Buckhead Diner

The design of Buckhead Diner transports you in time along with the soft music and white tux jackets. Great selection of food, I had the Ahi Poke which was beautiful, fresh, and tasted delicious. The Shrimp and Grits were ultra creamy and rich served with a soft egg. I enjoyed their cocktails as well.

Love this spot it’s pretty neat

I was thoroughly impressed with my first visit to Buckhead Diner. Classy yet retro diner like décor inside and out made for a higher end eating experience with a casual feel. Diner is not the correct word to use as it is a big step above what you would think in a typical «diner», with valet parking and a wait staff in white jackets.
The food was very tasty, lots of unique menu choices that has something for everyone and is still not overwhelming. I had their «famous» veal and wild mushroom meatloaf with mashed potatoes and vegetables and it was very good. The meatloaf was moist and flavorful but my favorite part of the dish was the mashed potatoes, just the right consistency and excellent taste. When it came time for dessert we decided on sharing the chocolate cake and the white chocolate banana crème pie, both of which were excellent. I would eat both desserts again in a heartbeat and gladly accept the calories that come with it.
What stood out to me most during my visit was the service. The wait staff was very quick and polite with every request and was always in eye’s sight if you needed anything. The food did not take very long at all and I was surprised at how fast they got the food and drinks to our table.
I would recommend this choice to anyone looking for a casual place with good quality food and service. Will definitely return!

What really disappoints me is the service! Oh my goodness, I think I watched a slug cross the restaurant before someone came and took our order. In their defense we had a large party, but how long should it take someone to ask me what I want to drink? And there were PLENTY of wait staff, some were just standing around.
The food was alright. The Mac and Cheese tots were disgusting. I thought the cheese would be melted on top of the tots, but it was in a small dish, similar what they bring you when you ask for ranch dressing. The world famous blue cheese chips was ok. it was heavy on the blue cheese. My Irish salmon was light and not too heavy.
I would probably not go back because there are so many other restaurants around this area and nothing on their menu really excited me.

My husband and I didn’t know what we were getting into when reserving dinner, but were not disappointed. Being in Buckhead, the price was no shock and we definitely spent around $ 100, but we also went home with goodie bags from having more than enough food. The fried tomatoes were amazing, and the best part of our experience. Not to mention we had such a knowledgeable waiter with such an adorable southern accent and noteworthy mannerisms. We recommend this place for anyone in search of white linen dining experience without the suit and tie.

The staff and atmosphere at buckhead diner is great. We were able to get a preferred reservation on Mother’s Day. The food is okay. The calamari has a nice Thai sauce and everyone ate but not great. The grilled cheese was very heavy but again was okay. The burger and fries were predictable but not great. We would eat here again but there are tons of better options in Atlanta.

A friend of mine coaxed me into eating here after arriving in Buckhead. Pleasantly surprised by the offerings in this diner setting with valet parking. Food is very good and wait-​staff is awesome. Something for everyone on this menu.

Today was my first time having lunch here, and I’m glad I can finally say I have. The calamari here are deff something I’ll crave again soon, perfect Thai type sauce and crunchiness.
My guest and I shared a burger as well and we’re pleased! I think the French fries could have had more emfff, but that’s okay.
***I really enjoyed our experience because our server was so awesome as well. Request CHAD !! He was happy to tell us what was really good on the menu and just a nice person. :) ***
I’ll deff visit there soon.

I was hesitant because of some of the reviews but the entire family loved it! I had the 2 fried Egg grilled cheese BLT and it was excellent. The double chocolate shake and chocolate cake were very good also. My son got the shrimp and grits and said it was very good. They were able to seat all 8 of us quickly even though we didn’t have reservations. Service was over the top and I thought the atmosphere was charming, an upscale diner. 5 stars in my book.

I’m really disappointed in the Buckhead Diner. I had been coming here for over ten years, and it was always a special place. Unfortunately things have changed, and not just the food, but the overall respect and appreciation for customers. The menu has been changed to remove the «southern» elements. Buckhead Diner had always been a nice restaurant with a southern twist. Now, it’s more New England. The southern pan fried chicken was loaded with curry and was inedible. They even got rid of the peach bread pudding.
Food aside, what really upset me, was the seemingly indifference by management. I spoke to the manager on duty about the peach bread pudding, urging that it return, but he just shrugged and said «menus change.» So I wrote a letter to Niko Karatassos, and the general manager of Buckhead Diner about all of my concerns. Six months later not a single reply. Not so much as an acknowledgement or note of response. If a company is not willing to respond to a regular customers’ concern at all, it must mean they don’t really care about those customers.
I’ve not visited a single Buckhead Life restaurant since, and have no plans to. They’ve forgotten their customers.

We decided to check this place out for Valentine’s Day since we have been a fan of most of the Buckhead Life restaurants. We made a «priority seating» reservation on Open Table for 8:15 PM, but called around 7 PM to see if we could get in earlier and was told «a few minutes, but we don’t quote wait times over the phone.» Before I could say thank you, the hostess hung up. Normally this wouldn’t bother me, but since I had called hours earlier in the day to ask about the special menu and the hostess was equally as rude then, it was something to make note of. When I finally met this woman when I walked in, she was no more pleasant in person. Look, I get you are busy, but its V-​Day and you have to know in advance it is going to be busy. A smile never hurt anybody.
Anyway, we got there around 7:30 and did not expect to be sat earlier than our reservation which was fine, so we checked in and took a corner seat at the bar. Took the bar staff 10 minutes to find their way over to us — odd as they didn’t seem overly busy at the actual bar… but since the two bartenders are also required to make the milkshakes for the entire restaurant, I think they were short a bartender on a night this busy. I saw them making more milkshakes than actual drinks. Also, this is petty, but the barstool I was sitting on was extremely wobbly.
Moving on, we did get a table right on time, but the waiter was not so great. He asked for our drink orders and then almost darted off before I had to pull him back so he could at least take our appetizer order. We went with the Blue Cheese Maytag Chips which most folks seem to like. They came fast, but we were not really wowed by them. Probably would pass next time. Too much blue cheese flavor for us.
We kept it simple for dinner, as I opted for their CBS Burger, and my date went for the Steak and Caesar Roll. The burger was great, but they forgot half the toppings I requested. Then they brought me avocado when I was waiting on the fried egg that they forgot. I basically had to put the burger together myself — HOW FUN!
The steak and Caesar sandwich was good, and we ordered a side of loaded mashed potatoes which were great. We did opt for dessert as well, and the Strawberry Shortcake was really good, as was the strawberry milkshake.
I would like to come back here and give them a second chance, but even the bathrooms were disgusting and smelled of cat pee.
All in all, the food was OK and the service was below average. Our service at Pricci (another Buckhead Life restaurant) was far superior.

Casually upscale. I love the service. Waiters in white jackets! I can’t comment on anything else on their menu except the BLT with two fried eggs sandwich because that’s all I ever order here. My boyfriend loves their grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup.

Overall a B. The food was good. One plate of ham hock soup, one of shrimp tacos and one pastrami sandwich. The ham hock soup was very good. The shrimp tacos were just ok. She said A s was the pastrami sandwich, just ok.
The deviled eggs were great, as was the Banana Cream Pie.
Had to wait one half hour with a reservation. One to two without one.

The term «diner» is actually a misnomer when describing this place. The food served here is amazing. I ended up going here on a recommendation of a friend who frequently visits Atlanta. He had told me that if I ever find myself in Buckhead, this is THE place to go. To this very day, I do not regret taking his advice!
It was about 45 minutes away from the airport, so with a GPS and a car, it wasn’t too hard to find. The inside was beautiful and the wait staff was super friendly. On the waiter’s recommendation, I had their «famous» homemade potato chips with maytag blue cheese, which I must say was one of the most decadently delicious appetizers I’ve ever had! Whatever health consequence I suffered from eating it was WELL WORTH IT! These alone made it worth the trip.
My entrée was the Greek style pork chop with sautéed spinach. I loved it, but I was a little distracted because I was still getting over the potato chips. For dessert, I had the peach bread pudding. All in all, this meal was 5 stars across the board.

I love holiday meals, and I love that our team’s Christmas lunch was at the classic Buckhead Diner. The diner was bustling and we had a brief wait before we were seated, even with a reservation. Some people on our team were worried this wasn’t a nice sit down meal, and expected a «diner» experience — but this is far from that.
Our table was kind of caught up in the middle of everything, so it was pretty noisy and hard to talk to all 13 people at the table. Even so, we had a good time and our server was very friendly and nice.
I started off with an Arnold Palmer (can’t believe that’s on the drink menu). But it caught my eye so the server asked whether I wanted that with sweet tea or unsweetened tea. Is that even a question, though? Of course I want sweet tea.
We ordered some appetizers to share: the calamari and the blue cheese chips. Not a huge fan of blue cheese fan and this cheese was definitely the sharp blue cheese I remember. But I’m sure it’s tasty for people who appreciate blue cheese. The calamari was drizzled and eventually drenched in this sweet and sour sauce. Addicting, but still delicious none the less.
I ordered the veal and wild mushroom meatloaf, which was noted on the menu as a classic item. The meatloaf was moist, although it was disappointingly «meatloaf-​esque.» I was hoping for something a little more elevated and less «plain.» But the combination with the mashed potatoes, gravy and green beans was a classic dish and sometimes, you just can’t mess with tradition.
I was stuffed — I had to ask for a to-​go box. But even so, I ordered the white chocolate banana crème pie (to share) with a latte (for myself). That banana crème pie was DECADENT. Not a huge fan of all that banana and crème but I couldn’t stop picking at the white chocolate shavings. Definitely worth a try, even when you’re way over your calorie limit.
A great classic restaurant to try in Buckhead — not the most upscale (why does it need to be valet though) but you’re treated like you are upscale.

Came here for a holiday christmas luncheon. First impression was, «this doesnt look like a diner». Looks more like a posh restaurant, nice décor. But no one comes here for the décor so… the food. I had the steak cooked medium well… DELICIOUS. It came with three twice baked potatoes the size of golf balls. I had the calamari for an appetizer which was AMAZING, nice and sweet. Not spicy at all. We also passed around some bleu cheese chips– no sir/​no ma’am…those were not good in my opinion. Lastly i had the chocolate cake that was sinfully good but… it could be i was just craving chocolate.
Would go back but the portion size makes me think it might be a good idea to eat before i go…

I have visited Buckhead Diner twice in the past couple months as I was participating in the Buckhead Restaurant Group’s Summer Dine Around program and received multiple gift cards over the summer.
I went once with my bestie. This was a fairly good experience. I ordered the steak and caesar sandwich. This tasted amazing, but the meat was a bit tough so it was hard to eat. Depending on where you bit into the meat, you would end up dragging the whole piece of meat off the sandwich. As my side, I had mac and cheese since the waiter said that it was really good. It was not. It was quite the plain mac and cheese. Disappointing. My milkshake was larger and very tasty. My friend order fried green tomatoes and the mesclun greens and loved both. The only major issue that night was with parking. They were super busy on a Wednesday night. I am guessing cause it was the last night to use the gift cards. The valets were backed up and people had wait a while to get parked. The lot actually got full when I was waiting for my friend. So the valet could not park until people left. What a mess. The crowd also meant that my advanced seating via OpenTable didn’t mean much. We still ended up waiting 20 – 30 minutes.
I went with my guy on the most recent visit. I was debating between the THINLY POUNDED CHICKEN BREAST «JARDINIERE» and the SOUTHERN PAN FRIED ORGANIC SPRINGER MTN. CHICKEN. Since the fried chicken is only served on Sunday & Wednesday and our waiter told us that it had won awards, I opted for that. The chicken comes with citrus vegetable couscous or creamy mac n’ cheese. However, you can change out the side and I opted for the TWICE BAKED ASIAGO POTATOES. The fried chicken was horrible. My date didn’t believe me until he tasted it. It looked much better than it tasted. It is like they are trying to make some fancy alternative of fried chicken instead of relying on classic flavors. Too much paprika for sure. I didn’t finish it. The potatoes were also not good. Hard and not tasty. When our waiter returned to take our plates, my date mentioned about how bad it was. I was just going to be nice and not say anything. Our waiter asked if we wanted something else or if we wanted dessert. I was already planning on dessert and ordered the CREME FRAICHE COFFEE CAKE with housemade cinnamon ice cream. My guy and I were both a bit put off when the cake arrived. It looked so weird. Not like the standard coffee cake one would imagine. I did not like the cake. It was more like pound cake than coffee cake. The ice cream was very good though and I gobbled that up. My date had the PRIME N.Y. STRIP STEAK and swapped out the potatoes for aspargus (with an upcharge). He enjoyed his meal at least. When we got the bill, we found that our waiter had taken off the fried chicken. Wow! We just thought he would comp us dessert since I had already eaten some of the chicken. A great response to the situation and we didn’t even ask for compensation.
So…my like of the food here is hit or miss, apparently. More miss than hit. If it weren’t for the gift cards, I don’t think I would go here. Where Buckhead Diner truly excels is with their service. I am always satisfied with that.
Note: Valet parking during main business hours. If you go late enough, valet will likely be suspended.

3.5 stars.
Interesting ambiance that transports me to a different era.
This is not «standard diner» food. We actually had Thai calamari. This was lightly battered and maximally fresh. I like the light sauce on it that gives it a sweetness. I was pleasantly surprised that (wooden) chopsticks were provided, too.
Crab cake was also relatively beautifully presented. It came with two slices of chips and was in a pool of sweet honey (Dijon?) mustard. All these ingredients also went well together. I would just want the crab cake to be a wee bit more flavorful.
This place may be a bit pricey in terms of food (can get similar food at other specialty restaurants). However, you pay for décor. I’d bring someone here for snacks and to check out the place.

I have heard amazing things about this restaurant, so I have wanted to go there for a while. Fiancée and I decided to go this Sunday evening. I called at around 2 and made a reservation for 6 (we were exhausted and wanted to get to bed early that night). We called at about 4 and asked if we could move the reservation back some… apparently they became 100% booked until 8:30 that night. Wow. Great for them…
We got there just before 6 and were seated the moment that the clock struck 6. Server was attentive and nice.
We decided to order some mac’n’cheese tots as a starter, split a burger and fries, and then get a chocolate caramel milkshake (classic diner fare). The tots were awesome. Breaded and fried mac’n’cheese with a delicious blue cheese dip. We were also brought a little plate of bread. The cornbread muffins were so amazing, the bread sticks were hot and fresh, but nothing special.
We were really happy about our meal thus far… until our burger came out. Fiancée had ordered it medium rare… Guess I should have changed the order to medium… but I couldn’t remember ever having a problem with a burger cooked any sort of medium. It came out and it was just incredibly rare. it looked like they took it out of the ground meat package, formed it into a burger then popped it on the grill for a sum total of about 10 seconds each side. It was barely browned on the outside and the inside literally looked like it had been pulled right out of the packaging… so rare. I am weird about sending food back, so we decided to try to eat it. Both of us ended up eating around the middle as it was just so rare. I attached a picture of the burger that we got.
The french fries were good, and once we got the milkshake, it was quite delicious. The waitress asked us if we wanted it to come with the meal and we said sure. It came out about 10 minutes after she had taken our plates away… not that it was a problem, as it was more of a dessert at that point, but if she said she was going to bring it with dinner, she should have done that… though I understand that it was likely not her fault at all…
We would go back… maybe just for a milkshake though.

I’ve been here numerous times over the years, and again twice in one week. That speaks to consistency, and contentment.
This time I had my regular Tuscan Kale salad, $ 9, with a crab cake (starter size), $ 12. See photos. My wife ordered her usual… the Tuna Nicoise salad, $ 21. All delicious.
We asked for Sheila again to serve us, and she remembered our dietary restrictions from the previous visit!!! Amazing!!! Again, she took great care of us.
We’ll probably visit again during the next week before we depart Atlanta.