Cakes & Ale

Have you ever ventured out as far as Decatur?  Go down Ponce past Fernbank and Druid Hills to this historic town.  Their downtown is vaguely similar to the set up in Downtown Woodstock with shops below and living above.  Their sidewalk traffic is huge!  The reason; MARTA is right down the street.  Despite the public transportation street traffic is also huge on a pleasant Saturday night with a music festival going on.  We had to park in a church lot that has quite a money making scheme going on; $5.00 a car with an attendant on duty until around 8:00pm.

The setting was very nice with original artwork and banquettes lining the perimeter.  The noise level was adequate to allow conversation without hollering.

We started with a chicken liver pate.  Thought we would try their version.  It was okay but next time we will try something else.  Cakes & Ale is known for deboning their whole trout at the table.  It is a very large fish and they hope you will share between your party.  In fact they encourage sharing small and large plate items.  This is a nice option.  I ordered a small plate version of homemade pasta and shrimp.  It was just enough for me.  My husband had their crusted rib eye with roasted potatoes.  It was pretty good.

Here is the drawback.  It took us just about one hour to make it to the restaurant.  The steak and pasta dishes did not stand out enough to justify such a drive.  Unless you are planning a special dinner with out of town friends or family and want to make a day out of it by going to the Fernbank or shopping in Virginia Highlands save your gas.

The bill was a little steep for the quantity and quality of food.  The steak was $38.00 alone.  Once again one beer, water and no dessert.  Their bakery next door was disappointing.  The cases were pretty empty but that could have been because of the time of night.

Next.  On to Wisteria in Inman Park.