Bones

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

An Atlanta Institution, Decades in the Making

Bones opened on Piedmont Road in 1979 with a clear, uncompromising mission: the finest service, the finest steaks, the finest seafood. More than four decades later, that mission reads less like an aspiration and more like a track record. The Atlanta Business Chronicle put it plainly — "Bones has become more than a restaurant. It's become an institution." Few would argue.

The restaurant is owned by Susan DeRose and Richard Lewis, with Executive Chef Brian Hatfield leading the kitchen. Together they oversee a dining room that has earned the Best Steakhouse in Atlanta title from Atlanta Magazine eighteen years in a row, topped OpenTable's national steakhouse rankings in 2024, and taken Garden & Gun's Best Steakhouse in the South for 2025. The New York Times singled it out for "the best steak and lamb chops in the Southeast," while GQ dispatched a writer in search of the nation's top steakhouses and ended up in Atlanta. The answer was Bones.

Prime Beef, Fresh Seafood, and Southern Roots

The menu is rooted in American fine dining with a distinctly Southern character. Prime beef and fresh seafood anchor every service, joined by Maine lobster and regional specialties sourced from farms, gardens, and coastlines across Georgia and the Southeast. Dishes reflect the restaurant's heritage rather than chasing trends — the kind of cooking that earns Zagat's highest rating for food and service among American steakhouses, a distinction Bones has held.

Lunch is served on Fridays; dinner runs seven days a week. The room draws Atlanta's business community as reliably as it draws celebratory tables — private dining rooms and personalized menus are available for both.

A Wine List Worth the Recognition

The wine program is as considered as the food. Bones holds Wine Spectator's Best of Award of Excellence, a distinction it has carried since 1990, recognizing a list that spans old and new world bottles hand-selected to complement the restaurant's signature American menu. It is the kind of cellar depth that rewards regulars and reassures first-timers.

The Room, the Staff, the Standard

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, in trying to explain why Bones endures, landed on something revealing: "It's not the big, fat, well-cut steaks. It's the staff." That consistency of hospitality — business casual dress code, a room that welcomes guests from age six to one hundred and six, and a team that has kept standards steady across decades — is what transforms a great steakhouse into a civic landmark.