Vortex Bar & Grill

(404) 875-1667

878 Peachtree St
Atlanta, GA 30309 33.7788 -84.3844

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Neighborhoods: Midtown, Northeast, Northeast

www.thevortexbarandgrill.com

Hours:

Monday To Wednesday From 11:00 AM To 02:00 AM Thursday To Saturday From 11:00 AM To 03:00 AM Sunday From 11:00 AM To 12:00 AM

Price:

$

Last updated 10.15.11

Category:

Restaurants, Sports Bars, Bars & Pubs

Payment Methods:

American Express, Discover, Visa, MasterCard

Bar & Pub Special Features:

Notable Beer List

Restaurant Special Features:

Notable Beer List, Late Night Dining, Outdoor Dining, Lunch Spot, Cheap Eats, Bar Scene

General Info:

Open 7 Days

Cuisine:

Hamburgers, Traditional American

Smoking Permitted:

Yes

What People Are Saying About Vortex Bar & Grill

Featured Review

Contributor

Contributor

In Short – Sibling to the L5P location, the Midtown eatery attracts college crowds and boisterous groups with its retro ads, quirky knickknacks and laidback vibe. Burgers are the big draw: Choose anything from the Yokohama Mama to the Coronary bypass, but standards like a classic patty melt or a bacon cheeseburger are the best bet. If red meat is not your thing, try the turkey reuben or a veggie burger.

Editor's Tips

What to Drink:
Hard liquor and a selection of draft and bottle beers are available.
ambiance
87.5% positive
  1. The servers are just plain cool (don't act like an idiot and the service is incredible, select people above), the atmosphere is intense, and the food is kickin' (try the tater-tots).
  2. but hate the atmosphere.
  3. Yes, the Vortex decor is interesting, albeit a tad junky, but that isn't enough to bring me back.
  4. Uptown is fun especially for it's niche audience, but here is a place that brings in comics of every color and stripe - even though they do seem to specialize in alternative comedy.
  5. The help were all uncaring kids under 25, the atmosphere was as unique as a TGIF and the food was terrible.
  6. have never had a bad meal out of the 40 or so I have had at the Midtown location.
  7. like this location better because it has more of an urban feel.
  8. The decor is fun and interesting and the bar-food menu is top notch --especially the burgers.
  9. It was my favorite then, and I still like their burgers today at the enlarged Peachtree location.
  10. This place is known for their wonderful burgers and cool atmosphere with the motorsycle hanging from the ceiling.
  11. finally visited the peachtree street location today after hearing that my quest to find the perfect burger would end here.
  12. It's a fun bar scene, the atsmoshere is a blast and the food is great for the price.
  13. fun atmosphere, good bar food
  14. Good food, fun atmosphere
  15. Very cool atmosphere and the service is at top of things.
  16. like the decor, but I am retro old guy with grey hair.
drinks
90.90999603271484% positive
  1. fun atmosphere, good bar food
  2. The best burgers in Atlanta, the coolest wait staff, an awesome bar, and the best venue for comedy.
  3. make a special trip to midtown at least one a month to go to grab the best chicken sand in the world, tater tots, and a beer.
  4. **. Not only is it one of the cheaper places to eat - it is by far the best burger/bar in the midtown area.
  5. My favorite place in Atlanta to sip a beer and eat a burger.
  6. The decor is fun and interesting and the bar-food menu is top notch --especially the burgers.
  7. It's a fun bar scene, the atsmoshere is a blast and the food is great for the price.
  8. The best burgers, bar food, and beer selection if you like a different kind of place.
  9. This is a great place to get a decent meal, a good drink and to hang with your friends.
  10. The staff is friendly and inviting, and the waitresses are extremely attractive and serve strong, stiff drinks.
  11. The burgers are average, the beer selection is average, the staff is unacceptable!
food quality
87.72000312805176% positive
  1. Best sides and best burgers!
  2. Fun atmoshere and the best burgers
  3. The best burgers in Atlanta, the coolest wait staff, an awesome bar, and the best venue for comedy.
  4. Even my mistakenly-medium burger wasn't juicy at all.
  5. The decor is fun and interesting and the bar-food menu is top notch --especially the burgers.
  6. Vortex has great burgers acording to my friends, and from someone who doesn't eat red meat vortex has the best turkey burgers I have ever eaten.
  7. Vortex Bar & Grill has fabulous burgers and fabulous sides
  8. The burgers, both beef & veggie, are always great.
  9. There are plenty of tasty options for those people that don't eat red meat and even more for those that do.
  10. We have been to others, and it is a little trip from Sandy Springs, but we love the burgers and the staff.
  11. This is a great place to get a decent meal, a good drink and to hang with your friends.
  12. good food
  13. It's a fun bar scene, the atsmoshere is a blast and the food is great for the price.
  14. While I still think it's a great burger, it has, in my humble estimation, fallen to third (no slouch in that, is there?)
  15. finally visited the peachtree street location today after hearing that my quest to find the perfect burger would end here.
  16. Yes, yes, yes, the Vortex is known for its burgers but honestly good burgers aren't that hard to find.
  17. love the food and the service is usually good so I would recommend the Vortex to my friends that are visiting Atlanta and to attendees of Dragon*Con.
  18. Where to get a burger that's juicy burger and tastes like somebody gives a rat's azz?
  19. As a business owner myself I personally think that know matter how much the food cost, you should receive good service.
  20. **. Not only is it one of the cheaper places to eat - it is by far the best burger/bar in the midtown area.
  21. My favorite place in Atlanta to sip a beer and eat a burger.
  22. This really is, in my opinion the best place to get a burger in all of Atlanta.
  23. had a great experience; good food, and our server did a great job of popping up at the exact right times.
  24. make a special trip to midtown at least one a month to go to grab the best chicken sand in the world, tater tots, and a beer.
  25. Great Burgers and sandwiches and their fried zucchini appetizer i.
  26. My new spot for pretty good food and 20yr port!
  27. The burgers are average, the beer selection is average, the staff is unacceptable!
  28. First, I love the Vortex's brash approach to eat-it-or-leave-it cuisine - it's refreshing, entertaining and, for some reason, likable.
  29. If you really want a good burger, please go to any of the following joints: Fuddruckers, Sonic for the Super Sonic Buger, Hardees for the 1/2 lb angus, and Wendy's for the Classic Triple.
  30. love the chicken sandwhi.
  31. The servers are just plain cool (don't act like an idiot and the service is incredible, select people above), the atmosphere is intense, and the food is kickin' (try the tater-tots).
  32. I'm fully aware that it takes a while to cook good food, but c'mon.
  33. Multiple options for burgers and the other sandwiches are equally good.
  34. The Midtown Vortex can't compete with the local character of its Little Five Points relation, but it can compete with its equally good food and service.
  35. It was my favorite then, and I still like their burgers today at the enlarged Peachtree location.
  36. The best burgers, bar food, and beer selection if you like a different kind of place.
  37. love it cause right there on the menu it tells you where you can stick it if you don't like the food.
  38. Great burgers
  39. The food was excellent, but my alergies can't handle the piles of cigarette smoke.
  40. Great burger joint with a huge menu of food.
  41. Good food, fun atmosphere
  42. The Vortex is a great burger place in Little Five Points.
  43. They have yummy burgers and the fondue w/ tots is the best.
  44. fun atmosphere, good bar food
  45. If you don't like red meat you can substitue chicken of vegie for all of the different burger options.
  46. If you want the best burger, this is where you need to go.
  47. This place is known for their wonderful burgers and cool atmosphere with the motorsycle hanging from the ceiling.
  48. The burgers are great, I prefer the Rajin Cajun myself.
  49. Though the fries are good, try the fried zucchini or the tater tots, they're better.
  50. have never had a bad meal out of the 40 or so I have had at the Midtown location.
  51. The help were all uncaring kids under 25, the atmosphere was as unique as a TGIF and the food was terrible.
  52. The staff are funky and really nice and the food is amazing.
  53. The attitude is badass and the food, especially the burgers, is excellent.
  54. best burgers in Atlanta!
  55. The waiters keep getting more rude everytime and the food is below average at best.
  56. In short, the burger and fries were not fresh and had no flavor.
  57. love their food, great services.
menu variety
70.0% positive
  1. love it cause right there on the menu it tells you where you can stick it if you don't like the food.
  2. The decor is fun and interesting and the bar-food menu is top notch --especially the burgers.
  3. If you don't like red meat you can substitue chicken of vegie for all of the different burger options.
  4. The best burgers, bar food, and beer selection if you like a different kind of place.
  5. We love the smart mouthed menu.
  6. Multiple options for burgers and the other sandwiches are equally good.
  7. The staff are much nicer than the menu implies, and as with all good midtown restaraunts - the staff is great viewing entertainment.
  8. The burgers are average, the beer selection is average, the staff is unacceptable!
  9. Great burger joint with a huge menu of food.
  10. There are plenty of tasty options for those people that don't eat red meat and even more for those that do.
overall
100.0% positive
  1. The Vortex is a great burger place in Little Five Points.
  2. This really is, in my opinion the best place to get a burger in all of Atlanta.
  3. This is just an all-around great place to go to hang out with a group of friends (wouldn't advise families with little kids though).
  4. This is a great place to get a decent meal, a good drink and to hang with your friends.
  5. Anyway, I honestly think the Vortex is a good place to eat.
  6. It's a great place to start off with if headed to a concert, etc.
  7. This WAS a great place but unfortunately has steadily gone downhill.
  8. It a great place to stop before catching a show at the Tabernacle or whatever your next Mid/Downtown destination will be.
  9. The best burgers, bar food, and beer selection if you like a different kind of place.
service
59.26000118255615% positive
  1. The staff is friendly and inviting, and the waitresses are extremely attractive and serve strong, stiff drinks.
  2. The Midtown Vortex can't compete with the local character of its Little Five Points relation, but it can compete with its equally good food and service.
  3. The servers are just plain cool (don't act like an idiot and the service is incredible, select people above), the atmosphere is intense, and the food is kickin' (try the tater-tots).
  4. had a blast, my co workers and I went for my birthday and I had a great time my waiter sucked but the bartenders made up for it.
  5. love the food and the service is usually good so I would recommend the Vortex to my friends that are visiting Atlanta and to attendees of Dragon*Con.
  6. Absolutely rude rude rude!
  7. The staff are much nicer than the menu implies, and as with all good midtown restaraunts - the staff is great viewing entertainment.
  8. To make matters worse, the service is HORRIBLE!
  9. have always received great service--prompt and surprisingly friendly.
  10. My only negative comment is that the service was a little slow.
  11. As a business owner myself I personally think that know matter how much the food cost, you should receive good service.
  12. There is no excuse for bad service!
  13. had a great experience; good food, and our server did a great job of popping up at the exact right times.
  14. There are plenty of tasty options for those people that don't eat red meat and even more for those that do.
  15. The staff is Incredibly rude.
  16. Don't expect happy service with a smile, it ain't gonna happen.
  17. The waiters keep getting more rude everytime and the food is below average at best.
  18. From the perspective of someone who has worked in restaurants for several years as a server and bartender, this place is great.
  19. We have been to others, and it is a little trip from Sandy Springs, but we love the burgers and the staff.
  20. The best burgers in Atlanta, the coolest wait staff, an awesome bar, and the best venue for comedy.
  21. The staff are all rude idiots.
  22. Very cool atmosphere and the service is at top of things.
  23. Okay, so maybe some people don't like the Vortex and some people get bad service.
  24. The staff are funky and really nice and the food is amazing.
  25. know this place is not known for its great service.
  26. The burgers are average, the beer selection is average, the staff is unacceptable!
  27. I've been in there at least a dozen times, and the service has always been exceptionally slow- even by Atlanta's standards.
value
100.0% positive
  1. And all for amazingly good prices.
  2. Great burger joint with a huge menu of food.
  3. It's a fun bar scene, the atsmoshere is a blast and the food is great for the price.
wait time
0.0% positive
  1. My only negative comment is that the service was a little slow.
  2. I've been in there at least a dozen times, and the service has always been exceptionally slow- even by Atlanta's standards.
1 Star Rating: Poor

12/31/11

Vortex Midtown - What a let Down pure seedy and disappointin

by jilljensens

Me think not. How appropriate summary for that establishment. Not sure how they got the good reviews, if that were their buddies or now, but our experience was anything but good. The restaurant felt seedy with pictures of nude women in the bar and wait staff that was very "up -nosed" and overall provided bad service. They do have a very large nice bar, but again, the service was slow and not very good, so if you are ok with slow and not so good service, you will get decent burgers and fries - that is all I can say about the food - then you're ok. It felt like a college bar where the beers should be $1.50, but they were not, so in summary, we did not have a good experience at all, which is strange since The Vortex has a good reputation.

3 Star Rating: Average

11/08/10

Good Burgers

by RoslynWhitesel

This place has the best tasting burgers, but I hate the fact that it is really greasy. The service isn't all that great, they are slow with orders, and not all that friendly. Outside of that I mean its a good place to hang out, there are always people there, and the vibe is good.

1 Star Rating: Poor

09/18/10

RUDE! NEVER GO HERE!

by bradleywestmoreland

I just called to place a to go order because I have a broken hand and live a block away. The guy that answered they phone snapped at me and said he wouldn't take a to go order because he was too busy -- and the hung up the phone on me. I will never EVER patronize this establishment. If you want a good burger, go to Houston's!!!

4 Star Rating: Recommended

07/14/10

My visit to this restaurant really made my day.

by kriordan

I have always loved burgers. I liked the succulent taste of burgers in this restaurant. They offer different variations which I love. My visit to this restaurant really made my day.

1 Star Rating: Poor

05/01/10

SUB STANDARD FOOD, EVEN WORSE EMPLOYEES

by XF

Do not buy the hype and gimmick - Vortex is TERRIBLE! The food is sub-standard bar food at best. Their burgers are one step above McDonalds and their fries are equivalent to microwavable fries (McDonalds fries are actually better). In short, the burger and fries were not fresh and had no flavor. To make matters worse, the service is HORRIBLE! The hostess (or one of) is rude, condescending, and in my experience, racist! When I complained to the manager, he told me I was being ridiculous. I would never go back to Vortex again! When visiting Atlanta, I highly recommend you avoid this trashy and smoke filled place. There are a lot of other restaurants in the area worthy of your business. Also, if you are going with a GROUP, this is definetly NOT the place for you - they will not seat you unless everyone in your party is present. They refuse to allow you to change your party size once you've given it to them, so you're definitely out of luck if someone decides not to show up. They will not seat you! As ridiculous as it might appear, this is apparently their policy! Dining at Vortex is THE WORST dining experience I have ever had! I'm giving it a one star, but only because I can't give it a ZERO STAR.

  • Pros: Nothing!
  • Cons: Food, Service/Employees, Atmosphere, Bad for groups

The Details on Vortex Bar & Grill

Place Categories:

  • best burgers
  • great burger place
  • good bar food
  • great service
  • interesting vortex decor
  • rude staff
  • very cool fun atmosphere
  • not juicy mistakenlymedium burger
  • cool venue
  • huge smart mouthed menu
  • rude
  • not like food
  • never bad meal
  • equally good multiple options
  • good fries
  • love vortex
  • rude idiots
  • sucked waiter
  • good drink
  • best fondue w tots
  • like kinda
  • always great beef
  • always great veggie
  • good midtown
  • best beer
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