The Red Snapper

I have not been back to this classic dump in decades... I have forgotten that Thai peeps own this joint. When I opened the door I thought I walked into Little Bangkok... The slant to cracker ratio was like 3 to 1. No wonder the owners hid themselves from the front of the house for so many years to build that local following for Southern seafood fine dining. It felt like going to my Gam-Gam's house again... Almost. The joint is still dark and dingy, staying true to it's original gaudy decor from the 80's with a faint smell of Poligrip and Bengay in the air. The table cloths, the warm bread wrapped in a napkin, the terrible cocktail menu, the candle light, the outdated plating presentations... Who said fine dining was dead? This is the type of old school fine dining that you can only find here. And I fucking love it. Let's see if the old school menu is still edible here...

Warm Loaf. A dude runs into a little shack that looks like a powder room and comes out with a warm loaf. Luckily, it wasn't brown. Pretty much standard belly filler... But the butter was thoughtfully at room temp.

Oyster Rockefeller. The stuffing mixture is quite dark isn't it? I can only imagine a child playing with what's inside his diaper in the kitchen when I saw this... Yes, I'm a very sick person. Sick enough to eat this slop without hesitation. The mixture doesn't even look close to the classic puree of mixed green veggies, herbs and bread crumbs... It tasted like nothing except mush and salt. The hollandaise helped it go down a little bit easier but this is so far off the mark of a good old school Rockefeller. I didn't shit my pants, though... So, that's a good sign to continue.

Soft Shell Crab. The crab was crispy and tasted a little off like it had been defrosted once too many times... But it wasn't awful and it tasted better with each bite. The curry pasta... Ah, yeah, I don't think so. Undercooked fettuccine in a watery mix of taint juice... Not curried at all. Nice try but just stick with the fried soft shell crab, by itself.

Snapper Yvonne. Lightly breaded filet with crabmeat, artichoke hearts & mushrooms in light lemon butter sauce. Their definition and my definition of lightly breaded is quite different. Maybe it's their Asian language barrier but this was not breaded. Lightly dusted with flour and pan fried then finished off in the oven. It's not a bad dish but it seems like all their fish dishes look similar with different toppings. It's totally acceptable but it won't change your thinking on snapper as your go to fish.

Ginger Snapper. Lightly breaded filet topped with shrimp & mushrooms in fresh ginger sauce. This looks exactly the same at the Yvonne except you get skrimpz and shrooms on top. The ginger sauce was almost too light to even notice. For their in house famous dish... It lacked that pow that you would expect from a ginger dish. But it's not bad, just pretty average.

Fried Seafood Platter. Their most popular dish... Shit, anything fried is popular. This had shrimp, oysters, scallops and onion rings... And the standard rice and assorted medley of veggies like all the other entrees. The oysters had a nice breading, the shrimp coulda been a little bit more crisp on the bite, the scallops were plump and juicy but the batter was a bit soft from the steam and moisture of the scallops. The onions were just more padding for my fat ass. It's a tasty fried platter, I would hit it again.

On another visit, the lighting was so dimly lit that it made all my pics look like what you may find in a toilet at a music festival... But it smelled and tasted much better.

Oysters Sara - 3 fried oysters on a bed of creamed spinach & mushrooms with a touch of hollandaise. This was not too shabby. I like the components on this dish, it worked.

Seafood Gumbo. Their gumbo is a lot better than the gumbo I had at Pinewood recently. This was thicker, had more flavor and herbs, and the crabmeat on top gave it a bit more texture after mixing it in. Totally acceptable.

Broiled Seafood Platter. Snapper, scallop, shrimp. The scallops were nice and plump, shrimp a bit over cooked, and the snapper was cooked pretty spot on with the same seasoning sprinkled all over. The boiled taters were like what was had during the Irish blight... Skip them. The seasonal veggies were more like all season veggies which was as expected, middling. I liked the dish, though, the main ingredients were acceptable and cooked well.

Best of the Sea. Scallops, crabmeat in light lemon butter with mushrooms, served over rice pilaf. The scallops were way undercooked compared to temp of sashimi, cold and spongy... Which was fine with me. But the server was a super awesome dude and got the kitchen to send out new ones that were cooked spot on on the second try. The pilaf was ultra salty but overall, it was a decently composed dish.

Veg Medley. Find a hobo outside, he will love it.

After all these years, these recent visits prove that they still have the staying power to be an Atlanta classic... But as for their patrons, I don't know how long they will last. It definitely is an old school classic and the place is full of grays... But they need more gays to compete with the Colonnade down the street. Their cocktail menu sucks, liquor selection sucks, and the beer selection kinda sucks... And don't y'all ever change that. The food ain't gonna change your life, it's pretty much average but all the pedestrians seemed to love it... Including me. But I don't think this will be in my regular rotation for the next 5 years... I'm sure I'll regret it when they shutter suddenly. But if y'all want to experience old school Atlanta, this is one of the places to put on your list... At least once in your measly lifetime. 

2100 Cheshire Bridge Rd NE #3A
Atlanta, GA 30324
404-634-8947
http://www.redsnapperatlanta.com/