Amalfi Cucina & Mercato - Downtown Atlanta

Not sure how this restaurant had 4.1 stars when I visited - food was terrible. "Fake Italian" is the best summary. (Dine in only) We were visiting Atlanta ( 2 adults, 3 kids) when eating here. The kids meals seemed reasonably priced and the menu choices appealing. We were wrong. The red sauce - for the fried calamari, for my wife's fish main, and on my shrimp and gnocchi - were all terrible. My wife said "Ragu" more than I could count. All of the fish (shrimp, calamari, and mussels ) in the fruitti de mar was overcooked/chewy. The gnocchi was little to none. The children's meals were too small (4 small ravioli? ) My kids needed to order an second round (7 & 9) worst of all: they refused to bring bread to the table (we ordered a mussel appetizer which had a decent sauce and wanted to dip). NOPE. Their "bread box" is $5 ... And it's a garlic / oil bread. When was the last time you went to an Italian restaurant and they didn't have bread for you to dip into the sauce? Edit: forgot to m

We come to Atlanta a lot for concerts and dining options downtown are limited to a bunch of overpriced chains, finding out about this kind of hidden Italian restaurant was fantastic and we will be definitely back. The place is located across the street from the Hard Rock Cafe and you have to walk through and enclosed hallway to get upstairs to the restaurant (there is a speakeasy downstairs). The hostess was super friendly and sat us at a great table. We had Aperol Spritz and the antipasto salad, which was extremely flavorful. We then shared their margarita pizza and added pepperoni. Their specialty is the cheese crush pizza, you can get any pizza with the cheese crust, just ask for it. Vegetarian options: Any pizza can be vegetarian as well as pasta and tons of appetizers available.

I ordered a side Insalata Della Casa and the Spicy Sicilian. The caramelized walnuts added a bit of sweetness to the salad. The flavors of the pizza were great, I loved the sauce and the chilis. **Update because on my first visit they were out of what I wanted. On my second trip I got the saute di cozze, so amazing. The mussels were cooked to perfection, not chewy at all. The sauce was garlicy and had a great balance with the balsamic. I also got the pizza amalfi carnavale style (ricotta stuffed crust). I only ate one piece and boxed the rest up, but it was amazing. Spicy, creamy, sweet. I liked it better than the spicy Sicilian. I also had the signature frose, it was good. But my amazing server recommended the hibiscus flore and it was stunning. It is in my top 5 cocktails.