Agave Restaurant

Agave is a tight, cramped, yet hip place located in Cabbagetown. Inside, it looks like a date spot. It is a Tex-Mex place, and it's probably one of the more expensive Tex-Mex place I've been to.

Like every other Tex-Mex place, they brought out the chips and salsa.The salsa tasted pretty good. The flavored mixed well and had a nice spice to it. The chips didn't seem special. But the salsa made the whole thing enjoyable.

I ordered the ceviche martini as my appetizer. It had good flavor. But it was full of vegetables and not much seafood. It had about 2 pieces of shrimp and 4 small pieces of tuna. I felt gypped. I was expecting some protein, not a salad with tiny pieces of fish and shrimp.

Ceviche: where's the beef? Errr.. fish?

For my entree, I ordered the Slow Cooked Short Ribs. They seemed to have cooked the ribs perfectly. The meat broke apart easily and felt tender. But I needed more sauce. The sauce had a sweet taste and gave the ribs good flavor. However, I felt only 1/4 of the short ribs were covered in sauce. Therefore, majority of the ribs tasted dry and flavorless. It is a tough balance because you don't want too much sauce and overpower everything. At the same time, it needs enough sauce so it'll flavor the ribs. I think my dish needed a bit more sauce.

It's strange because the menu said it was braised in the sauce. But it tasted like it wasn't braised in any sauce because of its dryness and lack of flavor.

The mashed potatoes that the ribs sat on top of tasted good though. I liked the corn chunks inside it. The asparagus tasted fine as well.  

Braised Short Ribs: needs more sauce

I also tried their  fire roasted tomato and serrano stone ground grits as a side. I liked it. It had good texture and flavor. It didn't look too appetizing though. But how can you plate liquidy, orangey slop?

The serrano stone grits look like puke but tastes good.

I went on a Friday night, and the place looked hopping. So it took forever for anything to happen. The servers and busboys seemed on point by refilling our glasses and removing our dirty dishes. But if you needed anything else, good luck finding the server. It took forever for them to give us our checks. 

Mango Margarita. 

This place feels overpriced to me. I guess you're paying for the ambience and the food. The food had few problems, but it had potential. I enjoyed my time here and wouldn't mind coming back and trying out their other entrees. Mr. Kitty gives this place 3.5 paws up.

Agave Restaurant
242 Boulevard SE
Atlanta, GA 30312
(404) 588-0006
www.agaverestaurant.com