Bankhead Seafood — Restaurant in Atlanta

Well, We Tried!

I guess I should have checked the reviews before visiting. We went for my birthday because I wanted to see what the place was like now that they had reopened. The hostess seated us, and we waited 15 minutes for a waitress.

Meanwhile, several other servers were standing around, playing on their cell phones, laughing, and chatting. They looked at us, whispered, smiled, and made eye contact, but didn’t approach.

Finally, the waitress arrived. She mentioned she was working the bar as well as waiting tables, but we suspect she wasn’t even our assigned server. She apologized for the delay and gave a vague excuse for why the others were just standing around socializing. We placed our order:

Big ASS House Salad – $10 Bankhead Platter Catfish – $21 Big ASS Platter Catfish – $37 Corona Extra – $9 ($9 for a CORONA!) Heineken – $6

Total: Subtotal: $83 Automatic 18% Gratuity: $14.94 (added to all parties, regardless of size) -7% Tax: $7.40

Grand Total: $105.34

The food quality did not justify the cost. The highlight of the meal was the "Hush Puppies," but everything else ranged from fair to poor in taste. The Bankhead Platter Catfish and the Big ASS Platter Catfish were nearly identical, except the latter included four VERY SMALL lobster bites—$16 for those bites!

The fish was soggy and lacked flavor, while the shrimp was just mediocre.

Adding insult to injury, the automatic 18% gratuity for both dine-in and takeout orders feels like a slap in the face. Servers have no incentive to provide good service when they're guaranteed 18% regardless of their performance. We waited 15 minutes just for our server to arrive!

The people living in the area likely can’t afford this place. Charging $105 for two people is simply outrageous for fried fish and shrimp.

Overall, this experience was terrible from start to finish. It has been 8 years since we last had takeout from the old Bankhead Seafood, and it will likely be another 8 years before we return.

They are charging Pappadeaux prices for a strip mall experience.

P.S. When we walked in the entire restaurant had...

The hostess sat us down quickly. The place was nearly empty, with only 1 table filled and a couple at the bar. There were plenty of servers just talking to each other and walking past us with absolutely NO ONE saying anything. Finally, after 20 minutes, we had a subpar server (no energy, I STG thought it was a homeless person at first), we ordered a couple appetizers and our meals. The prices were very high versus the original BS but nonetheless we ordered various items on the menu. The appetizers still took 20 minutes and we're looking at each other because it was so slow and the hostess stand says that you can only be at your table a maximum of 1 hour, but we are now at 40 minutes. It felt seriously like another 30 minutes before the main food came out. I promise on my mama that the food was so bad, that we felt we were on the old show called punked. I thought the cameras and crew were coming to tell us all was a joke however this was not the case. Our server never came back but to check on us, actually we thought he left because we didn't see him until he just put down the check of automated 18% gratuity!! No wonder why he didn't check up on us- that fool didn't know that I was a previous server and I always tip around 20-30% because I know how the restaurant industry is. 3 people, only 1 had a cocktail and our bill was over $200!! I really felt bamboozled to say the least. All 3 of us unanimously said at the same dag time that we will never come here again. Poor Mike and TI- they need to install cameras to spy on their employees and the manager as their business will sink fast. Everyone I talked to who went here before says the same exact thing. A former Bankhead girl, behind the Blue...

I was in the mood for some fried fish and me and my boyfriend came here last night to try this famous staple. My boyfriend grew up here and so when I suggested we go try it since it reopened, he was game! The place has a nice ambiance and we enjoyed sitting on the rooftop. We ordered 2 catfish baskets (the other option was pollock...like who eats that?). The restaurant was pretty empty and it still took about 25-30 minutes to get our food. Once the food arrived, we had 2 skimpy pieces of fish, with fries that were on their way to being overcooked. The fish was kinda greasy and lacked flavor. After further inspection of our plate, my boyfriend was like, "Where our other hush puppy at!?" Yup!... we were only given ONE! After finishing our meal, I asked what his opinion was for this place, and he said, "OH, we not coming back." LOL! I would have to agree. Then the bill comes... The menu states the fish basket is $14. WHY ARE WE BEING CHARGED $34?! On top of that they charge an automatic 18% gratuity which brought the total to $43.15! You can only fool us ONCE! The price gouging is INSANE and the food quality is poor. We love to support black businesses but yall need to do better by your community. We should have read the parking lot and the room when there were hardly any patrons at 8pm on a Saturday... Sadly, all these restaurants that are attached to celebrities are always a disappointment....