Skulls and Cemeteries: Places to Eat in Atlanta

Not only is the decor cool, the food is good. Here are five of the best places to eat in Atlanta to satisfy your spooky side (more suggestions always welcome!), in my humble opinion and in no particular order:


Six Feet Under (Grant Park Location) - you want the Grant Park location, because it's right across from Oakland Cemetery. It's a fish place, and almost all the food is fried, so you'll want to take enough time to walk slowly through Oakland afterward to work off some of those tasty calories.

The restaurant itself is more fisherman-chic than spooky, but sitting on the upstairs patio gives you a splendid view of the cemetery and the food is better than it has any right to be this far inland.

the Vortex (Little 5 Location, mentioned on Skull-A-Day) - another spot with multiple locations, you want to visit the one in Little 5 Points. Why? The entrance is a huge skull with spiral eyes. It's adorable. And when you are done you can browse the shops in Little 5, which is always a fun way to spend an afternoon.

It's definitely a bar, but as far as food goes, everyone raves about the burgers. I'd consider it a burger joint with booze, personally, but it has a range of bar-fare (i.e. something for everyone).

The Highlander - Okay, no skulls in the decor, and nothing about this one screams "spooky." Except some of the very Halloweeny artwork occasionally featured inside, maybe, but that'll probably be down before you make it there. -- fine. whatever. I'll admit it. I just love this bar's attitude; it fits so nicely with the other bars-with-good-food on this list.

The Graveyard Tavern - it's so easy to like a place who's advertising claims that it's a "sunny place for shady people." Plus, the food is good enough that you forget it it's a bar until the crowd shoves in at dusk.

Seriously, I took my parents and grandparents here for lunch when we bought our house. Everybody loved the food. -- I like it because a) the name, b) the gray-black-purple decor and super-tall booths, and c) the food. Mmmm. Graveyard.

The Bone Garden Cantina - Owned by the same folks who brought us the Vortex (see above), Bone Garden is an out of the way Mexican cantina with seriously neat day-of-the-dead style decor. Check out the 'photos' section of the website.

I'm not sure how long the Bone Garden can last in its super-weird, 'hey, who knew this was here?' location, but while it's there it a nicely decorated, flavorful spot to visit.

.....

So, like the Highlander, I have one additional place for the list that doesn't necessary fit with the skulls-and-cemetery tone. Maybe I just hope that it will even things out: Dante's Down the Hatch. Like the Highlander, this place doesn't really have a pin-pointable 'spook' factor, but it's just got such a great freaking atmosphere!

Also, there's a huge pirate ship. And live jazz. It's like going to a restaurant amusement park (look at their site's photo gallery).

Double 'also,' this is the pricey place on the list. Not outlandish, but thought I should warn you.