Gene's — Restaurant in Atlanta

Pretty solid experience for my first visit. Was slammed on a Thursday which I was happy to see. Seating was full up inside but there was some room outside. Counter service but there are people circling the floor constantly to grab trays and trash.

Candidly everything was a bit confusing from top to bottom. Said there was communal seating and pointed out a table I could sit at, I assumed because there was one person there there might be room for me and my buddy to sit but someone was holding the table for a larger party. Of course I just asked them this and then found somewhere else to sit so no biggie. I also asked about where the water station was and my question was kinda cut off with "just order first and I'll tell you later" while at the counter. To be fair it was pretty crowded. Also, they told me "brisket is out because our walk in went down and the brisket was the only meat we couldn't salvage." I'm sure it was fine, but the implication was all the other meats were "salvaged." Not exactly appealing in my mind to start the experience. Finally regarding the confusion there were two stations for sauces next to the service window. I didn't know which one was for the kitchen and which one was for servers. And there was so much kitschy stuff on the walls it was hard to see the "self service" sign above one of the sauce stations. Needs some dialing to draw the eye and ensure new customers know what to do.

Ambiance and staff was like taking a time machine back to 2009 peak hipster in Austin Texas. Cool interior and decor. But kinda had that hipster feeling of superiority to it with the service at times. They forgot one of our meats on 2 three meat combo trays and I had to explain it a few times and point to our order on the screen after they said "so like what do you want." Also asked for printed receipt on POS at counter which never printed so it was more of a headache. When our food came up the dude on the mic was like kinda not exactly speaking clearly and enunciating too.

Now to the food. Got the chicken x2, boudin, ribs, and pulled pork along with the Cole slaw, potato salad, Mac and cheese, and esquite. The star was definitely the potato salad. Definitely some of the best ever, green goddess was a brilliant play. The Cole slaw was washed out and cloying with too much mayo imo. Mac and cheese was fine but dry and not especially well seasoned or cheesy. Esquite desperately needed some lime juice to lift it. Ribs were beautiful in terms of appearance and bite through. Seasoning of them without sauce was a bit light in my opinion. Boudin was amazing but the fat seemed a bit smeared and texture was a touch homogeneous so making sure mince and equipment is chilled too 34F might help with that during processing. Chicken was just fine but only two skewers per serving seemed very light compared to the rib portion which was very fair. Pulled pork was solid (and great portion) and had nice smoke flavor too it albeit being a touch mushy for me. All the meats were covered in herbs fines like dill, mint, and one other I forget. True to the hipster vibes but felt completely out of place. Tomato based sauce was way too ketchupy and vinegar sauce was very very thin. But flavor was good on sauces overall especially when paired with the meat. Had to do a finger test first.

Hurricanes and Jell-O shots were killer! Was offered a combo of jello shot and beer as a "deal" but it was the same price as if they offered it on the menu a la carte. Spent roughly $130 for two three meat trays and two drinks including a 20% tip.

I want this place to be wildly successful. They are relatively new so I hope my review is taken to just be constructive criticism as I intended vs ragging on them. I need a great bbq spot near me and can totally see myself hanging here for some beers and cocktails too. It's in walking distance from my little bros place so I really really want these folks to crush it. Overall, and most importantly I think these are a good group of people cooking good bbq. I look forward to cooking back to try...

Don't bother visiting if you have a stroller.

We have visited Gene's several times but none since having our daughter this past winter. We are always cognizant of bringing a stroller into small restaurants and only do so during non peak hours so staff/other customers aren't inconvenienced.

Today (Sunday at 2 PM) we visited Gene's. There was ONE other customer inside and several on the patio. The hostess asked where we would like to sit and we said we would sit where the stroller was the least in the way for them. The hostess "hmmm"-ed a bit and said somewhere inside. I I suggested the far back booth and she agreed that was a good spot. Unfortunately that booth was being occupied by an employee's laptop and the hostess could not find another table we could use after that obstacle. I suggested a booth 3 down from the back (again there was ONE other customer in the restaurant) - and she in return suggested I park the stroller elsewhere and take our baby/the car seat out - I said we needed the stroller - she then suggested a high top - I said that probably wasn't a good fit with the baby and again asked if we could use the booth next to us as there were very few people in the restaurant at the moment. She said "sure", put the menu's down, and then said "I mean people could come later but that's fine". I said oh if we're in the way then we can move. She said "that's fine" again and walked away. At this point we decided to leave and she told us to "have a good sunday!!" sarcastically as we walked out.

We have never had an issue at a restaurant so this was shocking and upsetting. We went to Ford's BBQ a few minutes away and they did not make us feel as though having a stroller in their restaurant on a Sunday at 2 PM was a huge...

The food is overpriced and under-seasoned—really nothing to write home about. Save your money and go literally anywhere else. I can’t stop thinking about all the better meals I could have had instead. The oysters were tiny, the chicken had barely any meat, and the mac and cheese was a sick joke. The salad was bone dry. The pulled pork lacked flavor unless drenched in barbecue sauce.

The space is small, with only one person taking orders, so it backs up quickly. The service was a mixed bag. Our waitress, a bubbly sweet redhead, was great. However, the other waitress, with black hair, a tan claw clip, and what looked like a face full of filler, had a terrible attitude. I’m not sure if she woke up on the wrong side of the bed, but it was off-putting.

We tried to order crab claws, which were listed on the overhead menu, but were informed they weren’t available. As I started to mention that they were still listed, she shot me the meanest look, as if I’d asked them to make the crab claws just because they were listed (which wasn’t at all what I meant). She cut me off with a curt “we’ll handle it.” If she had let me finish, she would have heard that I was only pointing it out so others wouldn’t make the same mistake. I’m not sure if she misunderstood my intention or if she’s always this sour, but the whole interaction was very off-putting. My mother and the people in line behind us witnessed it too and couldn’t understand why she reacted that way. An hour later, the crab claws were still listed...