They say too many cooks in the kitchen muddles the soup, er... something to that effect. In this case, too many hosts muddle(d) the service and my critical first impression of Stats. We were initially greeted by an amiable host but he wasn't very knowledgeable (didn't know the ins and outs of the seating of the tap tables and the rooftop deck), but what he lacked in Stats knowledge and experience he made up for with a positive attitude and eagerness. The second host brought a cold and self-important austerity to our second first impression of Stats - hrm, 95% confidence (interval). With one of the signature draws being the at table-do-it-yourself-beer-taps, we were surprised that on 8PM on an warm, summer Monday night, with an empty bar we were derisively informed "your party is too small to sit at THOSE tables, we reserve those for parties larger than, well, yours" Sound logic in theory, but the place was empty and I didn't anticipate a large Monday night rush with no sports on beyond ESPN. We ended up sitting upstairs on the neat rooftop deck that overlooks the Marrietta district downtown.
Relegated to the roof, begrudgingly, we order drinks: A Braves Blue Lemonade and a certain "only in Atlanta" Sweetwater 420 beer but that beer can't be ordered upstairs from the rooftop bar so we schleped back down the steps to the bar to order a beer. Error bar (very applicable statistics principle)!
Much like my two graduate level statistics courses, at this point, I just wanted to eat and get out there (with a B- no less). For starters we ordered the spring rolls which to my surprise were the non-fried spring rolls wrapped in moistened rice paper sitting in a drizzle of a peanut sauce. Non fried in the south?! WHAAAT - SCORE, especially for this health conscious California girl! For dinner we went with the budget friendly ($5), heart healthy bowl of chili that's on the appetizer menu. It was a rather generous portion, especially for an appetizer and for $5 in addition to being the heart healthy option it was delicious. In addition, we ordered the fish (grilled mahi) tacos in flour tortillas with black beans and white rice. The well seasoned fish could have been cut into small(er) pieces - they put the whole fillet in the soft taco making for messy bites.
Stat's food is a step above, above the lows standard nines, greasy, uninspired bar food featuring an original menu that incorporates traditional comfort foods, southern charm in addition to a few heart healthy options and international dishes like the fresh spring rolls. I never fully recovered, attitude wise from that initial first impression, not enough to make the food speak for itself although it screams wonderful, tasty volumes. Upon exiting I saw that all of the at table tap tables were empty, Regression analysis - we'd spent considerably less money on alcohol than if we would have been able to sit at one of THOSE tables.
Here's a maths problem for you - so see that statistically speaking restaurants typically make 30% of their revenue in bar and alcohol sales - how much more revenue would Stats have made if their self-important host would just have used a little situational awareness and demographic common sense to give the customers what they want?
3.5 out of 5 stars.
Statistics can be made to prove anything - even the truth. ~Author Unknown read more