-“Leslie is out of town, want to go get buck crazy?”
-“For realz, let’s do it!”
Okay, so maybe that isn’t exactly how things transpired; and no, we did not hit the bottle hardcore on a Wednesday night. Instead, Chris and I took advantage of his temporary freedom and journeyed over to The Book House Pub on Ponce. I think we would have been better off walking the extra steps to The Local. This place looks like it could get lost between the Everyman appeal of the Brick Store and the Local, and the superior food over at The Porter.
Since this isn’t a full on review, I’ll be brief. I walked in half-expecting and half-hoping to see bookshelves filled with Bukowski, Chekhov, Dostoyevsky … etc… etc… It would have been both appropriate and a nice touch. How cool would it be to have a place where Kerouac would hang?
Instead, we have a new joint with one bookshelf that serves as nothing more than trimming. It runs the length of the restaurant and is pretty well hidden. I further suspect that its contents were scored for pennies on the dollar at some garage sale. Think of the Book House as a more upscale version of the aforementioned Local, so take that however you like.
The burgers were a failure. They did not taste as if they were freshly packed, and they were cooked well past the requested “medium rare.” The wings were passable though nothing outstanding. The service was mediocre, and the drinks were expensive.
I left feeling that the food was not that great and the prices were excessively excessive. Two beers, two drinks, two burgers, and an order of wings… the total: $53.00 before tip! We could have gotten out of La Pietra for less than that! Still, a return or two is necessary so that I can appropriately rate this place.
Pros: Good beer selection, fairly priced beverages, clean interior
Cons: Everything else
Address: 736 Ponce De Leon Ave NE Atlanta, GA 30306 // P: 404.254.1176 // Website
