Joe and I are on a search for a wedding venue. That means that everywhere we eat is a restaurant to vet for our upcoming nuptials. For my birthday this year, I was going to be in school. Joe decided we would try one of our possible Atlanta restaurants and then go see a show at the Fabulous Fox Theatre in Mid-Town. 

OpenTable.com is a godsend. That site, and Zagats, have a feature where you can search for restaurants that accommodate large parties. This is how we found WaterHaven. To be honest, it didn't rank very high on my list (ok... I didn't like the way the bar chairs looked), but they had a Dinner and a Show special. Bing!!!!! For $25 each, we could get individual appetizers, entrées, and desserts. This, my friends, is a pretty good deal in Atlanta. And they validate your parking!

It took us a while to find. Near GA Tech, the one-way streets get a little cut off and we circled a few times. When we got there, I found a metered spot for Helga the Wundatruck Right In Front! This is a good omen. You just don't get parking spots like that all the time!

Right away the staff made us feel at home. Our waiter Chris made sure everything I had was gluten-free, even when I "special ordered" the fried green tomatoes in plain cornmeal. It was so worth it. Light and crispy, these were delicate, not greasy. They were accompanied by poblano goat cheese for a touch of heat, pumpkin seed pesto, and roasted red peppers. WaterHaven partners with Coles Lake Dairy in Carrolton, GA... their goat cheese is yummy creamy smooth. If you can find some in the market in Atlanta, get it.  The dish was Santa Fe inspired I think, a new twist on Southern cuisine, and I loved them. Joe had the lamb sliders, which looked like lamb meatballs on little buns. I couldn't try them, but the tzatziki sauce that they came with was perfectly minted... not too strong but not weak either.  We washed it all down with a Terra Rosa Malbec from Mendoza, Argentina. It was a decent bottle of wine... what you would expect for one at a lower price point, but we enjoyed it!

For course two, I had trout (imagine!) and Joe had the pork chop accompanied with apple chutney and greens. Again, I am the special order girl and WaterHaven delivered. The trout was supposed to be served with butternut squash ravioli (what I wouldn't give to try those ravioli) but I had roasted potatoes. Crisp and well salted, they were yummy potatoes. The trout itself had thin little slices of bacon you could cut with a fork and sage leaves that looked like they had been picked out of my garden. This dish was light and fresh. Joe seemed to enjoy his chop; I loved the perfect grill marks and the apple chutney.

For dessert, bring on the lemon panna cotta and chocolate ice box pie. Ok. Don't bring me the pie. Bring that to Joe. I'm allergic to chocolate too, by the way. The lemon panna cotta was the one thing I had issue with. On the one hand, the chefs at WaterHaven used fresh lemon in the panna cotta. The flavor was light and refreshing... a great way to end a meal. On the other, it made for a gritty textured dessert. My suggestion.... grind a few blueberries into the smooth sauce to give it some heft and balance the texture. The whole thing was better and more balanced when I was chewing berry with it. While I was debating this in my head, Joe wolfed down the pie. Good thing I didn't want a bite!

All in all, I really enjoyed WaterHaven. Don't expect overly complex, foo-foo dishes. The food is simple and lets the natural flavors shine. The wait staff is super nice, the manager extremely informative (we asked about reception capabilities and he told me about their plans to upgrade their offerings), and for the summer, they have a really nice patio.

We had a great time at WaterHaven (and the Fox) and are ready for an encore! Oh, and the musical was good too