REZIDUE REVIEW: Luckie Food Lounge

Luckie Food Lounge is a new spot one block down from the Georgia Aquarium. They have been celebrating their grand opening this week and I checked it out for the first time last night. I was impressed.

This place is cool, literally. It has all of the amenities that you see in the IKEA book that you like, but damn sure know you ain't gonna buy. As soon as you walk in they have a huge fish tank with neon lights. It really looks like they went deep into the Pacific Ocean and just started snatching shit. They had the pretty fishes that you only see on National Geographic and they had some straight up coral reef up in the thing. There were a couple other things in the tank that I didn't know what to call, but I knew they were exotic and breathing.

Sitting by the tank makes for a good ice breaker too. You can sit and gawk at the fishes and talk about how pretty they are. Or you can do like my date and fake like you have a BS degree in Marine Biology and start randomly naming fishes to sound like you really know what you're talking about.

The menu is American. The only foriegn dishes are the wood oven baked pizzas and the sushi. Everything else is pretty basic; salad, burgers, sandwiches, soup, chicken fingers, salmon, etc. Its moderatly priced for the most part, so won't go broke trying get full. However, like anywhere else, the steaks cost, so use that info however you want. I myself was just hungry, so I didn't want to experiment. So I settled with their Classic Chicken Sandwich. It was pretty tasty, but, I know I prolly could have gotten something similar at Quiznos.

The drink menu was pretty long, but it was mostly wine. The beer selection had the usual suspects (Bud, Heinie, Corona, Miller), but they also had a couple brews from Colorado, Belgium and Great Britain. I was delighted to see Sweetwater, which is slowly becoming one of my favorites, but I chose to go with a Red Stripe (HOOORAY BEER!). Their bar looked to be pretty deep as well. They didn't have any Mad Dog or Erk & Jerk, but that's okay.

I usually don't get desserts and I wasn't going to tonight either. But, the waitress and her staff talked me into it. I got a dish they call Gelato Tasting. Its pretty much three different ice cream flavors (pistacio, brownie and hazelnut) in small bowls with mini cones. It tasted pretty damn good.

As far as the atmosphere goes, its pretty nice. It kinda makes you feel like you are in an aquarium with all of the light blue lights and plasma screens. The booth seats have very soft leather. The place is kinda big, but the way its built still makes it feel intimate.

But, a restaurants quality always comes down to its bathrooms, and this place passed the test with flying colors, literally. In the men's room they have screens above the stalls so you can watch ESPN as you handle your business. But the water faucets are the highlight. Excuse me if I sound like "I aint neva been nowhere nice" but, they were off the chain. They didnt have knobs, they had these touch sensitive squares were if you touch the red line the water comes out hotter, if you touch the blue line, it comes out colder. Then the water faucet itself has lights, so if the water is hot it lights up red, blue for cold and purple for lukewarm. Sorry, that shit impressed me. My date said (yes, we did talk about the bathroom's decor) that the ladies room had the same thing but they had stools and vanity mirrors to fix yourself up in.

Overall, I had a plesurable experience and will probably go back in the future. But, be warned, this isn't a place you can go to all the time, it will ruin the newness (is that a word?). So, just go everyonce in a while. And if you are going to go, go now! This place just opened this week and its gonna get popular pretty fast. So unless you like standing in lines with your stomach growling, go now!

PROS: Cool music and atmosphere. Dress code-they don't force you to be grown and sexy, but you can't go in there looking like you just rolled out of bed either. Fellas, all they ask is that you remove your hat, and keep it off.
CONS: Wait staff is pleasant and prompt once they get going, but they take kinda long to see you after you are seated.
WARNINGS: Fellas, keep it discreet. Fine females are in and out of the place and depending on where you are sitting you are going to see each and everyone, so don't look too too hard.