Bada Bings Bourbon, Beer & Burgers

I don’t understand any negative reviews. Went with a buddy who is one of Atlanta’s top restaurant operators we both left impressed with the food and service. Our bartender, Cat, was a rockstar. She was attentive and witty. We ordered the ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ burger. The bun was perfect and the mix of ground beef and bacon. Very generous size and a heaping order of fries to boot. Strong beer selection that will meet most pallets and budgets whether you are a GSU senior on a budget or a financial advisor with a black card. Cool game room that will be even better when they get the rumored projection tv… I recently opened an office in the area and plan on being a regular on Thursdays or Friday’s for lunch and for happy hours and to watch my beloved and bedeviled NY Jets on Sunday!

I went to Bada Bings to watch UFC 196 (Nate Diaz is a jerk but he can fight, so off I went in search of a bar showing the fight.) The bar itself was fairly empty with only two couples at tables but the bar was full with people eating and drinking.
My experience initially was good. I got to the bar, had some banter with the bartender (Phil?) and placed my order — a Lynchburg Lemonade and lemon pepper wings with a side of buffalo sauce.
The wings were the overly large kind. Personally, I’m not a fan of those; too many memes on steroid chicken has turned me off jumbo chicken wings. I prefer my wings in the petite side. The lemon pepper wasn’t on all the pieces; not enough shaking going on in the kitchen. But the pairing of lemon pepper with a quick dip of buffalo sauce was divine. Thanks to Phil (?) on that suggestion. Would I order them again? No, but only based on their size; the taste was fine.
Over the course of the evening; I had several drinks; all of which were terrible. And by terrible I mean too much mix. Because the upcharge on liquor is so outrageous anyway, I don’t understand why bars can’t at least put an ounce and a half in a cocktail. WTH, guys?! Based on my drinking experience, I wouldn’t come back here to watch a fight. I wasn’t trying to get wasted; but I wasn’t trying to get a sugar overdose either.
During the course of the night, the bar filled up but there were not enough people working. Two people behind a large bar that were also making drinks for the tables and two people working the tables on a full night meant a lot of people were not being served. And they were coming to the bar to place orders and pay their checks. It was wild and a bit of a turn off. I’m glad I got there early because I probably would not have stayed to watch the fight had I experienced the later service issues.
What sucks about all this is that it’s a great space. It’s a bar I would LOVE to be in — it’s close to home so my Lyft ride would be cheap and it’s a huge space, no one has to be crowded onto anyone else. They even have a pool room in the back! But they have to get their service and drink-​making at a higher level. There is too much competition in Atlanta to be such a slacker.
Unilocal 100 # 22

Came here on a whim to watch the fights and was pleasantly surprised. Great food and great service. Will definitely be coming bank!!!

I don’t get these one and two star reviews at all. Are you people sure you’re writing reviews about the right place?
Came in for a late lunch this afternoon and had a great time out front at the patio tables. Service was prompt, professional and friendly. Erica is an absolute gem. Decent draft beer selection (standards, seasonal’s, IPA’s and stouts all represented).
Started with a hot pretzel. So good the kiddo wanted to order another one. Daughter had the regular burger which she proclaimed was delicious. Hubby had the steak sandwich with fries and I had the Smash Burger with Mac and cheese. Everything was so good that we all cleaned every crumb from our plates.
We don’t get to this part of town often, but next time we do I know where we will stop to eat!

Awesome place. Very diverse. You want wings and PBR and football, you got it. You want to impress a date with steak and craft beer, you got it. They even have an awesome game room in the back with arcades, pool, ping pong, and more.
The vibe can be that of a chill neighborhood watering hole to outright crazy party mode depending on the day.
Definitely the best place to catch sporting events around its area

Chicken tenders are amazing!!! Bar staff is cool as well. There’s a game room in the back with shuffleboard! Just a great local hangout :)

Ever since we moved to the neighborhood we have loved visiting here. This was the first place we tried and the waitress was incredibly sweet and welcoming. I have never been disappointed by the food or the service. This is somewhere that I often bring my young brother because he LOVES the fried pickeles. I strongly suggest stopping by if you need a night cap or need a bite to eat after work.

I’ve eaten here twice now, once dining in with a friend about a month ago and today I placed a pick up order.
The experiences I’ve had with the food have been phenomenal. I LOVE the black bean burger, which is just as flavorful as a beef burger and plenty filling without sides– but you also get sides! The first time I had tots as my side, which were excellently done and came in a huge portion, and the second time I got the mac n cheese. It. Was. Amazing. Creamy, rich, also a pretty filling portion– I could have had that for dinner by itself. I was a little scared about a $ 10 burger at first but with a side it’s a pretty substantial serving.
When I came the first time my friend had the chicken and waffle (which she said was really good) and our waitress recommended us the alcoholic root beer float (fantastic, but how can you go wrong with such a thing?)
The only thing keeping me from giving this 5 stars for now is that the first time I ate there it took a really long time to get service. Once we got the attention of another waitress, she was personable and very attentive, but the initial wait was off-​putting.
I honestly love the food and will be back.

Bartender was friendly. I’m vegetarian so I got a few veggies…
Collard greens. Green beans. Corn on the cob.
Collard greens– was horrible. Didn’t eat it. But paid for it.
Green beans were edible. Corn on the cob off the sides menu had bacon on it. Which I didn’t know.
I kindly paid and left… Still hungry. Greatly disappointed. This wasn’t my first visit but I will not be back.

On Wednesday around 3:30pm I walked all the way from Georgia State to this place, only to find it conveniently closed. There was no hours posted on the restaurant, so I have no idea what was going on. I chose this place because of Scoutmob, then cross referenced Unilocal,like any logical person would do and nothing said it was closed during the afternoon. I really think that’s bad customer service.

Oh, Bada Bings. Strangely enough I like you more for your food than your drinks.
The drinks here are a bit overpriced, and the selection isn’t awesome (but it’s also a sports bar so I feel that can’t be held against them). Still, it’s a laid-​back place to hang out when all the other bars are maddening, and the food is surprisingly good. I think one of the best culinary secrets in Atlanta is their smoked Gouda macaroni and cheese (do yourself a favor, and get it).

I might have to experience this place in the night life! The have all you can eat wings with a pitcher for $ 15!!! Omg! I have to come back… The bartender/​waitress Nicole and Summer are pretty cool… Come down and check this spot out…

What? Why? This place is awful. Literally the only thing they have going for them is the success of Village Theatre, for which people need a drink before or after. That was the reason a few friends and I visited. The place had a terrible smell and basically didn’t «feel» clean, which was confirmed by an ultra-​sticky surface at my spot at the bar. They were out of a few beers we asked for and didn’t have some standard hard stuff (I was under the impression they were just «out» that night, but really? When does a bar ever run out of alcohol, especially on a Friday night?). We ended up ordering a pitcher of bud light, chugging it as fast as we could, and getting out of there as soon as possible.
I’m mostly sad for Village Theatre, which is so awesome and deserves some awesome bars & restaurants in the Pencil Factory Lofts with them. I’ve finally given up on the area so the next time I go to VT we’ll be visiting another neighborhood ahead of time for our pre-​game fun.

We came in to Bada Bings, a nice lil corner bar downtown near O4W/​Edgewood, and were happy with our experience. The bartenders recommended really quality beers based on other beers I said I preferred. They also suggested some delicious food in the ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ Burger (get it Lawrence style) and the meatball sub. Both were phenomenal and came out in appropriate time (10 – 12 mins for lunch). The staff is super fun. The restaurant is really chill and laid back. We will definitely be back (with or without a Scoutmob coupon).

Overpriced food, with abysmal service and a bland atmosphere.
I’ve been twice, unfortunately. First time I was so mad when the food came out, one of those «damn, I’ve been got» moments. On my latest visit, I came in with three people, and it took our waitress 15 minutes to bring us waters. She spilled one of the waters on the card game we were playing and never came back — no napkins, nothing. We waited another 15 minutes and left. We were the only table — there were about four or five people sitting at the bar, and the bartender was also our server. **EDIT** This happened on March 20^th, 2015.
Bada Bings is a huge setback from the Drafting Table restaurant it replaced, and a set back for the neighborhood in general. I have little doubt they will last much longer, especially with the experiences I keep hearing about from my peers who have tried it.
Spend your money wisely and eat elsewhere!

I wanted to like this place, but they shot themselves in the foot. First time I went I had to wait 45 minutes on food when no one else was in the restaurant. It was mediocre.
Just now I bought a Loaf Deal for them. I called in a to-​go order to use it and they say they aren’t valid for to-​go orders. This isn’t in the fine print. I’ll tear up the deal, let loaf deals know, and never visit again.
I had the girl on the phone double check and she said the owner himself said no. He had the chance to be a good neighbor, but he blew it.

«Yeah. But it’s not useless Sam. You can make it into a ping-​pong table, a knock-​hockey table, a salad bar…» — Cheers: Season 3, Episode 15
Sigh… to start, the name. Full of cheese and sets a not so great impression of this place before you ever walk in the door. You get the feeling that you will walk in find some mafiosos sitting in the corner smoking cigars and doing their business. Glad to say, this is not the case, but the place was not much to get excited about.
The place is pretty inside — lots of wood, a nice bar, high stools, etc. We were most excited about the «fun» in the title, so we went looking for the game room. I walked over and found I had walked into another world. It was like a converted warehouse — cement floor, crappy walls, a barely anything to play. Not only was it over-​run with kids, but it was also emanating a terrible odor — like 2-​day old trash. They had a pool table and ping-​pong table and a couple of other games — but this was not a place I would want to hang out in. So we headed back into the main room.
The bartended asked us to please sit on the front side of the bar — it was odd the way she stated it. She was segregating us from the other patrons. We have since decided that it was some large party and she was trying to either keep us separate to make it easy on her as well as try and protect us from the noise and rambunctious kids. It still felt odd.
We ordered drinks — 3 in our party shared a pitcher of beer and I ordered a Dark & Stormy. My D&S was odd — instead of Ginger Beer, they used Ginger Ale. This made it crazy carbonated and it tasted very odd. I choked it down and hoped the dark rum would still do it’s duty. The place was tolerable, I didn’t mind it, but I don’t think this is a place I would go out of my way to frequent. If I could get past the name, it’s one thing, but they cannot tell the difference between ginger ale and ginger beer… Sad.

My fiancé and I should have heeded the warnings of the one and two star reviews, but we decided to take a chance on Bada Bings since we had enjoyed our experiences at both the former Drafting Table and Hill Street Tavern and were in the mood for beer and solid bar food.
Wow, how things have changed. Even with a Creative Loafing loaf deal, we felt had. $ 7 average draft beer price? $ 6 frozen «onion» rings? A ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ burger that ranks below Burger King in quality and flavor? Honestly, nothing about our experience was good except that the waiter didn’t add the automatic gratuity to our bill so that we weren’t forced to reward his bored and inattentive service.
I’m just glad we had enjoyed a couple beers outside at Augustine’s before coming here so that we were in good spirits. I don’t know how Bada Bings will survive with their poor quality of food and service and high prices.

I got got. Big time. To the tune of $ 30 bucks. Ordered through Zifty from this place. My three go to places were offline due to the impending err, «blizzard». Man, whoever writes their menu descriptions should win a prize. The burgers sounded so delicious that I had a hard time choosing one. The gouda mac & cheese just sounded divine.
This crap got here, I opened it, and I knew instantly that I had been had. The burger had a squirt of the glorious aoili sauce on it. The white cheddar? Looked like a piece of regular cheese to me. The gouda mac? Box, maybe? The fries were good.
Fool me once, fool me– there won’t be a twice.

Bada Bings is extremely convenient if you are living in the Pencil Factory Lofts. My fiancé and I frequently went downstairs to Bada Bings or ordered to-​go when we lived there. They have a decent beer selection but are limited on which ciders they serve. The food is always a hit-​or-​miss. We frequented the lemon pepper wings and french fries more often than not. The wings were good but the fries varied from too cold to too soggy to too bland to occasionally just right. However, it was never bad enough to have us stray from our favorite thing to eat there.
It seems that just in the last few weeks they made a couple of tweaks to their menu. On our latest visit I had the new Salmon BLT and it was glorious. A salmon filet with bacon, lettuce, tomato, and a some sort of delicious glaze on top. It has taken over my lemon pepper wings slot for my favorite thing to eat there (even without the bread).
They seem to be trying to add more of a «coolness» factor to the place. They made an expansion to the back room and added a place for ping pong, beer pong, darts, and a few arcade games. It gives you something else to do besides just sitting at the bar while you’re having a few drinks. It’s an addition that my fiancé was fond of.
The only downsides to Bada Bings other than the food being a hit-​or-​miss is the chronic emptiness and slow service. Every time we have been there we find ourselves saying, «whenever we get the check» and «it’d be nice to get a refill». The servers seem kind but more preoccupied with their phones than their customers. Which, I feel bad saying because I am a waitress myself. I am sure that if there was more they could do about it being so empty, they would.
All in all I give Bada Bings three stars. While I often crave their lemon pepper wings and now the salmon BLT … I feel as if they can improve on their slow service and the consistency of the quality of their food.

The food is decent, private parking. Cozy. It seems like a man cave on steroids. doesn’t seem like a sports bar in the sense but someone’s basement. However, which is ironic because it is on the bottom floor of apartments on Decatur Street. lack of specials at this venue. Not great, not bad but somewhere to kick it in the fourth ward. Decent burger, average chicken tenders. Fries are greasy
Grade: C

Came for $ 2 Taco Tuesday and was pleasantly surprised. Had the Mahi Mahi taco, hot wings, and mozzarella sticks.
I’ve been to the location with its previous owner and I have to say I think the changes the new owner made fit the neighborhood much better. It’s a laid back (but not hole in the wall) sports bar with a good amount of draft beers & drink specials. You have your staple bar food but also have nicer entrees that can turn your night into a nice casual dinner date. The décor suits either occasion.
Server/​bartender was great, did not catch her name (short hair and inviting) but is exactly what I want when going to places like this.
Noticed a lot of reviews commenting on the emptiness of the place. I work nearby and unfortunately this is common for a lot of good places on Decatur ST… it’s a developing area that people are slowly learning about. And if you live downtown you already know how people tend to stick with the same 5 places rather than try something new.
All in all the new owner seems to be adapting well to the area and I hope it turns into a popular spot. I look forward to coming back and seeing how they continue to grow.
FREE PARKING IN PARKING DECK!

I came here on a late Sunday afternoon and had a decent experience, but the main problem was that the place was totally empty at 5 PM on a Sunday. I almost decided to leave since I don’t usually like to eat in an empty restaurant or bar, but decided to give it a try.
Apart from being empty, the food and drinks made it with worth the visit. I ordered an oatmeal porter from Highland Brewing in NC that was a really excellent beer. The quantity of drafts was not huge, but there were plenty of good options there.
The black bean burger I had was really good. It came with grilled green peppers and onions along with Swiss cheese. The flavor of the black bean patty was spicy and tasty. It seemed to be a little healthier option in the menu. The side salad was fine but maybe had too many croutons. I liked having the dressing on the side without having to ask for it.
The place is listed as a sports bar, and they do have several screens up that were showing an Atlanta Braves post game show, but the sound was off, so it wasn’t much really to watch. There was relatively loud music playing instead of audio from the TV screens.
I’m assuming it may be more lively when GSU is in session. The place seems like it might be trying to be a college hangout, with quite a few GSU Panthers banners hanging.