ALFREDO’S
1989 Cheshire Bridge Road, Atlanta. 404-876-1380, alfredosatlanta.com. $$$
Nearly any Saturday night is a crowded affair at Alfredo’s. In the small bar, packed three layers deep as patrons sip wine and cocktails while waiting for a table to open up in the relatively tight dining room, you’ll find a mix of longtime loyalists and 20-somethings out for a date night of old-school Italian flair.
The food at Alfredo’s, like most everything else about the place, has changed very little over the past 39 years. This is classic, red-sauce-heavy American-Italian cuisine. As soon as you get in your drink order, each table gets a plate of mixed olives and golden brown, butter-soaked bread to snack on.
First-timers here who want the quintessential Americanized Italian dish will get exactly what they hope for with the breaded veal cutlet, rich tomato-based sauce and bubbling cheese in the Parmigiana. This dish is everything that you expect it to be, and nothing that you don’t — a perfect analogy for Alfredo’s itself. Other timeless dishes, like the veal Marsala or chicken cacciatore, always succeed in leaving your belly full and your cheeks just a little sore.
Jon Watson
