Atlanta Good Food category interest

You can't take a step around Buckhead without tripping over a fancy steakhouse. Therefore, the district is home to some of the best sirloin sanctuaries. Despite this neighborhood imbalance, the city comes through big with variety—from a Japanese wagyu omakase experience to a dive-like piano bar that only offers four cuts of steak. So whether you want to show out with a 40-ounce tomahawk or discreetly enjoy filet mignon in a dark leather booth, these are the best places to enjoy a steak dinner.

For the last decade, Marcel in West Midtown has been the Atlanta steakhouse. You’ll usually find couples celebrating anniversaries cuddled up in big corner leather booths, oohing and aahing over tableside preparations like the flambéed baked Alaska. Because of the blackout curtains and amber lighting, the space looks like midnight even at 5pm, making it a discreet outing for celebs, sneaky links, or for blowing your tax refund on a 42-ounce porterhouse without fear of being spotted by your financial advisor. But it’s worth the risk, because Marcel’s delicious steaks are always flame grilled to your liking and pan-finished in an herb butter. Pair one with the thin and crispy frites, which come with a gravy boat of amazing bearnaise that we always polish clean.

This isn’t your grandparents' steakhouse. Electronica tunes coming from the speakers reinforce that, but the omakase-style Japanese steakhouse should cement a slot on your big steak dinner rotation. Prefecture in Buckhead offers a tasting menu of all their best dishes, including lobster rice, a cheesy wagyu slider, and three other steak dishes. The “I’ll leave it up to you” doesn’t work quite as well for steak—we wish we would’ve been able to select the temps ourselves. But the quality and tastiness of every dish earns a solid A (or should we say A5).

Bones has been a steak destination in Buckhead for more than 40 years. Our go-to here is the filet mignon, which cuts like butter and makes scarfing down 12 ounces of it an easy feat. And no meal is complete without a side of their fancy hashbrown dome. The two-level steakhouse has a bar and small lounge area that’s straight off the set of Mad Men. And they have enough secretive private rooms on each level to compete with Hogwarts (and they’re always full).

Located in the Intercontinental Buckhead, the spacious restaurant rarely draws large, noisy (and perhaps nosy) crowds, so Americano’s intimate booths are perfect for navigating any awkward getting-to-know-you conversations. The Italian steakhouse offers the usual cuts, which are sliced and served on a giant wooden cutting board with your choice of sauces. And the best move here is to come with tablemates to share a few plates, like their giant porterhouse for two, the spaghetti pomodoro, and the cheesy polenta with mushroom au jus (our favorite thing on the menu).

Come to Buckhead’s New York Prime if you like your steaks with a Pittsburgh char. All their selections are aged for 28 days and have that crispy exterior with a distinct flame-caramelized flavor and an insanely juicy interior. If you’re doing date night, get the 40-ounce tomahawk ribeye. It’s juicy and flamboyantly served alongside a massive bone that looks like it belongs in a natural history museum. Sides like their pound baked potato loaded with chives, butter, and bacon bits or crispy onion straws help round out the meal. With massive leather booths fit for a clandestine meeting, dim lighting, and an old school vibe, the dining room could easily be the setting of a Pacino or Pesci movie. Plus, they’ll make you a steak you can’t refuse.

A steakhouse with soul food sides is the restaurant we never knew we needed until LowCountry Steak. Helmed by an Atlanta-raised celebrity chef (who also has a spot in the airport), this stylish Midtown restaurant offers a catch-all of classic steak and Southern favorites. The menu can please any large, inharmonious crew who can’t even agree on a playlist. With several choice cuts of steak—along with crab claws drenched in Cajun butter, lobster-heavy mac and cheese, and a skillet cornbread that almost works as dessert—you may all reach a refreshing agreement for once.

Because of their Sunday jazz brunch, C. Ellet’s is our first choice when we're in the mood for a ribeye before noon. Eating a giant pancake stack with quality steak benedict while listening to a bass-backed jam session is a nice way to bookmark the weekend. Even when there’s no jazz player in sight or The Battery is packed with people, this upscale steakhouse always maintains a calm. And we love the French New Orleans touches on the menu since lagniappes like crispy fried oysters in a creamy pepper gravy make the steaks taste even more impressive.

Eating at Hal’s is basically just an excuse to party, but with steak. For a Buckhead steakhouse, the place has some serious dive bar qualities, especially downstairs where it’s basically a piano bar with a pianist belting out everything from Ariana Grande to Fleetwood Mac. People puff on cigars, order vodka sodas (there’s no cocktail menu), and watch TVs above the bar. Upstairs is quieter, but the overwhelming amount of wood paneling still makes us feel like we’re in a tavern. White tablecloths, dim lights, and a dress code are the only hints that it’s a steakhouse. Well, that and the fact that four steak options are on the menu. Bland sides like potato cubes that could have come from a freezer bag sit alongside decent ones like lobster mac and cheese. But we’re here for the steak and the “Rhiannon” cover anyway.

A $40-per-ounce wagyu steak, private dining room, and cigar lounge might be the equation for attracting ultra rich people, so it makes sense that pictures of celebrity guests line the walls of this two-level Buckhead institution. Both floors offer the same menu and attentive white tablecloth service, but the upstairs Chops feels like a mahogany-heavy country club while the downstairs Lobster Bar is a bit more casual and louder (so bring your noisy coworkers). In both spaces, you’ll see couples on anniversary outings and birthday groups dining on quality steak cuts, from more affordable NY strips to that pricey wagyu. When paired with other signatures like the lightly fried lobster morsels and the tableside-prepared shiitake and warmed spinach salad, we see why Chops Lobster Bar is still jumping three decades in.

Don’t let its shopping center placement (or the adjacent gas station) throw you off. Steak 101 is an upscale steakhouse—and one of the best big night out dinners in the Vinings neighborhood. Every Friday and Saturday, a musician serenades the dim bar area and its cast of regulars trying their best to shout over Jewel covers. Couples cuddle in big half-circle booths that provide just enough privacy to avoid being spotted by your talkative neighbor. The venue meets all fancy steakhouse expectations—a long list of quality cuts, add-on steak butters, great seafood, and family-style sides. But what separates this from Atlanta’s others is a more relaxed, small town vibe (and the free fresh-baked popovers).

Steakhouses in Atlanta tend to be nightmares for introverts. So if you want a low-key, fancy steak dinner without the dress-to-impress pressure, head to KR Steakbar. It’s in a quiet pocket of Buckhead, but this place fills up with folks who treat Saturday dinners like a weekend ritual rather than a special occasion splurge. If you didn’t make reservations, you can still easily find a spot at the bar. But it doesn’t matter where you sit when an order of perfectly charred pork belly hits the table. That pork along with a delightful bowl of caco e pepe are our favorite things on the menu. When paired with a solid steak, it makes us want to sign up for that online real estate investment course, so we can make this our ritual, too.