Tierra - Restaurant Review

One of my favorite parts of living in a big city is the food.  We have so many different food options in Atlanta that I could eat at a different restaurant every night of the week for months and never repeat a meal.  Some of the restaurants are horrible (Rise Sushi) and I'll never try them again while others quickly enter the standard rotation (Parish).  Eating out is one of my favorite past times, but behind cooking at home.  When we head out to dinner we really want it to be great.

For well over a year I've been hearing great things about Tierra, a tiny little restaurant by the Botanical Gardens and Piedmont Park.  I drove past it all the time when I lived in Midtown and never went in.  One of the girls at the office has many times raved about Tierra and has called it her favorite place in Atlanta. In a city of such great food, you take these statement seriously.  Not only have friends recommended Tierra but it's constantly been recommended by Zagat and other publications in the city.  It's been on my list of places to try for quite sometime.  While checking one of my favorite, local blogs I saw that Tierra is closing it's doors in February.  WHAT?  How could a restaurant with so many positive reviews have to close?  Especially one that's been open for over a decade?  Tierra had a deal on ScoutMob expiring over the weekend, so I made reservations for Friday night before our trip to Vegas.

What a tiny place!  There were close to 20 tables squished into what looked like a living room of a house. We were bumped several times by other diners or the wait staff as they moved past our table.  I can get over that, it's what makes some of the locally owned restaurants so charming.  We ordered our appetizer, mussels of course, and I had a beer.  The menu had some interesting things listed on it - a 2nd basket of bread would be $3 and to split an entree you'd be charged $4.  I understand the split entree charge, but $3 for a basket of ciabatta bread, that seems a little over the top.  We make that at home and it definitely doesn't cost that much.  It was a little bit of a turn-off to see that noted, but we had an appetizer coming, no need for a second basket.  I will say, it was delicious and cooked perfectly.

The mussels appetizer was sub-par.  They were definitely fully cooked, probably a few minutes too long.  There was corn in the broth that added an interesting, new texture to mussels.  Still, TopFlr has the best mussels in town.  They've beat out some pretty great restaurants!

For an entree I had the Sauteed Flounder and Stephen had the Grilled Pork Medallions.  By the end of our meal, both plates were 100% clean.  The food was exactly what we expected it to be.  Absolutely recommend both dishes.

Every entree on the menu was above $20, some closer to $30.  That seemed a little steep to me - not even Parish is that expensive.  The food was delish.

It's sad that Tierra won't be around for much longer, but to be honest, if I hadn't been buy in the year that I've lived nearby, I probably wouldn't go back again.  BUT, I do recommend that you try it before it's gone forever.