CO Restaurant

I don't know why all these Charleston resto groups are opening up in Atlanta... They have a niche in Charleston but somehow it just ain't jiving with this town's sheeple... Or maybe it's just me. I thought Sean Brock's Minero was just ok but the roundeyes seem to like it enough, shit, there isn't a taco that they don't like. Callies Hot Little Biscuit turned out to be a dud, just forgettable bland biscuits but there was one little unforgettable hottie working there that I wouldn't mind spreading my butter on her shaved biscuit... I was too skeered to ask for her digits because I was retaining water and pizza that day, I'm sure she's not working there anymore with her talent... I should check Cheetah or Tattletales. O-Ku looks fancy and all but the overpriced sushi was just average and the mural with the slope on a scooter was an authentic touch to the decor... He looked like he just rode that scooter from the Hanoi Hilton to Mt. Midoriyama to compete on American Ninja Warrior. It had absolutely nothing to do with Japanese cuisine. Now, comes another Charleston transplant with another Asian theme... CO which supposedly translates to "feast". I love gimmicky names, they usually turn out so good...
So, they decided to anchor the opposite corner of Rize Artisan Pizza at the new 675 N. Highland complex... Which we all know that Rize is always dead as fuck in there no matter what time or day it was. It wasn't god awful but there's no fucking way I would go back just for the decent wings I had on my visit when everything else was just extremely middling. I kinda thought the pedestrians woulda gobble that slop up but I guess this area is still just too local hipster for that crowd they're looking for. But enough of that fake 'ZA, let's check out this new Asian joint which has a cesspool of a menu that encompasses almost every Asian cuisine (Vietnamese, Japanese, Thai, Chinese, Malaysian, Korean, Hawaiian, shit, the only thing missing is Indian, Taiwanese, Nepalese, Cambodian and Filipino but there's always room for improvements) and even a touch of Mexican't. Reading this menu gave me a headache and a pouchache from the interloping of different and clashing flavors and ingredients. But shit, that has never stopped the pouch from spearheading the first look of any resto for my one reader... They have been opened for a couple of weeks or so and for a brand new resto right in town to not be jamming for the first couple of months is a bad sign of what's to come... Will they contract the Scoutmob curse that Rize has caught? Let's go take a looksies and see if they will prove me wrong... 

At least they got their liquor license... Or else I woulda ran across the street to Righteous Room. This California made sake was decent enough to keep me in the seat and not walk out after I saw the menu.

Boba Thai Tea with bursting passion fruit boba. It had the color but the taste was so watered down, it was so weak and disgusting... Made me think I was drinking the dripping pipe water under my sink coming from the insinkerator. Those bursting boba tasted like freshly laid bullfrog eggs when they pop inside your dirty face hole. Skip it.

Fresh summer rolls, shrimp, pork, rice vermicelli, bean sprouts, mint, cilantro, served with hoisin peanut sauce & nuoc cham. I guess these were ok, nothing really special about them and I wasn't expecting them to be but I had to try it for some reason... Slutty Thai apps have a way about them. The peanut sauce was this weird sweet brown sauce with chopped up bits of peanuts and the nuoc cham was watery and didn't have that kick from the fish sauce.
 

Korean rice bowl marinated wok steak, sunny side egg, kimchi, sprouts, edamame, cucumber, pickled carrots, served over jasmine rice with sweet & spicy gochujang sauce. One would think that with all that stuff in that bowl it would have amazing flavors after mixing it all up... But no dice. Spent like 8 minzies mixing that thing up to a perfect pink gooey mess and turned out absolutely flavorless. It had all the ingredients to be a tasty bowl of bibimbap but it was more played out than MMMbop. You would think the spicy gochujang sauce would give me some heat in my heart since I have never known the warmth of a woman's touch. Looks like I'll be crying myself asleep alone tonight, again.

Masa Ramen. This is basically their version of a tonkotsu ramen and it looks like it's only available on the Atlanta menu... And of course, I fell for it hook line and stinker, again. The broth looked creamy and fatty but it was pretty much watery and bland. The noodles were a bit overcooked and mushy. The thin flappy skin like slices of pork tasted like it was boiled in battery acid because it lacked color and flavor... Kinda reminded me of the loose skin on the bad guy in RoboCop who drove into the toxic waste tank... Mmm, so mouth watering. The nori, scallions, sprouts and corn gave it more added value to this bowl but it really didn't do much to alter the overall flavor of this noodle bowl. It showed well on first looks but the taste was weak as shit. Maybe I should have just stuck with their popular curry laksa, instead... Not gonna say it's authentic but at least I know what to expect.

Banh Mi five spice pork belly szechuan pepper, cinnamon, star anise, cloves, cardamom. It looked pretty decent on first glance but once you start to inspect it your excitement start to diminish with each passing minute. While it looked freshly baked, the bread was chewy and hard to pull apart. The veggie filler looked good but they were not pickled enough. Let's take a closer look at the pork belly...

Cross section of the belly... I don't see any fat on that belly or any color/grilling/charring on the outside. Jesus, did they sous "acid bath" vide this, too? There was barely a hint of five spice and the pork slab itself was tough and chewy... Add in the hard to pull apart bread and you're wishing for a jar of Poligrip. Seriously, switch it out for a nice thick slice of grilled SPAM and it would taste 10 times better. You can be easily fooled by the good looks of this banh mi in the light but once you take a bite, you're wishing they had the Clapper to turn off the lights... So, you can at least walk outta there without the shame. That Asian slaw thinger in that urine sample container tasted like sun dried cabbage tossed in Elmer's glue... Why anyone would pay $10 for any banh mi on the menu is just quite perplexing. 

It's always dead as fuck in here on a Friday and Saturday night, just like their opposite end neighbor, Rize. It's like the Bermuda triangle in this building... With the old Flip Burger space across the street as the 3rd point. We may have just found the next cursed location. Why this Charelston resto group decided that Atlanta would be a good fit is beyond me, maybe they were just following all the other restos opening intown like a sheep. The Asian cuisine here is so gringorized, no focus, no technique, just throw a bunch of Asian sounding dishes on there and they will come... There's even tacos on the menu and not one roundeye is even buying into that noise. The bar looks pretty nice and decent but they don't stay open late enough for people to actually hang around for drinks. These new to the area concepts and chains are just old news these days when the spoiled and entitled millennials constantly demand new and shinier things every other week. They really should have done their research and demographics for their food concepts because CO really belongs in OTP... At least Rize was smart enough to open their other location in upstate Atlanta... Sandy Springs is more both their speed. I would not be surprised if Rize closes their original location here in the near future... Wait, they're on Scoutmob, nevermind, it's a given. As for CO, I wish them nothing but the best and hopefully they can CO-exist with Rize, not that they are in competition or anything, they are just basically fighting for their own survival to exist... My mama told me once that if I ain't got nothing nice to say, don't say it at all... Oops, too late, mamapouch. I guess she doesn't read the Lipz that often.

675 North Highland Avenue NE
Atlanta, GA 30306
https://www.eatatco.com/?loc=atlanta