With the kitchen in full view, a menu without prices and limited seating, Nine Tables is not your typical restaurant — and the Athens family who opened it likes it that way.
“We want our diners to slow down and enjoy their experience,” said Bill Justice, the restaurant’s co-owner and chef. “People these days are too busy with what’s coming next to enjoy what’s right in front of them.”
Justice opened Nine Tables, 9 N. Shafer St., last month with his wife Suzanne and mother-in-law Sandy Colopy with the goal of slowing down the hustle and bustle of everyday life with a quality meal in an intimate atmosphere.
Open for dinner Thursday through Saturday, this family-owned-and-operated restaurant provides 20 to 30 diners with five to seven courses, costing $50 to $75 for a two- to three-hour meal.
Justice, who has worked at more than 25 restaurants and as a food scientist during his culinary career, said Nine Tables’ best quality is its uniqueness.
“At Nine Tables, we want to be your destination of the night,” Justice said, “where people can spend time with the people they love while being able to watch us prepare their food.”
The owners chose the location because it allowed for only a few tables, which would help to create the personal and interactive dining experience — what Justice calls micro-emerging dining — the family wants, he said.
“I didn’t want to have anyone other than a dishwasher in the kitchen with me,” Justice said. “I wanted to be the guy doing the sautés, the sauces, the grilling. I wanted to do it all.”
Inspired by old supper clubs of the 1940s, Justice said Nine Tables incorporates a European style of dining called prix fixe dining in which the menu’s seven courses are set and the prices fixed.
“If you are going to stay in Athens and get seven courses,” Justice said, “I don’t know where else you can go to get your meal cheaper than it will be here.”
Suzanne Justice, who is a waitress with her mother, said she is excited about the feedback they have received during their opening weeks.
“So many people have told us that our food is the best food they have ever had,” she said. “It’s so nice to hear things like that.”
Molly Yanity, an Ohio University graduate student studying journalism, ate at Nine Tables recently and said she is excited about the new restaurant.
“Bill is a master of the sauce,” Yanity said. “I thought the service was great, the concept is really nice, and above and beyond it all, the food was fabulous.”
sl642509@ohiou.edu
