Atlantans, what the heck is up with valet parking at restaurants? Are customers really that lazy? Or is it that restaurateurs getting their friends a little extra money on the side? Either way it's bloody annoying. I can walk the 20 feet to the door of the restaurant, thank you very much.
Anyways, Thumbs Up Diner. We were looking to try out some Southern diner food, so we made our way down to the location of Thumb's Up Diner, near the Georgia Tech campus.
Admittedly, the windowless red brick side of the building made me feel like we were entering a strip club or a dive bar... And it was 1pm on a Saturday.
Chicken and waffle
I was pretty hungry walking in and was rather dismayed at how minuscule the portions looked. However, strangely, this turned out to be quite filling, which made me wonder just how much butter/lard went into this.
The fried chicken breast meat was a bit overcooked and slightly tough/dry. The scrambled eggs had some cheddar cheese melted through, but otherwise it was your standard rendition. I opted for a buckwheat waffle, which fortunately was not too dense as my stomach was getting full from just the eggs and chicken.
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| Looking back, I'm thinking they might want to use a smaller plate, so that their portions don't look so small. |
Fried catfish
Fried catfish decent in a comfort food sort of way: familiar but not memorable. Grits were pretty tasty, although my better half thought it was overly salty (which is strange, since it's usually the other way around). The biscuit was dense, but surprisingly (to me at least) did not have an overly buttery flavor.
This was a bit of a de-energizing meal. Things were okay, but not really jumped out.
826 Marietta Street Northwest Atlanta, GA 30318 (Map)
(404) 745-4233
Multiple Locations
thumbsupdiner.com
thumbsupdiner.com