Atlanta Travel Guide

Restaurants in Atlanta, Georgia

Restaurants
Gastronomic

Bacchanalia
Chef owners Anne Quatrano and Clifford Harrison are so obsessed with freshness, they grow many of the ingredients on their own farm. Menu offerings focus on seasonal fruits and vegetables. The funky dining room is a rehabbed factory complex with high ceilings and yellow brick framing the former factory windows. Risottos, cheeses and homemade ice creams are mouth-watering. Star Provisions, the adjoining shop, offers many unusual food items.

1198 Howell Mill Road
Tel: (404) 365 0410.
Website: www.starprovisions.com
Price: $$$$

Nikolai's Roof
Grab your ermine tails and ascend to Nikolai's Roof at the top of the Hilton Atlanta. The button-fronted red-jacketed wait staff will make you feel like a Russian tsar or tsarina. Mirrors and floor-to-ceiling windows complete the Old-World ambience. Dinner is not a meal, but an event. Start with an icy, flavored vodka and maybe caviar. Whatever your main course, it will be beautifully presented and luscious. Save room for the de rigueur soufflé as a finale.

Hilton Atlanta, 255 Courtland Street, Northeast
Tel: (404) 221 6362.
Website: www.nikolaisroof.com
Price: $$$ (Prix fixe eight-course tasting menu: $$$$)

Business

Atlanta Fish Market
The huge fish sculpture over the entrance leaves no doubt about the cuisine. The bistro-styled restaurant, with tables and chairs packed cheek by jowl, is the place for oysters, crab cakes, gumbo and Hong Kong-styled steam bass. Service is fast but the place is often crowded, especially on weekends. Diners can enjoy their fish baked, steamed, broiled or even with an eye staring right back at them.

265 Pharr Road
Tel: (404) 262 3165.
Website: www.buckheadrestaurants.com
Price: $$$

Bone's
Bone's, the place for a power-lunch or dinner, is the quintessential steakhouse. It has a clubby atmosphere (with photos of the rich and shameless adorning every square inch of wall space) and is tastefully adorned with rich fabrics and dark woods. Good beef, good wine, fried onion rings, lobster bisque and a pecan pie close to perfection are the stars on the cholesterol-laden menu. Reservations are essential.

3130 Piedmont Road
Tel: (404) 237 2663.
Website: www.bonesrestaurant.com
Price: $$$$

NEO at The Mansion on Peachtree
This upscale, contemporary Italian restaurant's terrace dining overlooks the English country garden of the elegant Rosewood Mansion on Peachtree. Sunday Brunch is a traditional affair, with food exquisitely presented and decadent desserts for the chocolate lovers. The last Wednesday of every month, NEO Unplugged offers a unique release from the working world. Cell phones and blackberries are checked at the door, the restaurant lights are unplugged, and give way to a relaxing, candlelit dinner.

3376 Peachtree Road
Tel: (404) 995 7500.
Website: www.rwmansiononpeachtree.com/dining.cfm
Price: $$$

Trendy

Buckhead Diner
Buckhead Diner's sleek steel structure is reminiscent of the 1940s and 1950s. The retro atmosphere pervades the frequently changing menu, which runs the gamut from homemade potato chips and meat loaf to seared yellow fin tuna. A very popular eatery, this is a prime place for people-watching and absolutely the best place to have dinner solo. Brunch is particularly popular on Sundays.

3073 Piedmont Road
Tel: (404) 262 3336.
Website: www.buckheadrestaurants.com
Price: $$

Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament
Attend a heart-pounding medieval tournament with stunning horsemanship and thrilling swordfights while cheering for your own knight in shining armour. A 4-course medieval banquet is served while the show unfolds in fairytale spectacle - eaten with fingers only, of course! Festivities begin before the tournament, with selected guests being officially knighted and trumpeters heralding the guests to join in the revelry of these equestrian games. The medieval castle and tournament is a perfect family or group experience. In keeping with the magic, a romantic wedding proposal often occurs during pre-tournament festivities.

5900 Sugarloaf Parkway, Lawrenceville
Tel: (770) 225 0230.
Website: www.medievaltimes.com
Price: $$$-$$$$

Trois
A study of glass, stainless steel, wood and white with rounded walls and bar, Trois is on three levels, hence the name. Ultra chic and ultra trendy, it is where the ‘in' crowd comes for power lunches and romantic dinners. Executive Chef Jeremy Lieb creates a nouvelle cuisine menu dependent on fresh ingredients. Favorites include braised beef oxtail and monkfish osso bucco. Elegant presentation makes the dishes that much more appetizing. Located close to Woodruff Arts Center and the future Atlanta Symphony site.

1180 Peachtree Street
Tel: (404) 815 3337.
Website: www.trois3.com/home.html
Price: $$$$

Budget

Flying Biscuit Cafe
Fist-sized biscuits, black-bean cakes, organic-oatmeal pancakes and turkey meatloaf are staples at this eating place. Crowded and hectic, there is always a queue and no reservations are taken. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served Tuesdays to Sundays. Brunch is added to the menu on Saturday and Sunday.

Candler Park 1655 McLendon Avenue, Northeast
Tel: (404) 687 8888.
Website: www.flyingbiscuit.com
Price: $

Branch:
Midtown 1001 Piedmont Avenue
Tel: (404) 874 8887.

Mary Mac's Tea Room
This 'tea room' features authentic tastes of the Old South. First-time visitors get free cornbread and Pot Likker - turnip greens with broth and cornbread. Food is prepared the same way it was when this local favorite opened in 1945. Its many dining rooms are a rambling complex of adjoining buildings. Lunch and dinner.

224 Ponce de Leon Avenue, Northeast
Tel: (404) 876 1800.
Website: www.marymacs.com
Price: $-$$

Silver Skillet
Sleep as late as you want. Breakfast is served all day here and it seems to come straight from the 1950s. This is Southern cooking workman-style - collard greens with cornbread, chicken-fried steaks with green beans dredged in ham drippings, and, of course, grits. Grease and salt are free and served in copious amounts. For the occasional blow-out, the Silver Skillet is downright fun and tasty. No dinner.

200 14th Street
Tel: (404) 874 1388.
Website: www.thesilverskillet.com
Price: $

Personal Recommendations

Australian Bakery Cafe
Fellow Australians Mark Allen and Neville Steele, once partners in a cafe in the Victorian rural town of Boort, opened this Aussie cafe on the square in Marietta in 2001. It's been a roaring success for both Aussie and Kiwi expats all over the country, but is now educating Americans about the delights of the infamous Aussie meat pie and Cornish pasty. Everything is baked fresh on site, and patrons can also enjoy genuine melt-in-your-mouth pavlova, lamingtons, vanilla slices, and many other cakes and cookies unique to Australia. Not to mention snags - also known as bangers or sausages. Made locally, of course, all products can be shipped across country for those unable to make the trip to this cafe on the northern edge of Atlanta. On Tuesday nights, the cafe stays open until 2100 for a Bluegrass jam session.

48 South Park Square, Marietta
Tel: (678) 797 6222.
Website: www.australianbakery.com
Price: $

Bangkok Thyme
Experience a taste of the Orient in this family-owned restaurant with the ambiance of an authentic Thai village of intimate booths, carved wood, lamplight, and gracious hospitality. Savour the traditional Thai food from the closely guarded recipes of this family's youth in Thailand, artistically presented and prepared with the freshest produce. Don't miss the signature Tom Kha Kai soup, worth coming for this alone, and the true measure of a good Thai restaurant. Your palate will be tantalized with light delicate flavors, then piqued with spicy curries and combinations of seafood, duck, tropical fruits, crisp vegetables, and fresh sushi. Sunday evenings occasionally feature traditional Thai music played on a stringed instrument.

4969 Roswell Road, Suite 235-240 (Sandy Springs)
Tel: (404) 389 0909.
Website: www.bangkokthyme.com
Price: $$

ENO
Casually elegant, ENO is about good food and good wine. A hidden gem, this friendly, comfortable restaurant, with both outdoor and indoor dining, offers over 80 different wines by the glass and 275 varieties by the bottle. Each menu selection is paired with wine. If duck is on the menu, order it. It will be uniquely prepared and delicious.

800 Peachtree Street Northeast (Midtown)
Tel: (404) 685 3191.
Website: www.enorestaurant.com
Price: $$-$$$

Pricci
White tablecloths and art deco décor makes this kitschy place look more like a 1940s nightclub than an Italian ristorante. Friendly servers offer deliciously authentic cuisine, like wild mushroom risotto and veal scaloppini with prociutto and polenta. There are also some wonderfully creative pizzas. The tomato, prosciutto, mozzarella and arugula salad pizza is yummy. Open for lunch and dinner.

500 Pharr Road, Northeast
Tel: (404) 237 2941.
Website: www.buckheadrestaurants.com
Price: $$$

Nightlife

Nightlife in Atlanta varies from intimate bars to live music venues and nightclubs. Dress up for intimate dinners, dress ostentatiously for the Buckhead scene and dress as way out as you dare for Little Five Points.

Some bars stay open until 0400 but tend to close much earlier on Sundays. Although the legal drinking age is 21 years, many bars may admit those who are 18 and above. Drink prices start from around US$4 and vary enormously according to the establishment; draught beers are less expensive than bottled imports.

Little Five Points (west of Georgia State University) is the 'Greenwich Village' of Atlanta. A small group of live music clubs and performance theaters hosts the city's cutting-edge artists, and the small plaza area is a hangout for street performers and a younger crowd. There are a few festivals throughout the year, most notably the massive Halloween festival.

Buckhead, where Peachtree and Roswell roads meet, is for the young, smart and unattached, who pack the bars, especially on Friday nights. There are several clubs, a few live music venues, and tons of bars and restaurants to suit every fancy.

Midtown stretches from Downtown to Buckhead, and Piedmont Park hosts everything from the Gay Pride Festival to the Montreux-Atlanta International Music Festival and the Dogwood Festival. Make sure to spend an evening at The New American Shakespeare Tavern, 499 Peachtree Street Northeast (www.shakespearetavern.com), where you can see a full-length Shakespeare play in a setting not unlike the original Globe Theater, accompanied by a hearty pub dinner. Seating is on a first come, first serve basis. Go early if you don't want to watch from the rafters.

Weekly listings can be found on www.accessatlanta.com, and events information is also published weekly in Creative Loafing (Thursdays). Check City Search (http://atlanta.citysearch.com) for recommendations and reviews.

Bars: For European chic, Bazzaar, located next to the Fox Theater at 654 Peachtree Street Northeast (www.bazzaaratlanta.com) fits the bill. Beluga Martini Bar, 3115 Piedmont Road (www.belugamartinibar.com), which is said to have the best Martinis in the city, has live jazz and a sophisticated clientele. Halo, 817 West Peachtree Street Northwest (www.halolounge.com), a basement-level lounge, is the place to socialize. If casual and boisterous is more your style, try American Pie, 5840 Roswell Road NE, Sandy Springs. Neighbor's Pub, 752C North Highland Avenue (www.neighborsatlanta.com), is altogether a classier joint in the posh suburb of Virginia Highlands.

Clubs: Atlanta has hotspots for every taste. Indoor waterfalls and interactive plasma, plus disco, funk and dance music make the chic Mark, 79 Poplar Street (www.themarkatlanta.com), the place where well-known entertainers hold their post-concert parties. IQ Lounge, 5299 Old National Highway (http://iqloungeatl.com), is a sultry urban lounge for the chic and mature - great for dancing, cocktails and intimate VIP rooms. Sanctuary, 3209 Paces Ferry Place Northwest (www.sanctuarynightclub.com) is Buckhead's hottest Latin nightclub.

Live Music: Recommended for jazz in Buckhead is Cafe 290, 290 Hildebrand Drive Northeast (www.cafe290atlanta.com). Churchill Grounds (www.churchillgrounds.com) is a swanky little jazz club cuddled up next door to the Fox Theater at 660 Peachtree Street, which has become the place to hear traditional jazz from solid local ensembles. Major concerts are held at the Philips Arena, 1 Philips Drive (www.philipsarena.com), or the HiFi Buys Amphitheater, just out of town at 2002 Lakewood Way. Up-and-coming bands play at The Cotton Club, which is actually in the basement of the Tabernacle, 152 Luckie Street (www.tabernacleatl.com). Eddie's Attic, 515 North McDonough Street, Decatur, (www.eddiesattic.com), the Rialto Center For the Performing Arts, 80 Forsyth Street, Downtown (www.rialtocenter.org) and Center Stage Theater, 1374 West Peachtree Street, Midtown (www.centerstage-atlanta.com) are three other popular live music venues.