Ace Atlanta is primarily a nightclub and hookah lounge, but it's a restaurant too, serving a menu of both American and West African cuisine. The business opened in December 2017 in Independent Plaza on Buford Highway.
Buford Highway food enthusiasts will probably best remember this space as the old Chateau Saigon (https://bit.ly/32PCRI6), a Vietnamese restaurant which was a fixture on Buford Highway for over a decade. Chateau Saigon closed in May 2017. To those who remember Chateau Saigon, the space, inside and out, is unrecognizable today.
The owners of Ace did a great job renovating the place, especially the interior. You can't tell from the outside because of the tinted windows and nondescript storefront. Inside, it looks like a posh lounge with a bar, large-group booths galore (16), big-screen displays, mini chandeliers, bold and colorful artwork, and a bubble wall. It's swanky and stylish. My friend and I had dinner on the outdoor patio which features an artificial hedge wall, cushioned seating, glass-top tables, and cool burst light fixtures.
When I called to inquire about outside seating, I was told the patio was open weather-permitting. We arrived to Ace around 4:30pm on a Sunday (they open at 4:00pm on Sunday) and had to wait until almost 5:00pm for the patio to open (they had to put the cushions out). Since it was daytime, the club barely had customers inside, but more folks slowly trickled in as the time went on. While we waited inside, they played NFL on the screens for entertainment. They have a great A/V system with bright, crisp displays and high-def sound.
The food ranges in price from $9 to $25 per plate and can easily go up when you pair sides with certain dishes, which was highly recommended by our server Kiki. For example, I was interested in both the Ayamase and Okra (under the African section) and Kiki suggested I add white rice ($3) to the Ayamase order ($12) and pounded yam ($5) to the Okra order ($14).
Ace's American food consists of items like chicken wings ($12), pastas ($15-19), and lamb chops ($25). We opted for the African dishes (more on those below). There's almost a full bar on the drink menu -- beer, champagne, cognac, tequila, whiskey, and vodka, but no wine. Hookahs cost $25 each with $15 refills. There are 10 different flavors plus two, Blue Mist Mint and Mighty Freeze, that cost $5 extra.
Here's what the two of us had:
* Suya ($12) - thin-sliced grilled beef, rubbed with authentic Suya spices from Nigeria, served with tomato and onion
* Okra ($14) - finely-chopped and seasoned okra cooked with "meats and seafood"
-- Okra paired with: pounded yam ($5) - yam flour processed with hot water
* Ayamase ($12) - palm oil fried "meaty dish" in a spicy jalapeno sauce, mixed with onions, green herbs, and spices
-- Ayamase paired with: white rice ($3)
* Chicken Addis ($17) - grilled chicken with Addis rice and seasoned vegetables topped with rosemary sauce
* Fiji bottled water ($4.50 per bottle)
Overall, I thought the food was good and better than the food I had at a comparable African restaurant and lounge, also on Buford Highway, Tropical Cuisine (https://bit.ly/2FOEZY3).
I recommend both the Suya and the Ayamase. Both were tasty and we gobbled them up. It turned out I wasn't able to eat the Okra because it contained shrimp, which I'm allergic to. The Chicken Addis was OK, but a little overpriced. Fiji water appeared to be the only water option, which was fine with us (we're both fans).
The Suya was delicious. My mouth waters just thinking about it. What we had was essentially thin slices of grilled steak with fresh, raw slices of tomato and white onion. The steak was seasoned with a dried spice mix from Nigeria that was red-orange in color. It was salty, spicy, and yummy. It was a simple dish, not too much to it, but satisfying nonetheless. The meat was tender enough. I'd say it was cooked medium to medium well.
The Ayamase was good, and comparatively more complex. It was a savory beef stew that went perfectly with the white rice. It had bone-in beef, tripe, and a whole boiled egg. The broth was oily, but gratifyingly rich and flavorful. Well-balanced and nicely spiced, I ate all of it.
As mentioned previously, I couldn't eat the Okra due to the shrimp content. I started digging in, mixing, and seeing what all was in the "meats and seafood" described on the menu. Out came two jumbo shrimp and some chunks of fish. This was another stew. It smelled appetizing and very seafoody. I watched as my friend carefully ate it with the pounded yam, making sure to pick out the tiny fish bones. I did try the yam with my Ayamase and it was alright. The yam was served steaming hot in plastic wrap and had a soft, chewy consistency.
The rosemary sauce on the Chicken Addis (Ethiopian) was creamy and piquant and the chicken itself (breast meat) was decent quality. It's a basic and safe dish for the non-adventurous.
Good service. The staff was polite. Kiki was friendly and attentive. read more