Abigail Street

+ Gnocchi (well, of course)
+ Awesome wine list
+ Fattoush (awesome salad)
+ Grilled Lamb (Special)

Only been one time.  Everything was great with no wait for a table in OTR!

Very sweet atmosphere, and good eats! The gnocchi and the baklava were delicious! We went on Friday around 745  with less than 45 minute wait. The staff was very attentive, the wine selection was great, however my one complaint would be that the door as people were leaving and entering kept swinging open....and staying open allowing the wonderful Ohio chill welcome us in the dining area, until literally people were taking turns closing the door.  I suggest you sit away from the front until they get that fixed as our dinner was a little on the chilly side, other than that what was within means of the restaurant, the experience was a great one!

This was the first time I came to Cincinnati where I could actually SEE Cincinnati! Since I was visiting a friend who lived here, I let her choose the dinner destination. We arrived to find a modern decorated restaurant/bar sandwiched in between a few other restaurants, but when you walked in, opened into a long narrow space much like what you imagine yourself seeing if you took a dive into Mary Poppin's bag. The wait was about 30-45 min on a Friday night, so we got a chance to run across the street to grab a quick drink when they texted us that our table was ready. How convenient!

We got seated by the "bar" which wasn't quite a bar, but I guess technically was (well, if you were there to see it you would understand my inability to describe it!). We were handed a menu of about 20 items with a not so short list of wines on the back. Remember, you're at a small dish (tapas) Mediterranean food restaurant so expect lots of lamb, vegetarian options and seafood! We ended up ordering the bouillabaisse, scallops and gnocchi which were all superb!

So what did I have first. Ah, yes, the scallops. In one dish were 3 large plumb scallops sitting on a bed of... omg I really should know what those are, but alas I don't. It's some sort of round vegetable mixed with mushrooms that doesn't have any sauce but has a punch of flavor. What a great way to start the evening. Oh, and each dish is served individually with its own plate/utensil change! Next for dinner we had our gnocchi. I had just finished reading a NYtimes article on multicolored gnocchi so I was really excited to try this. I guess the old tip that describes what a really well cooked gnocchi tastes like are essentially "white clouds of potato." These were definitely that and a little more. They certainly looked like marshmallows but had their texture as well. Not overly salted, but a nice transition dish from our scallops to the bouillabaisse! So for those who don't know, a bouillabaisse is somewhat like a French seafood stew. I haven't had a lot in my life time, but I knew what I was getting myself into. This came in a medium sized bowl that was easily split between two. The tip here was to ask for more bread! It comes with 2 pieces but you want a few extra for dipping into the soup base. There are pieces of fish, mussels, shrimp and potatoes wading in a pool of creamy tomato soup that was cooked, again, perfectly. Nice way to end the dinner.

With the 2 of us, 3 dishes suited us well. We could have pushed 4 or at least tried one of their desserts, but 3 was really a perfect amount. On this Friday night they closed at 11pm and of course I forgot to take a snap shot of the hours for yelp. I hope someone did already... Parking is kinda of a *bad word here* since street parking is all you're really going to get so weekends are awful. Great place to try. Bring your guests here!