Local Republic

Reviews 4

KI

Kimberly Woods

Very disappointed with this restaurant. Given all the positive reviews I expected the food to taste better. Yes its in lawrenceville so my expectations werent high at all but this place just bombed it! Walking in, the hosts were friendly and the restaurant, small yet inviting. Our waiter Adam seemed friendly. This place is def not geared towards family with kids. They have 3 items to choose but not that great or worth the price. Now I can only review this place based on the items we received and overall experience. I have been a chef since 06 & have worked at high end restaurants one being Craft (Tom Colicchio) so I know how food should be prepared & when its subpar. The shrimp & grits are by far now where near what a classic shrimp & grits are. The shrimp & the grits were prepared nicely but the roux was not something to talk about! Very poorly executed! When ordering the pork chop our waiter failed to disclose or ask the temp we wanted. We assumed it would be the standard med/med well even though we prefer med rare but the cooks failed to achieve that! It was cooked well done! Carry over cooking is a thing & they completely ignored that! When asked to exchange it, our waiter was upset. Thats a no go! Ive also worked as a server for many years along with being a chef & thats not customer service! We asked for a republic burger med rare & it was Rare! No questions about that! It was a cold center and not cooked at all! Almost black and blue if the outside had a hard seared! The waiter asked if I wanted to get it cooked more but at that point I failed to trust their abilities as cooks to understand temperatures & how to test them! Not everyone can use touch to test temps! So please invest in a thermometer! The Caesar salad was ok, gumbo(yeah its not authentic or tastes anywhere to it! Def not thick at all, lacks flavor), kids grill cheese was mediocre and sloppy! The bread wasnt lined up so there were parts of the bread that lacked cheese. The bacon mac and cheese is also not a conversation starter! Flavor was subpar & needed work on that! The beer selection was nice. They dont serve fries! Which we thought was weird. Their burgers come on wheat buns btw and unless u asked, u wouldnt know bc they failed to mention that on the menu or when u order it. We will not be returning as this restaurant has a long way to go on Customerservice, consistency and flavor! Im sure theyd better items on their menus but we decided to try the popular ones. Im a firm believer of only giving 20% tip or more but this time was a first were the waiter only received 10% and that was pushing it because after we put our orders in he barely came by to check in regularly. Definitely disappointed! Like I said at the beginning, my expectations were low bc of the area! Its way over priced, under seasoned & a waste of money. Not worth it! Keep your money & take the time to travel to Atlanta and enjoy authentic, well seasoned great food! Will not be returning it recommending! We left hungry & very upset!

AD

Adam Vadala

While I am all for a restaurant / chef wanting to distinguish themselves with food options that are different than other places, Local Republic unfortunately fails at their effort. We went there a couple weeks ago based on the reviews, and were excited for a great meal, but were left very unimpressed. On the plus side, the appetizers were good...we had scallops and the pimento cheese on toast, and both were tasty. That however was the end of our enjoyment. My wife ordered the veggie panini but wanted it w/out the red peppers. She was told she couldnt get it without the peppers because it wouldnt "respect the chefs vision" of the sandwich. Say what??? What on Earth does that mean? If the customer is paying you money for food done a certain way, we should not be told no. When the panini arrived, it looked as if it had been made hours ago, and simply warmed up. The veggies were soggy and get this...the red peppers were simply laid on the mushrooms like anything else you would put on a sandwich. So if they were simply laid on there, what would prevent the chef from just not putting them on in the first place, like we asked? In the end, we pulled the peppers off, but it didnt matter as the panini was terrible...soggy, bland (no taste from the pesto) and cold. We informed the waitress hoping she would accommodate in some way, but not. My wife did not finish it. I ordered the chicken and cheese sandwich, because well...how can you go wrong with chicken and cheese? Well it turns out there is a way. Like the panini, it was incredibly bland. But I ended up finishing, due to my hunger. Next came my side dish of bacon mac and cheese. Oh my god! This had to have been the worst mac and cheese Ive ever had in my entire life. It didnt taste like cheese at all, but more like chemicals, that ultimately made me gag a little bit. And to top it off, it was sitting in its own vat of what I thought was bacon grease. Again, told the waitress to no avail. Im not looking for any handout, but if you tell the waitress twice that the food was not good, youd think shed try and accommodate the customer somehow. Nope! In the end, they try to hard to make unique dishes, utilizing weird combinations and sometimes foods Ive never heard of. Needless to say, we will not be going back.

AL

Alice Koerner

The communication breakdown between patrons and staff is unreal. Ive visited and been a patron a handful of times, different times of the week, to no avail. The food was edible at best. The scallops were fine but the lobster was overcooked and the rice was undecooked. I hadnt eaten all day and this is the south, else I would have walked out the food was soooo bad. The burger was frozen and the fries inedible. Most theyre staff seems poorly trained to move around safely and politely in confined spaces / walkways and tend to rush and/or bump into patrons. With reservations, established workflows, or well-engineered through ways this wouldnt be a problem. Have they consulted with a restaurant engineer, aficionado, or workflow specialist? Once the overextended bartender is available to make the cocktail his/her skills dont go unnoticed. The cocktail menu and its execution is quite solid. Dietary concerns are not noted on the menu, and main ingredients for dishes are only partially listed. That said, the waitress appeared knowledgeable of the menu and what was gluten free. The front womens restroom had a faucet that barely functions to clean your hands and unfortunately it collects water all over the counter. There is no way to dry your hands either.

A

A Private User

Everything about The Local Republic is great! We had been wanting to try it and went in October of 2011 for my birthday. I had the Mr. Jones- house made pimento cheese, jalapeno, and bacon on a burger! Its only $11 and comes with chips or you can upgrade your side for $1.50. My husband had The Bruiser- cajun blackened beef, english stilton bleu cheese, and bacon! Its just $10 and he upgraded to the Bacon Macn Cheese...yep, thats right..bacon macn cheese! If your mouths not watering from that, your crazy! We drank some fine scotch ale and a few other choices. They have one hell of a beer selection and its changing on the regular which is exciting! After my birthday, this became our new date night spot! We went for the second time in December and the server remembered us which I thought was cool. We were able to meet the owners Ben and Beth as well. Very sweet people :) The cooks are friendly and the bartenders definately know their stuff when it comes to beer! I could go on and on but i think you get the gist! If you havent been you need to go, you are missing out! :)