Big Sky Buckhead

Seriously the most amazing food I’ve ever had. Which is not what I expected considering its known as one of the hottest bars in Buckhead. Or the hottest. But seriously, try the food. It’s insanely good. And the owners are great people. Which is probably why this bar is so poppin.

Food sucks. Staff sucks. Environment is okay. I had better service at a dive bar in the deepest depths of Los Angeles. No napkin or silverware with your food order. Bartender didn’t give a crap. The only thing she was good at was refilling my bottomless mimosa (thank you for that) but her boyfriend happened to be at the bar that day, a typical plaid shirt with a vest and a backwards hat douchebag, whom she paid more attention too. You’ll get better service at a strip club than this god forsaken place.

If I could give 0 stars I would. From the moment we got inside, the vibe was off. The security asked my friend to be quiet because he was scaring off customers in the line… he wasn’t even loud but I guess being an African American in Buckhead still scares people. Then, they threw out my other friend for looking at the dress code sign, by grabbing his shirt and literally forcing him out the door. On top of that (the deal breaker for me), the brunette bartender saw us (a group of African American females) waiting at the bar and skipped over us to serve this group of white girls. I told her «hey, we were here first just to let you know» and her response was «yeah I know, but that’s my best friend. If you don’t like it, you can find another bartender!» At that point, I was so over this place and ready to go home!!! The manager did accommodate by giving us free drinks and saying that he would talk to her, but I now see why this place has 2 stars. It should actually have –5. I will never ever ever be back here. Oh and PS, the dress code is absolutely ridiculous. No black jeans? Absurd.

The staff is amazing and friendly. The food was also pretty good.
I went with a few out of town friends for brunch a little while ago but it turned out the the printed brunch times were not consistent. Once we got there they said that it was over though we already received our bottomless mimosas. We had a busy day planned and were disappointed and were about to go eat at our next location. The manager deeply apologized again and offered us all lunch on the house including an appetizer. An offer we couldn’t refuse. They even included coupons for next time. Above and BEYOND.
The waiter and manager made sure that we enjoyed our time and made up for the confusion. It was a pretty amazing time with the awesome DJ EU. We could not express our appreciation enough. Thank you again Big Sky. Keep the good food and amazing customer service up.

Ordered chip and guac and salsa
Veggie flatbread
Sierra Nevada torpedo in a bottle
Taps broken
Came because website said it had the second best vegetarian menu in ATL. Menu just changed, there are now two vegetarian items.
Wasabi guac tangy, salsa spicy. Chips totally fluffy and salty. Fluffy enough that the thickness of the guac breaks them. The plate is big enough for three or more.
Feels like a sports bar, TVs everywhere, advertising on the napkin dispensers. Juke box playing some shitty country/​rock music.
It feels like there should be more douchebags here, but the place was virtually empty. Maybe it was the Tuesday night. Anyway, the few people that were there were definitely douchey — dudes and chicks.
The flatbread is totally tasty. It’s the first thing I’ve tasted in Atlanta that didn’t depend on salt for flavor. I scooped some of the salsa and guac on it and completed the experience.
The food is good. Too good for the assholes in this place, but good none the less. The women to men ratio is 1:2, that includes the bartendress and food runnerita. There is a noticeable lack of playfulness… of course, it could just be because I’m alone watching a college basketball game I care little about.

So decided to hit buckhead up and meet up with some female friends. So me and my buddy walk up and we wait in line which moved fast. I was definitely looking forward to visiting this place since I’ve never been. Everybody in front of me gets in without a problem. As soon as I greet the bouncer he looks down at my boots and says no boots. I was speechless, I could understand tennis shoes but I had on some nice suede boots. As he proceeded to give me cuacasion friend entrance. But we both walked away and I observed so many people with boots on walking out the club. Baseball hats, sneakers and t shirts were a common theme. Never heard of a dress code like this. I’m the last person to yell racism or discrimination. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, but this was obviously blatant. So if you’re African American good luck gaining entrance.

The food was great. However, do not go here to watch a non-​SEC game, particularly if you are a female. We were told that all tvs were taken, but a baseball game was quickly put on when a group of dudes came in… Such a bummer.
Great food, fun when you’re super drunk, but overall, this isn’t the place to watch games unless you are strictly an SEC fan.
WHOODY WHOO!

this review is only for the trivia on wednesday night.
1) the staff here is amazing. the rest of this review does not have anything to do with them in the slightest.
2) HOWEVERRRRRRR, for the ATL trivia faithful, THIS IS A JOKE! my team had a perfect score plus the bonus questions and we didn’t even hit the top three. as each question is worth a point, trivia aficionados know that we should have been in the running, if not first place. the people running this trivia are clearly cheating to get their friends to win. DO NOT BE FOOLED BY THE BIG PRIZES, they clearly aren’t for those of us who don’t know the organizers.
3) go to the local, there intellect is valued as greatly as ingenuity.
4) never coming back. i suggest you don’t even bother.

Tonight some friends and I were trying to have a good time in buckhead. We tried getting into big sky. I got in, no problem; but my friend who was black (wearing a button up, tucked in and some khakis) got denied because he had earrings in. Alright, no problem. He takes them out. Still denied him. So another guy puts in his earrings (white) and they let him in.
There is definitely discrimination at this place and it’s sickening. I understand if you are wearing sagging pants or do not like earrings. But the fact that they are not fair to every race is disgusting.
I will never be a customer of this place again.

Don’t go here… just don’t waste your time. I didn’t want to believe all the negative reviews on here about this place, but unfortunately, they’re all right! this place sucks!
PARKING: Horrendous! Tiny parking lot fits maybe 10 – 15 cars at most. Valet is available.
CROWD: Whole bunch of drunk, college fratty kids in their young 20s. Not appealing at all. Everyone seemed to look very desperate and drunk. Most people were there with their group of friends, so forget coming here if you’re looking to meet new people. Very cliquey and pretentious. They have an absurd dress code, which includes no black or dark-​washed jeans! They do hire models to stage the crowd… so know that the good looking people there are only there because they are paid to be lol! Sad.
FOOD: below average and super long wait times for food.
STAFF: overall, they were unenthusiastic and rude.
POSITIVES: interior décor was pleasant and modern

Cool building.
How’s that for saying something positive :)
Nah… to be fair, my experience is limited since I was there for their Dancing in the Streets, which should be more aptly called Dancing in our Parking Lot.
So the Good: full bar, plenty of 20 somethings shaking their groove thing and getting their drunk on (if you are into that kind of thing — :)). Big enough to handle a large crowd with flow back and forth. Lots of wood. Permanent tent structure in their ‘garden’ for the 20 something ladies to come to party every night at the bewitching hour (or so I was told by one young man as to why he came there after eating and drinking elsewhere until midnight).
The «Say What»?: selling beer in glass bottles on a parking lot. Charging a $ 30 cover if you buy at the door. Having the sound inside the bar so loud you can hear it outside since they failed to have speakers projecting from the stage back to the building so the people in the parking lot can actually hear it.
As far as food goes… for this they just had ready to go… Burger, pulled pork and fish tacos. Of the 3 Burger was the best… but McDonald Value Meal style so if that is the best… well you know… Pulled Pork, dry on stale buns. Fish Tacos… well let’s just say putting cabbage in a tortilla with a piece of fried fish is not what most people who like fish taco’s would say is how you make one of those… if you want it to be enjoyed. And clearly they were not planning on selling many… one booth in the corner, next to the 3 liquor /​beer tables.
Special feature: Bar Staff Robots that have been designed with a 6^th sense to know who is thirstiest based on algorithm like a 25 pt star that send the bar robot to the opposite side of the bar after delivering a drink rather than take the order of the person standing next to them — They aren’t influenced by emotion or able to express emotion (who needs a smile at a busy bar), but only after you have been waiting for 15 minutes to put your order in.
Maybe I’ll go back some day and experience it for the restaurant/​bar that they claim to be… I see they have a menu.

I neglected to add this gem: as I was leaving, walking out of the building, the door man /​bouncer /​slacker looks at me and said «I was just about to throw you out.»
Woooowwwwww.
A month later the fools let a drunk guy fall from the balcony, so yeah: worst bouncers ever award right there.
Snooty, shitty, pricey, crowded, don’t go.

Their dress code says no black jeans. None of their employees know why and they all agree it’s a stupid rule. My brother came from out of town and they wouldn’t let him in here because he was wearing black jeans — and was dressed well. We had a group of 18 and all left because he wasn’t able to get in for wearing BLACK JEANS. I don’t respect this place for turning away business for a ridiculous reason. We won’t be returning.

I came here a few weeks ago with a large party that rented the entire upstairs.
The night got off to a bad start when trying to find parking. A bunch of men with flashlights are trying to lure you to their lot for a price that’s way to much this place! We finally found valet parking for the bar at 9:34. The attendant said valet parking ends at 9:30. Seriously? When I asked how the cars already valeted would be returned if the valet parking was closed, he relented. Meh.
Going upstairs was like going into some weird underground club. The music was so loud that we couldn’t even hear each other. Even on the patios we couldn’t hear each other.
Speaking of patios. It must have rained earlier that day because all the outdoor furniture was drenched. Too drenched for anyone to sit on, so everyone had to stand. Why wouldn’t they dry it off knowing such a large party was coming?
Our party had two kegs for everyone, so I grabbed a drink as soon as I got there. Mmm, cheap beer straight from the keg. Tastes like college.
Around 11ish our reservation was over and the upstairs became open to everybody. And WOW, did everyone come up there. I mean, holy cow EVERYONE was up there.
Soon it became much to crowded to do anything but stand around like a bunch of sardines. To make room for everyone the staff removed all outdoor furniture and all the bar stools. Then the music got even louder!
SO MANY POLOS, FLIP FLOPS and BACKWARD HATS. Buckhead isn’t a college town, but you would think it was a Greek-​only establishment that night. All the women were, as we call them, Buckhead Betty’s. These women were dressed to the nines to just stand around and sip an overpriced drink.
But I digress. We left shortly after the place got mobbed by Buckhead’s finest douchebags. If you’re looking for a cheap place in Buckhead that doesn’t have clear parking instructions, this is your place.

I got rejected because of the absurd dress code that is «no black jeans»
Based alone on that, I’m going to go ahead and assume this place sucks hard and I will be telling everyone visiting atlanta this.
Management — if you’re reading this… please respond with the reasoning behind this.

Let me start off with parking. There are about 10 spaces (not even exaggerating) of parking for this restaurant. Everywhere around there charges to park. I drove around the block trying to find parking and the attendants told me that they like to boot in the area, so you have to pay to park with one of them. So since my fiancée and I drove separately, we each paid $ 5, so a total of $ 10 before we even walked in the door.
Good atmosphere inside, big restaurant, large bar. There were lots of tables with 6+ people and it wasn’t too crowded.
Servers were a bit absent, but with that many people there, I wouldn’t expect much else. I ordered a Blue Moon beer and waited about 15 minutes. The waitress came back and told me that they were out of Blue Moon, but they had Blue Moon Peach. Never had that, but it sounded good. 10 minutes later, she said they were out of that too… not sure why it took a total of 25 min now to tell me they were out of two beers. Ok, I looked at the menu, Stella, immediately (thankfully) the server said they were out of that too… really? Ok, third time is the charm right, Sweetwater Blue. Awesome! Took another 5 minutes to get the bottle of Blue, but at least I now have a beer!
The menu was not incredibly extensive… but I decided to order a chicken quesadilla and an order guacamole and chips. I waited and waited and waited for the guac to come… it finally came about 45 minutes later… with my dinner. I had thought they would have brought the appetizer first, but oh well.
The guac had large chunks of avocado and wasabi on the top. I really liked the pieces of avocado and wasabi, gave it a bit of a different flavor. Once I had eaten those two things off the top, the guac was rather plain… tasted like the guac you but at Sams Club in the big tub… less than delicious.
The Quesadilla came out looking superb! I took a big bite of this awesome looking item and almost immediately my mouth was on fire. I am not a huge fan of spicy. I can and do handle it, but don’t prefer it. I opened up the top of the quesadilla and inside, it was COVERED with jalapenos. I don’t mean a few here or there, but literally the entire quesadilla was green from all the jalapenos. I picked them off and my fiancée, who loves spicy, took them and put them on a chip to eat with the guac. He was miserable. He said he had never tasted jalapenos that were so spicy. I unhappily picked through my meal and suffered through the spicy just because I knew that if I ordered something else it would take forever to get! I looked back at the menu, because I had assumed that maybe it had said there were jalapenos in the quesadilla and I had just overlooked, and the menu actually said «GRILLED CHICKEN QUESADILLA melty mexican cheese, refried beans, serranos, sour cream» guess it was my fault for overlooking the serranos part and also for thinking that there would be a reasonable amount of them on the quesadilla. Oh well.
Trivia was great. The only down-​side was that he didn’t start until about 8:40, when the website said 8. Other than that, it was awesome. The questions were given 3 at a time, so there was not as much down-​time as normal trivia.
Overall, not sure if I would try it again. Parking was a huge hassle, food was less than stellar, but trivia was good. Maybe I’ll go back for trivia and just eat at home beforehand!

The upper bar feels very much like a college frat bar. Don’t get me wrong, the décor and ski lodge theme is very cool… But I suppose that just tends to attract frat-​tactic gentlemen. Said gentlemen were all similarly dressed (fine), loud (ok), and horridly drunk (really fellas??). It’s a shame because the bar is unrivaled as a rooftop bar, though there isn’t really a view of anything special, you can’t beat an open air bar in the warmer months. The food at the restaurant was actually not terrible and the bartenders were very friendly.
I hate giving a bad review based on the crowd, but who wants to be surrounded by overly loud music and obnoxiously drunk people when it’s only 9pm on a Saturday? Learn how to hold your liquor boys.

Rooftop is the way to go here. I recommend going on a nice day because the rooftop is open air. However, if you need your Big Sky fix in poor weather conditions, that’s fine too because the rooftop has garage-​style doors to close it off.
Definitely come here for the food. Everything I’ve tried so far has been very impressive for bar food. Try out the Chicken biscuit at brunch! It’s a cheese and jalapeño biscuit, boneless chicken breast, poached egg and cheese. If you’re just looking for something to snack on while you drink, the fries are the way to go.
If you don’t like loud music and a rowdy atmosphere, then don’t come after 9:30 p.m. If you don’t want to wait in line to get in or upstairs, then don’t come after 10:30 p.m. on weekends or on event nights.
Ask about drink specials!!!

As we walked up the narrow stairs of Big Sky to the open-​air second floor, I couldn’t help but catch whiffs of stale beer from last night’s debauchery — this is Buckhead after all and Big Sky is near East Andrew’s which has grown to be the area’s unofficial party HQ.
Is this even a good place to eat? I wondered, a little grossed out by how sticky the steps are, but I was on a mission. I loved Hector Santiago’s buns from his old sandwich shop and was determined to try the ones at Big sky; however the collaboration between Santiago and Big Sky seemed a little weird?
Would Buckhead be adventurous enough to try the coconut steamed buns with exotic flavors like the pork belly — which is my favorite? or drinks called aqua frescas without alcohol? Sriracha wings?
Thankfully, the buns are just as I remembered them, but not sure I’ll be back. Just not my scene.

Based on other reviews, you either have to figure out what experience you want to determine what time to go. I suppose if you want 20 something party — go when there is a band and/​or on the weekend. Maybe they have to figure out their event planning and use of space… but I went for the food.
If you don’t want to have to pay for valet or parking, go at an off-​peak time. But if you are in Buckhead, at night, I think you are paying for parking. And it is going to be crowded.
I went with a friend to watch football on a Sunday afternoon. The upstairs patio filled up and had a young (20 – 30 somethings) crowd but it was laid-​back and energetic without being too loud.
I wanted to check out the space as well as the food (which is one of the main things that Big Sky seems to promote). We were not disappointed. I had the bison meatballs with mushroom gravy. Fantastically meaty with a nice peppery spice. I also had the wings. Great portion (10 for $ 8) and quality wings (plenty of meat and good spice, crispy).
Good beer prices.
Had a great time. Loved the outdoor/​indoor space.