Date
4/24/2010
Location
407 Monticello Road
That confluence of tasty by The Local, Tavola, Mas, Belmont BBQ, and La Taza
What I ate
Fried plantains with chevre creme fraiche
Mirin-glazed burger with spinach
Who went
Suzie, Nora, Matt, Ellen
Website
http://www.belriocharlottesville.com/index.html
Thoughts
I was only back in Charlottesville for a day, so I figured I'd visit a new restaurant. Tavola (across the street) was booked solid so we went over to Bel Rio; none of us had ever been there and the menu looked pretty good. Things started out rough when the special on local beers was negated by the fact that they were having tap issues with those beers. They were also out of the only real vegetarian entree. Otherwise, things were pretty good. The menu has a decent amount of variety for the meat-eaters out there.
The plantains were good and they didn't make them too sweet; that would've been a bad way to start the meal. That said, I don't think I'd get them again. They were tasty, but it seemed like an odd way to start a meal. The burger was really tasty and well-cooked. The mirin didn't overpower the taste of the meat and the sauteed spinach was an interesting touch. The burger was also pretty big and, with the potatoes, big enough to be a filling dinner. The garlic roasted potatoes were pretty good, but I'm curious to hear what my co-diners thought about the sweet potato crisps.
The atmosphere was decent, though there was a band on their way in while we were leaving and, from the looks of the chalk board above the bar, there is some sort of live music there almost every day of the week. It would've been nice for the place to be a little better lit, but it wasn't so bad that you couldn't read the menu. The service was good and we weren't waiting long at all for food.
Recap
Pros - tasty food, pretty good prices
Cons -no major gripes except the broken beer taps
Overall - Good food. Nothing too remarkable, but definitely worth a visit. Check out the music schedule to find a local band you might want to hear; that should make for a good evening. A pretty good alternative if the fancier places around the block are booked.
1 comment:
I did get the sweet potato crisps and they were unremarkable at best. The rest of my meal was good, but nothing spectacular. I had gotten the meatloaf which reminds me of a good home cooked meal, but nothing extraordinary. That being said, the prices were reasonable, especially considering the neighboring dinning options in Belmont. At some point I would like to visit again (when beer taps are working of course).
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