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 hastingsrestaurantin 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 on menu is 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.

this is a very nicerestaurantdivided into 2 sections. one is a bar and the other a seated dinner area. i had no reservation, so i got to enjoy the seat at the bar. the bartender was very professional and helped me with my picks. i had the crème brulé and it was probably the best one i have ever had. it is more for an older crowd but will work just fine for a nice calm date night.

well done!. first time at satterfield's for birminghamrestaurantweek. i had the amberjack and my husband had the pork. the amberjack dish was perfect - a smallish portion, but plenty. grits were wonderful and creamy. his pork dish was more of a hearty stew - it was delicious but not exactly what we expected. beignets were wonderful! the meal took close to 2 hours - it was a pleasant, slow meal with the courses spaced out. if we were in a hurry at all it would've been frustrating, but the service was great - we were well attended to. we will definitely be back.

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 the menu but 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 arestaurantin this price point. next time i'll stick to arestaurantthat is proven to be good every time such as ocean, highlands, etc. we won't be back.

worstrestaurantever. my friends and i went to satterfield's before prom. when we arrived we were given a three course menu. we were not told that we were suppose to order one thing from each coarse. the price came to be $100+. after talking to the manager (who was very rude by the way) for 30 minutes he finally and very reluctantly allowed us to get one thing off the menu. we were at satterfield's for over 2 hours. the food was okay but i've definitely had much better. we all order steak medium well but it came out extremely red. so red that we couldn't eat half of it. we would have sent it back if it wasn't going to take another hour to cook. two of my friends decided to split and were not told that there would be a $10 fee per person to split the small amount of food we were given until the food was already out. the waitresses, along with the manager, were talking about us right in front on our faces.when we finally got our check the price was about $50. we were forced to pay the 20% tip that they did not deserve! the waitress came to every person and wrote in her own tip without asking which we found very rude. needless to say i will never ever ever ever go back to that horrendous place! i suggest to everyone who wants to go there to not!

great fine dining. i have been to thisrestaurantseveral times and it never disappoints. the oysters on the half shell are always great! service and friendliness of the staff are top notch. i will definitely be back!!

everybody knows your name. thisrestaurantdoes reservations better than any place we've frequented. they know our names, the actual seats at the chef's table where we sit and watch the meals being prepared. they ask us if it is a special occasion during the reservation process and then upon our arrival whip out menus with our names and the event we are celebrating on top. i'd love to think that it is just us receiving this treatment, but in reality they make everyone feel special.

we discovered this place during a birminghamrestaurantweek several years ago when fixed price menus are offered. the experience was so memorable that we became instant fans.

the food is always beautifully prepared based on seasonable availability. the combinations are things i would never try with delectable results. we find ourselves talking about the meal the next day and reliving the enjoyment. the chefs and waitstaff are always the same, which speaks to their loyalty. if you want a consistently great experience from start to finish, this needs to get on your "must visit" list.

as an addendum to the review i posted, i'd like to say the fried oyster tasted like it came off a fried seafood buffet. thank god for pepto.


-----21 feb, 2013-----

uppity crap. the bartenders are second to none, but the food is way too pretentious. they should eat at a frank stittrestaurantto see how to do it right. they obviously cater to an old fart clientele, and aren't used to a large young group. food is passible, staff is outstanding, but the front of house mgrs are on a power trip and need to extract the stick from their ass and let folks have a nice peaceful dinner with no interruptions.

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 arestaurantwith 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 arestauranti check their website. i'm looking for their current menu (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 anyrestaurantthat 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.

so we are eat jackson, and we eat in and around jackson. but what good jacksonian never heads to the east or west from time to time? we were to meet eat birmingham over here at arestaurantthat had many accolades. the greatest of which was probably my fr

finally, arestaurantdeserving.... satterfield's is all it claims to be and more. we moved down from nyc two years ago and, have often lamented not having good dining choices. then we discovered satterfield's. in our opinions it deserves to be birmingham's best. the food is creative and fresh, as well as absolutely delicious. the service is good, though we were there on a very busy night during the holidays. the one thing i would suggest improving is the location. i think therestauranthas outgrown its current location and is in dire need of more space and more convenient 'evening' parking.. otherwise, our hats are off to the creative owners and chefs.

great food!. satterfields's is one of my favorite places in the birmingham metro area. my biggest problem with thisrestaurantis that everything on the menu is 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.