satterfield's

wow, wow, wow... definitely one of the best in town. satterfield's is one of birmingham's best fine dining establishments, and i'm tired of it continuing to be a secret. their food, service, and atmosphere rivals that of any stitt, dupont, or hastings restaurant in town.

my wife and i happened to look at the online daily menu, simply perused the appetizers, alone, and immediately decided that satterfield's is where we would dine that evening. we ended up doing several small plates and splitting an entree...

the foie gras with french toast is probably the most flavored and complex dish i've ever put in my mouth. the sweetbreads were phenomenal, as well as the homemade andouille sausage and head-cheese app plate. the beef, pork, duck bolognese with bucatini pasta entree was killer as well.

these guys put so much effort into planning out all the intricacies and nuances to enhance your culinary experience; it's crazy... this is arguably the best fine dining birmingham has to offer. everything onmenuis over-the-top, and so well thought-out. also, be sure to sit at the chef's table if you can.

congrats satterfield's... keep it up!


-----14 jan, 2012-----

one of bhm's best fine dining establishments.... my wife and i dined at satterfield's for the first time the other night... our experience rivaled that of highland's and cafe dupont. the service was top-notch and food was excellent.

appetizer - "biscuits and gravy" - the seared veal sweetbreads, sandwiched between a handmade breakfast biscuit, smothered with andouille sausage sawmill gravy, was to die for... i compare the texture and flavor of the sweetbreads to a heavily marbled, a5, kobe beef tenderloin. the taste was phenomenal.

entree 1 - the "house smoked sonoma county duck breast" was cooked to perfection... it was medium-rare, well seasoned, and melted in my mouth. one of the best duck breasts i've ever eaten in my life.

entree 2 - the "white wine braised mississippi rabbit" dish was the real star of the show that evening. the braised rabbit was topped on a bed of homemade ravioli and surrounded by a flavorful sage sauce. the dish was very similar to a stew, but almost gave you the sense that you were about to take a bite of comforting, stick-to-your-ribs "turkey dressing", right before the fork hits your mouth. i was so blown away by the flavors, i think i will work to perfect the dish at home and make it as a substitute for turkey dressing at thanksgiving or christmas this year.

also, the appetizer and entrees all paired exceptionally well with a bottle of côtes du rhône e. guigal '07

overall, satterfield's is one of the best fine dining experiences i've ever had. this place is a must-go if you are in birmingham.

disappointing. my wife and i dined at satterfield's tonight on a rare date night for us. we had never eaten there and wanted to give it a try. it was a disappointment to say the least. we arrived and were promptly seated. we did not see our server for 10 minutes after we were seated. she finally showed up and took our drink order and gave us menus. we finally ordered, i had the pan seared wahoo and my wife ordered the snapper. my wahoo was really over-done. i mentioned it to the manager (who also brought our food), and he agreed and sent it back to the kitchen for a replacement. i am not one to send food back so the food has to be pretty awful for me to do that. when he brought back the replacement, it was cooked to a crisp on the outside, and raw on the inside. he came back and checked on us and i showed him the raw fish. he apologized and offered me something else from themenubut at this point we had to get home to the baby-sitter so i didn't have any more time, nor did i want to chance it again. he was very nice to comp my dinner and also gave us a free dessert. he was very apologetic and accommodating but it doesn't make up for the poor food. i expected more from a restaurant in this price point. next time i'll stick to a restaurant that is proven to be good every time such as ocean, highlands, etc. we won't be back.

had our two year anniversary dinner here last night, & just as last year they print the happy anniversary on your menu...sweet. i must say there is diversity on the main entre dishes, from rabbit to lamb to beef & fish. there were 4 diff choices for oysters but we had the fritto misto which is too large for us each to have one, but we did! a rich dipping sauce & generous portion of fried fish bites, shrimp & mostly oysters. we split the cauliflower soup which made for a perfect portion, yummy drizzled in truffle oil with a fried parsnip floating. hubby had the wild bass & i had the swordfish, both good but not just raving great. mine was circled up with cannelloni beans, kalamatas & cherry tomato halves--- quite mediterranean. the bass was served over a tiny cut up potato & lobster hash -- dry & just ok. but this is the deal- at least 80% of themenuhas a pig offering & we don't do the pig! one salad is offered--- just one! but the pig is chopped, sprinkled, drizzled, fried & seasoned on almost all items!!!! yep it's the south but when i removed rabbit & pork--- the offerings were down to two. i'm ready to move on and try a new place.

just my luck, my pig was on a diet. this is my 60th review on urban spoon. in the first 59 reviews i never mentioned anything said by another reviewer. i figure everyone goes to a restaurant with their own expectations and while they're there they have their own experiences--who am i to judge their opinion of those experiences? this is the one and only time i will break the hungry hungry hippo prime directive. whenever i select a restaurant i check their website. i'm looking for their currentmenu(hopefully with prices, which not all restaurants include) and a link to make reservations. if they have one, i use it. if they don't have one, i figure none are needed. so i'm surprised to read a review of an upscale joint like satterfield's in which the diner is surprised that a lack of reservations is met with dismay (but their party was seated anyway), they were surprised at the amount of the bill (did they not check out the place at all?) and my favorite part: the rabbit was delicious, but it looked too much like a rabbit so the reviewer couldn't eat it and therefore was hungry when she left the restaurant. what did she think it would look like--a rutabaga?

anyway, i went to satterfields (after making reservations) last friday night with 4 other folks. i ordered the appetizer i always order at any restaurant that serves it: the pork belly. in this case it was braised and served with greens and butternut squash. the greens and squash were both good. in fact it was the first time i've ever had butternut squash if you can believe it. i am tempted to add that it was delicious, but it looked too much like a butternut squash and therefore i couldn't eat it, but the truth is i ate every bite. i am now a fan of the stuff and can't wait to try some soup made of it. alas, the pork belly, one of my favorite dishes in the world, was only so-so. i know i shouldn't eat pork belly at all--it's bad for my heart, it clogs my arteries, it's got too much fat (one of my regular dining companions is grossed out by the amount of fat on pork belly but it's my favorite part) but darn it, when something tastes this good how can you not order it?

my anti-pork belly pal would be able to eat this with no problem. jack sprat could eat this thing with no problem. it tasted okay i guess, but where was that delicious, deadly fat? it was a nice tasting piece of pork, but i have to take their word for it that it came from the pig's belly.

the rest of my party ordered salads, soup and and fried oysters. i think it was oysters. it was something fishy so i gave it only a cursory glance. whatever it was, he ate it all and made mmmm mmmm noises while he did it so i'm guessing he liked it. likewise the soups and salads got high marks. i was the only one less than satisfied with the first course.

we all gave a thumbs up to the entrees. two of us got the filet. i have to say it was one of the best i've ever had. lots of places describe their steaks as "hickory grilled" but this really did taste like it was grilled over a hickory wood flame instead of cooked in a skillet or under a broiler. the blue cheese mashed potatoes were killer. two folks got the snapper and loved it and one of us got the venison osso bucco. he said it was very good, but a little dry.

everyone but me got a dessert. the almond butter cake was hands down the big winner but the beignets also got high praise. instead of dessert i ordered a dessert wine. i have never ordered any kind of wine with dinner in my life. this was the fonseca bin no. 27 finest reserve port. it came in a cute little glass well before everyone else's desserts came out. i took baby sips so that i'd still have something left when the rest got their sweets. i'm not a big fan of wine but this was some good stuff. as small as the glass was, i had to push it away after drinking only half of it as i was halfway to feeling loopy. i don't know if it was really that strong or if it was just because it's been so long since i've had anything alcoholic to drink or what. i wrote down the name of it and i'm gonna keep an eye out for it whenever i'm any place where wine is sold by the bottle. i'm allowed to get loopy when i'm at home, after all.

the dinner was good. but that no-fat pork belly was a disappointment. i hope it was just a fluke. one final note, our server tabitha was very good. i freely admit that i'm a high maintenance diner on occasion and friday night i was worse than usual--changing my drink from tea to soda, making her do too much work when i placed my order--and she was friendly and helpful throughout. i wouldn't blame her for calling me names when she was in the kitchen but when she was in the dining room she was a pro.

i took my boyfriend to satterfield's for his birthday as the present i had gotten him was not very big. i had never heard of the place before and had only found it a couple hours prior on google. when we arrived, the hostess asked for our name and made quite the face when we told her we had neglected to make a reservation. barely concealing shock or disgust, she led us to a table by the wall that had not been set with napkins, as the other tables had. we joked that this was her revenge. our waitress didn't give us much time to look over themenu(which wasn't as extensive as i would have liked) so i didn't order an appetizer, as i hadn't looked over them yet. i ordered the braised rabbit, and my boyfriend ordered a steak, medium rare. my dish was delicious, more than i had hoped for. however, this was my first time eating rabbit and as a former vegetarian, i get squeamish when the meat looks a bit like the animal. thus, i skipped the parts that looked too rabbity and came away hungry. my boyfriend's steak arrived burnt on top, instead of seared, and a bit more fatty than desired. overall a good cut and a good flavor (minus the overwhelming burnt taste). we skipped dessert, as we had a birthday cake waiting at home. the bill was quite large, and for me to respect that i would have liked a better steak and a nicer hostess.

i never do this type of thing, and it honestly takes a lot for me to comment negatively to the waitress or the manager, but our meal tonight was not acceptable. we wanted to get several apps since the entiremenusounded great, and i always want to try as much as possible- especially when i am trying a place for the first time. the first one we got was the braised pork belly. i love pork- all kinds, and i order pork belly a good bit. i should have known not to eat it when we had a lot of difficulty cutting it. once i took a bite, it really only got worse. it was so under cooked, and poorly cooked, that it would not break apart in my mouth. i have never done this before, but after 3 solid minutes trying to chew with no success, i had to spit it in my napkin. next, the fritto misto was a bust. this dish is typically known for how light it feels, though it is fried. this was like a bad fish fry, and there was no salt and no flavor. the butternut squash ravioli sounded promising, especially since it had a sage brown butter sauce, but there was way too much butter. it was drowning in butter, but not in a good way. it was just too oily in your mouth. the cheese plate was so-so, but cheese is a hard thing to judge and is always a toss up! i hate to be so down on this, and the waitstaff and management were very apologetic, but the bottom line was that the food just was not good. the chef never should have sent the pork belly out that way, and the chefs on the line need a refresher in why seasoning food is essential. i am so thankful that i had a living social deal, because having to fork out real money would have been even harder to swallow that the rubbery pork. i know there are a lot of great reviews, and i think they have even won awards, but after ordering the majority of the app section with nothing to show for it, it makes me wonder how they have gotten good ratings and recognition. i do love food, and eating is my hobby. i am by now means a food snob, nor am i a hard-to-please customer, but i do think that my experience here was enough of a bust to share with others so that people can have a better expectation. i rely on urbanspoon reviews a lot, so i hope that this is helpful to others wanting to give satterfield's a try!

hidden gem. we absolutely love satterfields! one of birminghams best restaurants in our opinion. executive chef haller magee creates some wonderful dishes using fresh ingredients. themenuchanges frequently, based on what is available ensuring that there is always something new to try along with a host of standards that only seem to get better. if you are in the birmingham area, i highly recommend giving them a try!

great food!. satterfields's is one of my favorite places in the birmingham metro area. my biggest problem with this restaurant is that everything on themenuis so great that i have trouble choosing! i don't know what my favorite is... last fall they had a great duroc pork chop with a sweet potato relleno... it was heavenly. but then again there is a fresh pasta dish that is to die for. and i love the seafood... everything from fresh tuna to fried oysters. see my problem? too much good food to choose from!!!

the bottom line is that i love satterfields' because they consistently serve up food that is stellar.

my favorite!. i love satterfields!!! great food, wonderful people. i think that satterfields' is a hidden gem in birmingham's dining scene. located behind the summit and just minutes from i-459 it's a great location - easily accessible from southside, homewood, or inverness.

the food rocks - i've never been disappointed with the food at satterfields' and i honestly can't think of anywhere else that i can say that about. great fine dining with southern sensibilities.

plus, i also love the barmenuon monday and tuesday nights - it's a great place to meet for a drink and a bite to eat.

can't wait for cooler weather to try out the wonderful new patio addition.

if you haven't tried satterfields' you are missing a real treat!!!!!!