ATLReview
Included In
Atlanta has plenty of fancy steakhouses, but Marcel is by far our favorite for a decadent special occasion.
Once you make it past the restaurant’s heavy-ass steel front door, you’ll find a dining scene straight from a Mad Men episode with dim lighting, tufted dark leather chairs, tuxedoed waiters, and background jazz. If Don Draper decided to leave Manhattan to live out his golden years in a Buckhead mega-mansion, we guarantee that Marcel would be his go-to spot. And while you may not run into Don Draper, you are very likely to meet Bob, the restaurant’s maître d’/host/statement blazer connoisseur/Pantene model, who will offer his services for a lengthy cell phone photo shoot.
Accept Bob’s offer 1) Because he’s cool people 2) because you’ll want a few photos to capture the dapper atmosphere and occasion, whether you came in for an anniversary or celebratory team dinner on the boss’s corporate card. But even if you’re not celebrating anything, you will find company in a crowd of come-as-you-are regulars, who after a tough day at work would rather splurge on a hundred-dollar steak than come home to another loathsome game of "how else can I stretch these rotisserie chicken leftovers.”
photo credit: Amy Sinclair
Marcel is from famed restaurateur Ford Fry, known for The Optimist and Superica, and is by far our favorite of all his spots, because every single menu item is very close to being the city’s best version. With choice steak cuts, flame-grilled and finished in an herb butter, Marcel is Atlanta's pound-for-pound steakhouse champ (appropriately, since the venue is named after '30s-era boxing champ Marcellin "Marcel" Cerdan).
Even the pasta dishes from the pillowy gnocchi, lobster-packed risotto, and a flawless cacio e pepe give the bonafide pasta restaurants a run for their money. All solid reasons why Marcel maintains a steady crowd of both special occasion diners and regulars.
So, if you're looking for a unique escape that involves sipping daiquiris from retro coupe glasses and inhaling roasted oysters and shrimp cocktail off of vintage dinnerware, Marcel's can help transport you to a more debonair era. Even dessert, like their Baked Alaska, which is flambeed tableside with Caribbean rum, gives peak ‘60s as well.
While we can't promise you Jon Hamm, you are likely to find a celebrity or two in the late hours as Marcel is one of the few fine-dining spots still open when sets wrap for the day.
Food Rundown
photo credit: Amy Sinclair
Oysters Marcel
photo credit: Amy Sinclair
Caesar
Tomahawk
photo credit: Amy Sinclair
Cacio e Pepe
Gnocchi
photo credit: Amy Sinclair