Atlanta

Gang violence. There's always that.

SoWo is going on in Helen Georgia this weekend, it's about an hour north of Atlanta. If you have any interest in cars at all grab a cooler and some beer and go check out the insanity. It's also a beautiful little Dutch/German town.

Still sad I couldn't go this year.

http://www.helenga.org/

Atlanta is a terrible tourist town. Trust me, I've lived here for 30 years.

There are some great restaurants and pubs though. If you're downtown, check out The Brick Store or The Porter for excellent grub and some really fantastic beer lists. Or you can go eat terrible, greasy fries at the Varsity and then go see a fat stripper at the Clermont Lounge. That's the trick we always play on out of towners.

edit: Helen is the worst place in the state. It's a tourist town that HATES tourists. They'd be happier if you just threw your wallet out the window and kept on driving. It's the kind of place where your bartender might well call the cops to pull you over after serving you 2 beers because you're an out of towner and it's easy money for the county.

I went to SoWo a few years back and loved it there. All the shop/bar owners seemed very nice to us anyway.

You're out in the west side suburbs then, a bit south of me. Six Flags is the closest thing to you. Downtown is going to be a really expensive cab if you don't have a car rented. If you get downtown, check out Bone Lick Barbecue. Best goddamn pulled pork I've had in the city.

Depending how long you're here, we have some breweries as well. Sweetwater does tours and tastings a couple times a week, and there's also Red Hare in Marietta (northwest side where 285 and 75 meet).

Too late for this thread, but agreed that Atlanta sucks for tourism. Not that much to do that any other big city doesn't have. World of Coke, GA Aquarium, High Museum if you like art, and Stone Mountain are the things I would consider taking visitors to. Atlanta has a surprising number of really good, inexpensive, local restaurants though. Ted's, the Vortex, Fox Bros, and the Flying Biscuit Cafe are just a few that are A+ in my book.

Question about Atlanta, being that I'm going there in a few weeks.

I'm looking for a "good" movie theater. I'll be away on vacation, but that won't stop me from seeing Kick-Ass 2 opening night. So what theater would you guys suggest?

Thanks.

What part of town?

We're staying at the Hilton (center city?) that's closest to the Aquarium.

If it's the big Hilton, I know that hotel. I'm there every year for DragonCon. Closest theater that isn't a shithole will be the one in Atlantic Station in midtown near Georgia Tech. It's a big Regal, pretty nice. Should be able to find the address online no problem, it's just a couple miles north of there.

Thanks. I'll look into it.

Heylel_sl said:

If it's the big Hilton, I know that hotel. I'm there every year for DragonCon. Closest theater that isn't a shithole will be the one in Atlantic Station in midtown near Georgia Tech. It's a big Regal, pretty nice. Should be able to find the address online no problem, it's just a couple miles north of there.

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Yup, that will be the closest decent theater to where you are staying. It's a nice area, lots of stores/restaurants around the area.

Next question - I'd like some suggestions for decent (non-chain) restaurants to eat at. And additional tourist shit to do.
We're going to the aquarium, the zoo, coke world, CNN tower and museum of natural history.

Going to be there for 8 days. I know we'll probably spend a day or two just dicking around at the pool or something, but I'd like to have a list of things worth doing that we can pick and choose between.

I absolutely plan on trying some of the restaurants listed earlier in this thread, but I'd like more options just to have them.

Brickstore Pub and The Porter for beer. Both have awesome menus that are very different. For my money, the food at Porter is a touch better, while Brickstore has a slight edge on exotic beers. Iberian Pig is phenomenal. What they serve is right in the name.

I'll add more tomorrow, too damn tired to think right now.

Looking forward to the rest of your suggestions.

Thanks.

A few off the top of my head. YMMV depending on how divey you want to get and your ability to travel:

BBQ -Fat Mat'sorDaddy D'z
Japanese -Shoya(This is some of the best Japanese in the country. Seriously. Not just sushi, either.)
"American" -Holeman and Finch,Farmbuger,The OK Cafe, and, as mentionedThe Vortex
Vietnamese -Lee's Bakery(best Banh Mi you will find)
Pizza -Antico's
Breakfast/Brunch -Flying Biscuit(though I preferStone Soup Kitchen),Treehouse

Awesome, thanks. I'm sure my wife will like Shoya. And I plan on trying a bunch of these places.

It's strange.. I personally don't like traveling somewhere and eating things that you can get back home, yet when my wife's parents flew in from Japan, all they were in the mood for were Japanese/Asian style foods. Oh well, what can you do?
I'll give my review of Shoya after going. We've been to a lot of places in Japan and are well acquainted with the food over there.

You won't be disappointed. The place is owned, staffed, and packed with Japanese expats. I'm frequently the only Caucasian in there, which in Georgia is really saying something. One of my best friends lived in Japan for ten years and married a Japanese chef, and they both love the place.

Get the tonkotsu ramen. The broth is ambrosia. I would bathe in it.