Restaurant Club Adventure : August

Thankfully my friend Nicole shares well. Nicole has been gracious enough to share some of her awesome friends with me. Through her, I've met some fab ladies who share a passion for wine, food, gossip and working out. These girls kill it when it comes to marathons and vino. As you can imagine, I was stoked to be invited to another Restaurant Club with them this month (I also attended the one at Local Three ... another Atlanta foodie favorite of mine).

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What is Restaurant Club you might ask ... well it's when fabulous ladies meet up once a month at a different restaurant to hang out, drink up and enjoy some good grub. This month's pick ... 5 Napkin Burger, a new boutique burger joint in Atlanta (although they have 5 other established locations). I had heard rave things about 5 Napkin Burger and was pretty excited to dig-in last night.

We arrived and the place was visually appealing and it smelled pretty delightful, like burger heaven. After hanging at the bar for a bit and waiting on all of the ladies, we were seated. Their libation menu wasn't too bad, but their wine list could use some more options. I settled on the Chardonnay (which was just alright in my opinion) while most of the others chose red wine or liquor drinks. The menu was smaller than I expected, obviously they had some good burger options, but they also served sushi, salads and even hot dogs! The good news is 5 Napkin can work with you on your 'foodie wants' such as burgers with no buns --which is what 5 Napkin calls 'Inside Out' --not a bad option if you're looking to watch your carbs.

After checking out the options, I decided to go with the Original 5 Napkin Burger 'Inside Out' (10 oz. fresh ground chuck, gruyere cheese, caramelized onions and rosemary aioli) with a side of regular fries. One good plus to 5 Napkin Burger ... your side of fries are included in the price of your burger! Overall, the burger was good and cooked just right. The regular fries were delish as were the sweet potato fries I 'sampled' off one of the other girls plate.

Two glasses of wine later and a cleaned plate, the checks arrived. When I looked at the bill for my dinner for one ... $42 (including gratuity) -- one burger, two glasses of (okay) wine -- I was a little shocked. To be quite honest, the meal wasn't worth $42 and the burger, although tasty, not worth $15 (originally priced at $14, but apparently they add $1 to have it made 'Inside Out'). While I saw the prices on the menu, I guess I didn't really think too much about total cost of the meal.

Regardless, the company was great, the meal was overall good, yet pricey. I think I'd head back there for another go-round but be a little more cautious about the consumption of drinks since that certainly jacks up a total bill. Looking forward to next month's Restaurant Club ... like any good foodie, I'm always down for trying new places!