Piedmont Restaurant

First time visit was sensational. The duck breast was fun and flavorful with many compliments from the fresh blueberries to the carrots and beats. Dessert was fantastic. I enjoyed the fried cherry pie and salted camel ice cream. I highly recommend trying anything from the seasonal menu.

From the time we stepped through the door until we left, the service was wonderful and each dish-- from the Lettuces, followed by the entrees, followed by dessert-- were all delicious. The atmosphere was nice too (especially since I think rustic wood makes most rooms better). Very well done, Piedmont crew. We'll be back for sure.

Great date night spot in Durham! The portions are large and the food was phenomenal. I got the pan-seared scallops and they did not disappoint! It's on the pricier end (but worth it!), so definitely a fun spot for an anniversary or celebration!

Excellent food and service. I love that the food is all local and very high quality. The menu consistently changes depending on what is available, so there is a lot of creativity and imagination that goes into creating each dish. My husband and I both had a first course, a main course, and a dessert, and it was all excellent.

Chef Ben Adams has made this my favorite local restaurant again. I love the beet and apple salad combo, plus his browned butter dishes and did I mention the trout appetizer? The staff is attentive and friendly. I'm looking forward to trying their brunch this summer.

Incredible! I had the risotto with beets and that melt-in-your-mouth crispy kale. It was UNBELIEVABLE. Salads were fantastic too. My only complaint - I ordered some cheeses and they served them cold. Cold cheese = no flavor. Otherwise fantastic. Beautiful space, peaceful, great parking right across the street!

I went there for the first time. Honestly, I guess I never knew it was there. We absolutely loved it! We were looking to try a new restaurant on Friday. I dreaded having to wait forever for a table. The good news is, we did not have to wait at all. They sat us immediately, but I cannot understand why they were so empty. We decided to do the Pre Fixe menu; she did the wine pairing, I did not. I do not normally do the pre fixe, but, this was priced nicely, and we were feeling adventurous. The theme was heirloom peppers, so each dish featured a pepper. This was a 4 course ordeal. The food was fantastic, service was even better. Our waiter was very nice, and super informative. I asked a question to which he did know the answer, so he went and asked the chef and returned with an answer for me. The food was great! I mean top notch. We both were very impressed. I loved the entrée the most, she really liked course #2. All of them were good. I did not try the wine pairings, but she was quite taken with the selections. The only set back was the final course, which generally would be a dessert. I suppose it is difficult to create a pepper based dessert, so the chef prepared a cheese with pepper jelly. It was very good, but left me wanting something sweet. I told the waiter that perhaps they should have the cheese dish first, and just tell people there is no dessert course with this pre fixe. He passed my suggestion on to the Chef who, evidently, agreed and changed the order of the courses. Overall, we had a great experience. There was a mistake on the bill, and the waiter promptly apologized and fixed it. We will be back, perhaps next month, when they change the pre fixe menu. It really was a great treat.

I'm in town performing a couple of piano benefit concerts for Hurricane Florence and went to an awesome restaurant with great food and great service. My waiter Osvaldo was excellent. He made a great wine pairing of a Portugese red with the duck breast and roasted vegetables in a bluberry sauce. Delicious and not as sweet as cherries. The soup was a white bean and bacon perfect for a first dish. The General Mgr. came over to see how the meal was and my waiter checked on me several times. I will be back.

We were welcomed by our server, Kenia. She was informative and had a wonderful smile on her face that made you relaxed and happy to be there. She was also very patient when we were overwhelmed by the choices available. There was a nice selection, but they all sounded delicious. This was our first time here.

Amazing place! The was my first time dining here and let me just say I loved everything. The food was delicious and the ambience was really cozy and romantic. The staff were so kind and helpful! We loved everything! For our appetizer my date and I enjoyed the deviled eggs and hush puppies, which were wonderful. You couldn’t go wrong with anything on the menu, however I highly recommended the Duck breast and the Market fish! The manager and the chef both came to the table and thanked us for coming which made us feel so welcomed. Definitely going back!

The people were amazing. We went midweek and the crowd was small. The hostess did a good job of making sure that the group was taken care of. The day we visited was the first day of a new menu. I think this is the reason for my only complaint, that the service was pretty slow. We spent about 2.5 hours there, but a lot of that time was just spent in conversation. I would recommend not coming by if you are in a hurry to get somewhere, but if you have time, why not? While we were there, the owners were there for their own supper. This was nice since it is locally owned. Parking was a bit confusing... we just parked on the side of the street just around the corner. It is 2 hour parking before 6, so evening are fine, and free!

Fresh, delicious seasonal salad followed by amazing carbonara pasta with fresh local veggies and bacon. Our waiter Chris was attentive, efficient and delightful. One person in our group had the roasted chicken which was moist and tasty. Desserts were also wonderful. I'm not a "foodie" but enjoy and appreciate fresh, tasty, well prepared food. I'm from Maryland and this was my second visit to Piedmont and I hope to return when I visit my friends in Durham again.

This is the easiest 5 stars I have ever rated anything, and I am stingy on my ratings. I have only been there once, but everything was perfect. One of the best meals of my life. I had the rabbit. Yes, you're paying $30 for the main course on average, but it's a treat. You just need to have a little trust in the chef. The menu changes almost daily it sounds like, so I guess experiences can vary. Aside from the food, I enjoyed the atmosphere and drink selection. The waiter was perfectly attentive and chummy.

My wife and I had a wonderful experience at Piedmont Restaurant! First, my wife is about to have surgery and will not be in the mood for a Valentine’s dinner. So, this was the night to celebrate!!! I had made arrangements with Christopher, a manager, to have flowers at the table. This was completed very well! After the pleasant host, Nate, seated us at our table, she saw the flowers. My wife was very surprised. We were welcomed by our server, Kenia. She was informative and had a wonderful smile on her face that made you relaxed and happy to be there. She was also very patient when we were overwhelmed by the choices available. There was a nice selection, but they all sounded delicious. This was our first time here. Kenia was attentive and checked on us, along with other staff and managers. We were well taken care of by a great team. We took advantage of the three course meal choices. I had the Calamari, Mushroom Ravioli, and Chocolate Mousse. I am always nervous when I order Calamari. It is a 50/50 chance to be decent or chewy. Not only was the Calamari decent, it was GREAT! It was breaded and cook just right. The Mushroom Ravioli absolutely delicious. I was concerned that only a small portion would come to the table. I’m a big guy, and I like my food. When the plate arrived, I was pleasantly surprised. There were 5-6 large raviolis. Each bite was as perfect as the last. Definitely a favorite. The chocolate mousse was rich and smooth. It was a perfect end to this wonderful meal. My wife ordered the Winter Salad, Soy Ginger Short Rib, and the Brown Cinnamon and Apple Cake. The winter salad was... salad, so I did not try (sorry). The presentation was beautiful. My wife enjoyed it tremendously. The Soy Ginger Short Rib was AWESOME!!! I know that most people abuse this word every day, but this short rib dish blew it out of the water!!!! IT WAS ONE OF THE BEST DISHES I HAVE EVER HAD!!! It made me want to order an extra serving just for me!! It was the best!!! Prime rib meets the most tender brisket that you could imagine!!! BRAVO!!! Her dessert, the Brown Cinnamon and Apple Cake was wonderful. The flavors all came together perfectly. Overall, we had a blast! The staff was attentive and worked very well together. The drinks were perfect, the food was remarkable and delicious, and the service was spot on! Thank you for a great time and a true dining experience!!!

Was here for a wedding. Atmosphere was almost as good as the food. Every dish I had was beautifully prepared and presented, and the flavors were spot on! If you get a chance, try the trout mousse or the fried catfish and you won't be disappointed.

Always enjoy coming to this restaurant. A great example of farm to table cooking and staying local. We had excellent NC oysters on the half shell, summer salad was very nice as was the pork chop special with peach chutney, green beans and roastedsweet and regular potatoes. The craft cocktails here are also superb and they even have some local liquor such as Conniption. Service was good although a little slow as it seems that the was only one person taking orders on the floor. Parking should be ok across the road if the is no other event at Durham Central Park.

Great place for Sunday Brunch. I've enjoyed sitting at the bar as well as at a table. The menu changes pretty frequently, but two of my favorite dishes have been the duck confit eggs Benedict and the rice cake with smoked trout. Service staff has always been good when I've been there.

Modern southern fare that was tasty. We tried & shared more of the small plates than main dishes and enjoyed the bites of all of them, especially the crostini & salad. Delicious birthday cake for dessert

We thought the food here was good but the service could have been better. When we could ask the server questions about menu items he could not elaborate on the dish.

Though very quiet, my family and I truly enjoyed all the food. The duck was to die for and soup of day turned out to be a must have.

This is one of the best places for fresh local rotating fare. Of the many times we have come for dinner I can say that I have truly never left disappointed. The only trouble is that with the rotating menu I dont always find something that I am super excited to eat. Overall the service is good but can vary from night to night based upon how busy they are. Do recommend making reservations to make sure to have a table.

Piedmont is a great place to go for mid to upscale dining that uses local ingredients. It has a fantastic wine list and great seasonal daily/weekly featured dishes. I love the scallops, all of their salads, and the cheese plate. They had a sticky cake during restaurant week a few years ago that I'm still dreaming about, though it doesn't seem to be in the regular dessert rotation.

First time to Piedmont this weekend and it was quite enjoyable. Attractive modern decor with beautiful reused wood hung in long strips as art on the walls. Gorgeous natural feel. Easy to get a last minute reservation (and on a Third friday, too!) - the staff was super helpful on the phone. Service was very attentive (although not super 'warm' - not a lot of explanations or excess chitchat), and the food was excellent. I totally disagree with previous reviewers about the portion sizes. For $6 I had a bowl of their pumpkin soup with creme fraiche and white truffle oil and it was a huge portion! I could have had that alone for dinner. But I followed it up with the beet, goat cheese, granny smith apple, and pickled daikon salad - a novel and beautiful melding of flavors both sweet and savory, though I wish the beet to everything else ratio had been a little lower (fewer beets). My boyfriend had the smoked carolina trout dip with horseradish and crostini and also really enjoyed that. I thought the meal was very reasonably priced for the quality of the food. We will definitely go back.

Everything we ordered was excellent - so good we decided to make it our special occasion restaurant. We ordered the olives as an appetizer as we waited for the rest of our party to arrive and when our server wrapped up the rest of our meal to go he added some extra olives. The service was excellent too. We had appetizers/salads/entrees but no dessert.

We had a nice meal here for Valentine's day. The menu is a little bit limited at times, but the food quality is fantastic and the atmosphere is great. You can walk to the rest of the places in downtown within a couple of minutes. There is both a downstairs and upstairs dining room to suit the atmosphere that you like. There is also back set of steps that leads straight to the bathroom, which is nice if the place is busy.

Went with my wife there for our wedding anniversary, server was awkward and nervous. Took us forever to get our appetizers (bread/salad) the ‘butter’ for the bread didn’t have much flavor. Wife ordered scallops, portion size seemed small for what they charged us. Probably won’t go back, even though the flavors were good.

Divine southern flavors in a cozy farm to table atmosphere. The server was very personable and attentive, though the appetizers took too long to come out given the occupancy. The scallops dish was appropriately priced and filling. The chicken entree, however, was $2 more ($22) and was a leg over 3/4 cup of vegetables, making the dish far overpriced. The four huspuppies for $10 were good, but $2 a hushpuppy is a lot. My party concluded that while we'd like to return for the flavors, we won't because of the portions/price.

Let me say that the flavors were excellent! I had the scallops and mushroom risotto, everyone else had the pork chops. Both were very high quality and we were satisfied. Smallish portions, but excellent food. However, there were only 3 tables with patrons on a Friday night. I have a couple of guesses as to why. The food is expensive, as it should be—again, very good food. After our order was taken, we expected bread or some other pre-meal something to be placed on the table. It wasn’t, and the appetizer plates that were at the table when we were seated were removed. I asked if there would be pre-meal bread, and the server asked if we would like to order some. For 7 bucks. We declined, and just waited for our food. Now, for 4 people, it was $240 after we added 20% gratuity. 2 of us had 2 glasses of wine, one had 2 beers, one had one beer. We ordered NO bread, appetizers, or desserts. Just mains. The atmosphere was just like any other downtown Durham restaurant, nothing special by any means, nice enough. There were very few people there. Our waiter was also the bartender. All of that is perfectly fine, but not $60 per person fine. None of us left raving about anything in particular or making plans to go back. Y’all might be able to get a full house (or a less empty house) on a Friday evening without changing prices if you offer something before the meal—maybe a bowl of pork cracklings to keep with the local theme? Or maybe a makeover of the dining area so it’s not so forgettable? Bartender and hosts and server separate? Otherwise, you’re shooting yourselves in the foot and completely pricing yourselves out of the Durham market.

The drinks were incredible. The main dish was good, however the server didnt inform us of the change of side dish (3 of us ordered the herbed chicken/brussel sprouts/potatoes au gratin) specifically because of the sprouts. When we received our dishes, we were given really sad looking and tasting green beans. We expressed our disappointment immediately the waiter and he just said he forgot to tell us they weren't doing Brussels that day. There was no apology or offer to correct. I believe that was more on the waiter than the restaurant, but it was unfortunate because the green beans were quite a damper on an otherwise good meal.

We went here for a bite with some friends who recommended it. The place was well-appointed and modern, a nice atmosphere. Our service staff was outstanding - several people came over throughout the evening to offer help and ask how things were. Although actually there was a bit of a long wait to get our order in, but after that things were fine service-wise. The food was also very good. I had the sausage, which I understand is hand-made there at the restaurant with all local ingredients. My wife and our two friends got some potato pancakes. The food quality was outstanding, but as other reviewers have stated they are the smallest portions you will ever see. My sausage portion was ok, but it only came with like 4 thin carrot and potato slices... for $19. The potatoes pancakes were equally tiny, and my wife, who eats like a bird anyway, was still hungry at the end of the meal. But it was all very delicious.

I dined at Piedmont with a couple of friends after one of them raved about a chicken and green bean dish she once ate there. They have seasonal menus, so we knew there was a high chance they would not be serving that dish during our visit. However, we figured the food would still be as tasty as our friend described. Overall, I found the food to be quite flavorful and it felt good to eat at a restaurant that sourced its menu options from local farmers. I ordered a pasta dish that was a little cold when served, but was otherwise tasty. The wait to be served was a bit long, so I did not want to send the dish back. One of my two friends ordered the same dish I did and said her was cold as well. We enjoyed the experience, but there was nothing about the restaurant that has motivated us to return. I recommend booking a reservation, as it can be a challenge to be seated at this restaurant, especially during Spring and Summer. I say it's a worth a try at least once.

Went on a Friday night and it wasn't too busy. Overall it was fine, but for what they charge, I expected better. The cocktail my partner ordered was too tart to be enjoyable. The portions seem to vary widely depending on what you order. I had considered the scallops but went with the pork chop after seeing how small my neighbor's plate was. Some notes to the manager - some of your tables are quite wobbly. Drinks shouldn't spill as the table shifts from side to side. Also the sharp knife provided to me couldn't cut through the pork so I'd suggest some better cutlery.

I took a chance and came here for the first time with friends for my birthday. Everything felt overpriced (5 hushpuppies for $10) and all of our dishes were unsatisfactory on some level. The risotto was definitely undercooked and the leek flavor did not go well with it. One person asked if the risotto could be done without mushrooms, if not then they would have the burger. The risotto came out with mushrooms, making us wonder if the server forgot, was served the wrong plate, or the server was trying to make the more expensive sale. All in all, I would not come back here and am embarrassed that my birthday dinner was not enjoyed by anyone in my party.

My wife and I went to the Piedmont for our valentines dinner. I called about a month ahead and made a reservation for the evening. The reservation was confirmed a few days prior. When we arrived, we were seated at a high top for three people instead of the two person tables. The table was extremely wobbly and we were next to a very loud group. After about ten minutes a server from the bar finally came over and offered to take our order. She provided great service but it kind of felt like we were being rushed along. The food was fine but not worth 65 a person. Our expectations were definitely not met. Maybe they assumed that we didn’t have a reservation even though I clearly said we had a reservation when speaking with the hostess. Every other couple was seated at a two person table and they were promptly waited on. We don’t know why we were treated differently. I normally would not complain, in fact I have never taken the time to write a negative review, but we were not impressed and our evening was ruined. This probably is a great restaurant, unfortunately that is not the experience that we had.

I will say the food here is very good, some of the best food I've had in Durham. What is not very good here is the service. We had 6 people on a Saturday night and got there at 8 pm. The service was fairly slow but we were ok with it as to not rush through the meal. After finishing the entrees our server asked if we wanted dessert. When we said yes she made a point to visibly check her watch and tell us they were closing soon, making it seem like she did not want us to get dessert. This was at around 9:40 when they don't close until 10. We got dessert and as we were finishing they turned off the music and turned on all the lights to make a point that everyone needed to leave. This is something that's done at 2 am when bars close, not at an upscale restaurant that you pay a lot for. Overall our server was fairly rude which was disappointing since we had talked up the restaurant to the people we brought.

The food was unique and tasty, but the treatment we received from the chef made the experience unsavory and distasteful. The hostesses were disorganized, which I can give forgiveness to as we all are not always at the top of our game. However, the response and attitude from the chef really made the experience unpalatable. We were there for a special event. The hostess had us down for the incorrect amount of people; therefore, it took us longer than usual to be seated. The hostess didn’t seem to know what to do or where to seat us; although there was an open table with enough seats for our party and no other diners were waiting to be sat. The chef blamed us for the mistake and begrudgingly sat us at a table. Not sure why he was helping the hostesses seat people to begin with. Perplexed by his nasty attitude, we asked what was the problem, and he snapped at us that we told them the incorrect amount of people in our party. Instead of taking a minor error (that wasn’t our fault) and just adjusting quickly since a table was available, he took his frustrations and irritations out on us. The waitress we had was excellent. However, due to experience we had with the chef, we will not be back to this restaurant. We would rather spend our money somewhere that has leadership that treats their customers with sincerity and integrity.

Our first visit tonight, and I'm sad to say we were really disappointed. We had high expectations, but unfortunately I now have a stomachache. The place was freezing, and the service was slow. We ordered burrata ravioli, which was a huge portion size, but swimming in a butter cream sauce. It was so heavy and after thee bites, we'd both had enough. We called it butter soup. We also ordered a hamburger, which unfortunately had little flavor, except for the gross cheese they put on it. We wound up scraping the cheese off. Best thing in the entire meal was the yellow tomato on the burger. The sweet potato fries were limp and soft, and they piled a ton on the plate. We also had the shishito peppers, which were decent, but again, was a huge platter of them, way too much to finish. Finally, the hushpuppies, which we ordered as an appetizer, and they were okay, but after the butter soup, we wished we hadn't eaten them with the butter that came with them. Sorry, wish we'd had a better experience. We won't be back.

A group of middle school teachers went to the Piedmont last night to celebrate a birthday and it was very disappointing. First, the food was satisfactory, portion were small and prices were not. The service was terrible on two counts, one, a 3 to 3 1/2 hour dinner was way too long, very slow service and lastly the most annoying was that although we all clearly requested individual checks, by couples, at the end of the meal we were presented with a single check for 12 people. How does that work, is it because groups of over 10 have to pay a 18% gratuity? So at the end of a marginal meal, here a 12 people trying to figure out who ate or drank what, who owed what and who had cash because they would only allow 4 credit cards to processed against the bill, ridiculous... There are too many good restaurants in downtown Durham that pride themselves a great customer service. Lesson learned, we shall not return.

Made a reservation for Valentines day on 01/24/2020 ahead of the rush as most restaurants book pretty quickly in the triangle. Was excited to try a local place as I am from Durham and was supremely upset when I received a call from the restaurant today, TWO DAYS FROM THE RESERVATION, letting me know they will only be serving from their set 3 course menu. The reason I even chose this restaurant was for the menu options and the flexibility it afforded as all of the other restaurants in the area who were only offering a set menu disclosed that very important detail directly on open table. (Allegedly this information was on their website, but why would I visit the site if all of the information was on opentable?) The dinner is $65/person and as the reviews are less than stellar I don't want to take my chances wasting my money. I would have told this to them over the phone but when I called no one answered and their voicemail was full..Very inconsiderate of them to call me with such late notice as it is too late to make a reservation somewhere else for the same time.

Four of us went last night and were really disappointed! The service was friendly, but very, very slow to actually deliver even beverages. Food orders took almost 30 minutes! I ordered the "special" scallops for $20+....and got only TWO small scallops and a miserly side of sauteed greens! I left hungry! My fiance had the snapper which was good but also a very small portion. The menu is very limited, which we expect at a farm-to-table restaurant, but it was hard to find appealing choices. Location is nice w/ public parking across the street, and the environment is nice enough. But I'm amazed they stay in business with so many other excellent choices in Durham.