Restaurants

Eating out and eating well are one and the same in metro Atlanta, which has more than 12,000 restaurants, according to the Georgia Hospitality and Travel Association! Quite something when you consider that the entire state of Georgia has approximately 24,600 restaurants in all.

But it’s not so surprising when you consider that the Atlanta restaurant industry has several built-in advantages. The city’s advanced transportation network and numerous farmers’ markets make fresh food accessible and affordable. And Atlanta is a magnet to people from many backgrounds, so ethnic cooking is readily accessible. Economic diversity also exerts a demand for good food at practically every price level. Consequently, in Atlanta one may dine in sumptuous luxury at Joël’s in Buckhead or, just a few miles away, have possibly the world’s best onion rings brought right to your car at the North Avenue Varsity Drive-In.

Such a vibrant marketplace naturally promotes change: For every Atlanta restaurant that succeeds, there are many more that don’t. With so much competition for the public’s dining dollar, customers and critics alike do not tolerate bad food or bad service for very long. Restaurants that don’t make the grade are usually out of business within a year. In nearly every case, we’ve restricted our restaurant recommendations to places that have been open at least one year; some have been in business for decades.

With so many restaurants to choose from, you could eat at a different one every day for almost 32 years! Clearly, our task—choosing a tiny fraction of those available to tell you about—is not easy. We’ve tried to let neither haute cuisine nor hot dog stands hog too much space; there is, as we’ve said, excellent food at nearly every price in Atlanta. Whether you’re looking for an outdoor patio to lunch alfresco on a lovely spring day, a place to grab a veggie burger, or somewhere to celebrate a special occasion, you’ll find it among our selections.

National restaurant chains have locations everywhere you look in the metro area. Because you already know about most of them, and due to space limitations, we generally don’t include chains in our chapter. If you’re craving a particular chain’s food, the Yellow Pages in the telephone book is the place to look. You will find a few chain restaurants in this guide that either originated here, such as Taco Mac’s, or can only be found in a few other cities, such as the Flying Biscuit and the Zesto Drive-Ins.

We’ve divided this chapter into two major parts: Atlanta and Beyond Atlanta. Restaurants in the Atlanta section are within the I-285 Perimeter. Those in the Beyond Atlanta section are outside the Perimeter. So, take your time and visit some of our favorite dining spots. Bon appetit!