Atlanta Magazine: Decatur Has 4 of Top 10 Bars in Atlanta
Decatur Metro | December 16, 2014 | 12:34 pm
UPDATE: OK, so apparently this issue is a couple months old. Still sorta interesting though!
Kimball House, Brick Store Pub, Paper Plane and Leon’s all placed among the Top 10 bars in Atlanta, according to Atlanta Magazine.
Here’s their full Top 10 list, with the Decatur spots bolded.
- Wrecking Bar
- Kimball House
- Brick Store Pub
- Paper Plane
- Porter Beer Bar
- Manuel’s
- The Sound Table
- Blind Willie’s
- Mary’s
- Leon’s Full Service
Decatur’s Mac Magee (#18) and Pinewood (#27) also delivered a strong showing.
As to how they determined the rank, here’s the lowdown…
Each bar could score a maximum of 100 points—up to ten each for setting, food, activities, the mix of people, and service. Up to thirty points for quality and depth of drinks (this is a bars package after all). And finally, up to twenty points for the “X factor”—that ineffable quality that may defy easy description but nevertheless makes the place special. (Clermont, we’re looking at you.)
What do we think? Seem about right or do you feel an inebriated rant coming on? 🙂
Can someone explain why Blind Willie’s is on this list? What am I missing?
This issue came out earlier this year. This best burgers issue that just hit the newsstands has Steinbeck’s burger on the cover.
One of these days I’m finally going to make it over to Steinbecks. I think it’s the only bar in Decatur I’ve never been to at least once.
That’s ok. It’s not that great (and small enough that it does not need any more fans if you get my drift)
What? No! Steinbeck’s can’t be on the cover of Atlanta mag…it’s supposed to be our secret place.
I love what Jimmy and the staff do there, but I hate when they get press.
It’ll only make it harder to get a seat for the best food and beer list around.
Try the new Scallop risotto – yum!
This Best Bars issue has been sitting on my coffee table for several months. With Decatur garnering so many spots, I hate to even mention that I think Pinewood should be listed higher than it is. And that The Thinking Man and Twains should be on the list.
After looking at that list again and thinking about the other Decatur bars I’d put on it, it occurred to me that I don’t recall there ever being a Best of Decatur post on DM. I can kind of understand why, but it would be fun. Maybe even a “Ten Things I Love about Decatur” type list, instead of the usual category-based survey.
Wrecking Bar is not good. Why do so many people love it?
I think the Wrecking Bar is the best brew pub in Atlanta for putting out consistent quality, diverse, and complex brews. I’ll take their beer and selection over Twains or 5 Seasons any day. I only go there for the beer – I have no idea what their food is like. So my reasons are opposite of brianc 🙂
I rarely drink beer. I suspect I would like it more if I did. I give them a lot of credit for rehabbing a building that has been derelict as long as I can remember. For that reason alone, I want to like it, but I always leave a little disappointed. I admit it was an overstatement for me to say it’s not good. It just isn’t as good as I want it to be.
“I think the Wrecking Bar is the best brew pub in Atlanta for putting out consistent quality, diverse, and complex brews”
To clarify, when they have a style I like, I’ve enjoyed their beers. But beers with peppers, chocolate, etc. just aren’t my thing.
What’s wrong with Wrecking Bar? Great cocktails, great food, great space. Personally, I don’t care for many of the beer styles they brew, but I love everything else about it. But I guess everything’s subjective (frankly, I’m not crazy about #2 on the list).
+3 for all brianc’s posts. Also, I love the bar at Highland Tap. But mostly, we hang at Pinewood, Manuel’s, and Twain’s. We’d hang out more at Wrecking Bar if it had better parking. We spend way too much money at bars!
“We’d hang out more at Wrecking Bar if it had better parking.”
From Decatur, Wrecking Bar is an easy one to get to on MARTA (if you don’t mind either a ten minute walk or a bus from the station) and catch an Uber ride home. Total cost would be about the same as a couple of cocktails.
I’ve been there several times now. Food has been consistently unimpressive. Undercooked boiled peanuts, overcooked meats, weird big mac styyle grilled cheese with three pieces of bread. Their drinks are fine, I guess. The space looks good but feels like what it is; a cold basement. It always feels to me like a place that is trying to bea little more upscale than it can pull off.
“weird big mac styyle grilled cheese with three pieces of bread.”
Like I said, everything’s subjective: I love the grilled cheese sandwich there.
Put me down as another fan of the Wrecking Bar. Not #1, but certainly top 10. But yeah, it’s all subjective — I can’t stand Twain’s. And I’d put Pinewood much, much higher as well.
This is Top 10 in metro Atlanta? Nothing in Midtown, Buckhead, Westside, Sandy Springs? Kind of hard to believe if you ask me.
I have a real love/hate thing with Manuel’s. I’m there on one Sunday afternoon a month for a meeting. There is invariably something wrong. The server disappears for half an hour, the food on the plate is several different temperatures, or the food all comes to the table at different times. It’s maddening. But at least the place doesn’t reek of tobacco any more.
Reasonable list. I would have had Argosy, Barcelona and Krog Bar in top 10. I think I would have put Paper Plane #1, but it is so small that it is really a week night place. Also Ink and Elm Tavern is excellent, but not even listed.
“I would have had Argosy, Barcelona and Krog Bar in top 10.”
Hard to believe Argosy didn’t make the list at all (I haven’t been to the other 2).
One I like that didn’t make it is Tap in Midtown. Nothing spectacular, but solid service, beer list, and food in a great location.
I had a good meal at Tap Saturday before heading down the street to the Alliance for the Dad’s Garage Christmas show. The beers are reasonably priced there. I’m really looking forward to Concentrics finally getting over to our side of town with Mason’s Tavern. They run a reliable restaurant (e.g. Parish, one midtown kitchen, Two Urban Licks) and are quick to act if a concept isn’t working out.
What kills TAP is the inexcusably lousy bathroom situation — a small facility on the third floor. I am not generally the type who minds taking the stairs, but the long climb to relief at TAP gets old real fast.
Yeah, that is a pain, though it is a bathroom with a view at least. And there is the elevator.
When I opened the Men’s Room door at Tap Saturday night it hit the guy at the urinal in the ass.
Didn’t know that was going to be a Concentrics place. That’s a different type of location for them.
Where’s the Marlay?!?! Holy cow – what a huge oversight. The food there is always good and a tier above regular bar food, the ambience is awesome and cozy, and the staff are nothing short of stellar.
Leon’s? Great if you just want to drink. Crap if you want to have a conversation… Soooo loud in there.