It’s been a long time since Mark and I enjoyed a fancy date night together, so you’d better believe we were excited to try a new-to-us restaurant, Dumbwaiter on the Hill, for his birthday a couple Saturdays ago.

Well, I say it’s “new” because we’ve never been to this particular location, but we have enjoyed dinner at the original Dumbwaiter located downtown (you can read that review here).

When we arrived, the hostess seated us right away. I made a reservation earlier in the week through Open Table, but this particular night wasn’t very crowded. We sat at an intimate little table next to the window.

Our waiter was fantastic—be sure to ask for Daniel when you try Dumbwaiter on the Hill out for yourself. He was incredibly polite, articulate, and willing to share his personal favorites and answer any questions we had concerning the menu. Seriously, personable and knowledgeable waiters make a difference!

Although I was leaning toward an Old Fashioned, I opted to start things off with an Azalea (basically Dumbwaiter’s version of a French 75) while Mark went with a Sazerac.

Spoiler: the Azalea was better.

Although the fried Brussels sprouts sounded divine, we chose to share the crab and corn beignets for an appetizer.

They were a little bit soft on the inside, but boy, was the flavor on point!

I loved the bright and slightly spicy Sriracha aioli, and I could’ve eaten about 20 more beignets if I wanted to be a glutton.

And let’s not forget the house made pork rinds and cornbread that was delivered to our table. I’m not a pork rind person by any means, but these were delectably crispy, spicy, and not at all greasy! We didn’t get to taste the cornbread (bummer!), but I’m sure it was magnificent, as well.

All of the dinner options sounded incredible, but Mark new going in that he was going to try the Causeway Benedict.

I waivered back and forth on the Grits and Grillades and the catch of the day—swordfish—but ultimately took our waiter’s advice and chose the fish, served over fresh pasta and seasonal vegetables (chanterelle mushrooms, zucchini, carrots, and eggplant, if I recall correctly) in cream sauce (the beautiful chanterelles ultimately convinced me to go with the fish).

My swordfish and pasta were delicious—the serving was generous and everything was perfectly seasoned—but Mark’s meal took the (crab)cake! It included a 4 (but closer to 6) ounce filet, crab cake that was chock-full of luscious crab, a fried green tomato, mozzarella, buttermilk biscuit, and sunny side up egg—all topped with a parmesan cream sauce.

Even though our cocktails, appetizer, bottle of Malbec, and entrees had us satisfied, we, of course, opted to split one of the 4 dessert specials—a strawberry bread pudding with vanilla ice cream (our other choices were vanilla bean crème brulet, blueberry cheesecake, or a “deconstructed” blueberry cheesecake).

While not my favorite bread pudding ever (interestingly enough, that designation goes to the seasonal sweet potato bread pudding we enjoyed at the other Dumbwaiter location), but the strawberries added an unexpected twist to what can sometimes be a boring dessert.

Though a little pricey, our meal was extraordinary. Service was top-notch, as well. We will certainly return—hopefully sooner rather than later.

Date night on the Hill: A #review of @Dumbwaiter1 in #Springhill Share on X

Dumbwaiter on the Hill is located at 9 Du Rhu Drive, Mobile, AL. You can find them on the web, Facebook, Instagram & Twitter.