We gave the Social House a visit yesterday for lunch. It is located at the corner of Howell Mill Rd and Chattahoochee Ave in Atlanta. This location has hosted a number of failed restaurants. While the location seems great, it is tough to get to. Their driveway is so close to the intersection that the Howell Mill Rd traffic blocks the entrance most all of the time. If you come to this place from Chattahoochee, you better hope someone coming the other direction on Howell Mill is nice and will let you in. I got lucky yesterday and got in right away. Beware of the steep driveway as well. If you have a car with low ground clearance, proceed with caution or it might cost you a bumper.
Onto the menu and the food. Their specialty seems to be breakfast and brunch items. And they have plenty of them. If I were more of a "breakfast guy", I would have been more excited. But when it is lunch time, I want lunch. So I ordered from their lunch menu. They have a handful of lunch selections...a couple of kinds of po boys, a few salads and a taco item. I went with the old fashioned cold plate: Tuna salad, chicken salad and potato salad.
The salad trio came on a bed of lettuce. The potato salad was in the middle, flanked by the tuna salad on one side and the chicken salad on the other. The trio presentation was visually pleasing. Kind of like the chicken and tuna were opposing forces and the potato was the peace maker. The salads were topped with a half-slice of winter/semi-ripe tomato.
As good as the salads looked on the plate, their taste fell flat. I like my chicken salad with apples or grapes and either walnuts or almonds. Their chicken salad had bits of pecan in it which was OK, but the chicken finely chopped and quite frankly tasted kind of old. Almost like they had made it 2-weeks before and just scooped it out as needed. The tuna salad was a bit tastier. It was mayo based and had relish. It was OK, but not great. The peacemaker (the potato salad) was also OK but not great. The potatoes were a bit too firm. And the taste was kind of bland. If I had to do it again, I would not order this selection.
So I will blame this one on me. I was lured in by the possibility of good old fashioned homemade salads like momma used to make. Unfortunately momma is not in Atlanta in their kitchen. She's back at home in Braselton. So I have learned my lesson. Don't eat lunch at a breakfast place. I'm not banning this place....yet. I owe them a visit when I want breakfast food for lunch. But I doubt that will come any time soon.
