Atlanta Food (The Varsity, Talkin' Tacos, Gino's NY Pizza Bar, and Country Inn & Suites Hotel)

 The Varsity:

Went to The Varsity years ago and didn't get a hot dog. The food was bad then, and everyone told me it's because I didn't get the hot dogs. I returned recently and decided to give them another chance by getting hot dogs. I ordered the Slaw Dog Combo with onion rings. The dogs didn't redeem the restaurant. They were edible, but by no means anything great that would make me want to return to The Varsity. I don't understand why people hype up The Varsity so much in a city like Atlanta that has so much to offer when it comes to food.

Talkin Tacos:

I didn't realize this was a chain based out of Florida. Never noticed them around Orlando until I tried this location in Atlanta. Had their Crispy Stack Wrap filled with birria. Basically a better version of a Taco Bell Crunch Wrap. Also had Street Corn in a Cup. Food was pretty good. They did do a decor pet peeve of mine where they had UV black lights shining directly at the tables. Those aren't meat to be actual lighting.

Gino's NY Pizza Bar:

Most pizza I've had in Atlanta has been pretty bad. Gino's NY Pizza Bar broke that trend. They had good NY style pizza sold by the slice. 

I had a slice of their white pizza and their lasagna pizza.

Country Inn & Suites Hotel Breakfast:

Above average free breakfast that was included in the price of a relatively cheap hotel.

American Deli in McDonough, GA

On a return trip home from Atlanta, we stopped for dinner at a restaurant called American Deli off I-75 in the suburbs south of Atlanta. I went into American Deli expecting sandwiches, but sandwiches were only a small part of the menu. Being that the Superbowl was just about to start as we decided to eat, chicken wings were a very big seller here. They had countless takeout orders of people buying huge quantity of wings to bring home to their parties. This made our wait for food a bit longer than it would probably be otherwise (stupid football game), but it wasn't too bad.

I ordered something that I was definitely not expecting to see on American Deli's menu. I had the shrimp fried rice and chicken wing combo. This consisted of a huge mound of fried rice with shrimp, egg, carrots, peas, and onion. Several chicken wings were served alongside with a container of blue cheese for dipping. The rice was tasty, especially since it was from a restaurant that didn't specifically specialize in Chinese food. The shrimp were tiny, but there were enough of them to make up for the small size. I choose medium spiciness on the wings, and it was a good choice. They had a nice kick to them, but didn't leave me begging for water afterwards either.

Overall, I enjoyed my food at American Deli. It was completely different from what I was expecting, but still served tasty food...

Olive Bistro in Atlanta, GA

While in Atlanta, I had lunch at a restaurant called Olive Bistro. Thy were located in the corner of a strip mall. They served mostly Greek and Middle Eastern food. There were six of us dining at the restaurant. There were two other occupied tables in the entire place, but our server seemed very flustered and annoyed to have a larger group come to dine. She made a big deal about splitting the checks. Apparently her ability to give separate checks or a single check depended on if the restaurant remained really busy when we were done eating (the two other tables?). When ordering, there were also issues with someone at the table who just wanted to order dessert. Apparently only eating dessert was against the restaurant's policies. This person then tried ordering a side item as well, but this was also unacceptable. Finally, when a hummus appetizer was picked without the side or dessert, it passed and was acceptable. Desserts and side items can't be ordered without an entree at Olive Bistro but appetizers can?

I ordered a Gyro Pita. It was filled with lamb, lettuce, tomato, onions, and lots of tzatziki. It was tasty enough, although nothing exceptional that I haven't had elsewhere. The gyro was pretty standard, and was exactly what I was expecting for a gyro. While the food at Olive Bistro was okay, the server was weird and made too big of a deal of stuff that should be simple. She did end up having time to split our checks, so there was a slight redeeming factor there...

Eats in Atlanta, GA

While in Atlanta, I had lunch at a restaurant called Eats. Eats had an interesting setup which was also a bit confusing. They had a few counters, each serving a different type of food. Above the counters, they had menus that weren't exactly clear what was available on the day I was there.

Once I figured out what was being served, I went with the Jerk Chicken with two sides. The chicken was very flavorful, covered in a slightly spicy jerk seasoning. I chose collards and broccoli casserole as my sides. The collards were good, although nothing exceptional. The broccoli casserole was mostly rice and cheese, with little bits of broccoli mixed in. I was expecting much more broccoli in a broccoli casserole. The meal also was served with a very moist piece of cornbread.

Overall, Eats served some pretty tasty eats. The portions were huge and the prices were good.

Little Five Points Pizza in Atlanta, GA

It was 1:00 AM and I was looking for a late dinner in Atlanta. I thought about going to Majestic Diner, but I've done that and was looking for someplace new to try in my food travel adventures. That someplace ended up being a restaurant called Little Five Points Pizza in the neighborhood that shared the same name.

I ordered a slice of plain cheese and a slice of their white pizza. Both slices were quite large and I probably would have been full with just one. The cheese slice actually reminded me of Lazy Moon in Orlando. Large, but messy and could have been left in the oven a little longer to have the cheese a little more melted. The white slice was interesting. Most white pizzas don't have tomato sauce, but this one did. It seemed like a normal slice topped with ricotta, more mozzarella, and an insane amount of garlic. The white slice was my favorite of the two.

The pizza here was alright. Nothing wonderful, but it worked for dinner at 1 AM. It seemed like they catered to the people stumbling in from the nearby bars, so perhaps large slices of messy pizza works. This is my third experience with pizza in Atlanta, and I can't say I was really impressed with any of my slices in the city. Does Atlanta do good pizza?


 

Dunkin Donuts in Atlanta, GA

I was in Atlanta and wanted to get a very quick breakfast within walking distance from my destination for the day. The two choices ended up being either Ihop or Dunkin Donuts, and I chose the latter. I know Dunkin Donuts is nothing exotic. Just about every location is the same and normally a quick breakfast at a Dunkin Donuts wouldn't be worthy of a blog post, but I decided to write about this visit for two reasons. The first being: SNOW! There was snow on the ground leftover from the big snowstorm that hit Atlanta a couple days earlier and as a Florida based food blogger, I think snow is wonderful...

The second reason I decided to write this blog post was because what I ordered at this particular Dunkin Donuts annoyed me. I wanted to get a bacon, egg, and cheese bagel sandwich. I also wanted some hot tea. They had a combo that included the sandwich and a coffee, but I like tea way more than coffee. I asked if I could get the tea instead of coffee with the combo and I was told it couldn't be done. Tea was cheaper than coffee on the menu, but yet buying them separately ended up costing a dollar and change more than the combo which included the more expensive coffee.

The bagel sandwich was perfectly acceptable, but the drinks annoyed me. I'm sure there was some reason like cash register restrictions or messing up inventory why a more expensive cup of coffee couldn't be switched out with a cheaper cup of tea, but it still annoyed me. Regardless, once I got back outside, the cold weather and snow made me forget all about Dunkin Donuts. Especially when I found enough snow to make a snowman right across the street. Polar vortexes are fun. Too bad it was all melted when the temperatures warmed up later in the afternoon...

 

Ru San's in Atlanta, GA (Midtown)

I had dinner in Atlanta at a Japanese restaurant called Ru San's. This restaurant is apparently a local chain in the area and I ate in the location in Midtown Atlanta. Ru San's was up on the second floor of a strip mall and is apparently under new management according to the banner hanging out front. Inside, Ru San's almost had a nightclub atmosphere with lots of color changing lights and loud music. The prices on much of their menu were very reasonable.

While the majority of the menu featured sushi, I instead ordered the Nabeyaki Udon. This large bowl of soup was packed with udon noodles, tempura shrimp, chicken, egg, mushrooms, onions, zucchini, and other vegetables. The broth had a nice, slightly spicy flavor with just the right amount of saltiness. Rather than the soup's contents floating towards the top, this bowl was filled pretty much to the brim with yummy stuff with the broth filling up the space in between. With all this food in the bowl, I got about half way through before I decided I was full...

I'd return to Ru San's. The food was tasty and was a good value for the price.

World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta, GA

Coke Rewards. They are the codes hidden somewhere on the packaging of Coke products that you accumulate and can trade in for stuff. I don't drink much soda, but I've amassed lots of these points over the time period that Coke Rewards have been offered. My problem is that I don't want the majority of the stuff that I can get by redeeming my points. When I knew I was going to Atlanta and saw that tickets to the World of Coca-Cola were available, I decided to trade in some of my points for a free visit to the soda museum.

I really didn't know what to expect with the World of Coca-Cola. I figured the museum would be a big advertisement for Coke, but advertisements disguised as museums are fun sometimes. The World of Coca-Cola started with a weird animated movie that seemed to have very little to do with soda, besides giant Coke bottles in the background. There was a 4-D movie that was so unpleasant that is seemed like whoever made it went to the Orlando theme parks and took the worst parts of all of our 3d movies and combined them into a horrible eight minute show. There were disappointing exhibits like an example bottling plant that wasn't working and an exhibit about the top-secret Coke recipe that showed you absolutely nothing. The only exhibit that I actually found interesting contained lots of Coke memorabilia. This contained stuff like the actual Coke dispenser that once rode on the Space Shuttle Challenger.

On the way out, they had one final exhibit. It featured kiosks supplying Coke products to sample from each continent. It was very similar to Club Cool at Epcot, only with more flavors. This was by far the best part of the whole museum! Sampling foreign sodas is always fun. Here's the Asian sodas:

 I enjoyed the bright green Melon Frosty flavored Fanta from Thailand.

Europe has some interesting Coke products including the very tasty Kinley (England) and not so tasty Beverly (Italy)...

South America/Mexico:

African soda:

This pine nut flavored soda called Bibo from South Africa was interesting. I wouldn't think that pine nuts would make a popular soda flavor, but it was tasty. I was trying to think of something similar that I could relate it to but it had a pretty unique taste.

Right before you got to the exit, they gave everyone a glass bottle of Coke with special labels from the World of Coca Cola.

After seeing the museum, I realized that I'd be very disappointed if I spent the full $16 admission for the place. Trying all of the foreign Coke products was fun, but the rest of the museum didn't do much for me. It seemed like they spent large amount of money on what potentially could be really nice exhibits, but in the end they came off as sort of anti-climactic advertisements rather than actual informative exhibits. It didn't have to be this way either. Hershey has their chocolate museum in Pennsylvania complete with 4D movies, dark rides, and free chocolate, and I enjoyed that. World of Coca-Cola was free, so it was no loss for me, but I feel bad for the people that actually spent money on this place...

Gladys Knight's Chicken and Waffles in Atlanta, GA

I spent a weekend in Atlanta and found myself looking for a late dinner around midnight on a Saturday night. I could have taken the easy way out and went to a 24 hour chain like Ihop or find diner, but that would be too easy and boring in a big city like Atlanta. There was bound to be something open that was a bit more interesting. After a quick search on my phone, I found a restaurant called Gladys Knight's Chicken and Waffles. It was open until 4am, was less than a mile from where I was at the time, and had the interesting gimmick of having a musician's name attached to a restaurant. My late night dinner was decided.

Gladys Knight's was a pretty fancy looking place, although the police officer standing guard near the restaurant entrance was a bit unusual. I wonder if the restaurant had issues with waffle robberies or drunken brawls over waffles at 3am? The menu consisted of chicken and waffles, shrimp and grits, as well as other southern foods. I was tempted to get the shrimp and grits for a moment, but then I remembered the restaurant's name. Because of this, I ordered the Midnight Train. As described by the menu, this consisted of four southern fried jumbo chicken wings and one original waffle.

The chicken wings were surprisingly large and the crispy fried batter had nice flavor. The waffle was what I expected with nothing exceptional. I'm not an expert in chicken and waffles, but I've had this dish at several different places now and everyone seems to do it differently. On this particular version of the meal, the chicken and the waffle were pretty much two separate items served together on one plate. I don't know if this is a more traditional version of chicken and waffles, but I've preferred it when the chicken and waffles have a little more cohesion between the two components. I was very indifferent with the Midnight Train from Gladys Knight's. Wasn't bad, but I don't think I'd come bad to get chicken and waffles here again.

Mellow Mushroom in Atlanta, GA

Mellow Mushroom is a pizza chain that I always thought was local to the Central Florida area. I found out this wasn't the case while up in Atlanta after our first food choice didn't work out. From their website, it looks like Mellow Mushroom spans pretty much from coast to coast.

On this visit to Mellow Mushroom, I split the Gourmet White Pizza with someone. This pie was was topped with mozzarella, provolone, feta, sliced tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, and onions. The pizza was alright, but I'm personally not a big fan of Mellow Mushroom pies in general. Just about every time I've tried their pizzas, it seems like they are overly doughy with the crust reaching way too far towards the center of the pie. On this particular pie, a couple of the slices were about half crust. I'm more about the stuff on a pizza rather than the bread that makes up a pizza, so I'm not exactly a big fan of this style pie.

Everyone seems to love this place though. I've never been to a Mellow Mushroom that wasn't busy, but there are definitely far better pies out there from independent places.

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...

Papi's Cuban & Caribbean Grill in Atlanta, GA

On my last evening in Atlanta before heading home, a collective decision was made that we should find some Georgia style barbecue for dinner. The problem was, nobody we asked could recommend anywhere that served smoked meat besides Shane's Rib Shack. A chain would defeat the purpose of having barbecue in Atlanta, so somewhere along the line we started looking for alternatives for dinner and came across Papi's Cuban & Caribbean Grill on Ponce De Leon Avenue.

The daily special at Papi's caught my eye. It came with a choice of steak, chicken, or fish with black beans, rice, plantains, salad, and bread. I ordered the fish which turned out to be tilapia. The fish was lightly fried and had great flavor. Beans & rice were tasty and the plantains were good as well. For $7 and change, this was a really good value for the amount of food that was included. I guess you don't need to be near Miami to find good Cuban food...

While the food was good, I should mention the horrible service at Papi's. The two specials at our table came out about ten minutes before the remaining sandwiches. No silverware was brought until after the sandwiches were served, so my food was getting cold by the time I could actually eat it. The drinks didn't come out until all the food was on the table which was kind of backwards.

Overall, Papi's had good food but bad service. Oh well...

Java Jive in Atlanta, GA

I was looking for breakfast in Atlanta and saw the banner hanging on a restaurant called Java Jive about their award winning biscuits. That was enough for me to make my decision to eat there and I pulled into the parking lot. The huge mural on the side of the building bragged about their Award winning breakfast since 1994. With potentially good biscuits and award winning breakfasts, Java Jive seemed promising...

The inside of Java Jive had a very retro look, although the retro here was very different than the retro at the Majestic Diner.

I ordered the Gingerbread Waffle with Lemon Curd. The waffle had a great gingerbread taste. When smothered in the lemon curd and maple syrup, the results were nothing less than an awesome flavor combination. The waffle was much thinner than I was expecting, but I'd get this again regardless!

My waffle didn't come with a biscuit, but I did try a piece of one. I'm no expert on biscuits, so I can't be sure if it was worthy of an award. As far as my waffle goes though, it seemed like award winning material to me...