Cheap Eats - Befuddled bistro

With Watershed next door and Taqueria del Sol across the street, it would seem that anybody occupying the cozy space Voila currently inhabits would be able to make it work. And yet the former tenant, Pop, didn’t last much more than a year. Maybe it’s just the opposite, and setting up shop in such close proximity to two of Atlanta’s most popular restaurants will curse you. Or maybe you just have to be at the top of your game to pull it off. So, what about Voila — is it up to the challenge?

Bistro Blah: The décor could use some oomph. It feels a little haphazard, from the swags of fabric draped here and there to the two lonesome potted plants sitting by the front door. A handful of prints by French painters are meant to create a sort of bistro vibe, but the look isn’t fully realized. The bones of the space (storefront windows, exposed ductwork, concrete floors) are too modern for Voila ever to achieve the well-worn look of a European café. A wall of exposed brick is lovely, and the scaled-down, blond wood tables and chairs work nicely in the space, but the rest feels thrown together. One successful European touch is the service, which is genial and pleasantly unhurried.

Mix-n-Match Menu: The menu defies categorization, with continental entrees (filet au poivre) sharing space with bar food (a buffalo chicken sandwich). Add in a few Cajun flourishes, and I’m not exactly sure what you get, but it isn’t boring. And except for a few stumbles, everything is reasonably well executed. A steaming bowl of jambalaya doesn’t disappoint, full of jumbo shrimp and slices of spicy andouille sausage. A few spoonfuls will have your mouth aflame. Fettuccine alfredo has precisely the opposite effect, the creamy sauce coating noodles (and everything in its path) with buttery, garlicky goodness.

Magic Mushrooms: At nearly $7, an appetizer of mushrooms stuffed with herbed cheese seems overpriced. It’s a small portion, and the presentation is lackluster — a handful of mushrooms in the middle of a plain white plate, with a plastic ramekin of honey mustard on the side. The menu indicates that the dish comes with a horseradish sauce, but this was unmistakably honey mustard. It didn’t do anything for the mushrooms, which were great on their own — batter-fried and oozing melted cheese.

Hamming It Up: Sandwiches in particular are a good bet, all of them made on delicious bread from the Bread Garden in Midtown. Those in need of a protein fix should eye the chicken cordon bleu, a juicy grilled chicken breast topped with a mighty stack of ham and melted Swiss cheese. The downtown burger replaces an ordinary bun with a long, slender baguette, and instead of one big patty there are two mini-burgers, one draped in cheddar and the other in Swiss. The burgers themselves are tender and full of flavor, cooked to a perfect medium. A shrimp po’ boy comes piled high with tiny, delectable fried shrimp, although the promised remoulade might as well not even be there for all the flavor it adds.

Decatur is blessed with a wealth of great restaurants, and if Voila wants to stay in the competition, its owners need to do some refining. The food is likable on the whole, but the menu is all over the map. Bring it into focus and inject a bit more personality into the décor, and they just might make it work.