Southern Belle — Restaurant in Atlanta

They charged us $280 dollars because they couldn’t accommodate our dislike of vinegar.

Their tasting menu they doesn’t give you a choice of dishes. Given that my entire family dislikes vinegar, we called to ensure that they could create a menu without vinegar. They assured us on the phone that they could. We then made the reservation through Resy, again putting in our dietary restrictions that we didn’t like vinegar.

Well, apparently 6 out of 7 dishes on the tastings menu have vinegar in them and they didn’t feel like creating non-vinegar alternatives. When we showed up, on time, they told us that they could not accommodate us, and that since we didn’t cancel 24 hours in advance (we had no idea anything was wrong) they were charging us $280 dollars. I asked if we could come back another day when the tasting menu would have less vinegar on it. Nope, apparently the menu almost always has a lot of vinegar in their dishes.

The manager told us they had emailed us about the problem. I showed them on my phone that their email was not there. (It had gone into the junk folder) so we had absolutely no way of knowing that they had tried to contact us. Didn’t matter one wit, they were darned and determined to charge us the $280 dollar cancellation fee.

Needless to say, we will never, ever go back and I highly recommend that you not reserve with them if you have ANY dietary preferences at all, as they are much more interested in taking your money then actually giving anything that even resembles reasonable service. —————————————- Responding to the Restaurant’s note: We did call before hand to ensure they could accommodate our restrictions. I have added a phone log showing the call several days BEFORE our reservation. If our phone number of 20 years was invalid, it was certainly news to me and nothing we could have controlled for. I showed the manager the screenshot of our Resy account, which clearly showed our number listed. I've also included it below.

Now, I'm not saying Resy didn't screw up, just that the restaurant was 100% aware that the situation was not our fault, that there was absolutely nothing we could have done to change it, and chose to charge us $280 anyway.

Said manager had met us at the door and KNEW that we would not be able to eat the food. The restaurant was also half empty when we looked...

The newest, trendiest little restaurant you never heard of! Being an out-of-state traveler many times to the Atlanta area and having sampled many of the different restaurants already, our local friend took us to this “new place” that just opened for several months now... Southern Belle.

Right away the intimate atmosphere of the place sets the tone - from the mood lighting to the artful decor and comfortable seats. We were greeted and served by a very funny and charming waitstaff (Brice with an “I”) who was very attentive and knowledgeable of the menu items to provide us recommendations for our drinks, appetizers and main dishes.

And the menu... ahh the menu. The selections ran the gamut from the familiar to the exotic it seemed. There were 4 of us so we ordered to share, which was what the size and presentation of the food was made for.

Being a new place, we pretty much tried most of everything from the appetizers to the main dishes and I’m so glad we did! Everything was so tasty but my favorites were the Szechuan sweet potatoes and the Vietnamese Grilled Pork Bell!

And thennnnn... we had for dessert the warm sticky coffee toffee pudding! It was made right at our table using liquid nitrogen! What?!?

I would consider this a great place for a date or double dating to go out to... 2-4 people in your party should be a good number for you to enjoy. Any more than 4 and you’d be struggling to find seating together. That would be the only critique I have. Other than that, the food and drinks were delicious, the staff very engaging and the service quick!

I highly recommend this place and also suggest that you check it out while it’s still “new” because believe me when I say that word is gonna get and soon there will be a line outside just to get in!

So when you do go,...

BEWARE THE WINE SPECIALS

My boyfriend took me here for a birthday dinner after seeing that it had received a Michelin “nod” of recognition. Our waiter was very nice and gave great recommendations. The food was good, especially the pork belly.

However, the issue came when we got the bill. We got 3 plates (averaging about $22/each) of food and a bottle of wine, but somehow our bill was $150. They were having a “wine Wednesday” special where it specifically mentioned “1/2 bottles of wine” on the piece of paper that was separate from the menu. The top half of the menu was averaging prices in the $20-30 range, so that’s what we based our decision on, and the recommendation of the waiter. We found out later that the $21 “bottle” we thought we ordered was actually $21 per GLASS! No where on this little piece of paper did it say “per glass”. It didn’t have a “per glass” and “per bottle” price, just the one price. I’m fine with having an expensive glass of wine, especially for a celebratory evening, but this was very misleading in its advertising. I would not have ordered a full bottle of I had I known. Or if I did, it would be knowing that I wanted an expensive bottle of wine and not a secret surprise at the end.

Tips are also included in the price of their menu prices (that’s why it’s so expensive). Which is great because that should mean they pay their employees appropriately. However, with our tipping customs, it feels weird not to leave a tip, so we ended up leaving a tip. If you’re a strong personality who doesn’t feel pressured to leave a tip, you probably won’t have an issue with this. But if you’re more like me, then it is good to be aware of this...