Atlanta has an appetite for mixing food with fun, which created a dining scene built around comforting meals and good times. But over the last few years, a new crop of restaurants has emerged in the city that appears to prioritize style over substance. When you pull back the ubiquitous grass walls at these establishments, they’re simply nightclubs masquerading as restaurants, kicking customer service, food, and value for money to the curb. When did hospitality get so… inhospitable?
Atlanta established a reputation for excellence in Black dining long ago. Stories are still told of Frazier’s Cafe Society, a Vine City restaurant led by Evelyn J. Frazier, a Black woman from Raleigh, North Carolina. Having originally opened the restaurant in 1936 as Evelyn Jones Cafe (under her maiden name), she married Luther Frazier, a chauffeur for golfer Bobby Jones. She was inspired to reimagine the establishment as a place for fine dining after visiting New York City’s famed Cafe Society, the city’s first integrated nightclub, and seeing Lena Horne perform there. The dinner menu featured rainbow trout, filet mignon in mushroom sherry sauce, and broiled lamb chops at $4.75 per order.
Today, that building is the home of the Seafood Menu, owned by Atlanta rapper Lil Baby. It opened in July 2023, offering lamb chops for $43 per plate, and the reviews have probably not been what the superstar hip-hop act had hoped, particularly concerning service.
“Prices were great if the food matched in quality but the price didn’t seem to add up in the end,” said Google reviewer Miz Krickett. And San Francisco Yelp user Lynette J. said she dined at the Seafood Menu while visiting Atlanta but was similarly unimpressed in terms of value. “After paying nearly $85 for two orders and an a la carte item, I’m kind of pissed.”
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