One Flew South

This is *THE* restaurant in the ATL airport. Trust me, I’ve tried.
If you’re a fellow frequent flier, you know that one of the most frustrating aspects of being on the road is food — specifically: access to food you *want* to eat, food that is *desirable* and *appealing* and within the acceptable limits. And if you’ve ever lived in San Francisco, New York, or spent much time in LA — not to mention the many, many other cities that have jumped on and joined this trend — you’ve grown accustomed to eating raw, healthy, Food Inc. /​Michael Pollan style meals. I realize we can’t get all of that, everything we want. But we should at least be able to find increased access to raw vegetables — or steamed veggies with no/​minimal oils or butter. (Wouldn’t this alone be grand, and a vast improvement to our current status quo?) Then there is the other component — lean protein. I’m talking about steak, chicken, or seafood — minimally processed, and with no/​minimal sauces/​cooking oils. If any, pure olive oil — not butter, or any other strange/​processed substance.
If you eat like the above, good luck in airports! Seriously. You’re basically only OK in MSP, SFO, and a few others. Don’t even try select concourses in IAH or ATL. Haven’t been to PHL recently, but that’s another one that was absolutely tragic — fried pretzels, donuts, and hamburgers were the only options in one concourse back in ²⁰⁰⁷⁄₈. On the flip side, can you imagine if we had options like this (
) in airports? I would die. I would absolutely die. *heaven*
Back to ATL. It, too, can be tragic — in many of their concourses, which is shocking if you think about it, given it’s one of the world’s busiest airports. If you’re like me and you want choice, One Flew South seems to be the best option that I’ve found. Their sushi seems legit, and they also have salad options. Not to mention the fact that the servers and bartenders are all super friendly. (Host/​hostesses have been hit or miss on their friendliness and perception/​understanding of what’s going on /​the needs of their customers.) And the overall ambiance/​vibe of this restaurant/​bar/​lounge is cool and serene. Tranquility. There’s a little outdoor «patio» type area. There’s cool downtempo music. There’s this peaceful forest art on the walls. It’s hip. It’s mellow. It feels like a mirage in a desert of mediocrity, and is my «safe space» in ATL. :)
Quick Tips:
* Food: I’ve tried three of their rolls, and all were delicious.
* Sake: Cold. Delicious. Can’t recall which of the two I tried. Apologies.
* Access: If stranded in a barren wasteland (a.k.a. other concourse like T, that is not E), use the air train at the lower level to commute between concourses during layovers to grab take-​away sushi for flight, then commute back to gate. This can be done relatively quickly, so don’t worry. (I did it last night!) :)
* Ambiance: (see above)

This will be the only place I eat now when I have my Atlanta layover. I had the short rib bowl ($ 16) and it was soooooooo delicious! It is so refreshing to have «non airport food» at the airport! I can’t wait to try the rest of the menu!

Came back after another ATL adventure gave me 3 hours before my next flight. Came here by default and wasn’t disappointed! Given the choices of the other eating establishments at the airport (while they are good…) OFS is a solid and reliable bet. You will feel pleased, not overly stuffed, and a memorable dining experience!
Had the duck as the main tonight (generous tender duck with a real nice balance of the sauce to complement the flavored) and short-​rib rice (rice perfectly cooked, supple with very tender pork. I actually liked the rice better than the duck but both were good!
Like others said a little costly, for example cocktails are $ 15 and beers are $ 7, but for friendly upscale service and consistent quality food, OFS is hard to beat!

I’ve been here a handful of times and it’s normally really good. I often make it a point to head here either before my flight or during a layover.
The food is the bee’s knees. I’ve had the pork belly sliders and the burger and both are very tasty– if you want to go into a food coma for your flight, they’ll do the trick. I’ve heard good things about the sushi, but have yet to try it.
The service is normally great. Travelling solo, I gravitate toward the bar, so that makes things easier for everyone. I’m greeted and served promptly…*except* today. I’m still sitting here as I write this; I was hoping for two drinks, but now I just want to cut ties and GTFO. I feel like I’m wearing Harry’s Invisibility Cloak because I haven’t been checked on or talked to since my drink was dropped. Lots of other conversation around me, but I don’t exist. If I were a lesser person, I’d have just walked out. But that’s wrong, fellow Unilocalers. So, instead, come for a good time, but make sure you have enough time to get to your gate/​flight.

Nice airport restaurant if you have money and/​or time to burn.
Service was friendly and efficient.
Food was nicely presented, reasonable portion size, and pretty tasty. I only had the duck sandwich which came with a nice amount of meat and a side of slaw which I put on the sandwich. The overall taste was heavy on salt but still enjoyable.
Price is high but as long as you know what you are getting into it is worth the cost for the food and pleasant environment.

As a frequent flyer traveling for work two-​three weeks per month, I see the inside of the Hartsfield-​Jackson Atlanta International Airport more often than I care to think of right now. I have a favorite restaurant in every terminal and, since most of my travel is domestic, don’t get a chance to eat at my very favorite, One Flew South, as often as I would like.
We all know airport food, one could summarize it by referencing the TGI Fridays found in most terminals throughout the country — one with an extremely limited menu and even worse food than your neighborhood’s location and over priced. Fried green beans for $ 16, ‘na mean?
Anyway, One Flew South breaks every stereotype you can think of and serves up AMAZING food in an atmosphere that actually allows you to forget you’re in an airport. Even when you get a sought after seat on their «patio,» you forget about the many passerby stumbling over their far larger than regulation carry ons.
My new favorite here in the lamb ragout. Yum, yum, yum! Perfectly cooked lamb mixed with a decadent house made tagliatelle pasta. Please sir, may I have some more?

I dread airport food. Your choices include: fat, carbs, sugar, salt, fried fat, fried carbs, fried sugar, and fried salt.
But thank goodness for One Flew South. Located in Terminal E in ATL. They have sushi, pork belly, duck, lamb, trout, chicken, ribeye, salads, etc. I wanted to try their burger, pork belly, BLT, and duck sandwich. But I should only pick one, otherwise, it’s going to be a long and painful 10-​hour flight.
I went with the Pulled Duck Sandwich and got five spice fries instead of coleslaw. Duck confit with fig, peanuts, and scallions. It has an Asian flavor to it. It’s almost like eating an elevated version of duck bao. Yum!
This place is busy but I didn’t feel rushed when I was here. The servers are friendly and they chat with you… because waiting at airports isn’t fun sometimes. And yes, I did eat fried carbs, and fried salt!

Amazing! The walk to terminal E is worth the food at One Flew South.
I enjoyed a blended mushroom and butternut squash soup followed by scallops on grits with a kentyaki (Kentucky– Yakisoba sauce) sauce made with a reduced bourbon. The scallops were huge and perfectly cooked. Prices were pretty steep, but then again, we are in an airport.
There was a VIP client next to me who ordered a $ 175 bottle of wine. My server, as well as a couple others ventured over to him and ignored us other diners. It was fun to hear them kiss his behind, but annoying as a non-​VIP customer.
If I have a long layover during my next stop at ATL, Im heading directly to One Flew South.

In a nut shell: outstanding!
One Flew South was recommended to me by a colleague from the area; as I had a longer than normal wait at Atlanta airport — worth the extra tram stop to Terminal E to visit this little gem!
Very solid cocktail menu (I usually have an Old Fashion after a long week, did NOT disappoint), but the real fun was the food.
A new soup had recently been added — a roasted butternut squash and mushroom soup, accented with a lovely sweet potato chip. Let me just say, in my nearly 50 years of food (and MANY bowls of amazing soup), this ranks up there at top of the soup bowl — shocking to me was its depth of flavor; Earthy, robust… but so simple. Delightful experience. Those don’t come often (enough), and it was a pure joy that I listened to our waitresses recommendation.
On to main course — the main stay of OFS — the pork short ribs… oh my; rich, tender — it just felt that a LOT of TLC went into this dish and my amazing soup.
If you’re going to be ‘stuck’ at the Atlanta airport, this is a dining experience (Terminal E, right up from tram stop stairs) that has no parallels in airport cuisine, and may actually bring a smile to your face, knowing you had the opportunity to try it.

My favourite spot in the international terminal !
The food is a mix of Asian & Southern.
Prices are on par for an airport restaurant.
Make sure you give yourself time before you have to catch your flight as they do get busy.
The staff are friendly & as fast as they can be.

Yo — this is in an airport??? That shit is CRAZY! I’m so glad (with the 5 hours I had to kill) … that I grabbed some beers, watched some football, then made my way to this restaurant. I read about it during a previous flight to Atlanta, but didn’t have the energy to head to Concourse E. If this is you, don’t be like me. Go. Goooooo. I should’ve been twice already and I’ll never forgive myself for it so don’t be like that for real.
This restaurants ranks with some of the best restaurants I’ve eaten at anywhere, and DEFINITELY better than most other airport food. Filling and delicious. I started out with a cocktail called the Holiday Helper, which was probably a terrible idea because I was starting to get sick and you know — alcohol vs. taking medicine and getting better. So it was the more «fun» idea.
Then I ordered the fennel braised short rib rice bowl. Oh damn, was it good. I didn’t like the crispiness of the wasabi peas (SN: I love wasabi peas so don’t side eye my review too much), but everything else was on. point. I only finished half of it, though because …
Then — THEN — I ordered the cornmeal dusted trout. Bruh — I love trout. I love cornmeal dusted things. I also love things like miso cauliflower purée, green beans, crabmeat, corn, and pickled red onions. This dish had ALL of these things, like whaaaaat. And everything was cooked PERFECTLY.
And, of course, best part of heading to the true South is the Southern Hospitality. I think overall it’s hit or miss in Atlanta, but they have some of the happiest and nicest airport employees ever and the bartenders and hostesses here were no exception. So were the patrons, actually, who were from all corners of the world.
If you’re sitting in the ATL airport reading this and you actually finished reading this, I have no words. I’m not that great of a writer but their food is too. damn. good. and for real for real: cocktails and cornmeal dusted trout or Unilocal

«I love long layovers» says nobody, except when modified with the qualifier, «I love long layovers… IN ATLANTA». Layovers suck, except when you have 3 hours to kill and you can make a beeline from a terminal about a mile away just to get your butt to terminal E to visit OFS.
I first dined at OFS 4 years ago on a layover to a medical school interview. Four years later I found myself on a layover in ATL coming from a residency interview. I certainly hope the next time I come back will be sooner than when I am interviewing for a fellowship. Ha. Ha.
I had the PULLED DUCK BURGER 4 years ago and I still remember it to this day. I sat at the bar and scarfed my burger while chatting with a kind bartender who helped make the ridiculous fact that I was traveling from SF to Detroit via ATL that much more bearable and worthwhile. It’s everything everyone else says it is — melt-​in-​mouth, bursting with flavor, finger-​licking scrumptiousness.
Yesterday on my layover I had to force myself to not go for the duck burger again but to try something new and seemingly unique by its southern-​meets-​Asian influence on the menu. Apparently, the items on the menu go through various iterations depending on what’s in season/​within the chef’s whim and the SEARED SCALLOPS is one of them. You will see on the menu on the website that the scallops come with «collared greens & miso grits, rutabaga,
crispy shiitake mushrooms». The iteration on the menu yesterday came with scallops that were encrusted with whole pumpkin seeds, and brussels sprouts kimchi. The miso grits remained the same. Holy hell! This tasted like Chinese porridge on foodie steroids injected with southern food lust. The combination of flavors was perfect — a little bit spicy from the kimchi, rich and creamy and savory from the miso grits, nutty from the pumpkin seeds, and buttery and oceany from the scallops. This dish was perfect and as always I wish I could have eaten 3 bowls of it.
The other thing I had from the menu this time was the SEAWEED SALAD. This was fine, but I would have expected more for this dish from this restaurant. For $ 9 there wasn’t much special about it that you couldn’t have gotten from a standard pre-​packaged seaweed salad you can get at an Asian grocery. It was presented prettily but it was not worth $ 9.
My server was very helpful and on point with the attention and politeness she gave me. I love that the staff are not snobby here despite being a fancy pants dining establishment in an airport.

For the first time I elected to try the OFS sushi. I’ve always been pleased with their lunch sandwiches and soups, but this time I needed a sushi fix. I did not go in with big expectations for a $ 9 airport tuna roll, so I was not dissapointed. You will notice the presentation is slightly different from a typical tuna roll. The sushi itself was good, but not outstanding, in my opinion. I would come back for a sushi fix, it’s a good effort considering where you are.
I had to top off my meal with the open faced «OFS» dirty south, my favorite sandwich at the restaurant…

If you’ve got a dime to burn or are just lookin’ to treat yo’self, this just might be it.
This is one of the best two restaurants I’ve eaten at in a US airport. (The other is Root Down in Denver.)
Expensive? Yes. Quality? Yes. They’re not selling airport food; they just so happen to be a restaurant located inside of an airport.
Scallops $ 18 (⁵⁄₅) — You pretty much need these scallops in your life. Seared to perfection and served with mushrooms and a purée that just fit together all perfect-​like as if it was Forrest Gump and Jenny (in her pre-​party stage, duh.)
Pork belly sliders $ 11 (3.5÷5) — Very enjoyable to eat, but not a «must» when in a restaurant like this. They have SO many items that sound way more rad.
I sat at the bar, and the bar staff was awesome. They remembered my name throughout dinner and were so charming and friendly. (I also wanted to know why the hell they were using granulated sugar for one of their drinks, and the bartender willingly entertained my curiosity.)
Depending on what you order and how much you order, you can get in and out of this place in 45 minutes. I wouldn’t recommend toying with fate too much, and this place is certainly best enjoyed when you have a little time to kill! Enjoy!

One Flew South is a little gem in terminal «E». I loved the décor and the layout looked fresh and clean. We only had a little time to grab lunch so we tried the pulled duck sandwich.
The duck was not as tender as I usually like. Duck tends to be a fatter bird thus has a more tender flesh. This was a little on the chewy/​stringy side, so I didn’t really care for it. I LOVE duck. It’s probably my favorite meat, and I wouldn’t order this again. Not to say it’s bad, it just wasn’t for me. There were plenty of tasty items on their menu that I would rather try instead. If I was here around dinner I would 100% come back by here for some drinks and sushi. Bottom line, the pulled duck sandwich wasn’t everything everyone is building it up to be. But that just means you get to try something else. I think I saw a gnocchi with crab meat on the menu? I know what I’m having next time I stop back by here :)

Airport food in name only.
Date of Visit: 10÷10÷15
5 hour airport layovers generally induce curse-​word-​based mumblings when thinking of the terrible (in)edibles that await. That said, upon our initial descent into ATL I came across an article from a few years back about One Flew South changing the whole concept of airport food in Atlanta. After a quick Unilocal check, 500 reviews and 4+ stars definitely got my attention.
I sat at the bar area and was greeted by the very friendly bartender (sadly I can’t recall his name), who was definitely one of the better ones I’ve come across in any travel setting. He whipped up a great Bloody Mary and was very attentive as to the level of spice I preferred, etc. I was also impressed by the wide variety of drinks he made for other bar patrons; they definitely know their cocktails here.
After one heck of a long weekend, the only option for me was a burger, which is exactly what I got. The «Classic», (double cheeseburger with bacon, caramelized onions, «e-​26» sauce, and five spice fries) was solid, but the fry flavor was a bit odd and they were a very small cut (pet peeve). Overall the meal was good (great for an airport), but was not one I could substantiate 5 stars for. That said, a gentleman sat beside me that was «as much of a regular as someone can be in an airport», and was known by the bartenders and servers alike. He mentioned that I needed to try the sushi, Pulled Duck Sandwich, or Pork Belly Sliders, the latter of which he ordered, and even offered me one just to prove how great their other menu items were. It was definitely one of the better pork belly treats I’ve had, so maybe next time I’ll go that route.
Long story short, this may not have been a 5* meal — this time — but if you’re travelling through ATL and looking for restaurant-​quality food, there is no other option. Looking forward to my next layover!

«Airport» and «sushi» have always seemed best to keep in separate sentences. Until now. One Flew South in terminal E at Atlanta airport is worth a visit. The meme not only includes sushi, but a variety of inventive sandwiches, salads and entrees. I found the service fast and attentive, with the first question being «How much time do you have?» A considerate touch.
The sushi rolls were on the small side, but the rice/​filling balance was quite good (the whole roll was small, rather than being just mostly rice). I have had far better sushi, but I can’t imagine better sushi at an airport. And the restaurant was a civilized alternative to the food court that was nearby.
I wouldn’t fly to ATL to eat here. But I would eat here if I flew through ATL. I’m a fan, and I’ll be back.

I had 2 hours to catch my next flight. The Atlanta airport is so huge and who would have known they had such awesome places to eat?
Unilocal lead me to a 4 ½ star place with an interesting menu. The pork belly signature dish was to die for. Perfectly cooked and seasoned, made me want to lick the plate.
The braised beef rice bowl was good too but couldn’t top that pork belly.

Airport food is more than not, Not good eats. After coming to One Flew South, this is definitely one of the exceptions. What a meal!
One Flew South is located on Concourse «E» at Hartsfield-​Jackson International Airport in Atlanta. They specialize in Asian & Asian infused food. They have a sushi bar, but I was there for on thing. Their pork belly.
After my host seated me and the waitress greeted me. She immediately ask my time frame and what time my flight was leaving. I said 45 min and she said no problem.
I got the Thyme Roasted Pork Belly. «Black eye pea & Arugula Salad, Parsnip Purée and Blackberry-​Onion Marmalade» Are you drooling yet, well I am. Lol. Once the dish landed on my plate, the aroma hit me, wow. A herby & vinegar smell woke my senses up. The entrée was platted beautifully. When I saw the perfectly roasted (on all sides, specially the ends) the pork belly was, I knew it was going to be GOOD.
When I sliced it, it was nicely crusty on the ends and super tender. Yum. The black eye pea & arugula salad had a balsamic vinaigrette, great match. The blackberry-​onion marmalade provided the sweetness and the parsnip purée provided the creaminess. Each component was already good on its own, but once you combined everything in a bite. WOW! Delicious, awesome combination of flavor, texture, aroma and taste. A perfect bite.
I don’t know when I’ll be back in Altanta again, I just hope they’re still around when I do get back. If you have a chance, go get that dish and you’re welcome =)
2015 Review #140

I discovered One Flew South after reading an article on the best places to eat in the Atlanta airport, and this place didn’t disappoint one bit. There are so many different food options at the Hartsfield-​Jackson International, but I’ll happily choose this one if I’m ever passing through again.
The restaurant is modern, stylish and upscale in terms of airport standards. The staff is knowledgeable and not overbearing. For my meal I had the pork belly. It was cooked nicely and seasoned well. The pork was served with an arugula and pickled onion salad that paired together nicely. My boyfriend’s open faced meatloaf sandwich stole the show though. I couldn’t get enough of his dish before he gobbled it all up.