521 Kitchen & Que

Food was awesome, very fresh, flavorful, and filling (great portions) but the service was AMAZING. I wish I had grabbed our waiter’s name, anytime I asked for something his immediate and incredible genuine response was «absolutely!» it made both my boyfriend and me happy to be there and the fact the food was great was just a plus!

Pulled pork and brisket needed no sauce. Loved the spicy greens, Great service
Heard the kale slaw was the good, but I am so over the KALE movement. It’s not the second coming, Does it curing anything? I am a Popeye spinach girl. Anyhoo, food was damn delish

I’m from Memphis me know my bbq — great pulled pork sandwich with a perfect bun and even the kale slaw works. Yum be back

521 was disappointing. My pork was dry, the bun was stale, and the baked beans weren’t even fully cooked. The only redeeming dish was the fried okra and onion jam. Will not be back.

I have to say I had high hopes for this place but they failed. I recently ordered the pulled chicken sandwich and got French Fries as my side. I got my order to go and when I arrived back to my location to eat I discovered THEY DIDNT EVEN PUT BBQ SAUCE ON MY SANDWHICH!!! don’t claim to be a BBQ restaurant and forget the thing that makes you that… BBQ SAUCE! I will try again at a later date most likely

I wish I liked it better. The place has a nice look and the smoke smell outside from the Big Green Egg is awesome as well and lured me in. The pork was really tender and I love the H&F buns and homemade pickles.
All that being said, you might be wondering why I only gave them 3 stars. Well, I personally want more smoke in my meat. While the pork was tender and had a good bark, I didn’t think the taste was outstanding. A little bland for me as if it spent some time in the oven. The sauces were just average for me as well compared to other places in town. As a side, I ordered the smokey baked beans, and again, not a lot of smokiness.
Service was good and the place is really clean and looks brand new. I will try again and update my review if needed, but right now it just gets 3 pigs out of 5.

Amazing Que! The pulled pork on the H&F bun is amazing! Thank you Drew for delivering today!

The owner Drew took great care of me with my catering order for a company meeting. He delivered early, was very professional and everyone was extremely happy with the food!
Catered in –Brisket, Pulled Pork, H&F buns, Mac&Cheese, Baked Beans & Collard Greens.
Sweet/​Unsweet Tea and Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Went here for the first time for dinner last Friday night and was a little disappointed. While they have some great items on the menu, there were some things that were definitely not so great. Good, casual atmosphere with the wood, trendy vibe, attentive staff, and easy to access parking since it’s in a strip mall. They do close at 9 on the weekends though so be aware of that if you’re looking for a later dinner.
The highlights of the menu: Smoked chicken, kale slaw, and baked beans are top notch. The spinach salad with molasses vinaigrette not so much. The smoked chicken was some of the best we’ve had and both really enjoyed on our salads. I got a side of the kale slaw with my House Mix salad and my boyfriend got a side of the baked beans with his Spinach salad. I LOVE this kale slaw. It’s so different, light, and just delicious that I would take a bath in it if I could. My boyfriend really enjoyed the baked beans due to their smoky flavor and I thought that they were pretty good myself. My salad was your typical house salad but the herb ranch that I got it with actually exceeded my expectations. I’m picky about ranch and this one is good because of the herb mixture in it. I wanted to mix it with the BBQ sauce because that’s what I normally do when I order salads at BBQ restaurants but both of their house made sauces were not so good. One is sweet and one is spicy and both are too far on the spectrum of sweet and spicy. I wish they had a mustard or even a regular based BBQ sauce because I think that would have made it that much better.
Ok, onto the not so good. My boyfriend sadly couldn’t eat his salad because the molasses vinaigrette it was tossed in was pretty inedible. Neither of us liked it due to its really strong strange flavor. He ordered the sweet pickle vinaigrette to try to save it but sadly that was just as weird. Total shame because the salad was so fresh and looked amazing. Next time we’ll try the balsamic instead but this time, we pretty much left it all there.
Overall, we liked it ok and will come back for the chicken but there are definitely some things that our taste palate’s didn’t agree with. Definitely worth a try and I’m excited to explore the menu further!

I very much liked the food and the atmosphere. They played 80s music which brought me back to my teenage years. The only thing I will say about the food is that it has a strong vinegar taste to it. The collard greens are braised in Coca-​Cola and it was very good but again it had a strong vinegar taste. I had the grilled cheese with pulled pork and it was very filling. Their brisket is excellent. Give it a try!

I give this place a 3.6
My collegue introduced me to this place during lunch.
It looked like it hasn’t been open for a long time and haven’t found the foot traffic yet.
I ordered one of the recommended meat, the pulled pork, with kale salad and collard greens. Like most BBQ places, the sides win you over. Kale salad was light and fresh while the collard greens had soul and depth. One of the best collard greens that I’ve had. Felt like Thanksgiving! But… the downside was that the pulled pork was not very appetizing. It was missing the juicy/​savory factor that BBQ places should offer. It tasted fine but not overly good.
I left this place not falling asleep from food coma, which isn’t so common when eating BBQ. Not sure if it’s any healthier, but it just felt lot lighter than most BBQ joints. So, for those who wants BBQ without feeling too guilty, I think this is the place to go.
Last note, sad to say, their sauces were not so great as well.

I live nearby, so I would love 521 to be successful.
First let me say that the food is good, specifically the meet is excellent. Moreover this is a good place to go for their salads and then get that yummy barbecue meat put on top! I often come for lunch, when you can just order at the counter and sit down. So my review here is all about the food and counter service, which I would give them four or five stars. I’ll write another review about a dinner experience, which unfortunately was only one of many that emphasized the terrible table service, and is the reason I no longer go to the restaurant whenever table service is required.
521’s meats are excellent. I like the pulled pork and chicken, both of which are heavily imbued with good smoke flavor. My friends who ordered the ribs have loved them, but I’ve not given them a try. The sides are also good, especially the fried jalapeños and green beans, which are lightly steamed and served with garlic and salt.
I often schedule casual business lunch is here, as it’s a fun place that most people have not come to. It also allows me to support a restaurant in the neighborhood, and the owner is the friend of one of my good friends. I would like nothing more than for them to be successful, however service at the restaurant precludes me from coming during table service times, generally dinners but also now the weekends.
Four to five stars for lunch.

Was only in Atlanta to sleepover before heading to our next destination — so we had to find a fried chicken & BBQ joint close by in Buckhead. I know, Buckhead, right? But I was pleasantly surprised with this one right in the same strip mall as Fresh Market about a mile down the road from our hotel. Have been eating healthier since the new year and this fits the bill. I think the fried chicken could be oven baked because it wasn’t greasy but it was quite crispy! More than enough salt in every bite for me, so those of you who can take the salt it would be very well seasoned for you. The ribs had a nice dry rub seasoning and quite tasty without BBQ sauce but you can try their own spicy or sweet sauce it you want it messier. It wasn’t quite fall off the bone meat but I kinda like it with a little bite.
I didn’t care for the shells with cheese but the collard greens with hocks were very good and not too salty. The green beans with garlic were still green and crunchy — they were scrumptious and we even contemplated ordering more — was there a Chinese chef back there wok’ing this? Haha. The corn bread is little different than what I’m accustomed to at soul food places but it isn’t bad and they don’t give you too much. But I do recommend this place for those of you looking for healthy southern cooking — yes there is such a thing!
The décor is deliberately modern and sleek. Clean and streamlined, zen’ish. Loud convo can reverberate, so use your indoor voices.
With that being said, we were there when an entire class of kindergarteners and their parents decided to show up for an impromptu dinner! The kiddies were jumping on chairs and screaming at each other like they were at Chuckie Cheese while the parents were blithely conversing with each other as if these kids were never born! WTF? We had a headache with all the ruckus and really tried to enjoy our meal despite the rude interruptions. The staff people were wonderful though and came by to check on the humans often to make sure we were ok. I shoulda asked for ear plugs.
Anyway, have to give at least one young mom credit for trying to tell a bunch of kids to simmer down and another young dad came by to apologize. As for the other parents, please get with the program and don’t let your kids run amuck like that and eventually be afflicted with affluenza. It isn’t fair to business owners or their patrons when your kids have a run of the place. I know what I’m talking about because we are from the Westport area of Connecticut and probably have some affluenza’d kids far worse than some Buckheaders.
Anyway, let’s hope you Unilocalers can enjoy this nice little find without a bunch of screeching kids!

One of my all time BBQ places. Love it cause its slightly off the beaten path for spins on traditional BBQ. If you read this, 521, PLEASE make that daily special sandwich of BBQ pork and fried green tomato with bleu cheese a regular menu item! Literally the best BBQ sandwich I’ve ever had.

Not great, not terrible. We came in for dinner on a Friday night and decided to try the «local» BBQ.
I think this place is definitely better suited as a lunch location as you can order from a counter and then get your own refills. It turns into a «sit down» place for dinner. I don’t blame then for trying, but maybe they should just keep the lunch format. We ordered the brisket, jalapeño poppers and smoked wings. The brisket was decent, poopers were good, but the wings were super dry.
I think I would rather try something with a more local feel with a smoker going ²⁴⁄₇.

Drove along Roswell Road many times and saw the 521 Kitchen & Que. Wondering what kind of restaurant would that be, and one day I went to Unilocal and found out the restaurant serves Fried Chicken. How can I pass on any place that serves fried chicken? I bookmarked the place and waited faithfully hoping one day someone would suggest to try out that place.
Today is the day. The place was totally not what I expected to look like. Originally I was thinking it would be closer to JCT kitchen minus a bar and the noise. Ok, perhaps slightly simpler. The front looked like a fast food with a big signboard with the menu. I spotted «Fried Chicken» under the entrée. The staff came out and when told we would be dining in, she asked if there was any preference. I looked around, and said no preference. She showed us to a table.
There are some things I do not like but they are my own personal preferences. I don’t like the chair I was sitting, it was uncomfortable. I don’t like the napkin too. Note I said napkin in singular form, they wrapped the fork and knife in it. I just don’t like the feel of the napkin. I know, I can be so particular.
Now come to what I like. I like the staffs. They were nice and friendly. They were not imposing which I really appreciate. I like the Fried Chicken too. The chicken was so well-​marinated that every part of the chicken was so so tasty. However, the Fried Chicken was just a little different than what or how I like my fried chicken. This is yet another complete personal preference. Oh and I feel the dish will be great if it was paired with some veggies rather than the shells mac & cheese. It gives balance and color to the otherwise plain looking dish. I was definitely not in love with that corn muffin too.
I will definitely be returning to try out the special brunch menu soon.

521 is a much more calm and relaxed place to get dinner that servers great bbq. I love it!
Parking — Since 521 is a part of a shopping strip, you’ll easily find one. I came at a peak dinner time and I had no trouble :)
Space & Service — I personally don’t think it’s a big place. I’d say medium. During dinner rush, I saw some people here but not enough to fill all tables. The service was really good. I wish I got my server’s name; she came at the right times & every water was taken care of the entire time.
Food —
Appetizer #1
Boiled Peanuts — not your typical ones.
1. Shareable (at least 4 people)
2. Done well (not as good as my boonie hometown ones, but still good!)
3. …They have a twinge of spiciness in them. With your 1^st bite, you can’t tell, but at the end, your mouth starts to feel the small fire accumulating. Nice surprise.
Appetizer #2
Fried Jalapenos with sauce — Holy Jesus, these were spicy. I could only eat 2 before I gave up. The sauce included was pretty darn tasty and went well with this app. This is also for sure shareable maybe among 3 – 4 people.
Pulled Pork Sandwich — not as good as Fox Bros, but I’ll take it. It was tender and juicy. The bbq sauce at the table made it even more delicious. The bread was also toasted (?) and good. Nomnom.
SIde: The Beans were given like a stew. I was super happy. Their main menu didn’t include a stew so I was stoked for the Beans presentation: D It was great. Another stew to add to my list.
I’ll be back!

Being a Southern girl makes me qualified to talk about some Que. While in Atlanta, me and the crew stopped in with full bellies and slight hangovers looking for some good vittles.
We were not disappointed. First, try the peach strawberry mint drink. It was refreshing and didn’t demand too much from my belly after a long night of raging.
I ordered the smoked wings, fries, and kale slaw. The wings were fresh, piping and juicy. The BBQ was more Carolina than deep south, but I’ve gotten used to that familiar twang from living in Savannah.
I also loved the service here. It’s a small space, but our servers weren’t constantly breathing down our necks. They were always a holler away when we needed them.
I liked how 521 classed up traditional Que dishes, but you can never go wrong with good olé, sticky bbq. I missed a little of that here, but they more than made up with their inventive and fresh flavors.

Great BBQ joint they got going here.
I came with a scoutmob so I tried a little bit of everything:
We started out with the fried jalapenos. These were way too spicy for me but my friends agreed they are fried to perfection. We also got the fried okra– I loved this! I prefer the jalapeño savory smoked tomato dipping sauce to the okra sweet onion jam dipping sauce any day. Think about it, you want your jalapeño’s cooled and okra spiced!
The brisket was perfect. Thick slices with some great flavors cooked in.
The fried chicken was not bad. It was reminiscent of pan fried chicken. I liked that it didn’t have a huge extra crispy batter. It was almost like a corn batter. Their particular recipe is going to be hit or miss depending on what you call home. I liked it personally. FYI– the corn muffin that came with was not good, cornbread should be fluffy not cakey and hard.
We also tried the citrus roasted chicken-​it was nice and moist but not my favorite of the entrees. I came for BBQ after all.
The ribs were OK, too many folks have a particular kind in mind and again it just depends on what your preference is. These will also be hit or miss for most folks.
The mac and cheese is nice and cheesy made with pasta shells.
The Kale Slaw everyone raves about is refreshing.
The Cola Collard greens were really good too. A hint of sweet and salty.
Nobody liked the baked beans– skip these. They just aren’t thick, hearty and tasted perhaps too sweet.
The black eyed peas weren’t bad at all.
They do table service so you get a waitress after I forget what time PM which is kinda nice. Our waitress was nice as pie too.

We wanted an easy Sunday night dinner and thought that the boys would be able to enjoy something. You order at the counter. I chose the Super Salad (Kale & Swiss Chard with Sunflower Seeds, Cherry Tomatoes, Celery Leaves, Sweet Onions & Bleu Cheese Crumbles, tossed in a Sweet Pickle Vinaigrette), adding pulled pork for $ 3. Jimmy got the 2 meat plate with brisket and ribs. We ordered grilled cheese for both of the boys, choosing green beans for one and mac and cheese for the other.
We’d intended to eat there, but the boys were really wound up, and couldn’t contain themselves, spilling water, tossing toys, and doing laps, so we asked that they pack our food to go. They pleasantly obliged.
We took the food a short distance to Chastain Park so that the boys could really run wild while we ate. I LOVED my salad and the pork on top. All the ingredients really went well together and the sweet pickle vinaigrette was unexpectedly good with a tangy kick. The pork was smokey and still pretty juicy. The grilled cheese was a huge hit with the older son, and the younger son ate 3 of the green beans, so two huge wins. I got a taste of Jimmy’s collards, and they were a tad too sweet for me, not enough spice, though their texture was good.
I’ll happily return, hopefully to eat in!