Fabian’s

This place is a diamond in the rough. Not a big place and hidden in town but it’s absolutely astounding. I love this place and I’ve only been twice but will definitely be going more often. I travel a LOT and eat out a TON. Needless to say I’m a self proclaimed food critic and this place not only deserves 5 stars but it should be on all the travel channel food critics top lists. I plan to personally email travel channels food networks and give then this restaurant to put on the list. Not only is the food excellent but the ambiance, personal interaction with the chef and staff, and presentation makes the customer experience overall excellent. I had the crispy duck both times while my mate had the trigger fish the first time and the lamb the second time. Both times we were served the carrot curry soup which is a house favorite for all good reasons and I don’t preferably like carrots but I absolutely Love this soup. He’s very crafty with the desserts as well hope you get to try the strawberries with white chocolate sauce or the crem brûlée but if you’re lucky and he has the prune bread pudding soaked in cognac you’ll never leave that place! Absolutely one of the best places you’ll ever dine in the Triad’s Twin City! Don’t forget to reserve early as this place is by reservation only and seats fill rather quickly!

A great dining experience. Although quite the price tag, the chef and staff do everything possible to make sure every visitor feels comfortable and enjoys their meal. The duck was well cooked and tasty. All the courses were good except for the salad, I thought it felt too plain without any dressing or added sides, but that’s just me. I wouldn’t not recommend this place unless for a very special occasion like anniversaries. This place is also ideal for couples looking for an intimate setting as the environment within gives off a cozy, warm, and romantic vibe. As long as you can afford it, dress up and enjoy your dinner.

My wife and I returned to Fabian’s for our 5^th wedding anniversary and had another fantastic meal. Every course was great, the atmosphere is superb and unique, the staff is extremely friendly and professional. It is truly a wonderful experience dining there.

So after months of trying to get to Fabians and life getting in the way, we finally made it there this past Thursday with a pair of friends. We were warmly greeted immediately upon arrival and shown our seats. The place is an eclectic place and you can still see elements of the former businesses that used to occupy the building. Most striking to me is the original exposed brick inside. This is unique place for Winston-​Salem in that there is only one seating a night for a place that has about 10 – 12 tables. There is no written menu, chef bill comes out and verbally announces the menu which happens to be a 5 course dinner. Courses 1 – 3 are the same for everyone (unless you have any allergies then a sub will be made for you) there are 5 – 6 choices for entrees, and 3 – 4 choices for dessert.
First course of the night was a nice shitake risotto, 2^nd course was a carrot ginger wildflower honey soup (good but a little sweet for me), and third course was a simply mixed green salad with basil and balsamic dressing. Not sure what it was about this salad but I really thought the balsamic was a wonderful compliment with the basil. At this point notice that all the prior courses are vegetarian (all the first 3 courses are always either vegetarian or pescetarian). The entrée courses are where chef Bill brings out the meat. I opted for the filet mignon topped with blue cheese, side of mash and grilled asparagus. other options at the table were Crispy Duck and leg of lamb. All the entrees were wonderful. There are also a few choices for dessert. I can remember the blueberry cobbler, but after I head about the chocolate, bourbon cake I quit listening to the rest of the list. And don’t worry, the 5 course meal with wine for 4 people was only about $ 360.00. A remarkable value for this kind of dining.
A great meal in Winston-​Salem, NC and a wonderful choice for you. If you haven’t had the pleasure of dining at Fabians, then you absolutely have to give it a try.

What an amazing place. The ambience, the wait staff, the food and conversation with the chef were all superb. My fiancé and I went here on our 5^th anniversary and will certainly be returning. A very intimate setting — only seating parties of 6 – 8. Courses 1 – 3 are selected for you and you select you entrée as the 4^th course as well as your dessert as the 5^th course.
The wait staff consist of 3 ladies (Diana, Corey and Heather) who all three make it their goal to get to know each party and meet their needs.
Our menu started with cocktails, followed by shiitake mushroom risotto as the 1^st course, carrot curry soup as the 2^nd course, salad with balsamic dressing as the 3^rd, 4^th course was your entrée choice (options were flounder francaise, salmon with a butter cream sauce, filet, crispy duck or lamb — Michael had the duck and I had the filet). The final course was dessert which selections of chocolate truffle, crème brûlée grand marnier or strawberry shortcake. The wait staff also made sure we had the perfect wine pairings with each course. The chefs name was Bill and he came out to greet us, explained each dish in detail, explained that all ingredients are local and organic then proceeded to prepare our selections. Afterwards, Bill returned to ask how things were, and was very social, chatting with each guest.
Warning: do not go here if you’re in a hurry. We were there about 3 hours but it was one of the best experiences I’ve had and will definitely be going back for future celebrations. On a scale of 1 – 5 stars, I give it 10!!!

Few review — because there are few tables — and one seating per night.
5 courses, one seating at 7:30
Very nice place — not suit and tie — but half the men wore a coat and shirt place like you would think when you are going to a fine restaurant. $ 60 PP
Food was excellent —
Service Excellent —
Chef comes out and explains menu — were things were sourced — excellent.
Let me explain — night we were there — it was 9 tables — 8 were 2 tops — 2 birthday’s, one anniversary — and all of us foodies!

I am conflicted about this review! The fiancé and I go to Fabian’s every year for our dating anniversary, I have been three times throughout the past few years. Some years it has been easily five stars but this time around it was pretty disappointing.
I will say I do always enjoy the soups, from tomato basil to the curry carrot soup I enjoyed on the last visit they do not disappoint. Every time I have been the salad is the same, tossed greens with pumpkin seeds. It seems that especially in the summer maybe they should go with a salad with fresh fruit and cheese or something, pumpkin seeds seem really fall to me. The fiancé and go there because of the crispy duck. That dish is soo good and every time at least one if not both of us get it. The last time we went they didn’t list the duck breast, we asked and they let us know that they have unfortunately ran out since it was super popular the night before. Which is understandable but I mean if we are paying $ 200 for dinner and specifically had that in mind it was just disappointing. I got the scallops which I will say they always do a good job with scallops there. My fiancé got the flounder francese and it was disappointing it didn’t have that lemony deliciousness you look for in a francese.
Our favorite dessert over the years has been the peach cobbler, unfortunately we only say it for dessert once. I do always enjoy the crème brûlée that they have. The strawberry shortcake is good but more on the simple side.
My advice would be to go and definitely try this place out at least once. It is a neat dining experience overall. I’m not sure yet if we will be going again next year or not.

The fact that Fabians only has a few reviews on Unilocal speaks to its mysterious position in the Winston dining community.
Let me frame this review by saying that I have dined at many fine establishments costing top dollar and Fabians rivals them in service, experience, and taste.
We came to Fabians the week of our wedding for a relaxing meal for 6 so our parents could meet. We were treated like family in the intimate environment with excellent, unintrusive but thorough service. The chef comes to greet all of the guests and we were treated to a superb tasting menu. You truly will not find a value like this anywhere else ($ 60/​pp for 5 course meal) and you will leave feeling like perhaps you should have paid more for the experience. Each course was perfectly prepared and well-​rounded.
They have a full bar and robust wine selection to complement your meal.
Don’t miss this opportunity to eat at such a wonderful local establishment. I’m actually not sure how they can make money with one seating per night and serving such divine food. But I won’t question. I’ll just return for more happy occasions.

Absolutely 5 star dining experience — everything was phenomenal from the food to the service to the experience. 2.5 hours of dining at its best, 5 courses of amazing dishes and only $ 60 per person, we would have paid twice that! I had the lamb and thought it was phenomenal so not sure what happened per the earlier comment. I would highly recommend this place for a special night out!

Passed this place for years and heard rave reviews. Decided to blow the budget and go there to celebrate my birthday. We were looking forward to the multi-​course dining experience. I ordered roasted leg of lamb and hubby ordered filet mignon. What a disappointment :(. The lamb was dry, stringy and somewhat tough. I have fixed lamb and know how hard it is to get moist tender meat so, I at least expected flavorful spices. I tasted no spice or flavor, not even mint or pepper jelly — bummer. Hubby thought his steak was okay but only ate half. The mashed potatoes were just that — I suppose organic, if anything. The small amount of julienned steamed vegetables was not enough for me to tell what they were — zucchini and yellow squash (?). Nice garni. The tomato basil soup was fresh but a little acidic for my palette. The fresh greens salad was perfectly dressed in a light dressing. The bartender makes a perfect martini although they did not carry two of three call brands I requested. I selected a chocolate molten cake for dessert which tasted like baked cocoa flour. I exchanged for the crème brûlée which is to die for. The ambiance is interestingly eclectic and the staff visits often to make the dining experience personal. All the trimmings were wonderful, but the actual meal itself left much to be desired as a special birthday treat. Maybe I expected too much. I have dined at other high end restaurants in the city and overall, this meal was not impressive. Hubby had no complaints, but again, neither did he finish his meal. I ate his crème brûlée, too, yum. Other diners seemed happy and maybe it was just me. What was lacking in flavor, texture and taste in the food was compensated with atmosphere and attention of the staff. However, I will always prefer good food. I wonder what reviewers who rate as five stars ate. Once is enough.

We went for our Anniversary/​Special occasion and was disappointed. The food was nothing special and the wait staff although attentive were very pretentious, to the point of annoying. I know the restaurant is going for the European course atmosphere, (and we lived in Europe) but it misses the mark.

Amazing & unique.
The total experience.
Great food. Great ambiance. Great servers. Great story.
Probably will require a special occasion, but I’ll be back. You aren’t going to get that kind of experience for 60 bucks a head anywhere.
5 stars.

What to say about this restaurant? I’ll start with the positives:
The waitstaff was friendly but not so much that I couldn’t eat in peace. I actually really enjoyed the spunkiness of our waitresses and did not feel like they were burdensome. Questions were answered with proficiency and glasses were always full. They also nailed the general atmosphere of the place, it’s decorated beautifully and dimly lit, great for those romantic dates. They basically nailed down the *feel* of an expensive restaurant.
Now the negatives:
This place is 60 pp so with two people and a drink for each you’re looking at about 140 for a 5 course menu, more if you drink more. This by itself would not be too bad, I’ve definitely paid more, but the quality and creativity of the food is just not there. Our first three courses were baked brie, curried carrot soup, and a basic balsamic vinegar salad with toasted pumpkin seeds.
The baked brie had a good puff pastry but its just baked brie! It supposedly had a dill cream sauce but the dill flavor had not really set in so it was really just baked brie on cream with some dill bits. Not the most creative dish ever. The curried carrot soup was far too sweet, Bill had added wildflower honey which was unnecessary in my opinion, the natural sweetness of the carrots should be enough to carry through.
But the most inexcusable dish was the salad. It was literally a mixed greens salad+balsamic vinaigrette+ toasted pumpkin seeds. I’m not paying 60 dollars a person for a dish that probably cost around 50 cents to make. You can literally go to harris teeter, pick up a bag of mixed greens and pumpkin seeds, some vinaigrette dressing, throw ‘em in a bowl, and enjoy the third course at Fabian’s.
For our mains, we had a simple flounder+shrimp in lemon butter caper sauce and a duck l’orange with kumquats. I enjoyed my flounder + shrimp but felt like it was more of a $ 20 – 25 entrée. The accompanying vegetables were cooked okay but flavored a bit weirdly. The duck had great crispy skin but as a result was too dry. I know its hard to get that perfect balance of crispy skin and moist meat with duck but for the price fabian’s is charging they better get it right!
To sum up this review: Great waitstaff and ambiance, completely meh food that is not worth $ 60 pp. If this had been say $ 40 for a 5 course meal I might have been okay with it but still would have been miffed at the mixed greens with pumpkin seeds. When I splurge on a dinner I need to have a chef who can make better food than me, or I’m just spending money on the ambiance.

I had a wonderful experience at Fabian’s 6 years ago (when apparently it was owned by Fabian — now it’s owned by Bill, which they made sure to tell us immediately), but was very disappointed by my recent experience. My two major complaints are (1) decreased quality/​creativity of food and (2) informal serving staff that invaded your personal time/​space to chat with you at length. Read on for more details.
The restaurant has intimate seating and is mostly all tables of two, populated with couples celebrating special events (graduation, anniversary, birthday, etc.) The soup, salad and appetizer are chosen for you. You pick the entrée out of a short list and the dessert out of a shorter list. All courses are served in unison to all tables. Seating was supposed to start at 7 with appetizers at 7:30, but we didn’t actually see any food on the table until 8:15. We were one of the first couples to leave at about 11pm.
The most jarring difference between my first experience and the recent one was the change in atmosphere brought about by a different wait staff. There were only three servers, but none of them seemed professional. For example, one was wearing a hat (picture Debbie Gibson flash back) and dribbled wine all over the table as she poured from my $ 85 bottle. The tone was clearly set by Bill’s wife, who set the atmosphere like she was hosting a dinner party. She flittered to each table (in her defense, some were clearly regulars who enjoyed the attention), and shrill high pitched calls were made in the «greeting» excitement. I observed her talking to many tables for over 15 minutes… which slowed down the courses, since these people then weren’t able to finish their food. Some people may prefer this informal «party» atmosphere, but at these prices I personally expect the wait staff to be nearly invisible to me… subdued, anticipating my needs, and allowing me to spend time with the person I brought to dinner.
She was very eager to sell alcohol, and really tired to push her mixed drinks, beers, and wine. A cop interested in busting people for DUI’s would do well to sit outside Fabian’s on a Friday night, as I saw her successfully push a second bottle of wine to many tables, after they’d had opening martinis. The wine list is very limited and expensive, with the range being about $ 50-​$ 120 per bottle. Further, the vintage they brought me was a different year than what was listed on the wine list. Normally this wouldn’t have bothered me, but at those prices, that’s poor form.
Suggestion to the Restaurant: Since you obviously enjoy suggesting pairings so much, offer a fixed price wine option with a different glass with each course.
My second disappointment was with the food. The appetizer was brie, which was delicious, but far from creative (is brie ever bad?) The salad was, literally, JUST lettuce. Organic, locally grown lettuce… but ONLY lettuce on the plate, splashed with oil and vinegar. For a fixed price menu, handing me a plate of lettuce was a huge disappointment. Soup was a very standard (but good) butternut squash pureed soup. The entrees were incredibly salty. I fully admit I’m sensitive to salt, but normally only get distracted by it in cheap restaurants where I assume they’re covering up lack of flavor. To have duck and lamb (mine and my dining partner’s choices) served with so much salt that neither of us wanted to finish the meal was disheartening. If you don’t love salt, I recommend asking if your choice can be prepared with a lighter hand on the salt shaker.
The final straw that made me determined to never visit again, was a horrible pair of desserts. There were three choices, one of which was crème brulee, which is the selection we didn’t try. The other choices were a fig tart and apple tart tatin. One bite of the fig tart made me wish for a lady-​like way to spit it out. The tart tatin was also mediocre at best, and was best described as «not worth the calories to consume it.» Our table wasn’t alone, as I noticed everybody’s dessert plates went back to the kitchen almost untouched, and nobody accepted the servers’ offers of boxing up the leftovers. Further, both of our dessert choices were served cold, which seemed to add to their lackluster.

How this fine restaurant continues to fly under the Piedmont’s culinary radar is a complete mystery. We have been coming here several times a year for 20 years or so, and have never had a bad experience, and rarely a mis-​step of any kind.
The small size, single dinner seating, and involvement of the owners and staff makes for an cozy, almost family style meal, with excellent dishes — the closest thing to this is having the tasing menu at Table 16 in Greensboro The menu is based on fresh items availabe and therefore is fluid in nature. I have had excellent seafood, beef, lamb, and chicken, but the duck dishes here have been, far and away, my favorites.
This is not a cheap dining experience — with a nice wine, it will come out at $ 100+ per person, but most folks will come away feeling it was worth every penny, and we always have.

Finally. a great restaurant experience in Winston! For our town, it doesn’t get better than this. 5 course, personally created meal for $ 60 a head? — This place is a steal. The first 3 courses are set — you have no choice. Our appetizer was seared scallops and while I’m not a fan of scallops, they were very good and my husband loved them. The Cream of Asparagus soup was incredible and the dinner salad was fresh greens with a vinaigrette dressing. You do have options for entrée and desserts. Hubs chose the house «standard» of Crackled Duck and I had the filet. Dessert was generous and delicious. The service was outstanding and Bill the owner and chef creator made a couple of appearances. You just don’t get that anymore.
If you are looking for an amazing meal with impeccable service in a charming atmosphere — make your reservation now.