Gocha's Tapas Bar — Restaurant in Lithia Springs

Previous review (5 stars): We decided to come by for a late night bite after a busy Saturday. Lawrence was our server and he was the best, personality, service, conversation and attentiveness gets 5 star! We don’t live far and we frequent the breakfast bar as well. I remembered Lawrence’s face from the breakfast bar on Cascade. We love Gocha’s! It’s always consistent and never disappoints. I don’t have pics because we ate all our food up.

Recent review (decreased to 3 stars): For some reason, I was not able to leave a new review on google so I am adding to the one I already made. As you can see above, I am not trolling but keeping people, especially Gocha, informed about experiences at her establishments.

First, let me say I love Gocha’s. We have been repeat customers for the past 6 years. At one point we were going twice a week. The food is always good and we developed relationships with the servers over time.

Recently, my friends and I planned a baby shower for a dear friend. We were looking for a venue after the initial plans fell through. Let me preface by saying that I’ve celebrated my birthday last year at Gocha’s Tapas Bar and we were a party of 16 at that time. We had a ball. So we assumed a large party wouldn’t be an issue.

On April 31st, we reached out to Gocha’s Tapas Bar in hopes we could have the shower on May 4th for a party of 20 after our first venue fell through. So it was last minute and we were scrambling. My friend called first around 11a or 12p and was told by the person who answered that she would need to check with management and call her back. My friend never received a callback. So around 2p that same day, I called to follow up. The same person who my friend spoke with told me that she’s had two other calls about a shower for the same day. I was not sure why that was relevant to my call but I did share with her that one of them was my friend.

I was then told the same thing that I would get a call back once she checked with admin. I never received a call back but my friend did almost immediately after I spoke with the person. My friend was told that it would cost $2000 to rent out the patio area. Then my friend was told that we’d have to pay for all cost of food upfront. How? My friend explained that we didn’t know what people would order so how would we even calculate that cost? Then she asked my friend, what if you all don’t show up? It was clear that this person had no idea what to do or how to handle booking a large party. And why would we plan and invite 20 people and not show up? Where would we all go at the last minute? It didn’t make any sense.

I am accustomed to restaurants charging a deposit and/or having a minimum spend. I have never heard of the stipulations this person offered. They sounded very made up and dumb. My friend even explained to her that we’d had a large party at Gocha’s previously but that didn’t matter. Another point was that it was cinco de mayo weekend and instead of trying to book a large party to eat tacos, we were trying to patronize in our community. We knew that check would at least be $1500 or more. We love ordering the seafood towers. Big mistake.

Needless to say, we were extremely disappointed and decided to go with a restaurant who typically charge $25 pp for large reservations, let us use their entire patio at no additional cost and actually waived the $25 pp by only charging $100 for the deposit because they valued our business. This restaurant is owned by a minority woman as well. Gocha, I don’t know if there needs to be a policy update or better training but I do know I have a lot of friends and we love to celebrate one another a lot. We will need more venues in the future but your establishment will not be on the list after this horrible experience...

Gocha’s is one of my favorite brunch spots. While the Campbellton Road location is closer to me, I usually choose to commute to the Cascade Road location—and here’s why:

🚩 Service (Needs Improvement) Our waitress, Z, had a great personality, and I understand she’s only been working there for two weeks, so I recognize she’s still learning. That said, there were several things that made our experience frustrating: Bottled Water Confusion – She asked if we wanted bottled water while we reviewed the menu (implying it was standard), so we said yes. Later, we realized we were charged $5 per bottle, when we would have been fine with tap water. Ordering Flow – We were ready to place our full order (appetizers and entrees), but she told us we could only order appetizers at that time. It didn’t make sense, and there was no explanation for the delay in placing our full order. Upselling Pressure – Every time we ordered something, she suggested something else—usually a more expensive item. It felt more like a sales pitch than genuine recommendations. Bill-Splitting Issue – There were three of us, but instead of asking how we’d like to split the check, she brought one receipt. When my friend asked to split it, Z said she could only do two transactions per table—which I’ve never experienced at the Cascade Road location. I went to ask again, and the manager ended up helping us. It felt like Z just didn’t want to deal with splitting the check, especially when she said, “Of course he would make me split the bill.” To-Go Order Mishap – One of my original dine-in orders was wrong (I let that go), but I also placed a to-go order that never came. We waited around, only to realize she had left without bringing it. The manager eventually brought it to me.

✅ Host We arrived at 2:30 PM and were seated right away—no wait, which was great.

✅ Food The food was good overall. However, my crab cakes were extremely small and lukewarm. I order this same dish often at the Cascade Road location and it’s usually hot and more filling. This portion felt more like an appetizer than an entrée.

✅ Overall Vibes I do like that this location is bigger and more spacious, which is a plus. The DJ’s playlist was top tier, and the manager was very helpful and professional throughout. Most of the staff were friendly and accommodating.

Final Thoughts Campbellton Road has potential, but based on my experience, Cascade Road remains my go-to location. I hope the service side improves over time—especially since the vibe, space, and food all have a...

PS. (I wrote the review below on Yelp on April 26th, 2025. Since some of my friends just visited Gocha’s a few days ago, I thought I should re-share my review here with the “Google Reviews family” for those of you who don’t use Yelp. ‘Cause I don’t want anybody to miss out on the goodness of any of Gocha's locations.)

Last night, I met up with 3 friends at Gocha's Tapas to play Friday night R&B Bingo. It was my first visit and you can bet it won't be my last.

The place was very aesthetically pleasing with a spacious design and chic decor. It offers indoor as well covered outdoor seating. We sat indoor and the chairs were stylish as well as comfy (which comfy matters most to me.)

The music and staff's energy created an inviting vibe! We enjoyed the bingo, the DJ, the patrons sitting near us and especially our server KEZZI who took AWEmazing care of us from order taking, her swift drink and food service, helping us stay focused on our Bingo, to her helping me get my phone recharged since I had a LONG drive home and needed my phone as my GPS! KEZZI is the best and I'll be sure to request her on my next visit!

Now to food. The menu is off the chain (almost too much to choose from), and everything I saw served all night looked super delicious! My friends ordered Ceviche, the fries trio and something with salmon & house made chips. They all loved their food. I arrived last so I didn't want to eat their leftovers, so I ordered lobster grilled cheese and a side house salad... but I requested Caesar dressing. I love what I call "grownup grilled cheese sandwiches". Baaaabyyyyy .... That sandwich gave me LIFE & the dressing on that salad had to be house made because it was Caesar-ing the heck out of that salad. They had put tomatoes and cucumber in the salad (which doesn't go in a Caesar salad) ... but that dressing was so good that I ate those veggies on the side and dipped them in the excess dressing in my bowl! The lobster sandwich was hearty yet not overly-filling. It had a light buttery but NOT oily taste and the cheese was not overpowering but rather the perfect complement the lobster which had rich meaty taste and texture (not fishy).

I was scared to come to this location because I'm new to ATL and I had a long drive on a dark road to get there. Then it started rainy really hard and I was really worried about driving back home on the route in that weather. But the food, fun, friends and vibes made for a great night and ultimately made it all worth it. I will be back and will try Gocha's other...