turbot) selection was good but nothing extraordinary while my spouse's tenderloin was tender but a bit overcooked. It was recommended that it be served medium rare, which is how we order it anyway. However, the filet was quite thin in size and came out more medium to medium well....very little pink inside.

As much as I hate to admit it, the desserts were not very good at all. I chose the melon trio which consisted of a sorbet, a cake and something I've already forgotten. All were bland at best. My spouse chose the chocolate trio and while both of us LOVE chocolate, we did not finish any of the three small chocolate presentations.

On a positive note, the service was impeccable. Very prompt, very sincere and extremely knowledgable of the menu and wine selections.

However, for a meal to be over $300 for two, I would expect the food to be the memorable part of the experience. Sadly, we will remember the food for what it was not.

While we were only in Asheville for two nights, the meal we had the previous night at Savoy was much better than what we had at Gabrielle's. Give them both a try and I'd be interested in your opinion.    [12 Jun 2006 08:42:03]

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Recommended Dishes: Would recommend none that we had...

     ­blaine blevins   blaineblevins at alltel dot net

Good but not Great
I wholeheartedly agree with "Blaine." Very expensive, and only good, not great.

Gabrielle's is one of those places where you start doubting yourself. The place is super elegant, the food outrageously expensive, the menu delightfully intriguing, and the dining room full. So when you start eating and think, "Hm, that's nice," it is easy to think, "Is it just me? Am I missing something?"

No, it is not just you. The food is average, and I don't really understand why. The dishes sound superb, and the ingredients are for the most part, good (although I am positive they used pre-made/powdered demi-glace, shame shame), but somehow, each dish is just sort of ... there. There is just that magical spark missing somewhere. Now, in all fairness there is a different chef there as of November-ish 2006 and I have not dined since.

It is a lovely experience, however. You will definitely feel pampered to be in such a luxurious spot, and the service is very attentive (if a little schmaltzy). If you don't mind dropping $300 for that, then go for it.

P.S., the only thing I disagree with Blaine about is the chocolate trio, which even not being a huge chocolate fan, I found to be the most exciting part of my 6 course meal.    [28 Jan 2007 00:02:30]

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     ­Anonymous