Five and Ten — Restaurant in Athens-Clarke County Unified Government

Five and Ten provides a great customer experience no doubt. They ensure the front of the store gives off a relaxing, inviting atmosphere.

However, behind the scenes the kitchen staff are hostile and unusually cruel to any new employees. Reminded me of a highly unnecessary hazing ritual. I worked here for a few months my senior year of highschool, entering the serving industry with energy and passion to learn. As I have continued to work in the said industry, I have realized how unprofessional these 'professionals' actually were, and have since had to re-learn how high end restaurants actually operate . . . with some degree of compassion at the very least.

Passive aggressiveness was standard and there was a consistent air of superiority, especially towards me, the dishwasher. They would deny me my shift meal often with no regard. Unwarranted blatant disrespect aside, they would continually pull me away to make me scrub the SAME staircase over and over rather than have me actually be productive. Even going so far as to make me scrub it when something unrelated prompted them to react in a negative way, very blatantly taking it out on me.

After months of busywork and inquiring about my desire to learn prep cook skills, I was even told by the managers I was going to be promoted and would no longer have to do certain tasks (I.e. scrub the stairs was the example they gave me - they said they were going to hire someone new for the position) and I was elated!

Next day, I was told to come in early to learn the ropes. I come in with a fresh mindset and renewed energy, and immediately I'm asked to clean the stairs. I attempted to remind them of my supposed promotion and they acted as though it was never mentioned and even went so far as to openly scoff at the proposal. For close to two months afterward there was no mention of the 'promotion' and they kept making me clean the same staircase. It was shortly after this I resigned as the workplace was so toxic.

I am posting this review now - 5 years later - because I am still having to relearn negative reactive behaviors and realizing that most restaurants operate WAY above this standard of kindness and morality

Seemed like they just wanted to push me for months until I quit - Which I did

If you are a customer, enjoy the food and atmosphere! Just be aware the kitchen staff are begrudgingly tucked away and hostile.

I would NOT recommend working here. The same staff has been in place for years and they do not take kindly to any new people interfering with their careers (young men specifically to be...

I drove to Athens from Atlanta with my wife and 4 year old nephew for the GA Bulldogs National Championship Parade. We had an awesome day and wanted to end it by having a nice dinner in Athens. Since we were unfamiliar with the area we used the Open Table app to look up a place to eat and found Five and Ten.

So right when we get there a staff member immediately stopped us and asked us to put on masks. We thought this was a little weird because we had been in several businesses in the area and even went in a bar earlier and only one establishment had a mask policy. But we understand that COVID is still a concern so we put on the masks they had at the front

After putting on the masks the staff member then asked us to show them our COVID vaccine cards or a picture of the cards. So at that point we're really shocked because we've never been asked to show a COVID vaccination card anywhere ever. We've even traveled overseas and out of state several times since COVID and have never been asked to show proof of vaccination. But nonetheless my wife thought she had a photo of the cards in her phone so we spend 10-15 mins looking for the photos. While we were doing this the staff turned away elderly couple that said they just wanted to get some dessert because they did not have their COVID vaccination cards. I felt bad for the couple because they explained to the staff that they parked far away and would have to walk all the way to their vehicles and back to the restaurant to show them their cards.

After a few minutes my wife ended up finding a photo of her card but she couldn't find mine. Another host then told us if we couldn't find my card we could sit outside on the patio. Since it was freezing cold and we had a 4 year old child with us we decided not to go with that option. So after all of that we just ended up walking out and driving all the way back to Atlanta to get dinner.

This was a horrible experience and I will never book a table at this place again. I'd definitely recommend putting the restaurant's strict COVID policies on the Open Table App the avoid this situation in the future. Also I'd post signs on the side entrance door by the parking lot in addition to the front entrance to inform patrons of the policy before they enter so they don't...

The setting of an old house is quaint. Not too stuffy but not too casual either. Parking was a little tight. We were sat right away with our reservation. 6:15 on a Monday, not too busy. The main dining room was a little chilly. We figured they were expecting more customers and it would warm up. Tables are metal legs with wooden tops, chairs were ok and everything was acceptably clean. The hostess was nice, we were given water and menus right away. Menus also included the happy hour specials and a list of bottle wine specials. Happy hour gimlet was good and the local lager was too. The charcuterie board was ok. We stretched it to feed 5. The Sun-choke jelly was ugly but de-li-cious! Our server was personable. We asked questions about the menu and various waitstaff members either could or unfortunately could not answer them. Our impression was that there wasn’t much of a ‘team work’ vibe happening. Beet salad ok Mushroom soup ok but needed a little kick of something They were out of dumplings! We later found out that a large party of economic conference guests were sat in another room and we figured they were given dibs. We were offered extra sourdough bread which worked out as a good alternative for sopping up the juices. The trout ok The schnitzel was given a 9/10 from everyone who ordered it. We weren’t going to order dessert but because of the “no dumplings” and a late entree, we were comped and we ordered one of each. The lemon cake—needs work, tasted floury and heavy The chocolate offering— too bitter but…the banana ice cream was amazing The orange pavlova—-10/10! Best thing we ate—perfect treat. We enjoyed a leisurely very good meal and would recommend this restaurant for adult diners, date night, special occasion, or as a treat. There is...