Flipburger

Flip Burger Boutique is a trendy burger joint off of Howell Mill in Atlanta. I love a good burger so the ideal of a gourmet burger was more than appealing. The restaurant is attractive on the inside. It has a sort of minimalist clean look to it. I went on a late Saturday afternoon, and it has a wide range of people – from families with kids to trendy twenty-somethings. They have a nice patio area – with trendy red plastic molded chairs. This was definitely a positive experience with an awesome meal.

Location

1587 Howell Mill Rd NW
Atlanta, GA 30318-7648
(404) 343-1609

Website: http://www.flipburgerboutique.com/

Menu: http://www.flipburgerboutique.com/flipmenu.pdf

Food

First let me be clear – these are gourmet burgers! They are not colossal burgers that are good because of their sheer size. They are not large, and for guys – you might even want to have two if you’re really hungry. They are extremely flavorful and very surprising. The presentation is attractive – and they just look like they should taste good.

I had the philly burger and Peter had the chorizo burger. This was new for me because I pretty much just like basic burgers – bacon, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, ketchup and mustard. Both of us were extremely happy with the burgers. They also have an amazing list of milkshakes but we didn’t order any of them – so I can’t report back on that. The fries are thin cut and light – but equally delicious. Having tried 2 of their burgers – I’ll definitely come back!

Ambiance

This is definitely for the trendy younger crowd. I saw people with their children here, but I’m not sure I’d want to bring a kid there. They do serve cocktails – and they are yummy! This is definitely good for a not too romantic date.

Random Thoughts

If you haven’t tried flip burger you definitely should! Ladies – the burgers are a decent size – so you can easily finish one of these. Guys – you might want to snack before you come – since a single serving isn’t too big. This is definitely one of my favorite burger experiences.

Noche Logo

About a month ago, I ate at Noche Vinings. Now for those who don’t know – Noche is another one of the Here to Serve restaurants. I’m not a huge fan of this chain of restaurants. They aren’t bad – but I’m sort of anti-chain restaurants. I consider most of their food technically correct although never impressive. That being said – you generally won’t have a bad time when you go to one of them. So before I get into the specifics, I wasn’t terribly impressed with Noche – so this won’t be a post recommending this place. The drinks were good, the ambiance as great, the food was pathetic

Location

2850 Paces Ferry Rd
Atlanta, GA 30339-5719
(770) 432-3277

Website: http://www.h2sr.com/noche-vinings/

Menu: http://www.h2sr.com/noche-vinings/?page_id=671

Food

The food here was a sore disappointment. I’ve eaten at the other here to serve restaurants (shout, twist, strip) and they are almost always functionally acceptable. However, we had about 8 – 9 tapas and all of them were bad. The drinks were good, but I can’t stress how bad the entrees were. I found that the food generally had no flavor. Although fairly visually appealing, the favors simply didn’t live up to the hype.

Ambiance

The decor was great. Our table was right near the open fireplace. There isn’t much to say except they clearly spent most of their money on making sure this place looks good!

Random Thoughts

I’d go back here but not to eat. It’s a great place in Vinings to hang out with friends, get some drinks, and chill.

Divan Logo

This weekend we ate at Divan in Atlanta. This is definitely one of those “uuber” trendy spots in Atlanta. It’s a restaurant and hookah lounge. It’s definitely close quarters as it’s extremely small. It has all the makings of a place that you would “want” to be seen in.  The food here was impressive!  I was disappointed that although we had a reservation, we waited over an hour and a half for our table. Granted the host offered a bottle of champagne to make up for it – but if we weren’t eager to spend our birthday with a friend – I’m not sure I would have waited so long. The food was good – so at least we weren’t upset at the food too. They do have Valet, but they have a very small lot. As a result, we were unable to use the valet service. You can park at the Wolf Camera right next to it without getting towed.

Location

3125 Piedmont Road
Atlanta, GA 30305
(404) 467-4297

Website: http://www.divanatlanta.com/

Menu: http://www.divanatlanta.com/menu.html

It isn’t too far from the buckhead diner – just for reference.

Food

Their menu is extremely limited. However, in their defense, everything we tried was good. I ate the falafaels, caprese salad, and lamb kabobs. I suggest the potatoes as well as an appetizer. The drinks are strong – and pomegranate everything seems to be their specialty. We had a mojito flavored hookah. That is definitely worth trying.

Ambiance

Divan bar

This restaurant is essentially a decent sized house that has been converted into a restaurant. It gives it a nice personal feel. Private dining rooms are the size of bedrooms with couches and low tables instead of your traditional tables. It is a Hookah lounge as well. I just want to point out – this place is TINY! Absolutely tiny! Since it’s the size of a home, it’s very cramped. The bar looks nice, but it can only seat 5 – 6 people comfortably.

Random Thoughts

I like this place a lot. The food is good – despite the few choices. I think they will definitely get my business again. I did hijack the photo above – but it’s an image of the bar I mentioned.

Top Spice Spice Display

Top Spice is a Thai and Malaysian restaurant. I’ve been eating at the top spice franchises for a few years now. There’s also one in Marietta off of Cobb parkway route  41, near the toys-r-us, post office, and LA Fitness. They are known for amazing tasting food and a pretty nice decor. This is simply not your average Chinese food joint!

Location:

Top Spice @ Toco Hills
3007 North Druid Hills Rd
Atlanta, GA 30329
tel: 404.728.0588
fax: 404.728.1132

Website: www.topspiceatlanta.com Menu : click here

Food:

So as mentioned before, Top Spice is more than just Chinese food. You will find the usual staples of fried rice and egg rolls, but you will also get some seriously different dishes, such as the roti canai, spicy shrimp and minced pork glass noodle salad, fried tofu, fried calamari, pad thai, and panang char kway teow. And in case the last one threw you a curve ball : it’s Famous Malaysian wok-fried flat rice noodles w/ shrimp, squid, bean sprouts, egg, soy sauce & chili paste. My two favorite dishes there are the Beef Rengdang, tenderloin beef in a spicy paste and served with fresh cucumbers as well as the spicy combo fried rice. And let me be clear – this is no ordinary fried rice. It’s a combination of rice, beef, shrimp, pork, chicken, peas, carrots, eggs, tomatoes, cucumber, and lime! You can order it at different levels of spiciness from level 1 to to level 8. I have a high tolerance for spicy foods, but I felt that the level 4 was the turning point where the spiciness tended to overpower the flavors.

Ambiance:

I’ve only eaten there in the day for lunch. Most times I order it for delivery. It is very clean and it’s clear that some serious attention to detail went into th decor. It’s not really a family type joint – but I’d suggest it for dates.

Random Thoughts:

This place is great bang for your buck. Entrees hover around 10 bucks – but they can go higher than that. I’ve never had anything that was bad from Top Spice. Definitely worth checking out!

Six Feet Under at the Jane

I ate at Six Feet Under this past Thursday with some friends of mine. It was listed as one of Atlanta’s best spots for affordable good seafood. I would definitely recommend eating here. I want to add a caveat, this is not the best seafood you’ll eat anywhere, but it’s definitely bang for your buck when it comes to price.

Location:

Grant Park

437 Memorial Drive S.E. , Atlanta, GA 30312

404-523-6664

Website: www.sixfeetunderatlanta.com

I ate at the one on Memorial in the new Live Work Play development called the Jane. As listed on their site: Six Feet Under is a sea food restaurant, pub and fish house located in Grant Park and the Westside of Atlanta, Georgia.

Food:

They have a pretty good variety of options. I might add that a lot of it is fried but you can get your usual steamed delights and pots of seafood! I was in the mood for appetizers, so I had the calamari, fried green tomatoes and the seafood quesadillas. My friends had the chicken salad and the BBQ chicken sandwich. YES they had chicken at the seafood joint – but sometimes strange things happen!

The calamari was unexpected. The traditional calamari in any restaurant is deep fried with cocktail or marinara sauce. These were a combination of fried zucchini and calamari with a dill dipping sauce. Overall it tasted well but I couldn’t help but think the zucchini being there was somehow cheating me of the quantity of calamari I was supposed to get.  The seafood quesadillas are listed as having shrimp, scallops and spinach. I’m not a huge spinach fan but these had a bit too much spinach for me and not enough on the shrimp and scallop front. The fried green tomatoes were pretty good – so nothing bad to report there. I tasted my friend’s chicken salad – that was awesome!

I had their Texas Gold patron maragarita – it was pretty decent

Ambiance:

We went at about 6:30 on a Thursday evening. When we first arrived it felt very family oriented. As the evening progressed it was clearly dominated by an older crowd. It had a family neighborhood pub sort of feel. I might add that there were quite a few different police officers eating there that night. I’d come here with coworkers or a bunch of friends.

Random Thoughts:

So it’s great that this is inside of The Jane because there’s a great parking lot behind it. However, it’s right next to an area where there were some armed robberies so it did make me a little nervous eating there. Adding that to the fact that the Jane is only half occupied…. it seems to be a joint I’d rather eat at during the day. Other than that – it was pretty cool.