Date Night at Second Empire Restaurant and Tavern Review

If you have an upcoming special occasion or you’re looking for a romantic dinner location, then consider a meal at The Second Empire Restaurant and Tavern, an exquisite fine dining experience in Raleigh.

Craig and I finally made it to the Second Empire Restaurant for a date night, and have placed it as high on our list of places to eat in Raleigh for a special occasion.

While the restaurant opened in 1997, the beautiful building has been around since 1879. Located in downtown Raleigh’s historic Victorian Dodd-Hinsdale House on prominent Hillsborough Street, has one of the most romantic dining atmospheres we’ve experienced yet!

Our special occasion was celebrating our 19th wedding anniversary, but it would also make a great setting for a birthday, Valentine’s Day meal, engagement party, or celebratory meal.

About The Second Empire Restaurant and Tavern

Second Empire is a dining experience that makes a statement. One that goes beyond just food to rave about long after to offer a signature experience that incorporates beauty, history, Southern charm, gourmet meals, fine wines, and excellent service.

Second Empire is an award-winning restaurant with some high profile accolades to boast about.

It has The Second Empire Restaurant and Tavern is a four-year recipient of the AAA Four Diamond Award, the recipient of the DIRONA Award (Distinguished Restaurants of North America Award), and a nine-year recipient of the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence.

Since it’s a fine dining establishment, there is a bit of a dress code. While they don’t specifically say you can’t wear jeans and tshirt, you may feel out of place, so I recommend dressing up in business casual at the very least.

Please excuse the quality of the photos, we left our good DSLR at home and snapped some pics on our phone, but I think you’ll get the picture!

The Building

First, is the elegance of the restored Victorian Dodd-Hinsdale House. It’s a trip to yesteryear, in an English style home that once characterized every home that lined Hillsborough street, the Western road to the Capitol.

The Dodd-Hinsdale House’s architectural style is Second Empire Victorian, a style developed in France under Napoleon III. It retains it’s 1871 exterior, but the inside has been refurbished.

You feel as if you are walking into someone’s home as you enter through the heavy wooden door walkway to an ornately hand-carved staircase in the foyer leading upstairs.

There are various combinations of rooms, with four main rooms for dining. The Tavern downstairs and the beautiful atrium room have a more casual environment, but since we were on a date night, we opted for something a little formal.

The Main Dining Room-West and the Main Dining Room-East can host up to 65 people each, and feature the original heart pine flooring and masonry walls from circa 1879.

For a quiet spot to dine in, the Capitol Room and Raleigh Room can host up to 25 people, whereas The Atrium can host up to 50 people.

We sat in the bright and spacious Pine Room, which has beautiful 14-ft ceilings and bay windows allowing in the natural light and views of the property’s beautiful gardens.

It doesn’t have an urban edgy décor vibe like you’d find at more modern Raleigh restaurants like Crawford and Sons, but its simple elegance retains the historical integrity of the property and allows you to focus more on the views, the incredible food, and the company you’re keeping. 

It also only seats up to 40 people, so you get a lovely quiet ambiance.

The Tavern

Not ready for a fine dining experience in Raleigh? You can still experience the grandeur of Second Empire by dining in the Tavern areas.

It’s a lively spot for drinks or a relaxed meal with lighter fare. The exposed brick walls and soft lighting helps create a cozy atmosphere.

Meals

Second Empire Restaurant is an unforgettable dining experience, with top notch gourmet cuisine, mostly contemporary American cuisine, made fresh to order. They also have a selection of cuisine for those with dietary requirements.

They had made me at gluten free calamari. The calamari is lightly dusted in cornmeal and served with a creamy roasted pineapple lime dipping sauce, which suited the calamari perfectly.

Deep fried battered calamari is one of my all-time favorite dishes, but since developing an intolerance to gluten for several years now, this heavenly treat is often unavailable to me. Not at Second Empire.

Executive Chef Daniel Schurr is celiac, so you’ll find many of the meals on the menu gluten free, including their unique gluten free fig bread.

It’s another reason Second Empire shot up the list as one of my favorite Raleigh gluten free restaurants.

Chef Daniel has created meals that blend French elegance with Southern comfort. The dinner menu changes seasonally and features his artful creations from the freshest seasonal ingredients.

Our other appetizer was the Empire Style Cioppino: roasted plum tomatoes and red onions, grilled octopus, clams, king prawns, chili flakes, mussels, fennel, garlic and oregano broth, sourdough bread.

If Aussie lamb is featured on the menu, you can guarantee either Craig or I will get it and pair it nicely with a red wine.

Lamb is plentiful and popular in Australia but doesn’t seem to be as common here in the US, so we almost always order it.

Craig enjoyed the lamb chops dish with scalloped potatoes, and I the Roasted Five Spice Pennsylvania Duck Breast: roasted leeks and sweet potato casserole, oyster mushrooms, braised savoy cabbage, parsnip puree, fennel salad, ginger prune sauce

For desserts, we thoroughly enjoyed their famous Coconut Buttermilk Chess Pie: buttery rich short dough crust with buttermilk, coconut custard filling.

And the Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee: Traditional vanilla custard, caramelized sugar, fresh berries & an almond lace cookie

For an upscale restaurant I was surprised at the prices.

$14 -$20 for an appetizer and mains ranging from $30 to $64 for a main make it an affordable fine dining experience for that special occasion.

See the current menu here.

Service at Second Empire Restaurant and Tavern

The exceptional service begins the moment you sit down with your server introducing you to the history of the property.

I have not experienced this in a restaurant before and appreciated this thoughtful interaction to make the ultimate dining experience more meaningful and memorable.

Our server from then on was friendly and attentive, offering great recommendations for meals and wines and sharing a little about her own life.

I’m not sure if this is a normal thing for Second Empire, or we just happened to randomly time running into Chef Daniel at the door as we were leaving. But it really did feel like he was there to say goodnight to his guests.

I was happy to thank him for the calamari and spoiling me with an entire meal full of flavorful gluten free meals.

The Verdict: Would We Recommend Second Empire?

Second Empire is one of the top restaurants in Raleigh for a reason, and you know you’re in good hands when it has won numerous awards over numerous years.

This fine dining restaurant experience may seem like it will be as precious as China, but with all things Raleigh, this soon proved not to be the case.

Not only were our servers friendly, but nearby diners as well as we had conversations with other diners also experiencing a wedding anniversary.

They knew it was our anniversary, as like us, they were having pre-dinner cocktails around the corner at Killjoy and mentioned their dinner at Second Empire to the barman who told them we had just left!

And then, one of the owners of Killjoy who we met while enjoying cocktails, was on the porch of Second Empire when we were leaving. We got so caught up in chatting to him that we missed our Lyft!!

Why am I telling you all this in a restaurant review of Second Empire Restaurant and Tavern? Because this kind of stuff THRILLS me and further emphasizes just why we love living in Raleigh so much.

This is why we started this blog. Not just to share amazing places to eat and things to do but share the stories we experience that reminds us we chose the best place to live in the USA.

Even fine dining restaurants in Raleigh are friendly places.

If you’re looking for fine dining Raleigh restaurants and Raleigh date ideas, definitely add Second Empire to your calendar!

• Address: 330 Hillsborough St, Raleigh
• Website: Second-Empire.com