Siena brings Euro-style vibes to Alpharetta

The conflicting lights were slightly jarring at first but became an afterthought after a few minutes of acclimation. It gives Siena the feeling of a casual party, an atmosphere that’s enhanced by the music, especially on Fridays, when a live saxophonist plays.

Those nights, the saxophonist roams the dining room, playing recognizable pop and dance tunes with backing tracks piped over Siena’s sound system. Then it’s definitely a party, fun for a group but not suited to intimate conversation, say, on a first date.

The energetic atmosphere is great encouragement to order a cocktail, but Siena’s beverage program is hit-or-miss. Nearly all of the cocktails, aside from the wonderfully restrained old-fashioned, are very sweet. Just like a food menu, a drink list suffers when it only plays one note, and many of Siena’s cocktails rang at the same frequency. Even the matcha martini, which should have benefited from the depth and earthiness of matcha, was treacly rather than balanced.

Luckily, Siena’s food menu has no issue with flavor balance. The dishes are varied and creative, though the starters tend to outshine the entrees. The restaurant’s marketing leans heavily into the combination of Mediterranean and Italian cuisines but, in practice, Siena falls in line with many other tapas-style restaurants that draw broadly on global influences.

Dishes like whipped feta with burnt honey and crispy halloumi with grilled grapes are addictive, easy and fun to share. The salty, creamy feta is spun into a cloud-like consistency with, and offset by, both bitterness and sweetness from the burnt honey. The halloumi, with its unique texture, has a weighty umami flavor that seems to sink into the soft bread that underpins the cheese.

There are a couple of appetizers that should be automatic double-orders if your party is larger than two. The sweet potato falafel cake, fried to a crunch on the exterior with an impressively light interior, only includes two pieces and left me wishing I’d ordered extra. Another fried dish, the shrimp Francese arancini, included three pieces, but the contrast of the crisp coating and sweet, tender, creamy shrimp and rice filling was irresistible.

For all the technique on display among Siena’s starters, the entrees were less multifaceted. The golden oxtail dish is an interesting concept, featuring braised oxtail and gemelli, a twisted pasta, in a creamy sauce. It’s hearty and indulgent but felt flat, in need of at least one more element — maybe something crunchy or acidic to cut through the richness. And the golden oxtail’s execution was a little inconsistent; the sauce went from thin and watery on one visit to perfectly creamy the next.

The flame steak is a fun entree that involves some tableside showmanship. It’s served by a chef who lights a small cup of liquor on fire and pours it over the sliced steak to burn off in a cast-iron pan. The flair might not add much flavor to an otherwise straightforward plate of steak and potatoes, but it makes your dinner feel like an occasion.

Another dish that required a blowtorch, the saffron creme brulee, missed the mark on execution. The sugary crust on top was too thick, resulting in tough patches that tasted more burned than caramelized, and the saffron flavor was nowhere to be found. The baklava cheesecake dessert was tastier but difficult to eat. The phyllo pastry atop the creamy cheesecake was difficult to cut with a spoon, causing the filling to squish out across the plate.

The service at Siena was solid on each of my visits, though servers occasionally showed a bit of inexperience. Co-owner and manager Aida Lemma said the restaurant has slowly added staff and that many new front-of-house employees have been hired since the restaurant opened in December.

One aspect of Siena that makes the restaurant stand out is its women-led management team. Lemma, who runs the day-to-day operations, is joined by experienced executive chef Baba Estavillo and sous chef Nelly Terraza. Lemma said Siena wasn’t conceived as a restaurant run by women; the all-female management team was just a happy accident.

As a restaurant, Siena still feels like it’s figuring itself out, but with a foundation of solid building blocks. There’s some interesting, creative cooking and it’s brimming with energy, even if there’s a tinge of chaos. I’d rather go to an imperfect restaurant with character than a restaurant that’s polished down to blandness, and Siena is anything but boring.

2 out of 4 stars (very good)

Food: Italian and Mediterranean

Service: solid, if inexperienced

Noise level: moderate to very loud, depending on the night

Recommended dishes: whipped feta and burnt honey, Siena hummus, crispy halloumi and grilled grapes bruschetta, truffle manchego fries, octopus al ajillo, sweet potato falafel cake, shrimp Francese arancini, Moroccan market chicken, golden oxtail, baked salmon

Vegetarian dishes: Siena hummus, crispy halloumi and grilled grapes bruschetta, truffle manchego fries, sweet potato falafel cakes, charred cauliflower royale, hen of the woods pasta

Alcohol: full bar

Price range: $50 — $100 per person, excluding drinks

Hours: 4-10 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 4 p.m. — 12 a.m. Friday-Saturday, 4-10 p.m. Sunday

Accessibility: fully ADA accessible

Parking: free lot

Nearest MARTA station: none

Reservations: yes, available on OpenTable

Outdoor dining: yes, seasonal

Takeout: no

Address, phone: 124 Devore Road, Alpharetta. 404-488-3399

Website: sienaatl.com

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s dining critics conduct reviews anonymously. Reservations are not made in their name, nor do they provide restaurants with advance notice about their visits. Our critics always make multiple visits, sample the full range of the menu and pay for all of their meals. AJC dining critics wait at least one month after a new restaurant has opened before visiting.