Atlanta Grill: Ritz Carlton

Atlanta Grill at the Ritz Carlton

Website: nhttp://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/Atlanta/Dining/AtlantaGrill/Default.htm

We decided to meet a couple of friends out for dinner and decided on the Atlanta Grill. While waiting, we decided to visit the bar. After a few moments of perusing the bar menu, I decided on the beer, she the martini...which was pretty darn good.

Our friends arrive and we are soon seated. I've learned to ask the waitstaff what they would suggest from the menu....sometimes they will be dead wrong...often times spot on.

1st course: Soup and salad. The house special salad was pretty darn good with the mixed greens, pecans, grapes, and blue cheese. The Cesar sald was nothing really spectacular, but still not that bad. I was not really moved by the soup although you could tell that some time went into its preparation.

The Brunswick stew was like NOTHING that i had ever had before. Not the same as one would expect from say your local BBQ establishment and not close to being as good. There are some things that should not be left to interpretation.

The BBQ chicken was not bad, but definitely what I see as being wrong with good BBQ. The chicken was well cooked, but the sauce, instead of showing off a perfectly grilled piece of meat merely drowned out the flavor with off the shelf flavor.

BBQ Ribs: OK...why go to a place like the Ritz Carlton and get the ribs? I still have no answer to that question and as you can tell...I was the one that asked the question...I knew better. Much like the chicken, there was no "low and slow" over wood or charcoal on this one...just some cooking in the oven and a bit of char from the grill as the "dressed up ketchup is added".

I had the braised beef short ribs over grits. This was not too bad. The beef was nicely (fall off the bone) and the braising juices were pretty good.

The cobbler was a nice concept being individual sized. I think that most of us Southerners love a good balance between the crust and bread. Maybe a more layered or pie in a ramakin approach would step it up. It was still a good dish nonetheless.

The bread pudding was not to bad..not the best in the world, but not bad. The icecream and the whiskey sauce were nice accomplements.

All of us...

The Bottom line: Nice atmosphere and the food was pretty decent. It seemed to me that this place was betting on doing upscale Southern cooking when it did not truly prefect the bascics. I am still searching for really good Soul Food here in the ATL. I had no expectations of even getting Southern cooking at this place...who thinks of Fried chicken and collard greens at the Ritz? I think that the concept is good being that we are in the capitol of the South, but more attention needs to be focused on the quality of the cuisine and stick to the basics before branching out.