Amuse!

The food is delicious and the wait staff are great.
Check out the deals they have Tues — Thur, some great deals.

Was amused how their décor really has no European feel to it. It felt more like Asian/​Mexican restaurant rather than a European feel to it. The only thing that made it feel Euro was the pictures they had here and there of the Eiffel tower and what not. Not saying the décor is bad because we felt homey in there, just didn’t get that Euro feel. It would be a nice place to have a romantic date though since it is dark, and has a very romantic feel to it. The restaurant itself is tucked behind buildings and located under a residential building. The restaurant can easily be missed if you don’t know where you are going, or heading there with someone who doesn’t know where the place is located. The only sign they have is a small cheaply made billboard on the street.
Amuse has a small variety of food on their menu, but it was enough for a good filling dinner. I ordered the Les Escargots de Bourgogne, Steamed PEI Mussels Poulette, and a side of potato au gratin. One friend ordered coq au vin, and the other ordered duck leg confit. Main course itself came out to be very good, including the potato au gratin (All meal was great, since we shared each others plates). The only problem we had during our dinner service was the fact that the food did not come out warm or hot. It was cold! The only thing that came out hot was the escargot. We had to send back the main courses because it was cold, like it had been sitting there. Waiter apologized and made sure to bring use a new dish that was hot.
Overall, we all had a good experience here. It’s not the greatest french bistro, but it is worth to go and try it out! Good and attentive service. It would be a five star other than the fact that our food came out cold.

Three of my girl friends and I went for Sunday brunch. None of us had been, but I had noticed the sign on Monroe pointing down Dutch Fork so I know where it was. It’s a strange location, but sort of nice tucked back among a few residential buildings. We had a reservation (actually we had two which just says something funny about my friends) though we could have walked in and been seated right away. I’m sure dinner is more crowded so I would recommend making a reservation.
The restaurant has very cool décor using belts to hold curtains in place and lots of deep reds and tans. It also has a bit of french flair. The food and service were great. The bread served when we sat down was delicious. For my meal I got the eggs benedict and had no regrets. I asked for the hollendaise sauce on the side and they had no issue with that. It came with a perfect, simple green salad on the side.
It was cold when we went, but it looks like a fun place to sit outside, so I will definitely return in the spring/​summer!

Amuse! is a fun little French restaurant tucked away behind Piedmont Park. It’s located on the ground level of a residential building at the end of Dutch Valley Rd. off Monroe. This is the same road where One Midtown Kitchen is located. There are free self-​park spots out front.
I came here with two friends for Sunday brunch and we really enjoyed ourselves. The atmosphere is airy and inviting. During the day, most of the space is lit by natural light. The furniture and décor is Parisian-​inspired. The tabletops have «Amuse!» painted into them. We sat at a regular table, but the booths in the back looked cozy and comfy. There’s a small bar inside and patio seating outside.
Amuse! serves brunch from 11:30am to 2:30pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Menu options range from light and healthy to eggs & omelets, sandwiches, and salads — all French or French-​inspired, of course. We tried:
Eggs Benedict — poached eggs on toast with spinach, wild mushrooms, black forest ham, and Hollandaise sauce with arugula salad
Croque Monsieur — toasted bread with black forest ham, Swiss cheese, bechamel sauce, arugula salad, and French fries
Croque Madame — same as the Croque Monsieur except the sandwich has a baked egg on top
All dishes were very good. The poached eggs were perfectly prepared and the spinach, mushrooms, and ham were fresh and tasty. The Hollandaise sauce was smooth, which made the Eggs Benedict that much more appetizing.
A signature French dish, the Croque Monsieur/​Madame were excellent. I prefer the Madame since it comes with an egg. My friend Melissa commented her Croque was one of the best sandwiches she ever had. I liken it to eating a gourmet grilled cheese sandwich. The Bechamel sauce (French white sauce) was rich and creamy.
The arugula salads could have used less dressing. I’m not sure what type of dressing they used. The French fries were good, but ordinary.
Our server was Thomas and he did a good job. The food came out in a reasonable amount of time. The manager came to check on us once. Amuse! is available on OpenTable. We made reservations, but I don’t think they are necessary for weekend brunch given the size of the crowd when we went.

We found the first restaurant on our alphabetical adventure through Atlanta’s thriving foodie scene tucked away off Monroe Drive on Dutch Valley Road. We were warmly greeted by what our single female hearts imagined was a straight, single, good looking French-​American man. Amuse is a dimly lit French tapas restaurant self-​described as «whimsical… and bohemian». Inside we quickly found ourselves seated at a round table in the center of the restaurant poised for a lively evening. Wednesday is half price bottles of wine and we made sure to take full advantage of our good fortune that evening.
The restaurant was abuzz with fashionable men and of single women from every ethnicity giving the atmosphere an eclectic sort of feel. My table full of single ladies blended famously. As the conversation pulsed and the wine was poured I knew we had begun something special, alphabetically experiencing Atlanta’s culinary offerings and bonding together friendships to last a lifetime.
Loving great food and being budding foodies our discerning palates tingled with anticipation of the first bite. For an appetizer, we shared the mussels, which were prepared perfectly in a delectable buttery sauce that was sopped up to the last drop. For my main course I ordered the Ahi Tuna salad, which came out missing ingredients. The menu said it would have capers and tomatoes and didn’t, but nevertheless it was still a plate that I had happily finished in no time. Reaching our personal capacities we opted to save dessert for another evening.
Amuse was an appropriate start to our alphabetical adventure. The atmosphere was perfect, the food was excellent, and the wine was half price. I would definitely consider coming back to Amuse for another enjoyable experience.

I can hear Taylor A. screaming across the internet now: «I told you so!»
We’d been to Amuse once before on a double date. Taylor didn’t like it, I thought it was okay-​to-​pretty good. Ever since I’ve been nagging him to give them a second chance. Welp, they failed.
As soon as we sat, we got waters and the server asked what we’d like to drink. They only have wines listed on their menu, so if you want beers (him) or cocktails (me) you have to ask. The server seemed annoyed when I asked for the specialty cocktail menu. They were running a special that night on wine (50% off select bottles) so I opted for the $ 15 bottle. Of the few beers they had, the one Taylor asked for they were out of. After pouring the white wine, he left the bottle on the table to get warm. The tables to the left AND to the right both had those cool buckets to keep their wine cold. But I guess not for me.
We ordered calamari. It came out piping hot. It was extremely salty, but I was okay with that. A pretty big portion — probably could share between 4 people.
I ordered the turbenado beef au poivre (i.e. the most expensive entrée). I asked for it medium, but it was nearly well-​done. But — it was still pretty tender so I didn’t complain. The potatoes that came with it were totally undercooked — raw potatoes = gross. $ 28 for that?! I think not. Taylor got the seafood ravioli. I tasted it, and thought the ravioli itself was ok but Taylor said the shrimp on top were over cooked and rubbery.
At the end of the meal, I asked for a top for my wine because there was no way I was drinking the whole thing. They brought me a top but no bag. It wasn’t until I was literally carrying the open bottle out of the restaurant that the manager offered to bag it all up.
Total cost for meal and drinks was $ 90.48 (!!!) where there were almost NO highlights to the food and definitely not the service. Lucky for us, we had scoutmob for $ 20 off. Still at $ 70.48, totally overpriced for the experience.
Sooo… positives? This does seem to be another meeting place of European-​native Atlantans (along with Social Resto and others) as I heard lots of other languages being spoken and said patrons lingered over their meals and drinks far longer than most Americans would. So your company is cool. Also they got rid of their valet and have a private lot to self-​park, albeit it is very small and cars were fighting over our spot when we left.
I would not recommend to any of my friends.

After a long week, I was thrilled when some of my girlfriends invited me out for dinner. I’d never been to Amuse! so was game when one of my friends had an OpenTable certificate. We arrived about 20 minutes late for our reservation (which had been changed to 30 minutes earlier to accommodate me joining the group), but there didn’t seem to be any problem. We were promptly seated on the patio.
Asked by the server if we wanted sparkling, still, or tap, I opted for tap. The server brought us that and a bread basket with a few pieces of baguette and several pieces of a more dense herbed-​brioche bread, but no bread plates (very French). We ordered a bottle of the Malbec and the goat cheese appetizer to start. The appetizer was a bed of cooked/​marinated tomatoes sprinkled with goat cheese on top. There were stripes of pesto and balsamic reduction and a few microgreens on top. It wasn’t what we were expecting, it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. No additional bread or cracker was brough to enjoy it (which we should have known since it wasn’t described on the menu), so we ate it with the herb brioche. This detracted from both, in my opinion.
For the mains: I had the Friday night special of Coq au Vin ($ 20), Christine had the seafood couscous ($ 26) and Kate had the steak frites ($ 23). The coq au vin was good — delicious braising sauce with lots of rich fat and wine flavor, and the mushrooms that came along with it were tender, earthy, and delicious, but the chicken just didn’t do it for me… perhaps it was a tad dry, but mostly just not as flavorful as the sauce, as if the sauce was made on its own and the chicken had been added to it quite late in the process. The seafood couscous special, which included scallops, mussels, shrimp, and salmon, didn’t have a whole lot of flavor, other than a slight fishiness. The portion was huge (which is why I got to try some of it). Kate said that her steak was overcooked (she’d ordered it medium rare), and the fry that I tried was greasy, probably since it’d been at least 30 minutes since the dish arrived. All in all decent, but nothing special.
Wanting to have a better impression, we decided to look at the dessert menu. C and K chose coffee drinks (Amuse café — coffee, Bailey’s, Kahlua), but I can’t have caffeine after noon, so they decided to split the chocolate pear with me. It was described as a poached pear with chocolate sauce and shaved almonds. The chocolate was very dark, and tasted almost burned, as did the shaved almonds. The pear was still quite firm, and didn’t seem poached at all. But overall the flavor was good.
The beauty of a French restaurant is that they let you linger as long as you’d like, even 30 minutes after you’ve paid your bill. Eventually, we did decide to head to the comfy cluster of chairs and sofas at the entrance for more conversation and another bottle of wine.
We loved the whimsy of the décor inside. This is a cute spot for a drink and probably a cheese plate, though I wouldn’t eat the entrees again.
#Yelp365 — ¹³⁵⁄₃₆₅

Last Friday, Boy decided to take advantage of the Scoutmob deal and take me out for a «real date». I certainly wasn’t going to argue. It was surprisingly quiet for a Friday night, but it is a bit off the beaten path. We had to wait a little for a table, but not too long. I liked the interior a lot. It was cozy without being claustrophobic.
He insisted we get the snails because I’d never had them. I was wary, but figured garlic butter can make pretty much anything palatable. The texture of the snails didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would. The garlic butter was tasty, but nothing I can’t do at home. The entrees, on the other hand, were the stars. He got the duo of duck and I got the seafood ravioli. The portions were generous and we left completely stuffed. After the discount and with tip, it came to hair over $ 50. I felt that was reasonable for the food and service. I would definitely go back, but probably not without some kind of discount or someone else was paying.

So I’m still trying to figure out why this place gets only average ratings, when the food is pretty freaking awesome. I like One Midtown, but the food is subpar by comparison. I know the menu is brief by comparison, but what Amuse lacks in complexity of menu, it makes up for in complexity and taste of the food.
I probably eat here around once every week to 10 days. That means Amuse is in my Top 5 rotation. I’m not saying it is a Top 5 restaurant in Atlanta, but there are higher rated restaurants. Hiccup… Cough. Cough… Cough… Abbattoir… Cough… One Midtown… C-​C-​C-​C-​COUGH!!! That Amuse politely craps on food wise in my opinion.
Yes, go on a night when the chef is actually in the kitchen. She is quite good and pretty friendly. They have a few items that are as good as anywhere in Atlanta. Their Duck Confit Leg and Duck Breast is simply awesome. Their Beef Tenderloin is great. Their Trout entrée is one of the best in Atlanta. They do Crème Brulee amazingly well and I love most of their apps. Plus, the wine list is CHEAP!!!
That’s it for now. Place is pretty freaking good.

I’ve been trying to write this for a while and I’m not sure I can find the words. Normally that’s because it’s exceptional, but this time I’m having trouble because it was just mediocre. Fortunately, my date was pretty interesting and despite the lackluster experience I had a good time.
They have several specialty cocktails and we tried a few that were all good. That probably helped things, but it took a long time for them to get to our table. Our server explained that the bar was backed up and it was at least 20 minutes before our libations appeared.
Benny had been here recently to use the Scoutmob deal and we came to use my Groupon before it expired. Both pretty good deals and definitely an incentive to visit. Otherwise I don’t think I would have known they existed because of their location at the back of Dutch Valley Road in the bottom of a condo building that I didn’t even know had commercial space.
Regardless, his ravioli was good and I ordered something that same out and tasted like pot roast. Not as «French» as I would have thought, but I suppose you could call it French-​inspired.
#Yelp365 — ¹²⁄₃₆₅

This French restaurant is tucked away in Midtown down Dutch Valley Road. You definitely have to be looking for it because you will never randomly bump into it while driving around.
Food: We started with the escargot appetizer (Burgundy Snails with Garlic and Parsley Butter). It was well cooked with a pesto-​type sauce. Would have been better if it was wrapped in a nice filo dough. They also give you some complimentary bread — nothing special and butter so hard from the refrigerator/​freezer that you couldn’t spread it.
For entrees, I had the Fisherman’s Stew. There was some fish du jour, two scallops, many mussels, lots of veggies and a nicely placed prawn in the center of the bowl. It was more like a soup like than a stew; came in a tasty brown broth. $ 24. Pretty good. My wife had the duo of duck (Duck Leg Confit and Duck Breast with Gratin Dauphinois, Green Beans). $ 24. A little salty, but duck usually is. Good, but nothing to write home about. We were full when we left and decided to skip dessert.
They also had a good wine selection with about 7 or 8 wines by the glass available in the $ 7 – 8 price range. They have a full bar, but I don’t recall seeing a list of Amuse! specialty cocktails.
Service: Staff were friendly. I tried to make this reservation on open table, but there were no seats available. I called and they squeezed me in. Waiter was attentive, friendly, and gave good menu suggestions.
Ambiance: Nice place. Large room with many tables. Almost like a French bistro. A little loud, but intimate.
Parking is complimentary valet, but don’t expect the guy to get the passenger door for your girl. I wish I could have parked myself.
Overall, I am glad I visited. I am not rushing back and would probably try something else among Atlanta’s many restaurants, but if friends were planning to go, I wouldn’t avoid the place either.

The food at Amuse! was amazing… My arteries may disagree but nothing was disappointing to my taste buds!
I also went here as a result of my girlfriends demands for French cuisine and Scoutmob. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with this place. I went on Sunday night and they had parking available. I can see people having parking difficulties during other times of the week, but parking issues are not unique to Amuse!, but many restaurants in the area. At least you can find free parking in this residential area compared to many of the restaurants in the heart of Midtown.
For those that are not familiar with the location, Amuse is tucked away on the bottom floor of a condo at the end of Dutch Valley Road. There is also another fine-​dining establishment called One Midtown Kitchen on this road, but drive just a little further and you will arrive at Amuse! The signage is nondescript, so you might miss it. Once you arrive at Amuse! You will notice that the interior is warm, cozy, and inviting.
The service was to notch… For the other Unilocaler that complained about to much service, seriously how can you get too much attentive service? I went to the restroom and the staff refolded my napkin, they refilled my water and wine glass every five minutes, and asked if I was enjoying my food, which I would state in a resounding YES.
I totally recommend the Sunday wine specials ($ 15 for select bottles) and the Steak Frites. My girlfriend enjoyed the Salade Landaise. We also had the Fried Calamari with Aïoli, Crème Brulee, Thin Apple tart with Vanilla ice cream, and the Cappuccino. Everything was excellent.

So… due to chance I stumbled upon this place. I went to One Midtown Kitchen and noticed Amuse’s lights across the street. Then after looking online… found out there had a Scoutmob. That was a sign for me try it out. I did the next day.
It’s tucked away, but VERY large. With it getting colder out, not sure how much they will be using their patio, but I’m sure it’ll be a hit in the spring.
I went for brunch on a Saturday (note they close at 2p and re-​open for dinner). They had $ 9 all you can drink mimosas, which made me smile… and a very tasty burger and arugula salad. Service was a tad slow, but nothing to get too upset about.
While we ate, I asked to see the dinner menu and I was impressed. There were about a half dozen dishes I wanted to try right then. With that said… I will definitely be going back and tying Amuse again. The bar is also very large… would be good for a happy hour or large parties.

This is a cute little French place close to piedmont park. To me, this place had some highs and lows. I’ll start with the negative and move to the positives. First, let me say that the parking is terrible at this place. I ended up having to park on the street and walk about 2 ½ blocks to get there after about 15 minutes of looking. The food is of decent quality but certainly nothing overly spectacular. I had the calamari as an appetizer and the fish stew for dinner. Both were decent, but neither was memorable.
Now on to the positives. The service was great. The food is very reasonably priced ($ 75 for an appetizer 2 entrees and a bottle of Pinot). And the wine was all half off the night I went if it had a dot on the menu which was cool. This place isn’t bad or anything, but there are much better places in town.

Thank God for Scoutmob. Because I never would have discovered, went to, or even found this place without it. But unlike a lot of deals on scoutmob, I can genuinely say I would have paid full price for this meal.
It’s tucked away like most restaurants on this little street. But just like most restaurants on this street, there is all type of goodness going on.
We sat on the patio, and enjoyed a wonderful spring day. We ordered the goat cheese fritters as an appetizer, and they were absolutely amazing, specifically if you really love goat cheese.
My company had the salmon which was a bit undercooked, so we had to send it back. I had the hangar steak and frites, which was really tasty and we both dug in on that while her meal was coming out.
Service was quick and friendly, and definitely accomodating. This is a sweet little hidden gem that I definitely hope becomes «unhidden» very soon.

I really liked this place. I thought I was going in for something similar to Anis, and was a bit disappointed at first, but quickly changed my attitude.
The parking is a bit confusing, since there is a small lot and street parking. I expected a valet service, but had to park elsewhere instead.
The host was extremely nice and friendly, and the décor and ambiance were inviting and warm from the get-​go. We brought our own wine, and it was set up for us very nicely with a cute decanter and fantastic service.
Very relaxed but nice on the inside, the place allowed for both plenty of romantic couples, and large birthday parties. The attire for guests was anywhere from t-​shirts and leather, to dressy casual with dresses or jackets for those on dates — a little bit of everything.
The food was a definite A+. We shared everything we ordered, so we only got to try the mussels (fantastic! outstanding flavor and sauce), a lamb pasta dish (delicious, even though I am not a fan of pasta at all), and an awesome crème brûlée that was to die for. Also, the bread that they make was outstanding as well, especially to have with the mussels. The portions were a great size, not overwhelmingly huge like most places, where you end up talking most of your dinner home.
Server and host were very polite, and the host was a French wine connoisseur, so we had a great time talking to him.
Overall, great experience. The only neutral parts were the parking, and the fact that there was no background music on — I thought that a quiet little bit of music would’ve been perfect there. But maybe that was just the night we went on. Thumbs up overall, definitely going back soon!

Had a wonderful dinner tonight here at this hidden gem; good thing I had a scoutmob discount to make it within my price range as well.
As far as parking I don’t get the Unilocalers who said that it was a pain. Unless you consider a clearly marked self parking lot literally 25 feet away from the front door a pain (??)
We came on a tuesday evening and the place was kind of empty, which to me is always kind of a warning.
Nothing could have been more misleading. I wish I remembered their names but the staff was friendly and helpful, immediately seating us on the patio.
Onto the most important part, the grub. I ordered the chicken dish which was served with some really delicious savoy cabbage and shamelessly cleaned my plate. My buddy got the tilapia special and he devoured it as well.
Even with the discount the prices were a little steep so we forwent apps, and salads, and decided to do dessert elsewhere. But the meal was on point.
If I had a few more bucks in the bank I would definitely be a regular here. The menu was classy but clearly not as shi shi as some others were hoping for.
I have officially been amused! That is all

Keep your credit card receipt because they overcharge you! I compared my receipt with my credit card statement, and they definitely overcharged me. Every time I call, they don’t pick up and return my calls. After talking with my friends, they did it to all of us.
Amuse is where Allegro used to be. Parking is the small lot or street parking. Our server was awful! First there was confusion as to who it was since two different servers came to get our drink order. Then it took forever to get our complimentary bread, our appetizers, our dinners, and our desserts.
FOOD: The bread was warm and tasty. I had the cauliflower appetizer which is pured cauliflower, pecorino cheese, pistachio, and oregano, but it came out as an orange spread ??? I asked for it without the cheese, but it had cheese in it. My friend had the salad which was supposed to come with the fried onions on top of it, but our server forgot it and came out later with a plate of fried onions. For dinner I had the Tasmanian salmon with cauliflower and fava beans. The salmon cooked medium with a strong rub on top of it was very tasty with the fava beans. We also ordered the roasted wild mushrooms and home made frites (french fries). These two sides were a good addition to my meal. For dessert we had the cooked pears on pound cake with a dollop of vanilla ice cream. This was a great ending to our meal.
The service really sucked, therefore the whole experience was awful!

Down Dutch Valley Road, you won’t find a whole lot besides some office buildings, some condos, and the glowing, bat-​cave like One Midtown Kitchen. What many Atlantans don’t know, is that housed in the bottom of one of the condominium buildings there is a newish French restaurant located down the Dutch corridor called Amuse! (Yes the exclamation point is actually part of the restaurant’s name).
Amuse! was started by the owners of Apres Diem and I believe Carpe Diem as well. The location and décor of the restaurant is a little bizarre. I’d say the interior design is certainly feminine and doesn’t really appeal to my style/​tastes but I’ve read several praise worthy reviews of their multi-​belt fastened curtains (blah). I went for my birthday lunch and I have to say while it didn’t blow me away, the food was quite good and a good value.
They start you off with fresh French bread which is of the shiny/​small loaf variety and it was quite good. I ordered the chicken sandwich described as — wood roasted chicken, robiola, green apple, & onion jam on foccacia. Sounds good doesn’t it? And it was, but I felt it had room for improvement. The chicken really didn’t carry any «wood roasted» flavor and they gave me a few fatty bits on my sandwich. The toppings including cheese and apple were more plentiful than the meat, which always bothers me. The sandwich came with fries, which were freshly fried, although questionably, frozen? It was really hard to tell but they were good as well. The sandwich and fries were $ 8.
My mom, and dining companion, had «baby lettuces, peanuts, crispy onion, wood roasted peaches, & 40’s blue.» This salad was quite tasty and like a good salad should be, a great combination of ingredients (even if they did go overboard with the onions). Also it was $ 7.
The dinner menu looked *AMUSING* (had to) with some more traditional French items coming into play and some more serious prices to match. For the quality of food, the prices are unbeatable for lunch. Conclusively, Amuse! is a welcomed addition to the Midtown lunch rotation, I just hope they can really hang in their odd-​ball location on Dutch Valley Road.

I had very high hopes for this place coming in. High enough to invite along another couple for a double date.
We started out at the bar and my girlfriend had a blackberry mojito that she really enjoyed. It seemed to take some effort to be made which is nice to see. Real ingredients are key. The one she had after we were seated wasn’t so great.
We started with the pork belly which I, as well as apparently every chef in Atlanta, has of late had a fetish with. Pork belly is supposed to be soft in the middle and crispy on the outside; this pork belly was neither. It was certainly over cooked to a degree that I had to cut it with a knife. No crispy goodness and soft interior to be had here. Rathbun’s here in Atlanta, and Muse in Charleston are the best places I’ve had it don’t correctly.
For dinner I had the piglet which I probably would not have ordered after tasting how the pork belly was done. It was actually called piglet which I though was AMUSEing, but wasn’t laughing after I started eating. It was overcooked like the pork belly and didn’t have much flavor. The orange glaze was almost impossible to taste.
I was expecting a much higher caliber of meal based on previous experiences at Apres Diem. I do love the décor here, and the staff were pleasant, but the food must be picked up a notch.
Amuse, I’m pulling for you!