The Guardian Gives Love to Paper Plane
Decatur Metro | March 21, 2014
FM Fats points to this article from The Guardian “Top 10 bars and clubs in Atlanta“. Here’s the Paper Plane blurb…
As with Prohibition, finding Decatur hideaway Paper Plane can require ingenuity. Locals may direct you to Victory Sandwich Bar + Emporium but the actual entrance is an easily overlooked door in a far-from-obvious back hallway. In aviation terms, the nostalgic interior is hardly bigger than a puddle jumper, with a handful of padded-leather booths and a snug bar just like the one in Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks. The retro-inspired cocktails, however, qualify as jet fuel. For a quick liftoff, try the Tart Breaker: rye whiskey, campari, and pecan.
• 340 Church Street, Decatur, the-paper-plane.com. Open Mon-Thu 5pm-midnight, Fri-Sat 5pm-1am
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Paper plane is soooo cool. I imagine Frank Sinatra in there with a gal on each arm. Music hip, appetizers delcious and cocktails out of this world and pretty too. But know this you will drop some change here. Great for a first date impression I think. Enjoy. We went one night when we had a babysitter…relaxing and romantic with old time classics playing. We thoroughly enjoyed our time…small and chic. Wear something nice.
And once you’ve spent your wad and you still want to have some fun on the cheap, go next door to Victory and play some ping pong, and have some cheap eats/drinks.
Indeed, everything is special.
Paper Plane has always reminded me of a set from a David Lynch movie
so, naturally, i was disappointed when our server refused my order of a canister of NO2 with four masks.
actually, i made that last part up
here’s what did happen:
following a dinner at the Iberian Pig last Friday night
I invited our friends to a nightcap at “de plane”
upon arrival, the hipsterscenti scene was fully manifest:
Grant Henry jabbering with Paul
me acting like i didn’t see Grant
Grant acting like he didn’t see me pretending not to see him . . .
reindeer games aplenty
being preternaturally gifted in the nose for the game department, I spotted 4 seats at the bar and sauntered toward them
(yes, sauntered)
inviting my friends to follow me with an insouciant wave and a barely perceptible nod of my gleaming dome
one can only imagine how impressed my friends were with my ability
to part the red sea of writhing humanity and land four courtside seats within a minute of our arrival
and if they weren’t, i damn sure was as over 20 timestamped FB selfies will attest:
“here’s me sauntering (unmolested!) up to the bar at Paper Plane, on a Friday night, within a minute of our arrival !!!”
we call that having “juice” in “The D”
at least i do.
mi nombre es “Señor Tropicana”
the first clue something may have been amiss
was the wrinkled brow of the lovely bartender whose gaze met mine as i slapped my styrofoam cup and CVS card on the bar and shouted, “purple drank for all my leetle freends!”
my wife loves it when i do that
anyway, the bartender closes her eyes and slowly shakes her head
then points at the entrance door and says
“there’s a wait for these seats—about 45 minutes—please sign up with the hostess”
have you ever seen those tall inflatable dancing man thingies outside car dealerships?
you know, they’re about 20 feet high, and sway back and forth across the sky, flailing their wee handless arms, inviting people in to the showroom floor? at closing time, they turn off the fans
that keep those things erect, and, in a matter of seconds, they collapse to the ground like a flan in a cupboard
i was that inflatable dancing man.
the bartender was the hand that turned off the fan.
my friends’ faces reminded me of my childrens’ when i quote Taylor Swift lyrics during parent/teacher conferences.
anyway
long story short
we left
that’s all.
tldr… but “we left” summarizes my half dozen or so experiences there, too. Pretty soon nobody’s gonna go there anymore because it’s too damn crowded.
Maybe it’s already happened. We went last night after dinner and had no trouble getting seats outside and could have sat at the bar had we preferred. When we offered to wait for a two-top instead of taking up a four-top, the hostess said not to worry–it was a slow night anyway.
Love Paper Plane… but my fourth visit (which occurred on Saturday) was disappointing. Steak tar tar appetizer took nearly 40 minutes. Drinks were taking over 20. Entrees came out with the appetizer. To their credit, once I pulled the waitress aside and mentioned our disappointment, they were quicker with the last drink and dessert. It was just shocking to me we even had to mention something THAT direct to the wait staff because it was obvious things were taking forever and we’d already politely asked a few times, “hey, do you mind checking on X?” Full disclosure: they did comp the appetizer and one of the drinks — too bad both were on my dining mate’s check and not on mine!)