Hudson Grille — Restaurant in Atlanta

We were at State Farm Arena for an event and decided to head to Hudson as we knew it would have the perfect ambiance for friend night out. As we walked in I realized this was my first time at this location. I love the authentic feel of a local bar though it’s in the heart of Downtown.

As we entered the second set of double doors there was no one at the host stand. To our dismay it took about 5 minutes for someone to acknowledge us. This seemed odd to me as the night wasn’t busy. Nonetheless, once someone arrived at the stand to assist us we were seated.

We sat towards the middle of the restaurant which was an awesome space. Being in the middle allows you to appreciate the atmosphere diversity as you are picking up on the feel of the bar, patio, and main inside area. The floor design plan of this location allows for the maximum use of space as well as provides a great person to person space for date night, friend time, and even adult family time.

Upon being seated we were immediately acknowledged by our waiter who arrived to our table and welcomed us and introduced himself as Toye. Toye arrived with a smile on his face and was super focused on us and provided the food and drink specials as well as some of his favorite items.

The Food: I decided on a Sweet Tea as my drink, Spinach Dip for the appetizer, and the Luau Sirloin.

The Sweet Tea was Just like I like it, Sweet and Southern. LoL! It reminded me of someone’s grandmother in the kitchen stirring the tea as they poured in the sugar. It truly was a glass of love.

The Spinach Dip was sooooooo good. Ok! Hear me out. I’m sure we’ve all had spinach dip at some point. However, this dip had the perfect spinach to cheese ratio that allowed each ingredient to have a presence and get its shine within the dish. Well done chef!

As far as my main course! The Luau Sirloin. An 8oz cut of quality sirloin with teriyaki glaze, pineapple salsa, and I paired it with a side salad and loaded mashed potatoes. As beautiful as this dish was I was unable to truly savor it as I asked for it Medium-Well and was served it Well! As one knows, the difference in the temperature not only changes the flavor profile, it also affects the experience.

With the aforementioned, the sirloin was still good. The teriyaki glaze is perfectly married with the pineapple salsa to a degree of mouth-filling excitement. As it was pleasantly enjoyable with the meat well done, I can only imagine how much I would have enjoyed it if it was medium-well.

The side salad was fresh. Fresh produce and the perfect amount of Caesar dressing. The loaded mashed potatoes were bland. Even with the cheese and bacon the flavor profiles individually as well as together were no bueno. I could have saved my carbs and just ordered broccoli. LoL!

Overall, it was a good experience. Toye provided great service. The ambiance was upbeat and enjoyable, and the food wasn’t bad. I will definitely come back for the spinach dip as well as to give the sirloin another try at my preferred temperature of choice.

If you’re in the area on a date or with friends definitely stop in and...

I wanted to like this place because honestly the food was great. Overall though it was a frustrating bad experience. The short version is the service was terrible, no one was attentive, and it took an hour to get a to-go order that still had mistakes. The long version is below.

I placed an order at 10:21PM on a Sunday using UberEats. I am staying across the street so I placed the order and walked across at 10:40. Expected pickup was 10:48.

When I walked in no one was at the host station, all the service staff were sitting at a table further in the restaurant. Someone eventually came after a few minutes and I told him I was picking up. He said okay and went away to check I guess. Not sure before he never came back to me with an update. I sat at the bar and waited.

The restaurant wasn’t packed. But my food never came. Two bartenders came to ask me was I okay and I told both I was waiting for food and they just said okay. No one went to check. But in the time I waited the whole staff stood by the bar eating. That was a turn off. And I saw the original guy who came and spoke to me, picking his teeth with his hands and then carried shots outside to guest. That’s nasty.

A girl came to the front to take another group of guests order who wanted it to-go. I stopped her snd said I’m waiting for food. She went to the back and checked. She finally came out after another 15 minutes with the food. It was FRESH and hot. That tells me someone either forgot about me order, neglected my order, or never started it when I ordered it. It was 11:17…almost an hour later so there is no way that was made at 10:21. I am sure she went back and it wasn’t made and had it made on the spot.

But she forgot about my drinks. Asked me what they were (she handed me the receipt so she should have checked prior). I had flavored lemonades and when she came back she gave me the wrong flavors but at that point I was not going to further wait, I took it and left. It was 11:21 - 59 minutes since I placed my order for two burgers and two lemonades.

I didn’t want to give it one star because the food was actually really good! Sweet potato fries are a must and they give this cinnamon sauce situation. Absolutely good. And again I got hot food so I was at least happy that it was fresh (if it were not I would have sent it back after waiting an hour). But everything else about the experience was 1 star. The service was bad and I hate to say because everyone was young but the just lacked professionalism and attentiveness. If the order were correct I’d probably given it 2 stars. I shouldn’t have had to talk to 4 different people to get my food. Even if I had to speak to more than one, the next person up should have took ownership because it was clear as day I am sitting waiting. I watched the bartenders doing their own thing, making mistakes, not paying attention to people. It was really just bad.

Would I recommend the food, sure. I myself would never go...

I was a guest that eventually turned employer and when I tell u i got to see it from both perspectives , Hudson Grille is nasty!!! I used to hang out there because the drinks were cheap and they have goods wings with different varieties of flavors. Eventually I took an interest in employment and got the job as a server and thats when I saw what I saw I would never advise anyone to EAT there! The kitchen is the most unsanitary found out the wings aren't fresh they fry a huge bowl of wings and the bowl of wings sits there all night waitin to fulfill orders (hence the wings are never fresh just redropped) Nor do any of the cooks use gloves. I literally saw a large bowl with raw chicken breast sittin out not refrigerated for hours. I saw the head cook Herman cut raw steak no gloves also that meat sat out no refrigeration. The dish pit where they get your drinks, Dirty!!!! Cups are always greasy with old food stuck to them (that's y I recommend u ask for a Togo cup) the ice machine is disgusting with black mold inside but servers continue to get guest ice from there. I've literally watched servers eat off guest plate before it goes out to the table they might steal a French fry or tater tots or a piece of chicken before dropping tray off. The cooks with wipe a plate with a filthy towel to help make presentation looks good (used the same towel to wipe everything around him including your plate!!!) When staff is sick they still show up and cook your food. It's never clean in there kitchen they have all the sauces the use for the wings in bowls sittin on a cart close the ground right by walk way door as a guest u can see how nasty the kitchen is when the door swings open u can even see the bowls of sauce damn near on the kitchen floor. If u go I advise to use all plastic where!!!! Then on top of that the staff is super un professional from management down to the hostess! Then I found out when u ask for titos or Don Julio, if there out of the good quality alcohol they will make your drink with the well liquor and still charge guest for the premium brand!!! And guest never even notice!!!! Going from customer to employee showed me the dark side of this place then on top of this staff is very unprofessional they argue infront of guess and they truly half ass everything. Come to find out management steals money from employees so I quit!!! No love lost but would I eat there or refer anyone there? Absolutely Not !!!!! Definitely a 3/10...