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Magnolia Grill Review
Read our Raleigh-Durham with Chapel Hill restaurant reviews. Or post your own.
Magnolia Grill 
$$$$, Contemporary, Durham
User Rating: **** 4.3
Fodor's Review:
This bistro is consistently one of the area's finest, most innovative places to dine. The food created by chef-owners Ben and Karen Barker is as eye-catching as the art on the walls. The daily menu, which maintains a Southern sensibility, may include spicy green-tomato soup with crab and country ham or striped bass with oyster stew.
Member Reviews & Ratings:
Magnolia's BACK in FABULOUS FORM
Posted by LadyOLeisure from Durham NC (after 30 yrs in DC) on 4/20/07
Yes, it is relatively expensive compared to other restaurants in the triangle (Chapel Hill/Durham/Raleigh). Our meal last night, however, was one of the best we've had EVER. Maybe we "picked" well from the menu, but each dish was divine. For starters we had a crispy bacalao (cod) cake (DH) and Grilled Beef sirloin with spring onions, greens & asparagus. Entrees were a heavenly Alaskan halibut with a pearl barley risotto (me) and Pan-roasted venison in syrah-Juniper jus on toasted pecan spatzle with broccoli rabe. Wow. The venison was tender and rich...the halibut was thick and almost fluffy and seasoned delicately (it smelled SO amazing). We had a nice California Pinot Noir which complimented everything. The Desserts were amazing -- strawberry rhubarb sorbet with buttermilk sabayon and Ginger spice cake w/pear sauce & brandy vanilla ice cream. We walked in to snag one of the 7 tables kept for walk-ins. Don't expect dried out, well done meats or McDs fries at a wonderful restaurant like this. Also, this IS a small town. People eat much earlier here. Go around 7, NOT at 9pm. When in Rome....RATING: 4.8
yummy
Posted by dovie4 from Raleigh, NC on 12/30/06
A couple of nights ago I ate some of the best food I've ever put in my mouth here. The restaurant wasn't perfect, but its best dishes were so good I'd forgive almost anything to experience them. I particularly enjoyed the grits-cheese- mushroom dish that is the restaurants' signature dish. The vegetarian member of our party expressed disappointment at his entree, which the waiter acknowleged is a weak point for the restaurant. Also, service wasn't quite attentive enough toward the end of our meal. Water glasses went dry.RATING: 4.8
Always Incredible
Posted by karatecop from Raleigh on 12/21/06
As they say, the 1% of people who have a "bad" experience will complain the loudest. Aside from writing an essay on the complete failure of the current consumer society of America, I would like to laud the virtues of Magnolia. The restaurant serves fabulous food in an environment that is welcome to all. The folks that work at and run Magnolia are there to make a living and espouse the virtues of fantastic food in relaxed surroundings. If you wasted your last paycheck paying for your suv and would rather eat steak-umms and wonder bread in copius amounts, please avoid magnolia. Please, spend your money on education and travel.RATING: 5.0
Very Disappointed!
Posted by Linda from NC on 8/6/06
I went here when I first moved to NC in 2003, and was VERU disappointed... Upon arriving at the restaurant, I didn't even know I had the right place, or at least what I had visioned in my mind a restaurant that had been highly recommended with such rave reviews should look like... When we pulled up, it looked like an old VFW building instead of a classy restaurant... We went inside, and to my surprise the inside wasn't much better than the outside, except cleaner... The walls and decor are very plain, with white table clothes, nothing to write home about... It was loud, the waitress was rude and impatient, and the portions were VERY small, while the prices were HUGE... I would NOT go back to this place... It is overrated, and prices are wayyyyyyyy too high for what you get.... The only good thing was the desserts, and those were fabulous!RATING: 2.4
INFO
- Address: 1002 9th St., Downtown, Durham, NC
- Phone: 919/286-3609
- Credit Cards: AE, MC, V
- Closed: Closed Sun. and Mon. No lunch
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