Oaxaca ATL — Restaurant in Chamblee

My wife and I have eaten at Oaxaca in Lawrenceville many times since it opened several years ago and have known its owner Caesar since he opened this restaurant. When we learned Caesar was opening a new restaurant in Chamblee, we definitely wanted to try it as the Lawrenceville location has been our favorite Mexican restaurant. We very recently tried Caesar's new restaurant in Chamblee and want everyone to know about it.

The menu and ambience are quite different from the Oaxaca in Lawrenceville. The Chamblee Oaxaca has dishes that are not offered at any other Mexican restaurant we have tried. For example, the Tetela De Pato is filled with duck confit, black beans, Oaxaca cheese, hoja Santa, tamarind mole and crema. It was outstanding. Anything with duck confit has to be good. The Ceviche De Camaron is not like your typical ceviche. It is poached shrimp, lime juice, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and a mild taste of serrano's. The presentation by itself makes you salivate. The ingredients all married well together. The shrimp were fresh and large. This dish will leave you with a big smile. The Herb Guacamole was not just your ordinary guacamole appetizer. It contained fresh herbs, walnuts, lime, onion, cilantro, mild taste of jalapeno and a small radish. The presentation was fantastic. You almost did not want to eat it. The guacamole flavor burst on your tongue and palate. This was the best guacamole dish I have ever eaten.

Along with our delicious Marquitia, we also had the Pescado Fito which had two tacos of fried flounder, masa tempura, batter, Macha aioli, cabbage (for texture) and cilantro. The flounder was very fresh and tasty. I could have used a bit more aioli and perhaps some more spice to boost the taco's flavor.

Finally, we ended out meal with Churros. These were not your ordinary churros. They are kind of pastry type of churros covered with cinnamon and corn husk and appeared charred. This dessert came with a small dish of chocolate for dipping. Very yummy.

The servers are well trained and very attentive. They will be helpful in recommending a dish of your liking and thoroughly explain the ingredients of each dish. I would advise making a reservation in advance as this place gets very busy in the evening and by 6:00 p.m. it was packed. There are a fairly limited number of seats at the bar for eating. This restaurant is not your fast-food Mexican so you can expect to pay more of course but it is well worth it. I would highly recommend trying Oaxaca in Chamblee. You will not be...

Stepped out to try a new restaurant and decided on this one. Based on the reviews, I was prepared for good food and drinks. After firsthand experience, I only got a part of what I was expecting. Please allow me to elaborate.

First off, restaurant vibes and ambiance are nice. Whether you sit inside or outside, it's a nice and upscale atmosphere. Not quite fine dining but not far off. We parallel parked on a street nearby. Not sure if there's a parking garage within proximity of the restaurant. Service was A1 and anything you order comes out QUICKLY! The only thing that took longer than 5 minutes to arrive was dessert. Now, onto the main course, that being the food and drinks.

The best items we enjoyed the evening of our visit was the appetizer and the dessert. The appetizer was their Herb Guacamole and it was INCREDIBLE! So good that I intentionally didn't take a direct photo because it was already halfway gone before I thought to take 1! 😂 It was very well seasoned and the lime juice was definitely there. Their chips are huge so you will have to break them to make them small enough to eat. For entrées, there was the Roasted Baby Back Ribs and the person I was with had a Tostada dish. I can't recall the exact name but they stated it was OK and there is a photo of it attached. My ribs were not great. They lacked flavor and if I had to guess, I'd guess they were never marinated. They come with tortillas and beans so the idea was to enjoy them together and these items just don't go together in my opinion. Them coming out so fast could've had something to do with that. On top of that, a Rising Sun drink was ordered and this could just be me but these drinks are deceivingly small. Glass is huge but it's filled with huge ice cubes and after a few sips from my glass, it was nearly empty. 2 biggest disappointments of the visit by far. Now the dessert was the Strawberry Tamales and it sounds weird but it's actually unique and delicious. The masa of the tamale isn't filled with meat but strawberries instead and enjoyed warm with vanilla ice cream. Never had anything like this before so this was a nice surprise to wrap up the evening. Would recommend that if you haven't tried it before and you're ok with dairy and strawberries.

Overall, entress and drinks were a big miss with the rest being pretty enjoyable. However, spending $150+ for an experience this subpar isn't worth it to me. Enjoy at...

@oaxacaatl truly enamored during our Foodie Friday visit on 09/29/2023. Let's start with the fact that the restaurant is absolutely beautiful with well crafted indoor and outdoor covered seating. The customer service was also what you would expect from an upscale Eatery. We had to give you the details, now for what you really want to know about the FOOD!

Starters: Salas Trio ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ These were amazing. Green salsa, creamy avocado salsa, and fire roasted tomato salsa.

Tetela de Pato ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ Duck confit, black beans, maiz criollo, oaxaca cheese, hoja Santo, tamarind mole, crema OMG, a flavor party in your mouth. Braised duck so tender we didn't need a knife to cut it!!

Platos Fuertes Birria de Res 1/2 lb ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ 12 hr braised beef cheek, onions, cilantro, assorted salsa, fresh blue tortilla We didn't even use the salsa because it didn't need it. This was melt in your mouth, fire up your tastebuds amazing

Steak Tlayuda ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ Marinated skirt steak black beans, oaxaca cheese, chorizo, avocado on top of a fried Crispy tortilla. This was also something special. So much tender and juicy steak in this dish.

Sides Mexican rice ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Plain but did the job.

Platana macho ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ Sweet plantain that had been roasted and caramelized. It didn't even need the cream but we will take it.

Dessert Cafe De Olla Tres Leches ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ A tres leches cake topped with Espresso. Like a beautiful hydrid between a tres leches cake and tariamisu. Beautiful!!

Drinks The Paquiao ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ Probitas white rum, ube, condensed milk, cream of coconut, yuzu liqueur and lime. One of the most unique drinks we have ever tasted. It was nutty, creamy, sweet, with a nice kick. The purple color to the drink really amazed us.

This was an amazing experience everyone should have for themselves. Go immediately!

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