Spondivits - Atlanta

The restaurant and the atmosphere was not what I expected. The seating areas are tight, tables are close together and not much room in the aisles for to walk. The service was good. They have a no customer dissatisfaction rule. Once the order is placed you can't change it, nor can you return your food if you are dissatisfied. They also have a mandatory 20% gratuity. The alcoholic drinks are good.

Watch out for the hidden 20% gratuity they add on! Parking is also strange, as you must drive behind McDonald's and you are forced to valet park. They are slightly expensive; expect to pay at least $140 for two people, excluding appetizers. Even an ear of corn was $11! The greeter and our waitress were both very friendly. They offer an open patio with great seating. You can also opt to sit at the bar, although it is usually crowded in there. This is primarily a seafood spot,and it is less sodium than The Juicy Crab, and they give you nice portions. They do not supply you with plastic bibs or gloves. At least they do give you wet naps. They offer half-pound Burgers, but there is no vegan options such as BeyondMeat, etc. Their Margaritas are great. One of the best amenities is their hours of operation, being that they stay open pretty late. They are all so close to the airport and a great local spot to meet down to earth people. Overall, it's agood experience and not bad at all. Just be prepared to spend.

This is still my favorite seafood restaurant. The prices have gone up, and to be honest the staff was not as friendly as they used to be. I guess things change by necessity. What hasn't changed is the quality of the seafood. The serving sizes are perfect. The quality of the food steamed or fried is absolutely amazing.

First time here I enjoyed the experience. The food was good but it wasn?t all that like I heard people hype it up to be but I would be going back again some day to try more food on the menu. The prices range from $22 $45 for the main courses. The atmosphere was nice relaxed. The staff was friendly very active with serving their tables even the managers was walking around helping out the waiters. If it?s your first time going the waiter will explain everything to youwith how things work.

One of the most interesting – and for some, crazy – aspects of this current recession is how uneven it is. So one of my thoughts went when I faced a 40-minute waiting last Friday for a table in Spondivits: Somewhere else in Atlanta, a poor restorer has sold his soul to Scoutmob, Groupon or Living Social to win a kind of critical mass. In these order-compromised restaurants you would have thrown in on Friday at 8:00 and had your choice of tables. Maybe something special. Not at Spondivits, a Virginia Avenue Institution in a neighborhood that is not quite College Park and not yet Hapeville – believe it sits at East Point on this point – a faux Florida fish dive on the northern approach of Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. No, at Spondivits you wait 40 minutes or longer for your table. And then you'll spend the rest of your meal and ask why. If the decor tries to remember an era of the past, un-air conditioned Florida, Spondivits’ HVAC system might work to complete this feeling. This night we had our choice of the outdoor deck – that might have been convincing if it enjoyed winds and marina views instead of always air, approaching the parking service and the side of the neighboring Waffle House – or a table where the inadequacy coolers left only 7 degrees cooler than their outdoor dining counterparts. We found two seats at the bar, and a friendly bartender found us two cold. (On the way, why is it that bartender like this guy - incredibly busy though it is, but he is unfoldable and has your beer in about two minutes - and you need to wait 20 minutes in most Atlanta gay bars where there is no food served, and no service bar to distraction. . . just sayin’ He also invited us to eat at the bar. If you look back, it wouldn't have been a bad alternative. Because the food in Spondivits essentially eats at a bar whether you decide to stay in the middle bar or move to an outlying table – the high tables have bar stools, not chairs, there are about $57 worth of decor on the walls and most of them came free, with friendly permission of the local beer distributor. There are those who believe that the colorful neon signs represent their complexity optimally, and there are others who believe that the high amounts of fried seafood are appreciated for their ancient qualities. If you fall into a category, this can be a restaurant for you. Actually there is a third category, and this would be the exact target market for this now-30 year old restaurant. There are people who find neon flattering looking forward to pounds of skillfully roasted seafood - and like to spend a lot of money on both. Because if the ambience enchants a simpler, cheaper Florida, the menu prices you can bring your iPhone out to make a currency conversion. But unfortunately the prices are shocking enough, in 2011 dollars. And that, in combination with thinking of the other soul-dependent Scoutmob-dependent restaurants in the city, has just scratched my head. You want a drink? The Bacardi Grape Koolaid is a respiratory potting $19.99, although you get 32 ounces of ice and taste to go with your liqueur there. A cup - yes, what with a handle a 24 hour dinner would serve you coffee - from admittedly fine New England Clam Chowder sets you back $7. A basket of fried seafood, no forks or knives required or given, mounted on an Idaho value of French Fries, is $16.99. If you don't want your seafood to spray through bread and time in very hot oil, count on paying $26-30 for a Entrée. That's it. (Some restaurants have flowers on the table, but here the crab legs seem popular enough that any other table seems to have a bouquet of spiky things in big buckets of them. Not the prices, but I must believe that roses would have been cheaper. And strangely, if you wanted roses, there's a shining seller of those who go through the restaurant. The fried seafood basket was nicely finished, everyone said. The part was not exaggerated, and I could say the difference between oysters, mussels and shrimps. The service was moderate, even if the air temperature was not. And the combination of the heat and PA announcements of the clearing warning list made it easy for our server to bring us to dinner and get out – this is not a place to stay. About 90 minutes after our arrival – a good part of it waited for a table – we went back to get our car. And you wouldn't know the wait for a table at 9:30 was even longer than it was when we came in. One of the more interesting things about this recession is how some companies manage to unravel gravity. If such caps, high prices, good fried seafood and coma-inducing inner heat and humidity do it for you, you owe it to yourself to try spondivits. Although a quick trip to Florida could be simpler and cheaper. .