Photograph by The Sintoses
If you asked me to name Atlanta’s favorite protein, two meats would come to mind: pork, because we’re in the middle of the Southern barbecue belt; and chicken, because Georgia produces more broilers than any other state—and because a certain restaurant brand here claims to have invented the chicken sandwich.
I probably wouldn’t say beef. But I should.
In the 30 years since the 1996 Summer Olympics, Atlanta has quietly become one of America’s best cities for steakhouses. By my count, there were about 50 steakhouses in metro Atlanta when Muhammad Ali lit the flame. There are more than twice that many now; my unscientific list reached a hundred and kept growing as I found ones I’d never heard of.
About a third of our steakhouses belong to chains like Outback, Texas Roadhouse, and LongHorn, which started on Peachtree Road in 1981. But most are independents, and some are among the best-regarded carveries in the nation—places like Bones, Chops, Hal’s, Clark’s, Marcel, Little Alley, and 101 Steak. “There might be more great steakhouses in places like Chicago and New York, but Atlanta probably has more of them per capita than anywhere else,” says chef Kevin Rathbun, who runs two of them: Kevin Rathbun Steak and KR SteakBar.
Atlanta’s abundance of independent steakhouse options is a recent phenomenon. Fifty years ago, we had few locally owned ones to choose from. There was Harry’s in Midtown, 7 Steers across from the Fox Theatre, and Pilgreen’s, which started on the corner of Fifth and Spring streets in 1932 but is best remembered for its location near Fort McPherson, on Lee Street. The restaurant called itself “The T-Bone King” and advertised with a smiling cartoon steak sporting a crown. That landmark closed after a fire more than 20 years ago, but the Pilgreen’s location in McDonough has been serving classic cuts since 1999.
Photograph by Clay Goswick
Though steakhouses have evolved over the years, many still share the same time-tested hallmarks: dim lighting, lots of wood, comfy leather banquettes with plenty of elbow room to cut meat. “A good steakhouse should feel masculine,” says Stephen “Steak” Shapiro, host of the TV show Atlanta Eats, who got that nickname from a former boss who liked the “Steak Shapiro special” at Manny’s Steakhouse in Minneapolis. “It should be a place where you can have a holiday dinner with the dudes. Where the finance bros can celebrate a deal. Where the Mafia could feel comfortable in the back room.”
Not all Atlanta steakhouses buy into that men’s club vibe. At Arnette’s Chop Shop in Brookhaven, owner Michel Arnette set out to appeal to women by offering a more modern design, smaller menu options, and a bar that features portraits of rock stars such as David Bowie and Debbie Harry. “It’s a great place to come split dinner with your girlfriends,” says marketing director Crissy Hura. “We see a lot of that.”
Despite some outliers, most steakhouses have menus that read as certain as sheet music. The meat provides the melody, supported by a chorus of classic sides: chilled seafood, creamed spinach, frites and baked potatoes, wedge salads with blue cheese and bacon, extravagant desserts often prepared tableside. It usually comes a la carte at prices that make you want to gulp down another old-fashioned.
“We’re coming up on our 20th anniversary, and I was looking at one of our first menus,” Rathbun says. “Steak prices have more than doubled. It’s nothing for a steak to cost more than $100 now.”
Still, sometimes you want to splurge.
Photograph by Erik-Meadow
Photograph by Erik-Meadow
Which is how my wife and I ended up having an anniversary dinner at McKendrick’s, one of Atlanta’s fine old-school steakhouses, open for 31 years across from Perimeter Mall. It checks all the boxes. There’s even a big framed photo of Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack in the back hallway.
Our waiter, Marcus, started us with a primer on cow anatomy: “You want meat that comes from close to the bone because that’s where the flavor is. But you don’t want it to come from a muscle that’s been exercised too much.”
We ordered a lightly exercised bone-in filet and steak au poivre, with a shrimp cocktail, a wedge salad, lobster mashed potatoes, and roasted okra. We capped it with a shared creme brûlée and a bourbon chaser, because Marcus said their caramel tones would complement each other—and he was right.
A few days later, I phoned the restaurant’s new executive chef, Branden Holte, to talk steakhouses. He’s worked at several (Prime 120, Davio’s, War Horse) and knows the canon by heart. “There’s an element of nostalgia about steakhouses; they’re a comforting piece of Americana,” he says. “When you go to a steakhouse and everything’s working, it leaves you humming.”
Back to Atlanta’s 10 Best Steakhouses.
This article appears in our October 2026 issue.
