The Varsity in Atlanta, GA

I recently went on a weekend roadtrip up to Atlanta. When I put up a request on Twitter for restaurant recommendations in the city, the consensus seemed to be that I needed to try The Varsity.

The Varsity was opened in 1928 and is currently the world's largest drive-in restaurant. Instead of eating in our car, we went inside to get our Varsity food. Once inside of the huge restaurant, we made our way to the very long counter to place our orders. A constant chorus of "What'll ya have?" echoed over this part of the restaurant as the employees called for their next customer.

 

I saw posters advertising The Varsity's Orange Drink hanging on the wall as I entered the restaurant. I guess the posters worked since I ordered the orange drink. It tasted like orange soda without the carbonation.

I had one of the combos on the menu consisting of a grilled chicken sandwich and onion rings. The sandwich was actually a little surprising. It was pretty simple and tasted okay, with a piece of chicken with lettuce and tomato. What surprised me was the size. It was almost the size of a slider, similar in size to what White Castle or Krystal serves. For some reason I was expecting a larger sandwich.

The onion rings were definitely the star of the food I tried here. Each of the rings were huge with a really good batter around the onions. They were horribly greasy, but they also put the onion rings at most other restaurants to shame.

Now that I've been, I guess I can cross The Varsity off my list of the top places to eat in Atlanta. The food here was alright, but I think the retro atmosphere is the real reason to go to The Varsity. It is the world's largest drive-in after all. The view of downtown Atlanta is pretty nice too...