Longleaf Restaurant — Restaurant in Atlanta

My wife and I went to see the Chihuly Nights Exhibit on 10/30/16, and thought it would be nice to have dinner at Linton's while there. Various friends had not recommended it(Botanical Garden Members), but thought we'd give it a try as peoples tastes vary. We had reservations for 7:30pm, and still had to wait about 30+ minutes, even though half of the tables remained empty. When we finally made it to our table by the window, we were basically sitting with four other people, we didn't know, with only the glass between us. It became comical after a while as we were checking out what the others ordered, making sure we weren't being slighted with the portions... Drinks and appetizers were next. Wife had wine, I had a Mojito for something different. The Mojito tasted great! The Mint Garnish however looked a little parched! It was wilted, and barely hanging on for dear life as it flopped over the edge of the glass. Really people? We're at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens after all... you'd expect Mint with some "get up and go" ! Dinner rolls- three small squares arrived with two pats of butter. There was more butter than rolls(Neither of which had flavor.)! . I guess they figured the drinks would keep the dueling down for the third roll between two people. Our four neighbors on the other side of the glass only received four rolls, so there was nothing for them to fight over. We are talking square rolls from Sam's that you pull apart with some unflavored olive oil brushed over top. Ahhh, the appetizers finally arrive! We ordered warm olives and a cheese sampler. The tiny warm black and green olives are served in a small bowl. The 5$ cost must include the Micro-wave surcharge! The 15$ cheese sampler consists of 4 small chunks of cheese with some dried fruit(tiny raisins with sauce?) and 4 small slices of a silver dollar size Bagel crisp. Warning, get to the sauce before the cutting board absorbs the moisture! The boards must be stored with the Mint Garnish for the drinks!?! We've made it to the Entree stage of this not so exciting dinner. My wife orders a Pasta dish and I order the Mountain Trout. We also asked for more rolls, and were told they were out. Really? Half of the tables are still empty and they're telling people there is a 2 hour wait by the way... Send someone back to Sam's for more rolls! Oh wait,,, I see something else arriving on tables in the form of a small round Pizza Crust Puff cut into 4 pieces. We never received one by the way. Thought about tripping a waiter so I could catch one midair but my wife wouldn't let me. Back to her entree which consisted of a bowl of egg noodles with microscopic pieces for veggies and no sauce or taste. My 30$ Mountain Trout must have had to work its way down Mount Everest as it was very lean and dry. My poor taste buds at this point had all but given up at the thought of knowing what was passing them by. Part of the components never made it on the plate like the black rice that was to accompany the creamed corn that barely made an appearance under the fish. Four(well hydrated, and against this evenings theme) lettuce leaves laid across the top of the fish like a burial with thin fried onion rings. The fish was stiff and dry basically. The only thing I could taste on this dish was the creamed corn. Dessert: we chose the Chocolate Mousse and were impressed! Taste buds were finally doing the happy dance!! I will leave the two strips of orange rind alone which was supposed to be the Orange Marmalade part of dessert. I never give reviews, but thought this deserved one. Dinner was sooo bad, we started laughing at one point and became the cheap entertainment for the evening! Along with the people next to us! I'm only giving the building a star at this point, as this was one of our worst dining experiences in the Atlanta area; and we eat out a lot... Hope this review was helpful to others. We did have fun at the Chihuly Nights Exhibit and...

We went to Linton's last night for my birthday dinner. As members of the Botanical Gardens and Atlanta natives we've anxiously awaited the grand (re)opening; I was extremely excited and looking forward to our dinner. I told the reservation team when I booked through Open Table that it was my birthday and they even mentioned it when they called to confirm my reservation, however, at the actual restaurant no one ever mentioned anything about it - not even a happy birthday. Putting that aside the ambiance is quite lovely and the decor really brought the environment of the gardens inside the restaurant (we did not sit on the patio). We ordered drinks first and then food. We had to ask the wait staff three times - including the manager - where our drinks were even after our appetizers came. I mean, if you have to ask three times over the span of 10 minutes it's pretty clear they are not on their service game. The manager was apologetic and he eventually brought our drinks.

For starters I had the chilled pea soup and it was good but nothing spectacular and my husband devoured his salad which looked fresh and he said was yummy. We were then offered bread service, which was divine. Great bread and butter, y'all! After our food arrived we were asked again by one of the wait staff if we wanted more bread to which we said yes because it was really good bread - and yet they never came back with bread - and then we were asked by another server who had walked by if we wanted more bread to which we also said yes - and it also never came. Once again, if you tell three people and it never happens their service game really sucks.

I had the tagliatelle pasta and my husband the turnips. Both were okay but that's it... both were just okay, mediocre meals. If you want great fresh food in this city there are plenty of other restaurants to choose from at this price point where the food is actually better and most importantly the service is as well. We turned down dessert and left. We weren't mad at the service, I was overall disappointed in the service. I had high expectations for this dinner based on the Botanical Gardens reputation, the names of the people behind the restaurant design and caliber of standards usually seen at this location, however, I won't be back there for food. There are too many wonderful midtown restaurants to decide to return to Linton's and even though we are members of the garden's, I can eat at home and then take the 10 minute drive from my house in Buckhead to explore the beautiful Garden's in midtown. I decided to write this review to spread the word that you'll be overpaying for a bougie location where the rest of the patrons around me seemed to get great service but this millennial couple got shoddy service.

The only reason I didn't give this one star review is because President Jimmy Carter was dining with his family right behind us and that was amazing. Politics aside - that does not happen everyday on your birthday - breaking bread (the one piece that I got) with...

Came in today (Tuesday June 10, 2025) around 12:30pm while visiting the gardens. What a great day to have lunch on the patio. The weather was perfect for us anyway and we got to sit on the patio, under the roof of the restaurant and enveloped in the gorgeous green canopy of the beautiful botanical gardens.

We had to wait about 20 minutes to be seated even though there were many open tables. After being seated we waited about 15 minutes for our server. There seemed to be only 2 or possibly 3 servers for the whole restaurant so perhaps they had a staffing shortage today. Luckily we happened to get the best server ever by the name of Ajeema, who is extremely pleasant, professional and efficient.

We had already chosen our appetizers and entrees so we were able to give our orders right away. The food came out pretty quickly once we ordered which was great.

For an appetizer to share we had the Tartare of Beef, which was wagyu beef, bone marrow, chanterelle and egg yolk and anchovie aioli with chips. The flavor of this was incredible, you could faintly taste every little ingredient, but they were distinct and yet melded together well.

Next appetizer we had the poached pear/coppa de corse flatbread, which is basically pizza. This dish is incredibly good. I can say I’m not sure if there was a pear flavor, it’s hard to describe the flavor really, but it was incredibly fresh and tasty with a very light crust, topped with arugula. Really enjoyed this “pizza”.

Our entree was the fish and chips which normally is “halibut “ and fries, but they had no halibut so substituted with rainbow trout. There’s a big difference between halibut and rainbow trout but we bit the bullet and tried it. The trout was fresh tasting enough but the breading/crust really took away from the flavor, and it was very dry. As for the fries, I’m not big on fries but these were very unique. I couldn’t describe the flavor exactly, it was if they were seasoned with some kind of spices you might find on a piece of chicken or maybe even fish (?), again I’m not sure but they were extremely fresh, very tasty and incredibly light with very little grease for french fries.

We just had waters with our meals since we would be walking the gardens after.

So for 3 small dishes and waters we paid $64. We probably should have not ordered the fish and chips since they didn’t have halibut so that was a disappointment.

Our server Ajeema was the spotlight of the visit. If more restaurants had staff members of such caliber the world would be a better place. Since it was my friend’s birthday today and Ajeema’s birthday is also close she was nice enough to bring out a small pastry to celebrate; man that was like the absolute best thing ever and really made our day! Thanks again Ajeema and hope you have the best birthday ever!

Parking is ample and of course the location and atmosphere is impeccable....