We like to wait until a new restaurant has been open a few months before trying them. This time we probably waited a bit too long – because we wish we had gone to The Alley Light sooner!
The Alley Light is a wonderfully small and intimate restaurant that serves fantastic French style food meant to be shared. Need I say more? OK, I will. The other night we got together with another innkeeping couple for Innkeepers Night Out and decided to try The Alley Light.
This was partially to do research to see if we should recommend the restaurant to our guests here at Foxfield Inn and partially just to have a good time. First – The Alley Light has made it to our Best Bets for Dinner list! Second – we had a ball.
This restaurant is known for their cocktails so we thought we would try one or two. I had the Rum & Tonic which includes their house Malacca tonic. Our friend had a cocktail in which the bartender/mixologist makes something special. Our friend asked for it to include single Malt whiskey. Wow! Was it ever good – whiskey, ginger, bitters, some simple syrup.
The food is meant to be shared – from snacks to small plates to large plates to “boards” to desserts. Everything we had was wonderful. We sampled items from their regular menu and from their specials board. We highly recommend three or four small plates and a couple of the larger plates or a board (seafood, charcuterie or vegetable). This will leave you room for dessert – which you don’t want to miss.
The items we enjoyed were – crispy chickpea crepes, the French Sandwich (tuna), marinated mushrooms (fabulous!), sunchoke soup, small chicken with rice, ocean trout with mac & cheese, hangar steak with potato cake, and scallops with poached egg. We ended our meal sharing a raspberry pistachio tart and a chocolate drenched macaroon with hazelnut mousse.We all stated that we were ready to go back.
One thing we really liked was that the noise level was not so loud that you could still talk with each other without having to shout or lean in to hear what the other person was saying.
We hope you enjoy The Alley Light as much as we did.Dan & Kathryn Bundy
Your innkeepers at Foxfield Inn, Charlottesville VA
