Ormsby’s

Last week Ormsby’s opened in the Westside Provisions District, on the same side of the development as Abattoir. Yeah, that’s right, yet another new restaurant on my side of town. Though of all the new restaurants, Ormsby’s may be the first foray in the casual dining/drinks/hangout genre (is that a genre?).

Ormsby’s has a decent looking menu, to me it’s reminiscent of Leon’s in Decatur, mostly because of the fries with multiple sauce options, but also because the menu has a dash of progressive flair while staying true to its bar roots. I had my first meal there last week with Live to Feast and Foodie Buddha, and there were some interesting choices, and I look forward to trying some of the things we didn’t get to that day. But I see myself primarily going to Ormsby’s to drink. They have a well sized beer menu, and the bottom floor of the restaurant is the much talked about drinking and game haven, offering up a bar, pool tables, darts, shuffle board, and even a bocce court. I really dig it. The interior is cool, the people are nice, and the accommodations are welcoming. The Westside just found it’s great after work beer hangout.

As for my first impressions of the food – the fries were solid, though when you are in shouting distance of Abattoir it’s tough to eat them without comparison, because I think Abattoir has some of the best fries in town. The dipping sauces were good. Gravy on fries…

Below are the “corn dogs”. The portion was large for the price, and they were tasty, though the batter was more reminiscent of chicken strips batter than the dense, artificial corn dog exterior taste that I had hoped they would play around with.

FB got the BLT with egg and onion rings. He seemed to like it all right, though he complained about the value. That’s sort of his MO though.

LTF got the “Abe Froman”, a nod to Ferris Bueller.

I had the “Bruno Burger”, a White Oaks pastures grass fed beef patty with mushrooms and provolone. The hamburger, was huge, cooked exactly to medium (as specified), and the toppings were plentiful. The bun was decent too. But the flavor of the beef was a little bit of a bummer. I had a local grass fed burger at Zin during my recent visit to California and was blown away by the natural dirty flavor of the beef. I had not tried White Oaks beef yet and was hoping for the same thing.

I was too full to eat more than a bite of my onion rings, especially as they are very batter rich, and I prefer very little batter.

I look forward to spending many hours at Ormsby’s. Let me know if you’re there, I’ll challenge you in bocce.

Tagged as: atlanta dining, bar, beer, burgers, drinking, fries, hot dogs, sandwich, westside