Rowdy Tiger Whiskey Bar & Kitchen — Restaurant in Atlanta

Alright, where to begin? I want to like this place (close to my house) but my first experience was not what I would call a slam dunk. We came for brunch and I ordered the salmon BLT... but then they came back to the table and told me they were "out of salmon". That's a little weird, considering it is on your dinner menu also, but I'm jiggy with being flexible so I order the fried chicken and waffles instead. Well, the server comes back again and tells me their waffle machine is non-functional (seems INSANE they only have one waffle iron considering this place looks like it seats about 200 people and serves the entire flippin' hotel). They ask if I am cool with fried chicken and FRENCH TOAST instead. Ridiculous but also kind of hilarious and if it is great maybe I will be on the cutting edge of a new Atlanta culinary institution? Anyways, the food was incredibly mediocre. It tasted good but the presentation of the food looked like something I could trot out and I ain't no chef. Here's some constructive advice: don't put the syrup on the pancakes and french toast for your customers, it just soaks right into the pancake/bread and kills the fluffy consistency of the bread. This is some day 1 breakfast shiz right here, people. You don't have to be valedictorian at Cordon Bleu to comprehend that! Waffle House gets it and they charge me $7.95 for the courtesy!!! The food, despite being exceedingly pedestrian, is offered at prices that make you consider whether or not you will have to cash in your 401k early to even-up on the check. Going on with the brunch, I order the banana pudding for dessert. This banana pudding was actually a banana flavored stringy liquid with gigantic hunks of banana thrown in and crusty, half broken Nilla Wafers haphazardly shoved in. It was an affront to a TRUE southern culinary institution.Cocktails were great but they start at about 12 bucks and go up from there. Listen, I know this a restaurant attached to a hotel. I know they are going to price-gouge your pants off because most people are paying for their meals here with the company dime, not their own personal retirement nest-egg (100 bucks for brunch for two with just 1 beer and one cocktail total and that was BEFORE THE TIP). I know we are in Midtown ATL and things are generally a little more spendy here. I know this place isn't meant for a spot on the Michelin Guide. I get that. But come on Rowdy Tiger! This is what is wrong with restaurant dining today. This is lipstick on a pig. The restaurant interior is visually attractive but that is the best part about this place. If you got the huevos to charge me 10 bucks for a beer and 25 dollars for 1 PIECE of fried chicken, 2 whole, uncut pickled jalapenos, and 2 pieces of french toast, at least make it better than what I could get from a 14 year old HS student taking their first whirl at cooking a meal in Home Ec. That, or go for quantity over quality and give me another piece of bread, another piece of chicken, and do me a favor and cut the jalapenos for me cuz the butter knife ain't cuttin' it! "But Josh, it is just a hotel restaurant, give them a break." No, not without an honest public critque. If Nikolai's Roof (attached to the Hilton downtown) can make a fantastic meal in a Atlanta hotel, I bet my friends at the Rowdy Tiger can get themselves a back-up waffle iron and a nice chef's knife and give it the ol' college try. When you pay a premium to dine out, you expect that you will be provided with a good and service that looks, feels, and tastes...premium. All that being said, they have a rooftop that wasn't open when we went and my girlfriend is like a crack-addict when it comes to rooftop ANYTHING. So, I will probably be back, and I will come with guarded optimism in the hopes that maybe I caught y'all on a bad day. I want to love you Rowdy Tiger, but you are making it hard. Gotta cut this review here as I have to go donate some plasma now so I can pay off my credit card bill after the...

I really wanted to like it, but there are some major issues. Service was good, but I did notice staff complaining about schedules and other staff in full view and earshot of customers, for example, while they were at the bar. Also, no manager-staff "coaching", for lack of a better term...is was much more of an arguement, should EVER happen out on the floor, especially at the end of the bar, and any manager should know that. Also, why is the issue of someone on staff not being able to make a cocktail correctly from the night before being discussed in front of customers? The food was...meh. Its definately not worth all the rave and hype they put behind it on social media. When the soup was the best thing I had, and I picked 4 items, there is an issue. The Caprese salad....the price for that vs the amount...wow...could have done with more. It looks and feels like it wasnt priced out to be what you pay for, but that it was simply created to fit the space of the plate it's on, which might easily come out smaller then the receipt you get for your time there. The burger: second most glaring item with issues I had. Medium...sure, it was pink, but the beef was very dry, as if they left a press on it the entire time it was cooking, which was completely unnecessary for a number of reasons, but mostly because I specifically asked them to go ahead and stage out all the items I had ordered. Basically, outside of the bacon and the lettuce, tomato, and pickle on the sandwich, the burger and the sauce are completely forgettable in flavor, which is sad considering they claim to use a bourbon based sauce on the menu. It was very much lost all together. Also, season your fries. It's basic restaurant 101. Little bit of salt and pepper go a long way, despite the fact you're using the average "beer batter" fry most restaurants get. As much as I seen this burger hyped on your instagram, it gets a C-. Ok, let's move on to the last item: the Peaches and Cream Panna Cotta. Serving something so lacking of flavor at a restaurant like that should be criminal. It was completely tasteless, and instead of a smooth and firm custard like it should be, it rather had the texture of modifying a box of Jello pudding mix with alot more gelatin, and then making it taste like nothing. Also, the fact its served in the second smallest jar you could find....are you kidding me? At least use the squat, wide mouth Mason jars, so it's easier to consume and looks like more, but using a jar almost as small as a basic shot glass, and then putting that abomination of a dessert in it. Wow. I'm floored by the attempt and the complete lack of thought and skill. Lastly, for anyone reading this, I've been a chef for 22 years, across 8 states, and my family has been in the restaurant industry for 3 generations. I've worked some of the best bars and restaurants, including large corperate style, upscale bar and grill, farm to table, and "dive bars", that Atlanta, and the US, have to offer. This isnt a post out of spite. This is a post in hopes that Rowdy Tiger takes all this with deep concern and move to fix these issues, because they have a beautiful dining room and a great location, but the staff ( it was Saturday lunch, Febuary 15th to help you locate and iron out those issue) and flavors of the food arent holding up to what should be the standards. It really is a shame, because I was hoping for my socks to be blown off, not checking to make sure what color they are. Do Better, Rowdy Tiger. I'll...

Surprise birthday dinner RUINED. Extremely disappointed in this "fine establishment." I chose to host my husband's surprise birthday dinner on Rowdy Tiger's rooftop with 15 of our closest friends. This was my first choice because my husband and I had previously enjoyed a date night here months and truly enjoyed the drinks, food and overall service. I made the reservation 6 days in advance & I emailed back & forth with Nick, Director of Food & Beverage, up to 2 days before the event. I confirmed the reservation for 15 at 7:30 pm on the rooftop for full service (full menu dinner + drinks), which they usually do not allow, but stated they would make an exception. Unfortunately, we never even made it to round 2 of just the drinks! A few of my guests arrived at 6:45 pm to enjoy drinks at the bar, but was told that they could go ahead & sit at our reserved rooftop section since it was already available, which is where they ordered drinks. The lasts of the guests arrived by 7:45 pm and by that time all guests had ordered their 1st round of drinks. My husband & I arrived to the surprise dinner at 8:15 pm & none of my guests (18 total) had even received their FIRST drink, which most were ordered at 6:45 pm. The bartender was asked multiple times about the drinks prior to my arrival & they received the same response each time, "they're coming up". We mingled for about 20 mins after my husband & I arrived someone finally came to our party to RETAKE our drink order. Shortly after, most of us received our drinks. Some watered down, others not made correctly, but we decided to try to just ignore the issues & push on to have a good time despite the excessive waiting. Almost 45 minutes had past & not one bartender or server came to check in, take our dinner order, acknowledge us, NOTHING. At this point, we were done. The vibe had been completely ruined. We asked for a manager who came out & told me that he was just informed about our reservation that day, which I felt was not my issue since I had done everything on my end for the reservation. Many of us in the party work in the restaurant industry so we were very understanding, at first. The restaurant was still almost completely empty & we were a very calm, PATIENT party so I am not sure what the issue could have been. I told the manager that we had every intention on spending our great night at Rowdy Tiger with multiple drinks, appetizers, and dinner. An 18 person check with everything that we planned to order would have been great money for the establishment AND server because we would have tipped generously on a high tab, but we never got further than ordering drink 1. I told the manager we'd like the check ASAP so we could quickly move on to have dinner somewhere else. He offered us a discount on the single drinks each of us ordered. 45 minutes passed and we NEVER RECEIVED THE CHECKS. I'm not sure what happened to the manager, but he completely disregarded the request for our checks. We went to the bar, paid for our ONE drink and left. A birthday night, with a group of friends who hardly ever see one another, that had SO much potential to be an amazing gathering was completely ruined and sadly, no of us will...