Marisol - Fine Dining Restaurant

Marisol has to be one of the finest restaurants in the Triad. Personally, I have not visited a restaurant in the Triad that exceeds the Marisol, but I have not been to every restaurant yet.  It is also one of the most expensive restaurants in our area.  Expect about $120-$150 for 2 plus drinks.  Most appetizers are in the $18 range and the entrees are in the $35-50 range.  Fine food does cost more and  it is good to splurge every now and then!

Marisol's Service

Marisol does a fantastic job in their open Kitchen creating very creative foods with an ever changing menu. Indulgence at its best.  The service too is almost perfect.  The very attentive wait staff is professional without being pretentious.  It is a classy dining experience that is a step above all other restaurants I have been to in this area.

The Marisol is a fairly small restaurant that takes up the majority of a very small strip center on Gate City Blvd.  The restaurant has about 15 tables that surround the open kitchen.  The opposite wall has a cozy fireplace with classy, but a simple yet elegant decor.  There is a good staff customer ratio to assure a first class experience.

The Food at Marisol

The menu at Marisol is ever changing and only a small number of items are in print.  The waiter will go over the very large selection of specials verbally.  The list is so large, that it makes it difficult to choose.  So many of the items sound fantastic, and the list goes on.  I would prefer a written menu over the verbal as the list is too long.  That being said, the choices are MUCH larger earlier in the evening.  This is a small restaurant and many of the items were sold out by the time we left.  So for the best selection, arrive early.

In today's modern cooking world it is hard to classify restaurants of this caliber.  Is it French, or is it Continental or is it American?  Creative, modern cooking will take the best of all foods and condense it down to creative dishes.  Marisol executes this perfectly.

This evening we chose to split a couple of appetizers.  Marisol went above and beyond with this request as they split the soup and the sausage appetizers onto 2 bowls/plates. This made it much easier to try more things in one evening.  So many restaurants miss this opportunity to allow diners to try more dishes with the simple step of placing the appetizers on two plates.  

First, we had Marisol's Crab Bisque.  This bisque was creamy and smooth and very buttery with notes of a fine sherry. The crab chunks were large chunks of very fresh crab meat.  Being raised in Maryland, I am very picky about crab.  Marisol's Crab Bisque was  close to perfect.  Considering this soup was split into 2, it was a very large serving.

Next, we had Marisol's Pork and Truffle Sausage.  This was very indulgent.  Extremely smooth and creamy mashed potatoes topped with their house made pork and truffle sausage.  Once again this was split onto 2 plates and it was a decent serving for an appetizer.  

For my entree, I had the special Veal.  This was a VERY large chunk of veal.  Too big actually, as there was no way I could finish it.  The veal was breaded and fried.  The breading made for a crunchy exterior topped with a very  mild wine and mushroom  sauce.  The flavors were delicate, maybe a bit too delicate, but this was veal.  There was a side of zucchini, asparagus and mashed sweet potatoes.  The piece of veal was so large, it even covered the vegetables.

Last we had Marisol's Lamb Chops.  This was American lamb chops frenched and topped with a tomato salad and a wonderful sauce.  The sides were zucchini, asparagus and mashed sweet potatoes.

As always the food and service at Marisol are as good as you are going to get in the Triad.