Breaker Breaker — Restaurant in Atlanta

I'm absolutely thrilled to see some development taking place on this section of the Beltline, so when I saw that this place had opened, I stopped in to give a try.

I stopped in on the 17th, the day after opening day, and ordered the dockside poutine. It came out quickly, flavor was good, the fries were cooked well, but gravy was a little watery. Overall, not bad though.

I stopped again a couple of days later as I was cycling on the Beltline, but they had ran out of food, so I didn't order anything and went on my way. I guess they underestimated the amount of business for their opening week.

I stopped in again on Saturday the 25th and ordered the blackened grouper sandwich. I was surprised to be told that it didn't come with fries, but I could order a basket of fries separately. The sandwich, the fries, and a small beer in a plastic cup came out to nearly $40, which I found to be shockingly expensive. The food was fine and I guess they have to pay the bills somehow, but the pricing still took me by surprise.

The Good: Great location Great vibe Friendly service Food comes out quickly

The Bad: Pricing Agonizingly slow order process Hilariously inadequate bike parking, kind of a big deal when you're located right on the Beltline No direct pedestrian/bike access from the Beltline. You currently have to walk around the block. It does seem they are constructing a connecting path, but this should absolutely be prioritized for completion as soon as possible. A Beltline establishment that's not directly accessibly from the Beltline is kind of silly.

I want to talk more about the ordering process specifically. It needs some work. There is only a single ordering window for food on the street facing side, and it's an enormous bottleneck. The line is loooong and moves very slowly. The single person working the window is taking orders and pouring the drinks. It makes the whole process slow down tremendously.

There really should be two people at the window, one to take the orders, another to handle the drinks, to keep things flowing smooth. Ideally, two windows, one for ordering and another for people to pick up their drinks, to keep the ordering process moving along.

An additional food ordering window in the Beltline facing side is also sorely needed. There is a large bar that faces both the street and the Beltline, but it appears only drink orders can ordered there. Just open that up to food ordering as well and it would probably help a lot. Please rethink your food ordering process because it does not flow well at all in its...

Forgotten food/poor customer service

I’ve been waiting for this place to open for awhile so I was excited to try it. I went with a friend on a Friday night around 6:30-7. Outside had a good bit of people but my friend and I decided to sit inside since there were only 2 other tables seated and a few people at the inside bar.

Ordered our drinks (the Spritz) which came in plastic cups—not a huge deal but worth noting. We placed our order (friend: gumbo, me: the crab fries/poutine) and the inside slowly statutes to pick up. Time goes by and we notice the table of 5 that sat next to us after we ordered, had ordered and received their food before us. I kindly asked our server about our food and he said he would check. More people start to receive their food and then my friend finally receives her gumbo. As time goes by I still hadn’t received my order, I ask again politely and the server essentially blames it on the runners and kitchen being backed up. I then see another couple sitting near us (that also ordered and came after us) receive the exact same thing I ordered and I call our server order and he still has no good answer for me so I cancel it and we just plan on leaving when my friend finishes.

Our server brought over an order of (poorly plated) poutine and placed it on the table. I asked for a manager, who I also had to check on to make sure he was still coming, and he came 15 minutes later. He was super nice when he came to the table and was very apologetic—the only bright spot to this review. He even said the fries looked unappealing, clearly had other things going on and are still new, but this place is from a known restaurant group and from a customer service perspective it just doesn’t matter. It was a terrible experience to sit around and watch the restaurant fill up and everyone else receive their food, when we ordered very simple items. Would like to be gracious and try them again, but first...

I'm giving 4 for the ambition of the build out and location: it's a very cool repurposing of the old industrial steel foundry bones that are it's roots, and literally right on the Beltline in Reynoldstown. The build was a long one, and I'm sure NOT cheap, so kudos to them for the ambition. As for the food, it's EXACTLY what I've come to expect in Atlanta (so I wasn't disappointed) - thuddingly mediocre, uncreative, uninspired fare created by people with zero passion for food and made with the immediately obvious processed, packaged, frozen Sysco (or similar) supplied bulk ingredients. So grading on that curve, if it's not awful/inedible, I consider the meal a success. This was not awful. If consistently good food out is important to you, well, the A is NOT the town for you. But that's OK. The people were also exactly as expected: some hey bro chill frat-ish dudes, some local neighborhood clinging to the hipster era types that are dead ringers for Brooklyn or Eastside LA denizens circa 2006, a few tourists, some peeps in right off their Beltline runs for a cold one, etc. Very chill and upbeat vibe. Service was (sorry) again, the usual ATL 'I don't really care about my job, nor should you expect me to' mediocre, which would irritate me if in a city I expected more from but, as I'm not, it doesn't (or anyone else...it's a VERY undemanding place...an easy room, if you will. Which is kind of nice actually.) So there you have it. I wish them all the best, as again, they have clearly invested a lot of dough and have created a very unique spot, and hopefully that ambition will be rewarded. PS for the person complaining about their $15 shrimp, they must have been under a rock for the last three years. We've had this little thing called inflation, and, not only in food, staffing etc. businesses are hit with the same huge energy, supplies, etc. price increases that the rest of us have....