The Optimist

My boyfriend and I had a wonderful dining experience. Our server, Lucille did a wonderful job making recommendations throughout our meal! We’ve dined here many times but thanks to her we had an eye opening experience, trying new wine pairing with our usual food and new food with our usual bottle of wine. Beware, the roasted oysters are highly addictive.

June 18 2019
Wow!!
I have been looking forward to dining at The Optimist.
Unfortunately we missed our flight to St Barth and finally had the opportunity to make a reservation for lunch.
Did not disappoint!! Started with Octopus app, my husband ordered redfish and I had the shrimp kale salad both superb!!
The flight we missed was to celebrate my 50th and I mentioned this to our waiter (Topher) he was so kind and considerate offering us a complimentary glass of champagne and wine not to mention dessert.
Thank you Topher we truly appreciated your hospitality!!
Food, ambiance and service was beyond my expectations.
Will be definitely returning when visiting Atlanta!!

Our server, Courtney, was excellent.

Came here for a birthday lunch on a Monday so it wasn't crowded which was preferred. We started with cocktails: A Bronx Cheer and Capri Sunset. They were so tasty it felt like we were by the seashore. For starters we both got soup. I ordered a cup of She Crab and my boyfriend ordered the Seafood Gumbo. They were served in miniature pots with a side of gourmet bread that went along with its respective soup. I could've had a bowl of the soup and gone home happy. For our entrees we split the infamous lobster roll which looks small but was plenty filling. It was overstuffed with delicious lobster and paired with dark, toasted looking fries that were the perfect crisp and right amount of salt. We also ordered the scallops and snapper plates. We were so full we couldn't get dessert. I cannot described how delicious our meal was or how wonderfully intimate our table felt in the big open dining room. It definitely felt like we were somewhere else. I highly recommended this place for any seafood lover.

Excellent all around restaurant.

The bread s unbelievable!! The hush puppies and grilled shrimp that is an appetizer was also fantastic.

Father’s Day

Food and service were outstanding! Will definitely return!

The food was good. But the lobster roll had no flavor at all. Other than that it was good

My husband and I dined here for Father's Day and our meal was phenomenal. From start to finish the food and the service were both excellent we will definitely be back!

Great experience!

AMAZING! Growing up in an island I was raised eating seafood and when we decided to move to ATL my biggest concern was not having a beach near and not being able to eat fresh seafood. This place was beyond my expectations. Everything is so fresh and amazing! We loved it!

I came for the first time to celebrate my friend's birthday on a Friday night. The food is creative and everything single thing was super delicious. However it is so loud that you cannot carry on a conversation. So if you want to have a nice dinner with a date , or spouse or friends it is too loud to even talk to them. Also we were seated at booth type table and the seats were too low for the table. We all felt like we needed booster seats.

The Optimist never fails! They are always on top of their game. The food, wait staff, ambience, etc. is incredible. Best Restaurant in Atlanta - hands down! Shoutout to our Server, Eli! You’re always a pleasure to chat with and give us a good laugh

Excellent meal - oysters, crab cake, scallops, and halibut were all very good. Cocktails were also outstanding as they make a great old fashion. Daniel was our server and was great with recommendations and service. Optimist is our go-to restaurant for seafood and drinks.

The Optimist never disappoints. They honor (whenever possible) special requests and always deliver an A+ meal with service to match. If noise is an issue for you, try for a table in the side room (behind the bar).

We had a great experience at The Optimist. The oysters were very fresh and tasty. The crab soup and the gumbo were both fantastic. The hilight of the meal was probably the hush puppies. Definitely try the chocolate chess pie to cap off your night.

If you are looking for a great restaurant for relax with your friends and business partners, this is it.

My husband took me here for my birthday and it was perfect! Exceptional service, delicious food and trendy ambiance. So happy to hear you’re coming to our hometown - Nashville! ❤️

Excellent food, but service was slow (which our server acknowledged).

Wonderful evening and the service was excellent from the moment we arrived until the evening came to an end!

A very good restaurant. The oysters were quite tasty and good and cold.

In town for work and yelp led us here- could not have been better!!! Will make a point to eat here every time I’m in ATL! Great oyster selection and every one I ate was super clean, cold, and delicious.

We love Optimist. My only contention is the white wine list. I’m allergic to red so favor Chardonnay . The Optimist Chard list is... wanting. How about one or two big oaky Chards? We all don’t enjoy the trendy fruity blends.

The toast appetizer was delicious. The food is quite rich

Outstanding as always. My wife convinced me to try the octopus and it was delicious.

Service was very slow. We needed bread and drinks. So loud we could not hear. Food was too salty. Ive had better at this restaurant.

Great Service

We went for my husband’s birthday! What a great experience. Food and service was outstanding. We will be back.

Everything we had was outstanding. Been many times and can’t wait to go back

The restaurant's interior is beautiful. The food is amazing and so fresh. We really enjoyed our meal here!

Food was delicious! Our server was fantastic. I just wished that our table could have been more private. It was our anniversary, which they acknowledged a few times. But our table was so close to the next table, it was hard to talk to each other.

I love the Optimist so much and have been so many times. The food is always fresh and delicious and the service always great. The noise can be on the loud depending on where you sit.

Always enjoy dining at The Optimist. My wife and I shared some perfectly fresh oysters, smoke fish dip, grilled octopus and the Redfish entree, which was exquisitely prepared. With one exception the hand crafted cocktails were awesome. I was, however, served what I considered to be the worst Manhattan possibly ever mixed. I was given a do over but it was only marginally better. Such a head scratcher? A slight blemish to really enjoyable evening.

Excellent food. Friendly perfect service. It was pretty cold temperature wise ... relatively close to your neighbor while eating

Awesome experience! Nothing we tried disappointed!

Very much a must go to for a fine night out for an special occasion. This place is pretty busy though at least on the weekend of my experience. But overall service and management was certainly attentive to everyone’s needs. Thanks for the dining!

Lovely restaurant, Excellent food and service. I had guest in town from the DC area and took them to the Optimist for dinner. They we so impressed! We all enjoyed ourselves immensely!

We were running a little late and called to say so, they front of the house were very kind about it. Leslie, our wait staff gave us a wonderful tour of the menu, and we can't wait to return.

This is my third time at this restaurant. It is by far the best restaurant I have ever been to in Atlanta. The fresh oysters are some of the best I’ve ever had and I live in Florida.