while we were in virginia wine country for a night away at stone manor bed and breakfast we went to dinner at magnolia’s at the mill.

i’ll admit that i didn’t have the highest expectations going into magnolia’s at the mill. i figured it would be fine, a filling dinner out, but nothing special.  boy, was i wrong.

we started with some nice fall beers. mike had brooklyn octoberfest and i had post road pumpkin. beth suggested the calamari so we had that for our appetizer.

it was yummy but i was probably in more of a salad mood. we took our time before ordering dinner.  i had the seared pepita spiced scallops with sweet potato mousse and brussels sprouts. i was so impressed when my food came out.

the deep orange of the sweet potato and the vibrant green of the brussels sprouts were so striking together, the toasted crushed pepitas looked like crunchy fall leaves on top of the scallops.  the potatoes were so smooth and had a light sweetness to them while the pepitas had a crunch and saltiness that provided a nice contrast.  the scallops were perfectly cooked and so were the brussels sprouts. home run!

mike had the lothar’s sausage plate. mike says “it was great. (smile).  no, it was the perfect meal for a cold, rainy night.”

for dessert we shared the chocolate chip cookie sundae. the cookie was right out of the oven so it was warm and gooey and the vanilla ice-cream melted nicely on top of it. honestly, this exceeded my expectations. a chocolate chip cookie sundae is such a simple dish that could so easily be mediocre. but not at magnolia’s. it’s clear that they put thought into their food.

aside from the delicious food, the service was great.  our server let us relax and stretch our meal. he was also really knowledgeable about the menu.

i highly recommend magnolia’s at the mill.