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Most Expensive Restaurants in Atlanta

Top 15 Most Expensive Restaurants in Atlanta

Atlanta, Georgia’s capital city, is known for its thriving food culture. The city has something for every pallet, from small cafes to high-end dining. To spice up your culinary journey, we’ll look at the top 20 most expensive restaurants in Atlanta, showcasing the distinct eating experiences they provide.

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Atlanta is a city that has grown and developed steadily over the years. The city’s culinary sector has also grown, with various restaurants offering one-of-a-kind eating experiences.

Most Expensive Restaurants in Atlanta

The most costly restaurants in town provide their customers with high-quality cuisine, drinks, excellent service, and a beautiful ambiance. We’ve compiled a list of the top 20 most expensive restaurants in Atlanta that are worth splurging on in this post.

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1. The Betty

The Betty
Image Source: ihg
The Betty

The Betty is dubbed one of the most expensive restaurants in Atlanta. With mood lighting and oak floors from decades past, yet modern table sets and garden landscapes, the restaurant is a spectacular example of old colliding with new. It’s a mix of glamorous Hollywood high-life and sophisticated fine dining.

Seasonal menu items at The Betty include a $39 sea scallop entrée with cauliflower and pickled sultanas and a $69 prime stripe steak with maitakes and spring onions, capped with an eggplant puree.

Their signature dish, though, is a 32-ounce prime ribeye steak and roasted garlic with Madeira jus, which costs $169 as an entrée.

2. Umi Sushi

Umi Sushi
Image Source: cntraveler
Umi Sushi

Chef Fuyuhiko Ito and pastry chef Lisa Matsuoka Ito founded Umi Sushi in Atlanta’s bustling Buckhead neighborhood. Todd Murphy designed the restaurant’s décor to be exquisite, with a natural Atlanta charm polished up with modern Asian influence.

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The restaurant creates its unique dishes with fresh Atlanta food, such as baked lobster tempura, black cod miso with sauteed foie gras, and a variety of sushi rolls, sashimi, and nigiri.

Craft sake, a Japanese rice wine, or roasted Lamill coffee can be used to complement your meal. A tasting menu at Umi Sushi costs $160 per person, making it one of the most expensive restaurants in Atlanta.

3. Marcel

Marcel
Image Source: atlanta.eater
Marcel

The famed Ford Fry owns the Atlanta steakhouse and bar, Marcel. It was named after the French fighter Marcel Cerdan, who survived a war, a marriage, ring bouts, and more before dying in a plane crash.

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Chef John Adamson has created a number of notable high-value meat cuts that rack up a large bill for the restaurant’s discerning customers. These include a $116.95 cote de boeuf entrée, which is a 22-oz dry-aged ribeye.

The icing on the cake, though, is the $159.95 30-ounce tomahawk ribeye. There’s even a 42-oz porterhouse for three for $229.95, which we didn’t list because of its small serving size.

4. The Optimist

The Optimist
Image Source: OpenTable
The Optimist

Ford Fry’s The Optimist is a beachside fish camp restaurant known for its fresh seafood. Maine sea scallops, lobster rolls, Georgia trout, Alabama oysters, and other items are included. Their specialties include hickory-smoked seafood, roasting, and aging.

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A $37 hearth-roasted grouper with salsa verde, lemon, and sea salt is one of their signature dishes, as is the $39 Maine lobster baked in seasoned lemons, butter, and breadcrumbs.

The Optimist’s crown jewel, however, is The Starving Man, which consists of shrimp, oysters, Jonah crab, smoked fish dip, ceviche, and a whole chilled lobster. This lunch will set you back $140, which makes The Optimist one of the most expensive restaurants in Atlanta.

5. St. Cecilia

St. Cecilia
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St. Cecilia

St. Cecilia in Atlanta serves food that you would find on the European shore in France, Italy, or Spain. It is located in Buckhead’s Pinnacle Building and is inspired by traditional ingredients. Their signature meals combine Riviera seafood with French-style techniques.

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The result is hearth-roasted octopus, Maine sea scallops, wood-roasted bronzino, fresh crudo, and a wonderful pear pudding cake from Chef Chrysta Poulos, the restaurant’s pastry chef.

For $44, you can get a whole flounder with salsa verde and Castelvetrano called pesce passera. The tagliata di mazno, a 32-oz NY strip steak with maitake and roasted garlic, is their most expensive entrée. It costs $120 to buy.

So if you want to dine at St. Cecilia, one of the most expensive restaurants in Atlanta, then be prepared to spend big.

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6. Bacchanalia

Bacchanalia
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Bacchanalia

Bacchanalia is a modern American restaurant whose menu was created by the restaurant’s chef/owners, Anne Quatrano and Clifford Harrison. It first opened its doors in 1993 and constantly changes its seasonal food, which is produced from the owners’ farm, Sutherland.

Bacchanalia’s amazing experience is the meal that changes throughout the year, known as a prix fixe menu. Bacchanalia charges $110 per person for the whole four courses plus wine.

7. Staplehouse

Staplehouse
Image Source: thegivingkitchen
Staplehouse

Staplehouse formerly used as a soup kitchen and restaurant during the pandemic is now a fine-dining restaurant with casual aesthetics but cutting-edge food.

Among its specialties is a king crab course basted with Cara Cara orange, sunflower, turnip, sorrel, and fennel.

Smith and his chef de cuisine, Jake Pollitz, are interested in veggies as they are in meat, and they give their diners a taste of class with 8-10 dishes on the fixed price menu, which is $105 on weekdays and $75 on Sundays making it one of the most expensive restaurants in Atlanta.

8. Empire State South

Empire State South
Image Source: OpenTable
Empire State South

Hugh Acheson and Josh Hopkins run the cooking of Atlanta’s most expensive restaurant, Empire State South.

The former has received the James Beard Award and is known for rustic food, including not just what is offered at Empire State but also pickled spreads and other condiments. Even appetizers can be purchased “in jars” here, as the title suggests.

The main meal of the restaurant is a 4-6-course tasting menu. It costs $105 per person for six courses, making Empire State South one of the most expensive restaurants in Atlanta.

King salmon tartare with cilantro, tamari, radish, and jalapeno, foie gras torchon with balsamic gel and strawberry preserves, seared scallops with oyster mushrooms, glazed pork belly with grits and pickled onion, are among the luxury offerings.

9. Gunshow

Gunshow
Image Source: thrillist
Gunshow

Every visit to Gunshow is a different adventure. Celebrity chef Kevin Gillespie takes the enjoyment of dim sum dining to another level, so you can sit back, relax, and choose from the menu items rolled around the dining room on carts.

Their current menu features old-fashioned banana pudding, beef cheek pastrami, kimchi mussel pancake, and crispy pork belly.

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10. Cape Dutch

Cape Dutch
Image Source: eatingwitherica
Cape Dutch

Cape Dutch is hardly the cheapest option in Atlanta, with a bowl of butternut squash alone costing $12 and a plain leek soup costing another $9.

On the other side, it’s one of the best: for carnivores, there’s a ridiculously delicious, 35-day-aged, 30-ounce tomahawk ribeye for $96, and for seafood fans, there’s a whole Maine lobster served with chilled chive sauce and a truffle vinaigrette salad for $99.

If you keep your indulgence to a minimum, you should be able to get away for roughly $90 per person. Hence it goes on our list of the most expensive restaurants in Atlanta.

11. 10 Degrees South

10 Degrees South
Image Source: opentable
10 Degrees South

It may not be the most costly addition to our list, but it is one of the most unique. 10 Degrees South specializes in South African cuisine.

Since 1998, the restaurant has served real South African food, as well as a happy mash-up of French, German, Portuguese, Dutch, and Malaysian cuisines, with some Mediterranean influences tossed in for good measure.

If you’re craving meat, the Safari Platter ($85) is a good choice, while a vegetable curry for $26 could be a better alternative for vegetarians.

12. Restaurant Eugene

Restaurant Eugene
Image Source: atlantamagazine
Restaurant Eugene

Restaurant Eugene, the flagship restaurant of James Beard Award-winning chefs Linton and Gina Hopkins, serves ingredients that are so fresh and vibrant that they almost pop off the plate.

The five-course tasting menu cost $85, making Restaurant Eugene one of the most expensive restaurants in Atlanta, but it’s one expenditure you won’t regret.

13.  Aria

Aria
Image Source: atlanta.eater
Aria

Aria is only becoming better under the supervision of Chef Gerry Klaskala. This is the place to go if you want rustic, substantial meals with an elegant flair.

Expect plenty of lovely dishes that have been prepared slowly and abundantly sprinkled with affection.

Just don’t eat so much of the specialty lobster cocktails and Zinfandel-braised beef short rib that you don’t have room for one of pastry chef Kathryn King’s delectable desserts before you go.

Rember to visit Aria well prepared as it is one of the most expensive restaurants in Atlanta.

14. Two Urban Licks

Two Urban Licks
Image Source: thevendry
Two Urban Licks

Two Urban Links, as the name suggests, provides a modern eating experience in an edgy, industrial setting.

Tuna poke made with ahi tuna, avocado, miso, quinoa, cucumber, compressed watermelon, wakame, and sesame; baked oysters with bacon, corn butter, and pickled cherry bomb peppers; and shaved calamari in a sweet and spicy dressing with wasabi aioli and cilantro are among the menu items.

With award nominations like “Best Place to Take an Out of Towner” and “Best Restaurant Scene,” this restaurant isn’t cheap. A typical supper will cost you roughly $80, making it one of the most expensive restaurants in Atlanta.

15. King + Duke

King + Duke
Image Source: kinganddukeatl
King + Duke

At the heart of King + Duke is the focus on fresh, local ingredients that are well-treated and uniquely served. Its inviting interior has a magnificent wood and marble bar, a quiet dining space, and a spacious outside patio.

Once you’ve decided where you want to sit, you’ll be presented with a menu that leans firmly towards the meat; if you truly want to indulge in some delicious meaty meals, consider the “The King,” a $109 bone-in ribeye served with roasted bone marrow and cippolini chimichurri.

Duck steak with charred scallion, black amber plums, and coriander (valued at $48) and roasted L-bone steak with beef “dripping” fries and roasted garlic butter ($69) is the slightly less expensive options.

Summary

You may feel much more confident deciding which restaurant is best for you now that you know some of Atlanta’s best private dining restaurants.

Keep in mind that, while every restaurant on our list is of exceptional quality, they all have unique characteristics that make them different. As such, none outshines the other.

Eating in any of these restaurants is expensive but if you are a foodie or want to entertain food-enthusiastic friends, then the cost of dining at one of the most expensive restaurants in Atlanta Restaurants is nothing.

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