Beer, Booze & Tacos

GRADE: D

Food – I have been excited to go to The Vortext for a long time. “Best burger joint in Atlanta” is what I hear from nearly everyone that has gone. So I asked these people, what burger should I order? Well if it’s your first time, go with the burger that made them famous, the coronary bypass burger was what I was told. It’s their half-pound sirloin patty topped with a fried egg, three slices of American cheese, and four slices of bacon and as their menu says, served with plenty of mayo. I was very excited, until it arrived. I…I don’t get it. It’s not even that the burger didn’t live up to my expectations; it’s that I didn’t even enjoy the burger at all. I ordered it medium and it came out Medium Well. You are famous for burgers, you have been on the food network, how do you cook a burger so far off from what it’s supposed to be? Then, I have to say that if that was sirloin in that burger, I will be a monkey’s uncle. There was no way that was anything other than plain beef and even if it is beef that is fine but at least season your burgers. Then your fried egg was hard fried. I don’t mean you cooked it until the egg just wasn’t runny, you cooked it to rubbery and then some. Same thing with the bacon. It’s one thing to cook it crispy. It’s another to burn it. Oh and what happened to that plenty of mayo I was supposed to receive? I got one packet of Hellman’s on the side of my plate. You are serving the same mayo I get in fast food restaurants and people still call this the best burger in Atlanta? Oh and what were those fries? Plain frozen fries, deep fried for a few minutes and served. It was not good. It was not good at all. It was in fact one of the least enjoyable burgers I have ever had. It just seemed like cheap frozen ingredients put together to make a bad burger. Food gets an F

Ambiance – This place seems like it is trying to be a dive bar but you can’t be a dive bar on Peachtree St in Midtown and you certainly can’t be a dive bar when you do 800 covers on a week night. The walls were crowded with old bar signs, they had wood paneling around the place, small late 80’s tv’s behind the bar and a very dark room with some gimmicky items hanging around. I mean the whole dark hardcore atmosphere was expected but the overzealous effort to be a hole in the wall place was not good. You obviously don’t go there to watch sports and I obviously won’t go for the food so atmosphere would have been my only draw in. Unfortunately, there are plenty of places with the same bad decorations and fuzzy tv’s I can go to and get better food. Ambiance gets a C-

Service – It’s one thing to have a policy of not putting up with jerks. It’s another to be one yourself. I think the servers and workers know that the management will certainly kick anyone out they perceive to be a problem so the workers know they can get away with being less than hospitable to the patrons. After coming in and sitting at the bar, a guy came up to me after a few minutes and said, “What do you want?” Well thanks for the welcome. I want to start with a beer so I ask, “What do you have on draft?” since I was at the far end of the bar and couldn’t see. Guy says, “I’ll get a menu.” So he gets the menu and puts it in front of me and walks away. Ok, that’s fine I guess, I can look it up, no big deal. Then I had to ask for a food menu after I ordered a beer and the guy acts like I asked him to act out the menu in a charade fashion for my entertainment. Did I really inconvenience you for asking for a menu because you were clearly bothered by it? So I was looking over the menu and the bypass burger was a half-pound but there were no weights listed under their specialty burgers. I actually wanted a specialty burger once I had arrived but was hungry and would still opt for the bypass if the specialty ones were only ¼ pound. So in any other restaurant I would have asked how big they were and if they were a half-pound I would have ordered one and if not just ordered the bypass as soon as I got my answer. However, I was scared to ask. If that guy didn’t like me asking what beers were on tap or to see a food menu, I can only imagine the hell it would cause him and/or me to ask the size of their burgers. So I ordered the bypass. I didn’t see the guy until he dropped off my check and he never said another word to me the whole time. I wasn’t expecting to be pampered here but I don’t think it was too much to expect some common courtesy as well. Service gets a D

Price/Quality – My bill was $20. I wish it was only that but I gave a 20% tip to the guy even though he did nothing to deserve it. The only reason I did was because they have “Tip or Die” written on the menu. Figured if they want my money enough to threaten me, I will give it to them. Also, considering how awful my food was, I can’t say that $20 is worth the quality you receive. I really feel like I was cheated out of money. I did get food in my stomach but honestly if I could pick my own price, I wouldn’t have given them over $10 total including tip. Price/Quality gets a D

Uniqueness – Oh there is plenty unique about how this place operates but few good ones. Yea they have unique burgers but they are just low quality and tasteless. Yea they have a unique policy towards customers which translates into you are going to be treated bad. Anything I think of that is unique to this place isn’t a good thing. Uniqueness gets a D

GRADE: C-

Food – I had The 1180 Plate for brunch. It includes two eggs, smoked bacon, potatoes, and an English muffin. It wasn’t very good. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t very good. Nothing was really seasoned or at the most you can say it was underseasoned. Eggs were just cracked, scrambled and put on the plate. Potatoes were sautéed and put on the plate. Bacon, unless cut fresh, does not need seasoning but still was cooked to almost past crispy and the English muffin was taken out of the packaging and put on the plate. It wasn’t even toasted. It was just a breakfast I could have cooked better at home. I know this place has to be better than this so I am not sure what happened to my meal, but it just wasn’t good. Food gets a D

Ambiance – Tap was very nice on the inside. It’s in a great space and very well decorated on the inside. Typical gastro pub with a very upscale environment. It was a great place with a very modern feel. Ambiance gets an A-

Service – There were not very many people here which made the poor service even worse. We asked for things that never came or came out wrong. We wanted butter, sauce for meat, and hot sauce for eggs. We had to ask for hot sauce 3 times and it still didn’t come till we were almost done. We had 8 people at the table and some people had some special orders like substituting their English muffin for toast or asking for eggs fried instead of scrambled, but those requests went unfulfilled. It was not the most pleasant service. Service gets a D

Price/Quality – Brunch was $10 which included my dish and orange juice. Not terrible price for bunch but we didn’t receive good service or good food. It just wasn’t worth the $10 to me. Price/Quality gets a C-

Uniqueness – The only thing I really liked here was the ambiance and it wasn’t anything special enough to bring me back. I wonder if their typical food is better than brunch. I may be back to see, but most likely I won’t be back. Uniqueness gets a D

GRADE: A-

Food – I was pleasantly surprised by this place. I expected typical cheap bar food. I had hoped for good bar food. But received an excellent dish by any restaurants’ standards. I ordered the black and bleu burger. The first thing I noticed was the bread. I’m pretty sure the bread was from H&F bakery. If you don’t know about the Holeman and Finch bakery, it’s one of only two artisan bakeries in Atlanta and it IS the best bread in Atlanta. As if that wasn’t phenomenal enough, my burger was cooked to a perfect medium and wasn’t charred on the outside. 80% of the time I order a burger medium, the cooks are afraid to undercook it and it comes out more of a Medium-Well. Also, to turn out food as fast as possible restaurants usually cook it on too high of heat which makes it come out burnt on the outside and cooked to the right temp on the inside. Not the case at all here as the burger was perfect all the way around. All accompanying ingredients were fresh as well and it was seasoned perfectly. Overall it was one of the best burgers I have had in Atlanta. Food gets an A+

Ambiance – I dined on the outdoor patio. It was very nice. It was quiet, had a very comfortable table and chairs, was decorated with plants and hanging lights, and had tv’s all the way around the patio so you can watch multiple games without actually having to go into the bar. It was a very nice and relaxing evening in a very comfortable environment. Ambiance gets an A

Service – So the lady that served us was very nice. However, she was a tad slow. Maybe it’s hard to get out to the patio when you also have tables inside but the wait between ordering drinks and receiving them and between wanting to order and actually ordering was a little longer than expected. We were there to hangout but didn’t want to stay all night. I’m talking maybe 10 minutes between wanting to order and actually seeing the waitress. So not terrible, but longer than expected. Also, while this isn’t the waitresses fault, I am going to put this under service because it goes to the restaurants service to their customers as a whole. They were out of many beers including some bar basics like Michelob Ultra. How do you so badly manage your inventory that you run out of a basic bar beer? Also between the 5 of us at the table, we tried to order 3 beers that were out of stock. 3 out of 5 beers that we wanted you don’t have? That’s not really acceptable for a bar. Especially when it is a Monday night so you can’t blame it on a rush or something of the sort. Service gets a C-

Price/Quality – My burger was around $10 and even though this sounds crazy, I think the quality rivals H&F, Grindhouse, Vortex, and all the other raved about places here. Considering those will cost you $15-$20 I would say that the price here for the quality of burger you receive is top notch. Price/Quality gets an A

Uniqueness – I haven’t been to many sports bars that have such a relaxing, quiet, and enjoyable patio where you can watch multiple games. I also haven’t been to a place that serves such amazing burgers that isn’t high class or a hole in the wall. Definitely a unique place that I would make the drive for, just to experience this again. Uniqueness gets an A

GRADE: B+

Food – I ordered the Diavola which came with spicy sopressata, pepperonata, and bufala. It was very enjoyable. Having authentic Italian pizza is a real treat and I would suggest it to anyone who hasn’t tried it yet. So what did I like about the pizza? In a country where the majority of pizza contains jarred sauce, processed cheese, and frozen meats, having a made from scratch pizza with all fresh ingredients really makes a difference in taste. Anyone can tell the difference between low quality products that aren’t fresh and the stuff that Antico uses. The taste surpasses any  pizza you have had in the past and promises to be a unique experience. What did I now like? After everything I heard about this place, I was expecting the pizza to be carried out on a golden pedestal with angels singing. However, this was not the case. What happened was that there was a line out the door and a full restaurant so the workers were slapping the pizza together, as soon as it came out of the oven they slammed it into a box, the lady half way cuts in a terrible fashion, and between all the chaos my pizza didn’t cook evenly. The dough was burnt on one side and the other was about perfect. Once I had my hastily put together pizza, it was shoved in my hands and I was shoved out the door soon thereafter. When I did dig into it, the peppers were scrunched on one side and the bufala was spotty at best with a few bites being completely without it. It was tasty but it wasn’t the perfectly crafted pizza I had heard it was. Food gets a B

Ambiance – If I could make up one word to describe the ambiance here it would be hipstery. Yes, I felt like if I had worn my flannel shirt, black rimmed glasses and brought a Mac computer with me to brag about my superior pizza knowledge to all those poor souls that are having Little Ceasars, then I would have felt right at home. Old building, concrete floors, cinder block walls, and picnic tables to eat at. Oh and don’t think you get a picnic table to yourself either. Be ready to sit elbow to elbow with people you don’t know. I’m not knocking on the ambiance here, just telling you how it is and what to expect. This type of ambiance certainly has its place and I will certainly be back with people for an amazing night. Ambiance gets a B-

Service – The workers here have one objective and one objective only. Get people in and out as soon as possible. That’s not a bad thing because when there is a line out the door, if they stopped and took the time to make sure everyone was having a pleasant time, we would never get our pizza. Don’t expect anyone to be understanding if you don’t know what to order when you get to the cashier, don’t expect them to wait patiently if you need to count out your money, and certainly be on your toes for when they call your number or that lady will get angrier and angrier as she begins to scream for number 469 to get their butts up the counter and take their pizza out of her way! Once again I am not knocking on the service here, especially since this is probably the best way to run one of the most crowded restaurants in Atlanta. I am just telling you not to expect anyone to powder your butt here. Service gets a B

Price/Quality – usually in this category, in order to find a rating, I usually ask myself, would I return and pay this price gain for the same food? Well the answer for Antico is yes, but it isn’t that simple. My pizza was $21 and could be considered a size medium. About triple the cost of a chain pizza place. My problem is that I would give the pizza here a 9 out of 10 because of the superior tasting fresh/high quality ingredients, but it is hard to make pizza taste bad even if you use all the frozen and canned ingredients chain places do. I would rate chain pizza a solid 6 or 7 out of 10, so then the question become do I want to pay triple or quadruple the price for a pizza that taste only a level or two above my favorite chain place? The answer is yes but few and far between. I most likely won’t be back here by myself but when I finally score that second date with that girl I have a crush on, we will come here. I do have to say for what you receive the price is justifiable. Price/Quality gets a B

Uniqueness – Having a pizza in Atlanta that you could take to Italy and still have it called a pizza is not a common thing. There are few other places in Atlanta that even attempt to put Napoletana in their name and their pizza isn’t the same as Antico. Food is very unique. Ambiance, whether you like it or not is unique as well. You aren’t going to find this type of restaurant anywhere else in Atlanta. There are no good alternatives and this place is truly one of the most unique in Atlanta. Uniqueness gets an A+

GRADE: B-

Food – I stopped in here for lunch and got the chicken pesto sandwich. The pesto cream sauce was made in house, they served it on fresh rosemary focaccia bread. They spinach, tomatoes, and chicken were all fresh as well and the chicken was seasoned perfectly. I was very surprised at how wonderful this sandwich was. I usually just get sandwiches for a light lunch to hold me through the day but I would honestly return here for a very enjoyable and tasty meal. I highly recommend this sandwich. Food gets an A+

Ambiance – Well the food is certainly the main attraction here. There was no ambiance. This isn’t a restaurant you come into to sit down at. It is one you get a takeout order. There are maybe two tables in the entire restaurant just in case someone wanted to sit. It wasn’t what I was expecting since the other location in Midtown has a patio and nice seating. It’s an inconsistency in their brand that shouldn’t be. I don’t need a great space but just one that doesn’t make me feel like I’m intruding if I decide to eat there. Ambiance gets a C-

Service – The guy here was extremely nice and friendly. By the time I left, I felt like I had a new best friend. He really cared about the food that came out of the kitchen. I guess he was running the place. He personally checked every “to go” order they had and mine, and was very careful in everything he did. He truly wanted everyone to have the best food they could make there. Service gets an A

Price/Quality – I think my sandwich and a drink was around $8 which was fantastic for what I received. If I could always get a lunch under $10 that is that high of quality, I would be extremely happy. It is worth the money for the meal you receive here. Price/Quality gets a B

Uniqueness – The food here is unique. You don’t often find a high quality sandwich like this, especially for under $10. I’m not driving all the way out to Smyrna to eat here but if I am in the area, I would drive over to have this food again. Uniqueness gets a C+

GRADE: B

Food – They have quite an extensive menu here. I love it because it breaks the realm of typical Mexican places like this that have mostly numbered items and few other specialty items. This place really features and promotes special dishes here and you are guaranteed to get something unique it you desire it. I have also never had a bad meal here. The food is always prepared in a way that it meets my expectations and they provide some fun dishes as well. Food gets a B+

Ambiance – Very fun restaurant here. They have a great environment and a great outdoor patio as well. Everything here is new and very clean. Never had a complaint here and I think the environment is one that guarantees a great time. Ambiance gets a B

Service – Mostly I have had great service here. A few times when they get busy, the servers can get overwhelmed. They are known for some long waits here as well being crowded in the restaurant. Some of the servers just aren’t experienced enough to handle many people during a rush but overall never had a serious problem. Service gets a B

Price/Quality - $10-$12 for a dinner dish and around $7 for lunch. Very reasonable prices for good Mexican food and a fun time. A combination of everything together makes it really worth the price here and it is very reasonable for what you get. I have returned here several times and never complained about price. Price/Quality gets a B

Uniqueness – Every everything about this restaurant could possibly be found in many other Mexican restaurants. However, overall, they do everything well which is uncommon. They don’t drop the ball on any aspects and they do offer some unique menu items. Put all that together and you have a restaurant that outshines most. Uniqueness gets a B

GRADE: B+

Food – I came here and ordered the seafood crepes. It sounded like a very interesting and unique menu item. I was very surprised at how well prepared and cooked the food was, and the presentation was phenomenal as well. The way they painted the plates with the sauce made it looked like a $30+ dish. The crepes were filled with shrimp, scallops, and salmon in a sherry lobster cream sauce. Everything was phenomenal except for the sherry lobster cream sauce. It was way too sweet for this dish. It would have been too sweet even for a dessert. There is no way the chef tasted that before he sent it out. It just took over the entire dish, and not in a good way. Overall I enjoyed it though and really got a glimpse into how skilled the chef was here. Food gets a B-

Ambiance- They did a great job with the elegance of the restaurant here. Simple yet very refined. It was a very comfortable environment and high class. I think you will very much enjoy dining in this restaurant. There are few places that I would come back to simply for the ambiance alone, but this is one of them. Ambiance gets an A+

Service – Service was good here. The lady was very experienced and very pleasant the entire time. One of my dining companions was very difficult and had many requests which this lady filled every time with a smile. I felt somewhat sorry for her but she was on top of it at every turn. I really appreciated the service here. Service gets a B+

Price/quality – Prices are expectant here. I paid $15 for my dish which is an average price on their menu. A seafood crepe like this, I would assume would be $20 minimum so for what you get, prices are really good. The quality of my experience was brought down by the sauce in my crepe so I can’t give it a perfect score. Nonetheless I will return soon and gladly not even look at prices as I know they will be fair. Price/quality gets a B-

Uniqueness – Fine dining in Newnan? Unheard of, but Mama Lucia’s certainly gives you that experience. For such a great experience at great prices, you have to love this place. There are perhaps 2 other restaurants in Newnan I would consider fine dining and the prices reflect that. So for fine dining on a budget, this place certainly stands alone. Uniqueness gets an A-