515 Grant St, Clarkesville, Georgia 30523
Rustic Cabin is a new restaurant in Clarkesville that took over the large restaurant that was formerly a BBQ and Catfish restaurant. The space sat empty for a long time, so we were thrilled to see North Georgia had a new dining option. We dined there on a Tuesday evening to also enjoy their trivia night (every Tuesday 630pm start) and found it easy to dine while playing trivia.
They have a full bar and when I say full bar that includes Mezcal, which we rarely see and when we ask about it around here, most folks have never heard of it. So A+ for having a proper full bar of varied spirits, beer and wine. The staff were very attentive and professional and we could tell working together as a time when it came to bringing out the dishes to seating new guests; it was an efficient and polite and professional staff. The menu is extensive and here were our two choices:
The fried shrimp and fried fish platter – excellent batter. A homemade seasoned batter that was light but not too crunchy, not greasy at all, just a great texture to the batter and the shrimp were fresh and the fish was light and flavorful. We liked the cocktail sauce for the shrimp and it was not watery, or ketchupy, but a fine recipe (maybe homemade) and had a hint of horseradish. Same review if the tartar sauce, flavorful but did not take over the bite of fish, and you only needed a small dash of tartar because the fish was so good by itself. My side was spinach and mushrooms, and was very good and reminded me of the spinach and mushrooms side you get at a high end expensive steakhouse in New York City. We noticed other dishes pass by and the chicken wings looked great, and the French fries looked great too.
The steak salad was outstanding. They knew precisely what we meant by requesting the steak as Rare. Few places know how to cook a steak, or burger rare, but they do at Rustic Cabin, and that is valuable as there are a lot of diners who simply won’t take their steak if not Rare, so Bravo! The oil and vinegar dressing was light and flavorful, just as expected, and when the steak is as good as this one, little dressing is needed. Not only was the steak the correct temperature but it was seasoned nicely.
We will definitely return and sit at the bar to enjoy a proper cocktail and try their other dishes. We have dined at a lot of restaurants in North Georgia and this was one of the best meals we have had, and we hope the team at Rustic Cabin promote the high quality of their food and drinks, and we wish them great success. Remember to tip 15-20% and tell them you read about them at NorthGeorgiaCulture.com.
