Mosaic in Buckhead

Date and Time Visited: Saturday, Oct 30, 2010 at 8:00 p.m.

Restaurant Name:  Mosaic

Location:                      3097 Maple Drive, Atlanta, GA 30305

Hours of Operation:     Monday - Thursday: 11:30 a.m. – 10:00 p.m.
                                    Friday – Saturday:     11:30 a.m. – 11:00 p.m.
                                    Sunday: 10:30 a.m. –  9:30 p.m.

Reservations:  Not necessary, but always recommended

Dining Style: Casual American Dining

Cuisine:  American Cuisine

Patio Dining:            Yes

Entrees Order: Jill: Creole Crab Pasta: $23.00 and Shrimp and Scallops Fra Diavolo $22.00

Rating criteria: We rate using the Likert Scale, from 1-5, where one (1) is considered a poor rating and five (5) is considered an excellent rating and three (3) indicates an average score.

               

Food:                                        Service:        

Taste                     2.5                Wait time                        5

Presentation           3                   Quality of Service             3           

Texture                 2.5                 Wait staff knowledge        4.5
Portion Size           2.5           
Authenticity           2.5           

Price:  Lowest:  $12.00      Highest: $28.00 

           Appropriately priced:            No

Restaurant Cleanliness:
Appearance             4
Atmosphere             4

Cleanliness              4           

Noise level               4           

Restrooms               4           

Smoking?             No

Outside Dining:    Yes                       

Parking:                Adequate free parking at restaurant           

Overall Experience (reflects the collaboration of both critics):

            Mosaic has a tasteful décor and would be a good location to dine with that special someone. The lighting is intimate and the tables were spaced to give adequate space for private conversations. We expected that the restaurant would be crowded given that it was a Saturday night but upon arrival, we found only about six (6) tables occupied. There was no wait time. As for the food…

 I (Jill) ordered the shrimp and scallops and Jack ordered the Creole crab pasta. Both entrees arrived nice and hot, but Jack felt that his Creole crab pasta was a poor facsimile for real Creole cooking. It totally lacked the authentic taste of a Creole dish, no spice and the pasta was slightly over cooked. Both dishes were mediocre at best, surely nothing to brag about. The portion size was average on one dish and less than average on the other. Four hours after eating, we both found ourselves hungry once again. One would think that after spending more than $50.00 in a restaurant that the food would be enough to hold us until morning. After we left we thought about how many days worth of food we could have brought at a Publix for that much money. One would think that since both our dishes main fillers was pasta, they could have put more on the plate being that pasta is rather cheap. Heck, you can catch it on sale two for the price of one at some grocery stores. As for the wait staff, we had a male and female waiter and waitress. They were acceptable but not exceptional. Overall, Mosaic needs to step up their game. Though the restaurant’s environment is near excellent, they should remember that food is everything. We average Joe folks need far more bang for our money.

Would we go back? Probably not.

Suggested Improvements: Add more pasta to the plates if you’re going to be stingy with the main food item. If you’re going to call a dish Creole it had better have some spice to it.