The Varsity

Now this was an interesting place for more than one reason.

Let’s start with the place itself. Simply put, I’d never seen a place like it before. It’s decorated sort of like a diner (not unlike In N Out burger in California), but it is HUGE. Simply HUMONGOUS…the counter that you order from is so long, it’s more like the counters at airport terminals. There are about 6 rooms, each of which could be a restaurant in themselves. On top of that, there are even parking spots with car hop service (which I’d never seen before…I didn’t know these even existed anymore today), so you can park, order, eat and then go without ever leaving your car.

The second thing about this place was the service…it was friendly and just fine, but the thing that made it stand out was that all the cashiers greet you with “what’ll ya have?” And since there are so many of them (like I said, the counter was HUGE), you get echos and reverberations of “What’ll ya have?” throughout the entire place. It’s amazing to me that they can be so enthusiastic and friendly in such a job, but perhaps that’s just Southern hospitatlity for you (try to get anyone in a job like that in California to be that cheerful without paying him $100/hour…good luck).

Finally, what about the food? The best way to explain it, in my opinion, is: take McDonald’s, add some additional fresh ingredients, and viola. Their burger is basically a McDonald’s burger, but you add some real lettuce, tomato etc. and there you have it. That adds up to a burger which is actually remarkably tasty, though nothing amazing.

They have a variety of other foods, including chicken fingers, pulled pork sandwiches and chili cheese dogs that were all ni the realm of “Good, solid food, nothing amazing.”

The one exception to this was the thing they are known for: onion rings. My opinion? These were definitely solid onion rings, and I might even say they are the best onion rings I’ve ever had…but that doesn’t mean they’re THAT good. These onion rings are probably only a little better than your average onion ring (in other words, there’s not a lot of variation in the quality of onion rings…they’re almost always good).

One other thing stood out to me: their ice cream. I’m not sure what they do to their ice cream, but it is extra creamy and tastes great. I’m sure it’s bascially extra fat they add to it, but whatever…it’s awesome.

All in all, a very unique and interesting place, and some decent food at a reasonable price.

OK, so it’s not amazing food, but it is an Atlanta icon – anyone that visits has to go at least once.