Cherokee Rose Restaurant — Restaurant in Stone Mountain

My wife and I went this evening and were excited to try this place after seeing the google reviews.

Well, it was pretty disappointing.

From the start, the service was awkward. When we opened the door to the restaurant, the woman handling the phone blocked us in the doorway as she was trying to shuffle her way outside so she could hear whatever was being said on the phone. When we came in, the server confirmed it was just the two of us, but then just started walking back without inviting us to follow, so we didn't of course. She eventually turned around and motioned for us to follow her, like we should have known to from the start. Was awkward. It wasn't obvious she was leading us to a seat, so why would we just follow her without a clear invitation?

There were a bunch of open tables when we arrived; both 4 seat tables and 2 seat tables. The one the server led us back to was right next to the server station. My wife, noticing a lot of empty spots at the time, asked the server if we could be seated in better spot - perhaps one of the 4 seater tables against the wall or a different 2 seater further away from the spot we were taken to. It was like the server had no idea how to react to such a question. She gave us this confused, annoyed look , like we had seriously inconvenienced her. She eventually mentioned that a 4 seater might not be available due to reservations -- totally understandable. But the way she went about moving us to just another 2 seater position was so awkward and unprofessional.

The menu was simple and we were looking forward to some good food. The lamb starter was pretty good, but the mint didn't come through at all. The sauce and sautéed onions paired well with the lamb.

We ordered the fried chicken and the pulled pork main dishes. They were both terrible. The base of the flavors for both dishes was the house bbq sauce. I'd hardly call it a bbq sauce - it had a weird jammy flavor with a bad mix of seasonings and smokiness. Like... we both hated it. The chicken itself was really bland and under seasoned too. I didn't even eat half of it. I grew up poor - I don't just not eat food. The pork dish portion was ridiculously large, which if it was good, I wouldn't complain, but it was awful and bland. The "bbq sauce" again just made it worse.

The prices... omg this place is so overpriced for the quality of the food. I can't believe we spent $93 (after tip - yes we are nice and still left 20%), for two awful dishes and an ok starter. There are soooo many places here in Atlanta metro that you can spend that kind of money and get amazing food and an amazing experience. This place is not it.

To be clear, no one there was rude. They just clearly weren't professionally trained. I'd not care so much if the product wasn't so expensive. It's sad because this area needs good places to eat. I can't imagine we'll ever eat there again.

My recommendations: Give the staff some more training on professional interactions with customers. They seemed very flustered with basic requests and should be a bit more prepared to solve simple problems. Reduce portion size! A giant pile of food feels like you are at a cafeteria. Get a better house sauce I know this is simply personal preference, but the live music was...not great. I felt like I was listening to the music they play at 2am in a Walmart.

Good luck to this place! People on here apparently love it - I wish I...

Our dinner plans tonight were going to take us to 1910, but we found a 45 - 60 minute wait when we arrived and decided to try Cherokee Rose in Stone Mountain, which is an honest to goodness hidden gem. You have read our reviews and know that we have been to some fantastic restaurants, but this was hands down the BEST dining experience we have ever had! Our server Venicia came to the table to greet us and set the mood for the evening. She was very personable, played off all the personalities at the table very well, and made everyone laugh. But the food was the star of the evening! (Sorry Venicia). We started with the calamari and the crawfish cakes, and either could have been a main course on it’s own! The texture on the outside of the crawfish cake was so much like you’re having a doughnut, and the inside was sultry with a little bit of spice. The entrees were the herb crusted ribeye, pork ribs, lamb chops, and fried smoked chicken. The ribeye came with dill whipped mashed potatoes and collard greens with smoked ham hock, and I was overwhelmed by the explosion of flavors! The ribeye was cooked to a perfect medium rare and had a delicious, beefy flavor while the collard greens tasted like they had been simmering with that ham hock all day. The ribs were served with creamed corn and corkscrews and cheese (Mac n cheese), and if any one of the components were missing, the meal would have been just good at best. The ribs were tender, real depth of flavor; a little bit of sweet, a little bit of tang, and the creamed corn caught everyone at the table by surprise by how the flavor just filled our mouths. The fried chicken was an incredible display of culinary firepower! Dear Webster’s, we have a new picture to go with the word delicious and juicy. This chicken was very juicy, very flavorful, and we could tell that a lot of work is involved in the preparation. Lastly, the lamb chops and Cremini mushrooms. I have to believe that this lamb did not follow Mary much because of how tender it was! The flavor was light, but lingered on the tongue long after you swallowed. To top off the meal we enjoyed dessert....Pecan Pie, Chocolate Pot De Creme, Cranberry Rum Bread Pudding, and Cheesecake. When I took my fork and cut into each, I felt like my fork was making love to the dessert. The pecan pie was rich in flavor without being overly sweet, the pot de creme was smooth and velvety on the tongue, each bite of the bread pudding was a new adventure, and the cheesecake was sultry with a little bit of sweet. Overall, the meal was not good, it was not great, it was outstanding! So much so that we are planning to go back tomorrow for brunch and sit in Venicia’s section in hopes of an equally...

Worst dinner experience! On Saturday March 19, Our group of eight visited the restaurant. We were very excited and needless to say very hungry. When we arrived the establishment was well decorated and we were immediately greeted with a smile. We were informed that they were out of some sides. We arrived before 9 and the restaurant closing time was 11. Our server brought us water and offered drinks. The four adults ordered cocktails and one of the children ordered a sprite. The drinks took a while but the sprite took even longer. We were given menus and informed that they were out of three sides (Mac and cheese, wild mushrooms and broccolini). When the server came back, we started with the order and were told that they were out of the pork chops, and smoked ribeye. We had to change the order to an order of ribs, 5 filet mignon ($42), two monk fish ($38) and one trout ($32). Each entree came with two sides. After waiting for an hour, only four entrees came out. Only one of the entrees had two sides. We were advised that they had run out of mashed potato. No substitutions were given or offered. Two filet mignon both with wrong temperatures and cold. The trout had two sides although one of the sides was wrong and the order of ribs were tough to eat. Waited for another 20 minutes with four people with no food. After complaining they brought the two monk fish that were cold and salty. One of the monk fish was raw (I was unable to eat it). I told the manager that the fish was raw and was not offered to fix it. One of the filet mignons that was to be medium half was over cooked and the other half rare completely red. My husband was unable to eat it. My son ate his monk fish because he was hungry but he said it was very cold. The last plate was a filet mignon that was raw and they took it back to fix but forgot to bring it until 11:10 or later after everyone had either finished dinner or was unable to eat their entrees. The manager apologized and gave us a 50% discount and stated that this was the first time having problems. They took another 20 minutes to bring us our check. I do not think it was courteous or fair, in reality only five people ate cold food. Three people did not eat, only one side on 7 of the 8 entrees (no substitutions). We left the restaurant around 11:45pm. Even with the discount, the bill was $200. In hindsight, we should have not paid anything for this inadequate dinner experience. I wouldn’t recommend...