Although I have never been a fan of southern cooking, I am a fan of Fifth Group Restaurants. The group is comprised of South City Kitchen, Ecco, La Tavola, and El Taco. The Food Studio used to be a part of this group but has since changed to be only for private events. I was bummed as it was one of my faves in Atlanta. But as I think pretty highly of Fifth Group restaurants, I had been wanting to try South City Kitchen for a long time but just never made it there.

The best way I can think to describe the food at South City Kitchen is upscale southern. I don’t know about you, but my southern food experience was pretty much limited to Po Folks. Hmmm…no wonder I wasn’t crazy about it.

After we were seated, we were brought some cornbread and biscuits. Although I liked that there were actual pieces of corn in the cornbread, it was not sweet enough for me. I thought the biscuits were great though.

I thought we’d start out with an appetizer but as we couldn’t decide between the chicken livers (with ham and caramelized onions -yum) and the fried oysters we opted for both. The fried oysters were wonderful, and I’m sure if you acquire a taste of chicken livers they are quite good. But as this was my first time eating them, I was not terribly excited about them.

Onto the main course. I was having a really hard time deciding between the trout and the beef brisket. I enjoy trout and the cumin spiked sweet potato that comes with it sounded really tempting, but I decided to go for the beef brisket at the recommendation of our waiter.

That entree was fantastic! And the sides paired very well the brisket. Sides are scallion mashed potato pancakes and garlic collard greens with caramelized onions. I am not usually a fan of collard greens but the garlic really added to the flavor. Really a terrific meal. I am sorry to say that my friend’s entree was not so good. He had the Shrimp pasta which we both agreed was pretty pathetic.

Most of my meal was packed up as I was getting pretty full, but he insisted we get dessert. I made him order and we agreed to share the banana pudding and pecan pie. After dessert arrived, he casually mentioned that he doesn’t eat dessert. Thanks FB – I really needed to eat 2 desserts. 😉

Take it from me, the pecan pie is much better than the banana pudding. You won’t be sorry if you order that. And it is a small portion, which is good if you ate as much prior to dessert as I did.

I loved the wine I had, an Australian Cab, Paringa was the name if I am remembering correctly. And, for the price you just can’t beat it – $7 per glass. However, I think they are lacking in their offerings of wines by the glass. They only have about 6 or 7 reds that I can remember.

Service was pretty good. Prices are around $8 for appetizers and $20 for entrees which is what I would expect from Fifth group. I really think they should take the shrimp pasta off the menu though.

1675 Cumberland Pkwy SE
Smyrna, GA 30080
770 435 0700