Fig Cafe & Wine Bar

We went here on a Saturday night to celebrate a birthday.  The service and ambiance were amazing.  And the option to sample different wines was a lot of fun.  We read all the reviews before going, so knew to expect smaller portions, and that it would be expensive.  We were fine with that.
The reason for the three stars is that the main courses were kind of "meh".  
I had the chicken, it was good, but not great (slightly over cooked, a little bland, served luke warm).  The rice and veggies served with the chicken were tasty and fresh.
My husband had the steak.... And unlike some of the other reviews, it was NOT mostly gristle.  It was cooked to medium (fine with us), but had absolutely no flavor.  It was a little tough to chew, and was served cold.  Re-heating it would not have helped.  It was served with a mashed sweet potato side, and some green beans.  The sweet potatoes had an odd flavor.... Not bad, but tasted a little scorched.  I *think* that they may have had a dash of Worcestershire sauce in them, which could possibly account for the odd/over done taste.
We still had a very good time, and will be back.  The appetizers were good (we had the cheese plate assortment).  We also had the mixed green salad and ceasar salad.  Both salads were good.  The ceasar lettuce was more on the yellow color side, but that didn't affect the taste.  We shared a brownie for desert, and it was tasty as well.

To conclude, we'll frequent the place again for a pre-dinner stop.  Or maybe just drinks or desert.  For the price, the main courses were not where I would have hoped they would be - flavor wise.  The portions were reasonable, despite being marketed as "tapas".

I hate to be a debbie downer, b/c i LOVE local business!  but i was disappointed in my venture to Fig.  

I do not mind small servings, b/c i think it helps you enjoy the meal without over eating, but when you're going to do small servings, i think the price should reflect the size, but here it does not.  $13 a plate was a little steep for what you get.

But i can be a little forgiving on price to size ratio if the quality is good.....but i have to say, i found it disappointing.  I have a standard when eating out, which is, 'if i can cook it just as good or better at home, then it's not worthy paying for at a restaurant.' and sadly, that is what i felt like when i ate here.

We had the Hanger Steak, which was good, nothing exceptional, but none the less good, however half of it was strait up gristle and inedible.  And when you only have a little steak to begin with, losing half of it to gristle does not make you feel that you're getting your money's worth.  It came with a side of 'greens' which is code for salad....it reminded me of the bag mix of greens i buy at the grocery store.  There wasn't anything about the side salad that made it stand out.

We also tried the shrimp and grits.  The grits were nice and creamy, but over all it was lacking something.  I like a good bowl of shrimp and grits but this just made me go, eh, it's ok, instead of wow!  The gravy, although i'm sure freshly made reminded me of the jarred kind from the grocery store.  There was a weird flavor in there that i can not put my finger on, but whatever it was, did not marry well with the rest of the dish.

We also ordered the tomato soup.  Which again i'm sure was freshly made, but actually reminded me a lot of campbell's with some extra ingredients mixed in.

Our waiter was super awesome, and i am very glad for good services.  When we mentioned the steak to him, he said he would see if the owner would come talk to us.  Owner person never showed up and instead we were offered a free dessert, which was fine.  We selected the Red Velvet cupcake, but again, totally disappointed.  The cake was stale and the icing was a bit on the crisco side.  Some people love them some crisco, so some may love it, but i'm a big fan of cream cheese awesomeness on my red velvet and the cream cheese flavor was lost in the greasy sugary-ness of it all.

I hate to say it, but unless i start hearing amazing things from friends in regards to this place, i'm putting it on my 'been there, done that, no need to go back' list.  There is a lot of potential here, but sadly it falls very short.  I hope for improvement though, b/c i totally want to support local businesses!

Ventured here again last night for a weeknight dinner to celebrate our 8th year anniversary. I wanted something low-key, local, and of course something revolving around wine.

We chose to sit in the main dining area, which after about an hour, became a bit crowded, but not overly so. Our server was amazing. He recommended dishes for us on the tapas menu, informing us that it was their last night with their current menu, and that the spring menu would debut the next night. So, if you are reading this, check out their website for the new menu, because it has most likely changed.

We started with the wine card option rather than the server getting our wine because I like to do smaller pours of many wines so I can try new selections. This is a great option if you love wine tasting. If you are set on one kind of wine, then the server getting your wine for you is the best option.

We started with the cheese flight, $4 per cheese so we opted for the asiago, the port wine, and the balsamic. It came with a mini-loaf of bread and was a great starter for the palate while we enjoyed our wine. we then opted for salads- for me, the Caesar and for hubs, the mixed greens. I have to say that hubs' salad looked and tasted MUCH better than mine. His greens looked fresh, were tasty, and had an overall superb appeal, my Caesar was disappointing. It tasted OK, but the problem was that my romaine leaves were yellow. As in, it was as if they took all the "too ripe" parts of the romaine head and put them in my salad, or perhaps they were all the romaine hearts- either way, I did not like it, and it was not advertised on the menu as romaine hearts.  It definitely tainted the taste, and with the large portion, simply was a waste as I did not eat it. (Deduction of 5th star).  

We both settled on the idea of having the caprese flatbread which had fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, and balsamic vinegar on top. It was very good, and had a great presentation. We took some of it home, and were too full for dessert.

Overall, Fig did not disappoint (except for the romaine debacle) and is still a great wine cafe and tapas dinner restaurant. I agree with other reviews that the menu is limited, but for me, it is better to have a great menu that accompanies the wine, rather than too much that overpowers the atmosphere of it being a wine cafe.

We'll definitely be back-especially to try out the new menu.