The Best Places to Eat and Do in Atlanta

1. The Infatuation #16 · The 25 Best Restaurants In Atlanta

Southern Sweets is a Decatur bakery where the display cases of tarts, pies, and cookies are basically a decoy for the giant layer cakes in the back, which come in 17 flavors. The old-fashioned chocolate has a slice-sized pound of melted chocolate in it, and the gluten-free and vegan crowd gets real options, including a plant-based strawberry cake that will have you eyeing the whole one on the way out.

1. The Infatuation The Best Bakeries In Atlanta

1. Eater The Best Coffee Shops Around Town

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2. The Infatuation The 12 Best Coffee Shops In Atlanta

Sweet Hut is a Pan-Asian bakery and cafe in Midtown, roomy enough that laptop campers and long-lunch friends coexist without elbowing each other. You'll pass rows of individually wrapped pastries before reaching the register, and the white baskets are a quiet admission that one pastry was never the plan. Matcha red bean, Hong Kong polo buns, and a bulgogi Bibimbap Burger for people who need a real lunch first.

1. The Infatuation The Best Bakeries In Atlanta

1. Eater 38 Essential Restaurants Around Atlanta

1. Eater 38 Essential Restaurants Around Atlanta

1. The Infatuation Where To Eat When You’re Visiting Atlanta

Tomato aspic on the menu, and they're not sorry about it. The Colonnade is an old-school Southern supper club on Cheshire Bridge where servers have your order memorized before you sit down and the regulars fill the room like furniture. Fried gizzards share a menu with Gulf shrimp, the yeast rolls demand a second order, and the coconut icebox pie is not optional. The New York Times named it one of Atlanta's 25 best restaurants.

1. The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Atlanta Right Now

1. The Infatuation The 12 Best Coffee Shops In Atlanta

This is a small neighborhood bakery and coffee shop on Georgia Ave in Summerhill, the quiet one of the three locations. Big windows pour light onto a sitting area of locals and GSU students typing away, and the room is calm enough to make you forget you live in Atlanta. The glass case is hard to resist, but the fruit tarts and savory quiches are the safe moves. Cash-light, low-stakes, and nobody's in a hurry.

1. The Infatuation The Best Bakeries In Atlanta

1. The Infatuation Where To Eat When You’re Visiting Atlanta
2. The Infatuation The 18 Best Bars In Atlanta

1. The Infatuation The 12 Best Coffee Shops In Atlanta

1. The Infatuation The 12 Best Coffee Shops In Atlanta

A coffee shop with a rotating seasonal menu and a strong espresso program, Valor leans into drinks that split the difference, literally and figuratively. The Middle Child straddles espresso and drip coffee in a way that sounds like a therapy session but drinks better than it has any right to. Regulars track the seasonal drops the way others follow drops of a different kind, cycling back each fall and winter for whatever the team has conjured next.

1. Eater The Best Coffee Shops Around Town

An all-you-can-eat dim sum spot in Duluth doing exactly what the name promises: as much har gow, pan-fried pork buns, and sesame balls as you can manage in 90 minutes. You order in rounds, three items per person at a time, which keeps things orderly and the kitchen honest. Congee and egg fried rice fill the gaps. Bubble tea costs extra, cash gets you a discount, and the race against the clock adds a certain competitive energy.

1. Eater 9 Splendid Spots for Dim Sum Around Atlanta

1. Eater 9 Splendid Spots for Dim Sum Around Atlanta

Photos of dim sum taped to the wall serve as both menu and ordering system at this no-frills Buford Highway dim sum spot, which suits regulars just fine since they already know what they want. Order off the menu rather than waiting on carts, and point confidently at shrimp rice noodle rolls or pan-fried turnip cakes with lap cheong. The BuHi mural wraps around the corner of the plaza if you need a reason to walk afterward.

1. Eater 9 Splendid Spots for Dim Sum Around Atlanta

A robot trundles your dumplings to the table, which makes sense once you realize this is a QR-code-order, counter-service dim sum spot in an Alpharetta strip mall. The menu leans traditional Cantonese, with har gow, siu mai, and char siu bao alongside soup dumplings and sheng jian bao for a cross-regional sweep. No rolling carts, but the robot more than compensates for the theater gap.

1. Eater 9 Splendid Spots for Dim Sum Around Atlanta

The carts roll from opening until mid-afternoon at this dim sum restaurant in Duluth, after which you can order off the menu all day. The room was clearly a steakhouse in a past life, which adds a certain unintentional charm to the weekend rush. Weekends fill fast, so expect a wait. The doufuhua, a tofu dessert in ginger syrup, makes a quietly persuasive case for ending a savory meal on something soft and barely sweet.

1. Eater 9 Splendid Spots for Dim Sum Around Atlanta

A vast Cantonese dim sum hall in Norcross where the carts actually keep rolling until three in the afternoon, with a dining room big enough that you're not elbowing anyone for the last har gow. The weekend crowds that pile into Duluth tend to skip this one, which is either the city's best-kept secret or just a matter of geography. Order congee alongside whatever the cart brings by and settle in.

1. Eater 9 Splendid Spots for Dim Sum Around Atlanta

A food stall inside Jusgo supermarket, Lao Wei Dao does Shanghai-style dim sum, which means no rolling carts and no Cantonese shortcuts. Order from a kiosk and wait, because the dumplings are folded to order. The xiao long baos and pan-fried pork dumplings are why people bother making the drive out to Duluth. Closed Wednesdays, counter service, and genuinely easy to miss if you've never thought to look inside a grocery store for dinner.

1. Eater 9 Splendid Spots for Dim Sum Around Atlanta

A cavernous dim sum hall where carts start rolling at 10 a.m. sharp on weekends, and a line forms before the doors open. The room is big enough that a cart loaded with shrimp rice noodle rolls or egg custard tarts might not loop back your way, so flag down whatever looks good while you can. The kitchen picks up the broader Chinese menu at 11, but most people come for the carts, which run until three in the afternoon.

1. Eater 9 Splendid Spots for Dim Sum Around Atlanta

1. James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bakery

1. James Beard Awards 2022 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Southeast · Jason Liang

1. The Infatuation #8 · Atlanta’s Best New Restaurants

1. The Infatuation #6 · Atlanta’s Best New Restaurants

1. The Infatuation #4 · Atlanta’s Best New Restaurants

1. The Infatuation #7 · Atlanta’s Best New Restaurants

Tartan-print details and jade-green paneling set the tone at Kevin Gillespie's prix-fixe restaurant, where Scottish heritage and Southern cooking share a table without either one apologizing. The menu moves between things like mussels with spicy 'nduja and peach-lacquered duck, then lands on peanut butter chess pie as if to remind you where you are. It's a Michelin Selected pick that reads as personal project first and concept second.

1. The New York Times 2024 · The Restaurant List

1. Bon Appétit America's Best New Restaurants

1. Bon Appétit America's Best New Restaurants

1. Bon Appétit America's Best New Restaurants

1. Eater The Best New Restaurants in America