Kasan Red

They were great when they were opened but unfortunately went out of business.

Great breakfast food! The quiche was really nice and good biscuits too. I’ve never had a problem with service here, also very fast. I saw the other comments and was really surprised about their poor experiences.

I love coming here for breakfast. Biscuits and pancakes are my favorites. Service is always cordial and attentive but it does take a while for your order to actually come out of the kitchen. The restaurant used to offer dinner but now they’ve cut down to breakfast and lunch only. Our family loves this place so we hope they survive the poor economy right now.

Roberto doesn’t work here any more. Our breakfast order took over an hour to arrive (the place was not crowded). My over-​easy eggs were cold and could have been used to patch a tire. The skillet dishes (potatoes, meat of choice, cheese, onions etc…) needed another round of microwaving. WTF!?!
We folks over in the SE ATL area tend to be very loyal to our local upstarts. We aren’t asking for much. Just give a crap… or don’t give a crap, but have okay food… or have just one redeeming quality. Why is that too tall an order? Nice (but mostly absent) waiter and a coloring book to entertain the kids for the duration of the wait keeps this from falling to one star status. Really, really disappointing.

I love this restaurant! The breakfast dishes are always awesome. I am not a vegetarian but a veggie friend ordered their scrambled tofu and now I am addicted. Their crab cakes benedict is delightful too.
I eat here frequently and always enjoy myself. I really like the sweat potato chips with blue cheese. The fish specials have never disappointed me.
The staff are always helpful and attentive and willing to fix anything that I complain about (like not having enough spinach or wanting more vodka in my bloody mary). The bloody marys are awesome and do not taste as strong as they are. They are the perfect prescription for the morning after the night before!

So after my wife having gone here several times, we happened to be at the EAV Farmer’s Market Thursday night and thought we’d catch dinner. Not sure I’ll be back. They try very hard, but seem to fall short based on this experience and a few other times.
They had a sign outside for their ‘new Autumn menu’, but when we came in the very nice server (probably the best element of the evening) said that actually, they actually had a mix of things from their Summer and new menus. We sat down, strapped in the baby, etc already by the point he informed us that they only had three entrees to offer, and only a subset of the listed apps (plus all their sandwiches/​burgers), I felt like we had to stick with it. I perhaps should have thought about that a bit longer. We tried the crab cakes — just ok, a bit overcooked. I got one of the entrees, pumpkin risotto. I’ve had al dente, and this was on the dente side of that. Hard to eat, and just not very satisfying after a few bites. My wife had the lamb panini — which I tried, but it did not have the right cheese-​to-​meat ratio — all I could taste was the chevre inside. When I have a lamb sandwich, I would like to taste that lamb, thank you. My entrée came with a salad I didn’t know was coming, so I didn’t get to caution them about dressing on the side — so of course it was drenched. I did have a good aussie beer, and the ice cream/​brownie concoction they offer for dessert was yummy. The server mentioned that he was having a tiff with the kitchen staff, and that he’d called the owner about it. Apparently the owner had left for the day and the kitchen had decided this bit about only three entrees, not wanting (per our server) to do the prep for their new menu. Odd, really.

I’ve been for both breakfast and dinner, and wasn’t overly impressed either time. I think maybe I expected too much, since their hype is about the locally sourced and organic ingredients, and I usually quite enjoy that type of thing. In this case, however, my breakfast was served at a tepid temperature and last night the duck breast I had for dinner reminded me of a round chicken cordon bleu with a LOT of fat on the outside instead of ham and cheese on the inside, and it was a little burnt on the bottom… not the best. My husband ate about one bite of his chili (indian spices, which he didn’t expect) and stopped, so we actually had to go to a McDonald’s on the way home for him.
On the flip side, our companions heartily enjoyed their salmon and chicken, respectively, we all enjoyed the cheese plate and polenta with grilled peppers as our appetizers, and the wait staff couldn’t have been nicer.
All in all a very mixed experience, may try it again, we’ll see.

David and I came back last night for a healthy dinner and again, I am amazed by the food and service of this place. The menu has changed with the season. We started off with the grilled bruschetta with tomatoes, black beans and corn. David ordered the stuff chicken (stuffed with spinach, red peppers, and rosemary) and I got the shrimp and grits. Again, the food was so flavorful with each bite!
If you want to sample their food, EAV is having an event on July 17^th and you can purchase $ 1.00 food tickets to spend. Definitely a good time to try out what EAV has to offer!

This is a sad one to write because I was hoping for more than we got. We live within walking distance but would rather eat dry toast at home than go back for a second try. Maybe the spot is cursed or something because the concept is good, but there is nothing behind it.
We almost didn’t stay to even order because we were sitting there for what seemed forever before we got any service. Sorry that doesn’t cut it especially when the restaurant is next to dead. The waiter (if you want to call him that) must have had radar on me because I was about to stand up and go just when he came over so I sucked it up and decided to stay. I had the hamburger which was served with chips for $ 8.00. I don’t mind paying $ 8 or more for a hamburger that is large and tasty and served with a real side dish wherein I will be full for more than three seconds. This burger unfortunately was tasteless and reminded me of the hamburgers that your drunk friends throw on a grill at 4am but you are so wasted and empty you don’t care that you are eating what resembles a hockey puck. And then the chips. Well they weren’t exciting at all and also weren’t very tasty. I was so disappointed because I was ready to give a local business my money on a consistent basis. Waiters need to be able to multitask and if they can’t they maybe they need to find another line of work because most of their money is based on tips, no? I’m hoping for their own sake that things have improved because it will be really sad to see another EAV restaurant go down the tubes.

WILL NEVER GO BACK.
I was really looking forward to visiting KR. The website made it seem like a labor of love, and I support the use of local and organic products.
We went for Father’s Day brunch (with a 2 year old) and ended up waiting almost an HOUR AND A HALF for our food. They advertise complimentary muffins on the menu, so 30 minutes into the wait, I asked our waiter for some. We had four in our group and he brought four bite sized muffins which were gone in 3 seconds. At this point, he notified our guest that they were out of English muffins and asked if he wanted his eggs Benedict on a biscuit. Ew-​he didn’t. The waiter seemed miffed that he wanted to order something else, and didn’t offer a menu.
30 more minutes tick by. After seething in my seat, I went to the counter to speak to our waiter. «We’ve been waiting for an hour now, and I am starving. Is there anything that you can bring out?» He explained that they were short-​staffed on one of the busiest days of the year, and that he would check where our ticket was in line. He returned and said there were two tables in front of us. It was nearly another half an hour before we had any food on the table. When we did finally get meals, we had no silverware. I had to get up and retrieve some. We had to ask for syrup and jam.
This is with three servers and maybe 8 full tables.
After all of this, the food was average.
Ways they could have alleviated the situation:
1. Notify us when we walked in that there would be a long wait.
2. After the first 30 minutes, apologize for the delay in the kitchen and bring ANYTHING to snack on.
3. When there is a change or cancellation in an ordered dish, be cordial, make reasonable suggestions and bring a menu.
3. Offer a free round of beverages.
4. Comp meals after the ridiculously long wait.
I haven’t had such a horrible experience in a restaurant in a long time. I’m still in shock at how bad it was.

I visited Kasan Red during a visit to Georgia recently. The Sadie is friends with the owners, so I figured that I’d drop in, patronize our friend’s new place, and see what it was all about. I’m glad I did, though writing a review for a place owned by folks you know can be a little daunting. After all, what if something isn’t quite right, or heaven forbid, something is downright bad? Fortunately, my experience at Kasan Red was an enjoyable one.
KR is located right on the corner of Flat Shoals Ave and Glenwood Dr. Inside it’s a pretty spacious location, though the frontage is pretty narrow. I went recently, so in addition to the seating inside there is al fresco dining.
I was seated and began the meal with a recommended Toohey’s New Ale. It was crisp, hoppy, and clean which was a nice respite from the humid Georgia heat.
For an appetizer, I tried the crabcakes. Now to be fair, I lived in Baltimore for about a year and a half and could walk a couple of blocks to Fell’s Point and get piping hot crabcakes for breakfast. Baltimore spoiled me for crabcakes. Fortunately for KR, their ‘cakes are good. There’s a substantial amount of crabmeat in them and the binder was complementary and there was no extraneous filler anywhere to be seen. The exterior was crispy golden, the interior was moist without being mushy, and the flavor was bold creamy crab with just a hint spices.
The plate is served with three ‘cakes about the size of large hushpuppies on a bed of greens with a nice sized mise en place of remoulade. Those with smaller appetites could turn this into a tasty little salad.
Personally, I think I would’ve liked to see two larger ‘cakes with more lump crabmeat and perhaps the chef could ratchet up the heat in them with a little more spice, but these are my preferences only. I would definitely order the dish again.
For my entre, I decided to be adventurous and take John’s (the owner) recommendation on the lamb shank. I’m glad I did. The dish is a visually daunting one. The lamb comes to the table still on the shank, resting upon a bed of petits pois (sweet peas, you heathens!) and bacon (my favorite meat. Oh Fruit of the Swine, how I love you!), dressed with a red pepper and carrot salad (which is really more of a garnish).
I’m a huge fan of braising and the lamb came to the table succulent and tender. Even though I had a knife I didn’t really need it, save maybe to scrape any last little morsel of meat off the bone. Overall, the lamb was superb.
While I was there, the crowd was a small one, but it grew during dinner. There were just two folks working, but both were always moving and took plenty of time to spend with the tables and make sure the customers had what they needed. The service is quite good.
All-​in-​all, my experience at KR was very enjoyable, and I’m glad that I made the trip to East Atlanta to dine there. I’d suggest you do the same!

Our dinner consisted of:
— mushroom bruschetta
— short ribs w/​risotto
— wild striped bass w/​risotto
— chocolate cake
— bottle of pinot
all for $ 40.
Sounds too good to be true, right? It was!
The short rib was gray and tasted like it as well. The risotto was undercooked/​chalky. Bruschetta was spongy and thick and the mushroom jumble was burnt. The bass was well cooked but gave off a smell that implied a lack of freshness.
These guys need to make a decision, either improve upon their dishes and raise prices accordingly or change up the menu.

We ventured over to East Atlanta to check out this new place last Friday. We left underwhelmed and still hungry.
Our server was great — very cheery and attentive. Small place, but packed out. Nothing special about décor. Everything else was just kind of blah. The food was just ok, the portions were too small, and the prices were pretty high.
In the end we ended up spending like $ 55 for two of us (that included 2 drinks) and we left still hungry.
I like that it is all organic and whatnot — but still not enough for me to tell anyone else to go there or even go back.

Kasan Red ended being a great place to grab a bite to eat last night! I had a lunch menu item: the four cheese panini with ham and spinach, and the girl had fettuccine alfredo with steamed veggies. We both had generous servings of food for a very moderate price… let me say everything was also delicious! They carry a decent selection of beers and wine (PBR being my favorite. the menu says it goes great with cornflakes!). I could also see myself stopping by to pick up some take-​out which I saw a couple people do during my visit. The owner John thanked us for coming out and we had a small conversation with him before we left… But please don’t tell him we accidentally broke the pepper grinder ;) … my girlfriend doesn’t know her own strength!

I first noticed this new (¹⁰⁄₀₆) place just this weekend. It’s a shame that it’s tucked away (right across from the Flatiron) off the beaten path in EAV, because our brunch today was fantastic. As Lori mentioned, there are lots of local/​organic/​veggie options, and the staff is truly on top of things (I think I counted four different people offering to keep our drinks filled). My veggie girlfriend had the tofu scramble, which she enjoyed, and I had the crabcake benedict, which was seriously amazing. Bonus points: great music played throughout, including Hot Chip, Arcade Fire and Devendra Banhart. We’ll be going back for lunch soon.

EAV’s newest restaurant is off to a brilliant start. Brunch and lunch offerings are excellent – plenty of choices for meat lovers and vegetarians. I recommend the black bean burger (the beef burger also got rave reviews), sweet potato chips, pancakes, omelets, quiche, and the breakfast skillets. Kasan Red offers many organic choices and is kid friendly during the day. Nice atmosphere (appealing, relaxed), very friendly & helpful staff.