First time in Atlanta? Go to Mary Mac's

No list of classic Atlanta restaurants would be complete — some may go so far as to say “credible” — without Mary Mac’s Tea Room on it.

What began as a small meat-and-three on Ponce de Leon in 1945 has expanded and endured to become a true Atlanta institution, perhaps more so than any other restaurant in the city.

First-timers might be surprised to find that you still hand-write your own order on a ticket and turn it in to the server, a practice long since abandoned except at a few sushi bars around town. And those first-timers would do well to order a round of the pot likker with crackling bread starter. This hearty collard and ham-hock stew is nearly a lost art, a Depression-era dish kept alive in a select few Southern kitchens.

While time-tested recipes like the chicken and dumplings or roast pork with cornbread dressing and gravy have a heavy hand in the fiercely loyal customer base of Mary Mac’s, the real draw is something less tangible — the time-tested sense of hospitality.