La Poste Eatery

Hadn't been here in a while mainly due to my distaste for Clifton Gas Light's parking nightmare. This time, however, I trusted La Poste's valet to ease my worries. The process went flawlessly.

Dinner was, for the most part, incredible. The PEI mussels were a generous serving and a nice touch to start. The waitress surprised us with a complimentary amuse bouche of chilled and diced root veggies on crackers. It was light and refreshing and so obviously farm fresh. The Caesar salad was the only real letdown. If you're going to charge $10+ for a starter salad, I'd hope it's good enough to justify the price. This one wasn't. It was the standard Caesar with two thin slices of anchovy adorning the top of the salad. Fortunately, the main dishes were spot-on incredible. We had a bottle of their recommended Shiraz - reasonably priced at around $60. Because of this slightly heavier red wine, we went with the duck breast and the lamb entrees. Both dishes were spectacular. I had a slight preference for the duck breast and particularly enjoyed the crispy hashbrown-esque side lying underneath the duck.

Finally, I have to mention the bread pudding. I'm a huge sucker for bread pudding. If you haven't tried it, please try the white chocolate bread pudding at Bouchard's in Findlay Market. It's incredible. My only qualm with theirs is the lack of a topping sauce. I mention that because La Poste makes an equally good, albeit completely different, bread pudding and serves it with a mouthwatering sauce and two small scoops of vanilla ice cream. I just had to wipe the drool from my mouth just from thinking about this spectacular dessert!

This was my first "real" dinner out since arriving in Cincinnati 20 days ago for work training.  My old co-worker was coming to town for a conference and we decided to meet here and enjoy a nice meal together. the server brought out a black bean and crosstini amuse, We ordered the seasonal salad, escargot, and I had the duck breast, which was the best I have ever had.  It was cooked to the perfect temperature, and it was not over fatty.  My co-worker had the bone-in short ribs which were perfect on a chilly night.  

Our server seemed a bit new, but the overall service was great!  The space itself it very pretty, especially liked the full length mirror in the ladies room that had a border of vintage stamps.   I hope to return again.!!

I've heard great things about this La Poste and was finally able to try it with a date.

PARKING:  I don't really go out in Clifton much, but it seems like parking is never easy.  La Poste is off on a side street and there seemed to be a lot of cars already on the street so it might be hard to self park. I valeted, and it was nice because at the end of dinner, our waiter took our ticket and when we walked out of the restaurant my car was there waiting for me.

ATMOSPHERE: Very nice ambience and decor. Feel very warm and homey.  Not a very big space at all.  Not loud at all and very easy to have a conversation.

SERVICE:  Our waiter was awesome.  He had a very good knowledge of the menu and his recommendations were great.  He earned the 25-30% tip that I gave him.  Plates were cleared and wine and water glasses refilled in a timely fashion.  There was another person at a table behind us that was sitting on a window edge talking to the diners behind us and at one point I reached back and hit her.  It was almost like she was on top of us.  Our waiter saw that and apologized after she left.  Then when we had finished our wine, he poured each of us another glass to apologize for the intrusion.  

FOOD:  Great food.  Really not a bad dish.  For appetizers, we had mussels and escargot.  Muscles were good. The broth didn't seem like your typical white wine.  Escargot came out of the shell in some kind of cream sauce.  The sauce was ridiculously good.  I guess that's why it came with a lot of pieces of bread to dip and sop up the sauce.  Our waiter said his favorite thing on the menu was the duck, which we had.  I agreed with him.  It was very good, well balanced, good texture with some little fried parts to give it crunch and some cherry for sweetness too.  The lamb shank wasn't bad, similar to what I've had at other places, and I really haven't been a huge fan of anywhere.  They also have an extensive wine menu and a sommelier available.

OVERALL:  Definitely a new fan.  I'd say one of the top 10 restaurants I've been to in town.  Maybe a little pricey, so it's not somewhere that you're gonna go every week.