Dear Buckhead Diner, When we first met you we were smitten. It was the winter of '87 and you burst onto the scene as an instant classic. We called you "buzzy" and "cozy" and "chic." You, with your neon and chrome, just ~lamping~ in repose along Piedmont. Fast-forward to the edge of 2016 and, well...you look *tired.* Your interior, once so smart and inviting, is roughed-up and worn-out. Your menu seems dated...not in a charming, intentional way like your architecture...more of a lazy, 'oh, heh, oops' kind of way. BUT: LISTEN TO US, Buckhead Diner: we believe in you. In fact, you've still got it, in some ways. Atlanta is nothing if not a car city, and there's just something irrevocably enchanting about driving up to your neon-clad flanks, veggie plate quality be damned. On top of that, during our recent visits, your staff was great – friendly, approachable, and attentive. Just, please, please, please, take a look at what some of these other 'new old school' restaurants are doing: Carbone, M. Wells, and The Polo Bar. The best of these places function as devices for surfacing the forgotten joys of a genre that everybody else sees as boorish and a little unseemly, while exposing the elegance that was always hiding there. THOSE ARE THE THINGS YOU'RE MISSING: THE JOY, THE THRILLS, THE ELEGANCE. Come on, Buckhead Diner. You've got great bones, an award-winning history, and a massive opportunity to unearth the best elements of homegrown American style, service, and cuisine. You can do this. It's going to be great. Best of luck, Brothers.
