Park Tavern: Come For The View, But That's About It

The weather here in the ATL has been just gorgeous these past few days, so what better way to take it all in than with a casual evening at Piedmont Park? I absolutely adore Piedmont Park... walking through it just reminds me of the fact that I live in a big city. I love that. Everywhere you look there is a feast for the eyes: soccer games, yoga classes, dog walkers, rollerbladers... and not to mention the gorgeous view of midtown skyline. Last night the Mister and I decided to stop in to Park Tavern for a cold one and a little nibble. The restaurant sits right on the corner of the park, and looked like it would be a great place to drink the night away. I didn't feel like cooking, and we needed to blow off a little steam from the work week. We sat outside (of course) and settled in to enjoy the view. Unfortunately the enjoyment ended right about there. Mr. Soup and I are fans of the wheat beer, of which we ordered one of the tavern's own. Blech. It tasted like it was tinged with Comet. No thank you, I'll have a Miller Lite. Next up, the appetizer -- spinach dip with crab & lobster. Promising, no? Yeah, not so much. Overall the dip lacked flavor and if it had either crab or lobster in it, I'd be shocked. The best part was the celery it was served with, if that tells you anything. For dinner, the Mister ordered the bison burger, and I stuck with regular hamb. The burgers actually weren't too bad, they had a nice char-grill flavor to them. We both had sweet potato fries on the side, a welcome change from the standard french. Besides the view, this was the highpoint of the evening. Service at PT is lacking overall. Hector, our server, came complete with a tasty Spanish accent, but I think he brought the European penchant for serving along with him across the pond. We had to ask for things multiple times, he got our bill wrong, slow service... you get the idea. Next time we go to the park, I think we'll bring a picnic.