A Quick Hit List of Atlanta Favorites

Heading to Atlanta anytime soon? Arm yourself with a long list of the bars, breakfast sandwiches, tasting menus, and locally loved shops — and do your best to pack it all in.

Eat Well

The Crowd-Pleaser: Colletta
Modern Italian food and wine from James Beard Outstanding Restaurateur 2018, Steve Palmer.

Restaurant with Heart: Staplehouse
Streamlined, New American tasting menu with a feel-good back story (read more about it on Fathom).

Best Casual Joint: Antico Pizza
A BYOB spot that gives NYC pies a run for their money.

Ideal Tasting Menu: Bacchanalia
Four creative, light and airy courses determined by the seasons and chef Anne Quatrano’s deft hand.

Hot Roving Pop-Up: Talat Market
Family-style Thai dinners quietly revolutionizing local perceptions of the cuisine.

Best Southern Breakfast & Everything Else: Home Grown GA
Good service, good vibes, good bacon.

Cozy Meets Delicious: Wrecking Bar Brewpub
Comfort food and specialty beer in a cave-like basement beneath an old mansion.

Steakhouse Institution: Bones
Landmarked, wood-paneled, and with lots of options for blowing $5k on wine.

Classic Meat-and-Three: Eats
ATL mainstay serving BBQ, jerk chicken, and green beans on stacks of red plastic trays.

Get It To-Go

Best Healthy-ish: Gusto
Pick your grilled protein, add your veggies, get it in a bowl (you’ll need it after a meat-and-three).

Best Breakfast Sammies:
The ham & gruyere melt at Proof Bakeshop will take you through the afternoon.
Don't sleep on the gougère at The Little Tart Bakeshop.
Bagel Sammy at Home grown GA (with whipped onion chevre on an Emerald City Bagel).

Not-Sad Sandwiches for the Road:
Prosciutto baguette at Little Star Provisions makes for a tasty souvenir.
Dive into a barbecue pork bahn mi at We Suki Suki.

Best Sweet Indulgences:
Chocolate chip cookies at Proof Bakeshop travel well.
Have one chocolate buckwheat shortbread at Root Baking Co. now, save another for later.
Just order one of everything at The Little Tart Bakeshop.

Drink More

Best-Looking Bar: Golden Eagle
Fab wines and cocktails in a glamorous mid-century train depot.

Cafe of Choice: Muchacho
People and sunlight plus tacos and coffee equals happiness.

Coolest Brewery: Monday Night Garage
Beloved brewery with new outpost on the Westside Beltline with a garden and fire pits.

Coziest Watering Hole: The Bookhouse Pub
Classic cocktails (with a twist) and literary vibes.

Shop Everything

Best ATL Souvenirs:
Brick+Mortar candles are awesome.
Little Barn Apothecary goods feel great all over.
Fun artisanal ATL-branded items from Citizen Supply in Ponce City Market are fun to share with others.

Best Beauty Stopover: Fig & Flower Natural Beauty
Find what you need, from products to makeup application to lash extensions.

Beloved Local Ceramicist: Charlotte Smith Studios
Minimalist cups, plates, and platters — so good, you might have to ship a few home.

Fun Nail Salon: Lark & Sparrow
Serious nail art in a wellness-focused natural salon.

Do It All

Perfect Morning:
Beltline walk from Krog Street Market — start with coffee and gougère from The Little Tart, and take an hour’s walk to Ponce City Market, making all kinds of scenic stops on the way.

Ideal Cityscape Escape:
The back trails of Piedmont Park along Clear Creek. It won’t feel like Atlanta, though you're in the heart of it.

Classic Institution:
The Center for Civil and Human Rights — for a city totally saturated in Civil Rights history, a beautiful and vast museum worth an afternoon.

Keep It Going in Atlanta

New Life and Old Roots Flourish in Atlanta
Atlanta's Best Restaurant Is Paying It Forward
Layover Ideas from Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport