Colonnade

You can get Good Eats at Atlanta's Colonnade restaurant, and i did when I visited recently. I was visiting Atlanta with a friend and we met up with several of his friends for dinner on a Friday night here. There was a wait, a good 30 minute wait, but it was well worth it. We sat outside on the patio and had a few drinks while we were waiting, it was a pleasant spring evening in Atlanta.

Eventually we were seated and had a chance to peruse the menu. It has lots of good ole southern favorites on it, for sure. Eventually I settled on the Low Country Shrimp and Grits with black-eye peas for a go-with. I also ordered a salad for a starter. The others in my party got their salads first. Eventually we flagged our waitress down and then she got my salad as well. I guess she was a bit new but was apologetic and otherwise our service was good. My side salad was pretty good and I had it with a homemade balsamic vinegar dressing--that was very good as well. A salad always hits the spot with me!

In due time my Low Country Shrimp and Grits arrived. Twelve fair sized shrimp sat atop a mixture of okra and tomatoes that sat on top of some cream grits. Each element of the dish was pretty good. The shrimp could have been cooked just a bit less, but they were not grossly overcooked. The okra was done perfectly and not at all slimy. The tomatoes were plentiful and flavorful, and the grits were nice and creamy and not at all gritty. Nicely done. I did feel a bit that the dish was four separate elements, however. They all went together well, but did not seem to be tied together really well like with a sauce or some other element. Still, it was a good dish and I enjoyed it a lot.

My go-with was a side of black-eye peas. I guess I was expecting something more. They were OK, a bit on the ordinary side, and lacking in a bit of salt--they could have been seasoned better. But they also needed something to make them pop, and they did not have that. They weren't bad, they were actually good. It's just that they were not spectacular. Oh well.

Overall, we had a very nice dinner here. It was a lot of fun and my friends all enjoyed their food. I had a taste of the trout one friend had, and it was very good. I also had a fried chicken liver--I did not think I'd like it at all, but actually, it was very good! Our waitress did apologize for the forgotten salad and as a result took my drink off the bill, that was very nice. Overall, our service was pretty good and we had a great time.