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Central City Tavern
Rating Details »
Categories: Sports Bars, American (Traditional) [Edit]
1801 Howell Mill RdSuite 400
Atlanta, GA 30318
(404) 351-1957
- Hours:
Mon-Sun. 11:00 a.m. - 2:30 a.m.
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Good for:
- Lunch, Dinner, Late Night
- Music:
- Juke Box
- Best Nights:
- Wed, Fri, Sat
- Happy Hour:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Smoking:
- Yes
- Coat Check:
- No
12 reviews for Central City Tavern
This place makes amazing burgers. I'm the kinda guy who just likes a good, simple burger, and these guys deliver. And the fact that they have tater tots, and it's all good in my book. The atmosphere is nice, friendly staff. There's at least 20 TVs in there, sports on every one. Not my thing per say, but I was eating the burger, not watching the TV.
The parking is pretty small, and kinda crazy, and the intersection it's at is quite hectic, but it's all worth it.
3.5
Central City Tavern is just an typical sports-bar type place. They remind me a lot of Kayson's Grill, the former tenants of their retail space. I don't even think they redid the interior significantly. There's nothing special that stands out, but they're pretty good in my experience.
It's a bar, so the service is just okay most of the time, and the inside can be pretty noisy. It can be somewhat smoky, too, but all of those are pretty much par for the course. Their menu is mostly what you'd expect from a place like this. I've had a pretty good blackened chicken alfredo there and the hangar steak wasn't bad. They also have a pretty diverse selection of sides running the gamut from steamed veggies to deep fried mac and cheese.
Nothing fancy here, but they're usually not so busy that there's a wait, and their location is rather convenient, so you don't have to do much to convince me to go.
I have been here a couple times now and it is a decent place to hang out. The highlight is, as many others have said, is Photo Hunt. The only problem is those screens are so old and part of the picture blurs so it is hard to play sometimes.
The drink prices seem good, Sweetwater 420 is a little lower here than usual. The service the first time was great but this time it got really slow at the end. The waitress was just walking around and ignoring us.
The one problem I have is they allow smoking inside. I hate smelling like crap when I get home especially if I am wearing a jacket. It just takes away from the experience.
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Gave them a whirl, not really that great.
Service was OK. The environment was OK, if not a tad bit too loud (but it's a bar, not like that was unexpected).
Got some wings, ordered them hot. I'd rank them a medium by my standards. The wings themselves were adequately sized and pretty tasty. The sauce was a little heavy on the vinegar for a hot-level sauce, but that seems to be the norm. I think branching out with some additional flavor options would do them some good.
I ordered a basic cheeseburger for my main meal with pepperjack cheese. The cheese was good, the burger was not. It was just very bland on flavor. I'm not sure if it's the meat or inadequate seasoning, but it had very little taste to it. It was cooked fine and was just the right amount of juicy, but left a lot to be desired in the flavor department. They should really jazz these things up with some more spices. I also think the bun could use a little bit of work. A bit too much of a spongey feel to it. It definitely could be more crispy and crunchy. The fries were rather good. Just the right amount of crispiness and good flavor, so it didn't all disappoint.
Honestly, it felt like a slight step up from a chain restaurant. There's a lot of potential there, but they need to reach out and try to doing something unique to make their mark. I might come back to try some of the other food, since the menu is so huge. But I think that might be their core problem (which is the problem I find with a lot of businesses I work with): They're trying to be everything to everybody. I'd cut the number of options in half and beef up the quality on everything. They've got one more chance with me, but it'll be a while. Hopefully, the extra time will be well-spent on their end.
Great bar w/excellent food. One of the best burgers in town, and fresh cut fries. Covered up with flat screens, so if you dig sports but hate typical sports bars, this is your place! And plenty of free parking! Events throughout the week; become a fan on Facebook. Check it out!
2 Previous Reviews: Show all »
-
3/10/2009
It's still five star food, but now in a much improved atmosphere!. Flat screens everywhere, and the… Read more »
To be able to enjoy this place you've got to be prepared for its two bad qualities. First, the parking sucks. Really sucks. As in, the parking lot is small and jumbled and once it's full there is no recourse. There are signs for additional parking, but they don't really lead you to anywhere that seems to welcome your vehicle. Second, the bathrooms are awful. Really awful. As in, they are small, dingy, and make you not want to touch anything.
Those things aside it's not that bad of a hangout. I have played trivia here before. It's fun and gets very lively. They have the best buffalo wings and nachos, plus table service is very quick. I never have an empty glass while I'm here, and I appreciate that. It's got a local feel and even though it has some arguably major shortcomings, I still like it.
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Located at the busy intersection of Peachtree and Collier, Central City provides a laid back place to watch a game, grab a quick bite to eat, or just drink and avoid plodding through the traffic snarl outside. And since the kitchen is open till 2 AM, you can stay and eat long enough for the booze to wear off.
Since it's next door to Piedmont Hospital, you'll catch a lot of hospital employees there blowing off steam at almost any hour of the day. With changing shifts, there is no slow time at Central City. The food isn't anything revolutionary, but it's all prepared well and consistent.
Central City usually has drink specials almost every day of the week, usually something like a $4 20oz. beer (pretty good ones at that).
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Update- Central City is moving over by my new place on Howell Mill!!!! Woo Hoo!!!!!!
I lived down the street from here for years and LOVE this place. I love it for having drinks and watching sports AND if I just want a good meal at a reasonable price. Their queso is incredible and I usually just get a grilled chicken salad which sounds boring but it is really good and all of their dressings are as well.
It is often hard to find a good bar with really good food. Love it!
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Until today, I had only been to Central City Tavern late night for drink and photo hunt. It is an excellent spot for either of those activities. Today, I visited for a casual brunch with some similarly tired-from-the-night before friends. They have a small brunch menu with some good-sounding items: steak and eggs, biscuits and gravy, breakfast quesadilla, quiche of the day, and some a la carte items. I opted for the breakfast quesadilla, which our server graciously offered to make meatless for me. It came with brunch potatoes, which I requested be made extra crispy which were indeed extra crispy and tasty, too. I also added a biscuit which was nice - it was a heavier biscuit but was crispy on the outside and tasted very bad for me (in a good way). My breakfast quesadilla was also good and HUGE. There was no way that I could have eaten it all considering that I gorged myself on the shared serving of spinach and cheese dip which was super cheesy and super good. I also had a nice hot coffee which was served with cream.
My friends ordered the BLT, chicken wings and burgers, and the food was enjoyed by all. I also heard from one of my friends (who works at Piedmont Hospital and frequents this place) that the salads are quite good, too.
I like it here. It is casual and dive-y but very friendly and a nice place to just hang out.
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Two words: Photo Hunt.
Just call me Pooky....b/c "I tried to kick... but that shit just be callin' me man, it be callin' me, man... I just got to go to it!"
I must have at least shoved $400+ into that damn machine, just like KFC, I'm addicted to it. But besides that electronic crackpipe, CCT is a great little n'hood tavern. The food is not bad with some very good to some very bad items. I usually stick to bar food at places like this, the "fancy" entrees are usually sub par. The chicken fingers are a standout, great light crispy crust juicy inside. The fish n chips (which I'm always on the lookout for) were terrible, it was just totally over cooked...could it be that it was paper thin? Crust was like a 3 day old bread and the fish was not "cod", more like whiting or tilapia. Burgers and wings are good, some days better than others but still consistent. I'm curious about the cuban and reuben sammies, just hard to imagine they would be "accurate".
The beer is pretty much standard issue selection but you don't go there for fancy beers. It's a bar's bar. Cool staff, crowd and not too rowdy...unlike OJ, it just fits right.
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I love this place. Just love, love, love it.
It's my Cheers. :)
First of all, the lunch and dinner crowd are like day and night. If you show up at lunch, there is a crazy rush between noon and one of the Piedmont Hospital employees who work just up the street.
But the night crowd is a different story.
The place is a classic sports bar with an absolute ton of TVs that feature not only the local games but games from all across the country. The people who run it, being largely from outside GA themselves, definitely recognize that you might, for instance, support a football team that is not the Falcons. The busiest sports season for them is definitely football; if you're a big basketball fan, in particular, you're not going to find nearly as large and raucous of a crowd supporting your sport than if football's your game. If you want to watch a particularly high-profile game (the playoffs, big bowl championships, etc.), be sure to get there early if you want good seats. That being said, I've never been there when I absolutely couldn't get a seat at the bar. But then, I'm a regular.
It's not difficult to establish regular status. If you prefer to take a seat at the bar rather than a table, let it be known that there is a tight-knit crew of regulars of all ages, but it's not the sort of crowd that's difficult to break into. As long as you're cool and provide interesting conversation and don't get so hammered to the point that you start to piss people off, after a little while of regular visits we'll start to not only recognize you but greet you heartily by name whenever you pony up.
All the major staples are there on draught (except Coors Light, which I don't like anyway and they happen to offer in Tall Boy cans) and they also have a large selection of bottled beer. They have a limited wine selection, but I wouldn't if I were you. It's just not really a wine kind of place. The liquor is well-stocked and you can get virtually any cocktail you want (although this is a bar of simple mixed drinks like Jack and cokes and vodka crans, so if you want something really complicated and fancy, be prepared for your bartender to have to look it up...and to be severely mocked. On the note of severe mocking, it helps to have a thick skin here, particularly if you sit at the bar, because the people who work and hang out here are not exactly the sensitive types).
If the bar's not your scene, just take a table and chat with your pals. The table sections are usually relatively chill, but again if you're there on a high-profile sports game night, or when a big crowd happens to be out celebrating, or during trivia nights (Wednesday at 8 and Thursday at 6; Wednesday night's better) it will be loud in there. Very loud.
They have two little digital game machines at each end of the bar, a Golden Tee machine to the left of the bar, and a Ms. PacMan/Galaga machine and a bowling game machine in the secluded room to the right (the room that is not the room with the big screen). There's also a digital jukebox: the download feature has been disabled, but the selection is still pretty decent. If a certain server, however, is off the clock and hanging out, however, it may take quite some time for your songs to be heard.
On that vein, if you need further endorsement, a big chunk of the staff chooses this place as their hangout in their down time. Any place that the staff chooses to stay at when they don't have to be there must be pretty great, in my book.
The staff is fantastic. I know them all; they're very down-to-earth, friendly, fun people and the service they provide is always excellent. Get to know them, particularly the bartenders, and you'll never want for a good, strong drink at a decent price.
Regarding the food, it's also really good stuff. It's not exactly gourmet, but considering it's a sports bar with mostly bar food, the quality of the bar food is just great. They always offer daily specials that are usually very good. Always ask about the soups in particular: they have two or three fresh, homemade soups every day in a steady rotation of lots of different recipes. The broccoli and cheese is my favorite.
All in all, this is a really cool, laid-back neighborhood bar that's definitely one-of-a-kind. Go, and enjoy.
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Any bar that is popular with other bar and restaurant employees is a true bar. This neighborhood dive is a great place to grab a beer, eat some wings, and talk to the locals.
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