Atlanta restaurants

Eat > Restaurant Guide

Find out which of Atlanta’s dining hotspots bring you the best eats.

words by > Tony Ware

Murphy’s Top Eat

997 Virginia Ave NE | 404-872-0904 Casual | $$
New American/Contemporary
Comfort Few restaurants can claim multiple generations of regulars, but Tom Murphy’s is a rare, rustic eatery that has stayed intact through shifting culinary trends. Located at the Virginia-Highlands crossroads, this unstuffy institution with a welcoming Southern air celebrates 25 years as a neighborhood standby and springboard for acclaimed chefs now dispersed citywide. As for Murphy’s fare, chef Gregg McCarthy prepares coastally informed, easygoing American comfort food free of gimmicks. Both an artisanal dessert case and wine shop of renown complete this convivial niche.

Virginia-Highlands/Inman Park

Rathbun’s
112 Krog St | 404-524-8280
Dressy | $$$
New American
What’s great about this restaurant: its gregarious, neighborly approach to upscale contemporary American cuisine. Organic ingredients are offered on the menu as small plates, raw plates, big plates and second mortgage plates, all of which have absorbed Southern, Southwestern and European influences without becoming discordant.

East Atlanta

Crave
1314 Glenwood Ave | 404-230-6177
Casual/Smart Casual | $$ New American Crave adds woody warmth to what was previously a sleek foodie outpost in East Atlanta. The food takes loose hints from Asian, Southern and Southwestern styles, while a patio draws in the locals for leisurely rounds of drinks.

Australian Bakery Café
463 Flat Shoals Ave SE | 404-653-0100
Anything Goes | $
Australian Sandwich Shop
Rustic in a most endearing manner, this popular place is filled with Down Under bric-a-brac and authentic snacks. Meat pies (with various stuffings), buttery pastry dough wrapped around assorted sausages and even Vegemite is available alongside Australian desserts.

Buckhead

Rock Bottom Brewery Restaurant
3242 Peachtree Rd NW | 404-264-0253
Casual/Smart Casual | $$
Upscale Pub Grub
If sports and beer drinking are inseparable, then this is the arena for craft beer, a cavernous but welcoming place offering microbrews and billiards along with BBQ, pizza, burgers and Cajun-spiced snacks.

The Palm
Westin Buckhead, 3391 Peachtree Rd NE
404-814-1955 | Dressy Casual/Dressy | $$$$
Contemporary Chophouse
Mixing LA celebrity style and NYC old-world warmth, the Palm offers surf ’n’ turf staples. White tablecloths and dark wainscoting surround you as you select from impeccable juicy steaks, lobster tails, crab cakes and slabs of moist cake.

FatBurger
2625 Piedmont Rd | 404-844-0444
Anything Goes | $
Burgers
Offering a taste of Southern California in south Buckhead, red-and-yellow beacon FatBurger is “The Last Great Hamburger Stand,” if they do say so themselves. Serving grilled or charbroiled-to-order burgers, FatBurger further stands out by offering hand-cut onion rings and real milkshakes.

Taka Sushi Café
375 Pharr Rd | 404-869-2802
Anything Goes | $$
Sushi/Japanese
Taka Sushi Café is a sliver of serene space, where diligent service ensures an uninterrupted introduction to impeccable Japanese fusion cuisine. Chef Takao Moriuchi makes unquestionably delicious rolls, but also eccentric entrées that please both purists and foodie fashionistas.

Midtown

Staley’s Grace
1100 Crescent Ave | 404-872-0999
Casual | $$
Bistro/Pub Grub
“International bistro and art exposition” Staley’s Grace sits at the crossroads of Midtown’s nightlife district. Glossy, deep wood gives the feel of a neighborhood pub, and along with the food, cobbled together from worldwide cuisines, conveys a leisurely pace. Pieces from Southeastern artists provide conversation starters, and some evenings feature live entertainment.

Spice
793 Juniper St | 404-875-4242
Dressy Casual/Dressy | $$$
New American
Chef Drew van Leuvan emphasizes the textural harmony of food through a series of creative infusions. Creams and crackles, acidity and viscosity, the piquant and the placid—all these culinary facets captivate in a contemporary atrium of cuisine. A new crudo (Italian raw fish) and cured menu complements cocktails or wine tasting.

Park 75
75 14th St | 404-881-9898 Dressy Casual/Dressy | $$$$ French/Italian-influenced New American The only restaurant at the sophisticated Four Seasons hotel, Park 75 boasts a Zagat 2006 Top 100 rating. Each blissful bite reveals chef Robert Gerstenecker’s reverence for freshly sourced food and a balanced flavor, hence a peppering of Southern classics mixed with French and Italian flair. The marriage of subtle flavors is deft, and the presentation impeccable.

Shout
1197 Peachtree St | 404-846-2000 Funky Casual/Dressy Casual | $$ Fusion/Sushi This funky, dynamic space, sister to Phipps Plaza’s Twist, again shows restaurateur/chef Tom Catherall’s finesse with décor and dishes alike. Shout you will over the bold flourishes across Asian and Mediterranean-styled sharing plates and sushi. And the upstairs open-air cabana level is a feast for the eyes.

Papi’s
216 Ponce de Leon | 404-607-1525 Anything Goes | $ Cuban Sandwiches Easily identifiable by the folk art on the walls, Papi’s still features some less quickly identifiable nuances. Take the Cuban sandwich, made not with sliced meat but shredded pork marinated in smoky mojo. That’s the way Papi’s is: authentic, made-from-scratch cooking, from the empanadas to the milkshakes.

Gilbert’s Mediterranean Café
219 10th St NE | 404-872-8012
Anything Goes | $$
Mediterranean/Middle Eastern
Gilbert’s is a bohemian bistro with a flirty cocktail lounge attitude. Informed by Greek/Armenian comfort foods, this contemporary casbah with softly lit angles offers a full serving of intimacy along with pan-Mediterranean dishes. Smoky spreads and spice-dashed kebabs or entrées are indulgently followed by syrupy desserts.

Outside The Perimeter

Hi Life Kitchen & Cocktails
3380 Holcomb Bridge Rd, Norcross
770-409-0101 | Smart Casual/Dressy Casual | $$$
New American
Hi Life offers hip but never haughty New American bistro fare. Both the décor and menu have a warm pulse, welcoming socialites for drinks as cordially as serious food lovers. The interpretations of lobster, crab and beef (all with seasonal garnishes) are especially adroit.

Sugo Restaurant & Tapas
625 West Crossville Rd, Roswell | 770-817-4230
Casual/Smart Casual | $$
Italian/Mediterranean
Known as much for its ebullient service as for its generous portions, Sugo merges American excess and Italian family-style conviviality atop a menu plucked from around the Mediterranean. With every hearty serving in the sun-dappled feast comes a heaping helping of fun.

West Side

The Food Studio
887 West Marietta St | 404-815-6677
Dressy Casual/Dressy | $$$
New American
The Food Studio is yin and yang, a retro manufacturing plant with some antiquated machinery on display: masculine angles basking in soft candlelight. And the AAA Four Diamond contemporary cuisine is purely sensual. Chef Mark Alba updates for the warmer seasons with verve, balancing crisp and vivid, delicate and zesty flavors.

Fox Sports Grill
261 19th St | 404-207-1369
Anything Goes | $$
American Pub Fare
A voluminous vestibule attached to one edge of the Atlantic Station shopping district, Fox Sports Grill is rimmed with flatscreen TVs in a space as large as a practice field. But if team scores aren’t the only thing you’re interested in ingesting, a spread of meaty starters, sandwiches, pizza, pasta and top chops fill athletesized appetites.

Ikea Café
441 16th St | 404-745-4532
Anything Goes | $
Swedish Snacks/Cafeteria
Ikea is huge, offering a maze of what feels like miles of sensible furniture. And all that browsing can work up an appetite. Luckily, there’s a cafeteria, worth visiting even when not accessorizing. Meatballs with loganberry jam, gravlax, potato pancakes and fruity Kristale sodas are just some of the Swedish treats to sample.