Martha's Cafe

Date
1/29/09

Location
Elliewood Avenue, across from the Biltmore
11 Elliewood Avenue

What I ate
Artichoke cheese bake, house salad with Thai peanut dressing, and pesto chicken sandwich

Who went
Suzie, Miles, and Matt

Website
http://marthascafe.com/homepage.html

Thoughts
Miles and Suzie lamented more than once that they had never visited this place before. Martha's is in an old house and there isn't much space, but what is there is quite cozy. Sadly, the place is for sale so it might not be around for much longer. Go while you still can! It's a great little place.

Our food was out quickly and finished in even less time. The appetizer wasn't much different from a lot of artichoke dips around the Corner, but it was quite tasty. They like to put cheese on a lot of things (get a quesadilla, trust me) which almost always helps. My sandwich could've used a little more between the bread, but what was there was delicious. The pesto was present but not overpowering and the goat cheese (see?) was a great addition. I'm usually partial to Asian salad dressings and the Thai peanut didn't disappoint.

Martha's is great for small groups. In addition to tasty food, the service is almost always quick, efficient, and unobtrusive. Sometimes, it's nice to have a waiter who wants to make conversation, but you're usually out to dinner with friends so you can talk to them. The place is also quirky enough (fish in the tub of the bathroom, art on the walls, etc.) to provide some conversation starters. If you're looking for a low-key place to go with a friend or three, you could do a whole lot worse.

Recap
Pros - The food is really good and the prices aren't high at all.
Cons - The beer list is in it's infancy, so we can't count that against them. Just don't take a big group because there's little room.
Overall - Tasty food, good prices, cozy atmosphere - all's well here if your part is less than 6.