Edgewood Speakeasy

Nice spot. Just too crowded and small for my liking. The bookcase is a nice touch. The DJ was killing it! Kudos…

The eatery next door (behind the secret door) is now a BBQ spot… when you walk in & security & the bartenders know you… it’s a cool feeling!
Upstairs is always great & downstairs is a great departs venue as well! Head over to Edgewood Ave & enjoy! Give Stacy the bartender a hi-five…she was voted as one of Atlanta’s top 10 bartenders!

Been here a couple of times with some friends. The most recent visit was this past NYE. There was a party bash event.
The event started at 10 PM, but people were already lined up right at the 10 mark. They had a pretty good deal for $ 45: an open bar (certain types of alcohol were excluded), access to all three rooms with a DJ spinning down at the basement all night (see my explanation below), and a breakfast buffet (which we didn’t make it since it started at like 2 AM or something dumb, and we were tired/​drunk by then).
This place is pretty neat because they have three separate areas: the basement, main bar area, and another bar/​restaurant area.
If you go down the stairs, there is usually a DJ down there (or music playing) with a bar and full restroom (just saying). The music is sometimes a hit or miss with me, but it’s a hipster vibe. It’s pretty dark down here, but there is plenty of space for dancing and some tables and chairs if you’re just wanting to chill.
The main bar area is mostly for mingling and can get crowded, but it is well lit compared to the dark basement. Here a conversation can actually be heard since there isn’t loud music like the basement. There are a few high top tables and chairs, but these are limited.
Now the other room is unique in that you have to go thru the door that looks like a bookcase — accessed thru the main bar area. The restrooms and one or two arcade machines are here. The restaurant is also here along with the other bar area. If you’re needing more seating space for a large group, this area is the place for ya.

Pure perfection and a class joint to boot! GREAT date spot for a NICE A list date. Ladies, fellas– do NOT bring your B or C listers here. It’s FAR TOO CUTE. You’ll be sorry. How’d you like to come back and there’s the «L» sitting in «your» secret spot with someone else??? At least if it’s an A lister, you can be at peace with having introduced a quality person to a quality place, ya know? Hey. Ijs. Anyhoo. I digress…
Awesome prerecorded old soul track list that will definitely have you singing along, cool (and handsome) bartenders– except that I shouldn’t have to walk over to place my order fellas– come take it from me next time, ok?
Delicious food from Vesuvius (that seems to do everything RIGHT).
Then, to top it all off, a live DJ later in the evening, that bumps stuff like QTip and Arrested Development. What?!
Totally mixed crowd– hue, age, straight, gay– most anyone would feel welcomed here.
The coolest thing? Yep. The entry point.

The smoked Apple Moonshine was the best shot of moonshine I’ve ever had. The drink menu is unique but delightfully good. The only problem I had here was waiting 15 minutes or so for a drink, the bartenders were not terribly busy. I’ll probably go back to give it another try. I’m not sure if there bar can handle large gatherings.

The atmosphere is great, and the people are friendly. Customer service is above and beyond. I strongly urge you pay a visit. Move the bookshelf and find a surprise.

Love the music and atmosphere both times I’ve gone. They have an excellent drink menu, a tequila drink (with a Spanish name that I’ve completely blanked on) being a standout.
My only gripe is that they allow smoking… but not enough to keep me from coming back.

This establishment was fun. I thought that the atmosphere was nice.
The drinks were priced really well. I enjoyed the apple pie infused whiskey. I will return again.
The only reason they do not get a five star rating is because they allow patrons to smoke inside.

Good place to go if you have never been or if you have good to go to a few times a year.

For what it is, this place is pretty sweet. I’ve been here a couple of times, most recently for the monthly «throwback» event. It’s where the DJ spins the best in old school funk/​soul/​disco vinyl. It’s loud, it’s a bar. I’m not quite sure what else people would expect when they go to a bar.
I found the drink prices very reasonable, and boy are they generous with their pours! There were 3 bartenders working the last time I visited, and they were all very attentive, despite the constant flow of drink orders. Over the course of the night, I had all three of them attend to me, and my drink was never empty. They were also friendly and made me feel welcome, not that being served was some sort of privilege. Though I didn’t order anything fancy, I did see the bartenders making some cool drinks. I even got to see a flaming shot made up close for the first time. Where flaming shots are concerned, they definitely know their stuff.
As has been said, the food is pretty delicious from Pizza Vesuvius. The one downside is the small space gets pretty smoky. But hey, it’s a bar. If I want a smoke-​free experience, I’ll stay in Dekalb. As for parking, there is plenty of street parking if you’re willing to walk a quarter mile. A quarter mile. Seriously.
An all around good place, especially on retro funk night.

Good location, decent cocktail, terrible speak easy feel. I like the location it serves many purposes. The cocktail was good but not made with terribly high quality ingredients. For a speakeasy… The music is way too loud. The way the place is run does not stay true to the prohibition era style at all but it’s a decent spot if you happen to be hopping places in the area

I love the vibe in here. Very laid back, and not as super-​hipster as the rest of the street has become. Great DJs on the weekends and pretty strong drinks.
The late night people watching is out of this world.
The only thing I don’t like are the arbitrarily high drink prices and bartenders that have major attitude. $ 16 for two Fireball shots is a little steep (this is Edgewood, not Buckhead). I half wonder if she jacked up the prices since they were having free beer for their anniversary and wanted bigger tips.
Either way the cool DJs, people, and vibe will keep me coming back when I want to escape the other hipster havens down the street.

Um. Okay. I don’t get it. I don’t get why they did this to Pizzeria Vesuvius, and I don’t get the point. You can’t just cut a pizza place in half, «hide» the bar behind a «secret» door, allow smoking in newly-​created space, and call it a «speakeasy.» Well, I guess you CAN, but it’s an example of blatantly trying to trade in on the whole concept in a really lazy way.
Don’t get me wrong. My drink was good. But they basically cut out the best part of the old Vesuvius space (the bar) and hid it, made it dark (oh, I’m sorry — «atmospheric») and dressed up their bartenders in suspenders. Yes, the drinks are fancier, and they’re good. But the whole POINT of a speakeasy bar is that the crowd is regulated by not only the secrecy of the entrance, but things like passwords, etc. While pretentious and gimmicky, it has the benefit of keeping the crowd small, allowing the patrons who get in to enjoy a more high-​class experience. As far as I can tell, as many people as can cram into the place are allowed in, which sounds awful considering how cramped and claustrophobic the space felt. Whatever you may think about Prohibition, at least they regulate the crowd and get that part of the concept.
Look, I hate to bring up San Francisco all the time (that’s a lie), but this place reminds me of the library room at Bourbon and Branch, which was the room you could go to without a reservation and just stand around with all the peons. It was fun for a fancy drink on the fly, but it wasn’t the real speakeasy part. There was an element of still having to know what was up to get in, but there was still the REAL speakeasy attached to it.
I guess this is also all colored by the fact that partitioning the space like this made the Pizzeria Vesuvius space markedly worse, all for the sake of making a semi-​speakeasy that isn’t even that great a space. And, again, it’s SOOOO small that if there really isn’t any crowd-​control, I can’t imagine ever having a good time there on a prime night.
I just keep hearing Annie Lenox sing in my head:
«WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?»

In a great bar, which is located behind a bookshelf in the back of a surprisingly good pizzeria, a bar which has a DJ spinning actual vinyl from the era when actual vinyl was what DJ’s played, they allow people to smoke like chimneys.
Which more or less ruins a lot of the stuff I just mentioned.

I love «hidden» bars like this but I wish I enjoyed Edgewood a little more. The music was blasting and it was not conducive to typical lounge/​speakeasy conversations. I literally had to employ the dance club mouth-​to-​ear method to communicate with people. Oh well, maybe they should change the name to Edgewood Speakloudly, ha ha.
Kidding aside, the place certainly had the cool vibe nailed and served some carefully made and excellent tasting cocktails. The DJ was playing some nice old school beats and the crowd was enjoying their drinks and lively conversation. I also noticed people smoking but it didn’t seem to stick around, they must have some good ventilation system.
It’s worth a stop and I would return if I was in the area. I might grab a slice on the way out too.

A group of friends and I were standing at the top of the stairs to the music room, contemplating on going back down or joking about going to Swinging Richards. We’d just hit up almost every bar on Edgewood and were looking to wind down a little, when we saw two girls stumble out of pizzeria vesuvius. They heard us chatting and told us to check out the bar inside. We all thought they were trolling us since all the chairs were stacked away inside pizzeria and the lights dimmed/​turned down. However, they were so insistent we walked back, after a little looking found the bookshelf to enter. I was excited upon this discovery, partially because it was another place I might’ve found before Daniel B. lol.
The setup is really nice and modern, a little darkened for the ‘speakeasy’ feel but also like a lounge– intimate yet casual. They had a dj playing that was a little loud for me, but I didn’t wanna be the negative nancy so we ended up staying for quite a while. the drinks were expertly crafted. Not that I’m an expert. they had a cocktail menu that’s easy and simple and the bartenders were really nice. It had a decent amount of people for a weekend night but not crowded– just the perfect inbetween.
In terms of cocktails I keep getting the ‘trick pony” it’s the first one on the cocktail list. I think it has gin and ginger beer and some citrus. It’s a great blend of sweet and tart.

A speakeasy inside a pizza joint = AWESOME SAUCE!
I celebrated my 30^th birthday here & I had great time! The bartender kept bringing some kinda apple-​whiskey stuff that was out of this world! And she was pretty talented with an orange and lighter! Killer drinks ($ 8) — including a very tasty Cabernet! Fun 20’s music! Good pizza next door!
What more could a girl want?!

The Edgewood Ave. bar scene seems to be expanding and evolving slowly but surely and this fairly new addition a couple of doors over /​down from Noni’s is a real gem.
The place is small, is only accessible through camouflaged /​semi-​hidden doors from inside Pizzeria Vesuvius, and is a bonafide scene to be sure; however, it does not get as prohibitively crowded /​frenetic like its aforementioned neighbor (Noni’s).
The DJ spins great tunes and I recognized one of the cool /​hot female bartenders from Dark Horse /​10 High who also works here. I heard the place is wholly /​partially owned by the guys at P’Cheen. I am a fan and will be back often.
My only complaint is that they are presently at odds with United Distributors and, as a result, the bar does not carry a lot of their brands. I am sure that whatever the problem is, it will soon be resolved.

I went here before going downstairs for my dinner. I had one of the signature cocktails, something orangey and it was so yummy, I am going to have to back so that I can know the name. They were packed due to the dinner party going on downstairs (and the reason I was also there) but it was obvious that there were regulars there too. It has a really laid back and a bit hipstery vibe, but I have hipsters as friends so I don’t feel too awkward around all the cool.
Anyway, it’s worth pulling on the bookcase to get into.

Granted i visited on a Sunday night, but i was hoping that it would carry the same vibe as a few great speakeasy style bars in NYC and San Diego have. This being a secret entrance inside Pizza Vesuvius, the music was too loud and the drinks were less than expected. With Atlanta being such a foodie city, this being a speakeasy i was hoping that the cocktails would be presented better, ie: block ice vs. crushed ice in drinks (waters down drink faster) I can only imagine that the weekends its packed since there isna reservation system.
i have hope for this place… they just need to go visit Milk and Honey in NYC or Noble Experiment in San Diego.