Octopus Bar

I absolutely love this place as a fellow chef eating here when ever I get the chance!!! I literally spend half my pay check at this place when I go

Best! Ramen!
I consider myself a true Roman fan girl, I even make it from scratch at home, and the Roman at this bar is by far the side of the Pacific. Just post far only preparers 20 balls are from in each night, so make sure that you get there early enough to get some, especially if it’s a Friday or Saturday. You do not want to miss out on this awesomeness!
The Ramen was piled high with chewy noodles, and the ratio between noodles and broth was so perfect that we finished both at almost the same time. The chashu was the best I’ve ever had in a restaurant. Not mushy, but with bite and texture. The soft boiled, seasoned egg was done perfectly. (I don’t know why so many restaurants hard boil their eggs or have trouble soft boiling them.) The yolk was still runny and the white had been marinated and was cooked. This is how it’s supposed to be done, folks. We devoured the bowl and wish that we had ordered another.
If the other things we got at Octopus Bar were not as tasty as the Ramen, but they were interesting. We had a salad involving white anchovies, mandarin oranges, cucumber, coriander, and cilantro. That combination of flavors wasn’t particularly my thing, but I knew when I ordered it that it would be an adventure. I also got a fish dish called ca kho that was tasty enough but too spicy for me to enjoy it fully. It had catfish, caramel, fish sauce, bacon, black pepper, and red jalapeño over rice. The menu changes every day, so there’s no telling what will be available when you visit. Enjoy the excitement, but definitely get the ramen!

Pretty neat place. Funky late night vibe which is fun and interesting. Didn’t have the lobster roll when we went (bummer). The bartender was nice and gave good recommendations. Good cocktail menu. We had the short ribs which were amazing. So flavorful. The dumplings were pretty good, the shrimp were flavorful, and the beet salad was awesome. REALLY wanted the lobster roll but everything was good. Overall great place to get late night food.

You cannot judge this place like a normal restaurant. You must keep in mind that the purpose of the creation of this establishment was to provide a place for those who work in the food industry to kick back and get some good food that they would otherwise not have access to due to their work schedule.
Basically my thesis about Octopus bar is this:
Be grateful a place like this exists.
I see complaints about smoking. I see complaints about service. I see complaints about the atmosphere. Pshhh.
Ramen: I am extremely picky about my ramen. Matter of fact, good ramen in the United States is an oxymoron.
Idiots: Oh you’ve never been to New York? Oh you’ve never been to LA? Oh you’ve never been to the bay? My response: You’ve never been to Japan you idiot.
The shoyu ramen was decent. Which to me is a gold star. I probably wouldn’t get it again, but for the States it’s not that far off from the land of the rising sun.
Lobster roll: Not worth 21 bucks. But, since the questionable health concerns of little nicky’s and the jacked up prices at seven lamps and the terrible showing of crawfish shack it does the trick. That might even be selling it short because it was fresh, it had just the right amount of butter, and it didn’t just come SLACKIN on a piece of white bread. (COUGH what the hell are you doing crawfish shack?)
Service: We waited 40 minutes for the lobster roll. 20 minutes in, the waitress came and let us know that she didn’t forget our order, but rather that there were technical difficulties. I told her «no worries.» When we got the check she didn’t charge us for the lobster roll. So not only did she do a good job in letting us know that we weren’t waiting in vain, she rewarded our patience and understanding with a free $ 21 dollar lobster roll. Maybe I’m just hella handsome… I don’t know how I do it.
In conclusion, I am more than satisfied that I can roll up to a place after 10:30 and get food that I would not be able to get without a reservation. Definitely check this place out.

Order what the friendly staff suggest & you can’t go wrong. Just had new menu addition of catfish and while it took a bit to cook, it was was worth the wait. Caramel sauce, green onion & bacon & fish may not seem like a match but it’s insane. Additionally so was the grilled radicchio & bread concoction. I love that the person who cooks it brings it to you & gets in to explaining the dishes. Great place to visit for late night drinks & really great food. Very chill.

If I could give this place ZERO STARS, I would. The service was TERRIBLE. our server was rude. Food took forever to come out. When we were leaving, we thanked our server as she was walking by and her response? «Mhm.» Needless to say, I’m never returning. Do yourself a favor and go somewhere else.

Having tried to venture out to test out Nhan & Angus’s late night spot on numerous occasions and failing, I had high expectations and Octopus Bar did not disappoint! The salt & pepper shrimp and spicy beef were over the top and it’s just a fun spot attached to the also-​tasty SoBa in EAV. It’s definitely worth having a late-​night romp for!

Hours are 1030 PM –230 AM. Very late hours. But that’s ok because you can have dinner at So Ba right next door until this place opens. However, I ate here too because the food is phenomenal here as well.
LOBSTER ROLL
The best lobster roll outside out of Boston. Yep, better than most of the seafood restaurants here in Atlanta for sure. The bread is buttered and … buttered. The lobster is generous and huge chucks in the roll, not minced and filled with mayo. Absolute must order.
CHOPPED STEAK WITH MAITAKE MUSHROOM
This is a pretty small dish but it’s heavenly. The chopped steak is tar tar and is super delectable. The mushrooms are packed with flavor and the rosemary, garlic and lemon are nowhere to be seen on the plate, but only tasted.

Overall, I really liked this place. The atmosphere and décor were amazing. The beer choices were delicious, and I’m told that the wine was really good too. Didn’t love that there was smoking. And the service left something to be desired — bartender was mildly abrasive, and waitress was just OK. I don’t love seafood and they ran out of ramen the night I was there (which was pretty shortly after they opened…), the portion sizes are smaller but the dishes are fancy; everyone else loved their food, so it was overall good. Would return for drinks and atmosphere.

I can’t remember how I’d heard about Octopus Bar. I remember being intrigued about an establishment that only opened after most places closed, and still sometimes had a line out the door. I immediately fell in love with it. Octopus Bar is «housed» within the Vietnamese phở house So Ba. Owner Nhan Le allegedly set out to do something special for his fellow restaurant industry peers, and Octopus Bar just knocks it right out of the park. Of course, the public now knows of Octopus Bar’s greatness and you may or may not be surrounded by industry professionals.
I was really pleasantly surprised on a number of different levels. I was expecting pretense. I found none. It wasn’t overrun with hipsters. The crowd was really diverse on several dimensions. The atmosphere was paradoxically charged and laid back all at the same time. It felt good to be there. It’s going to feel really good to go back.
The menu (which changes daily) is an amazing collection of crowd-​pleasers, international comestibles, and the occasional culinary mashup. This menu is all about high-​quality flavor. If chefs had a playground, this menu would be it. I think the menu is primarily designed for snacking and sharing, though there are meal-​sized entrees on deck. And I’m told there are secret items that aren’t printed on the menu. I’ll certainly be asking more about that next time I go.
We shared:
The Lobster Roll — Delicious. I can see why it gets some hype. Big, meaty pieces of sweet Maine lobster. This is one of things that needs slow savoring, even though the temptation is there to go all cookie-​monster on it and make it disappear.
The Ramen — A giant bowl of a fantastic, savory broth with all sorts of ramen goodness in it. REAL ramen. Good for the soul.
The Beets. Oh, man. Whatever cheese was on those beets was very, very nice. I’m a huge fan of beets. The current menu seems to change the beets up a bit. I’m just glad beets remain on the menu.
Everything we had totally hit the spot. Staff took care of our every desire. I wanted to stay late and continue to sample more things, but that will have to wait for another day. The price point was quite decent for what we had. Overall, I love this place. My friend’s only criticism: the napkins we got seemed a bit chintzy next to all the greatness they were serving that night.
I’m looking forward to my next trip there. Holler if you’re coming with.

Neat little place! I’d give it a 5^th star if it weren’t for the smoking inside, really close to where we were eating.
Cocktails were what you’d call «artisan» in that they were creative and well-​made with nice liquor.
Our table shared several small plates, and everyone got a bowl of ramen to cap off the night. I liked the ramen, but the broth was darker than usual– maybe the chef takes the liberty of fish saucing it.
The décor and ambiance were very cool, including a large octopus mural that I couldn’t stop staring at. I’ll come back for sure, and sit farther away from the bar for less smoke in my meal.

Let’s start with how grateful I was to find this place. I landed in Atlanta at 1am after a 4 hour plane delay, to say I was grumpy is an understatement. My hubby met some nice guy who recommended 4 cool late night places and we chose this one. It’s a neat hipstery lil part of town called east Atlanta. Looked like a great night spot for another trip.
It has an interesting Asian vibe menu that changes daily. This is a casual very unpretentious place. It’s outside covered patio seating with graffiti art on walls. The servers are in shorts and such. That ends the casual part, the menu would look intimidating to some. Mix of small plates and larger bowls and a few big ones. I feel like most of it is designed to be shared … Kinda like dim sum.
We chose a bottle of gruet sparkling which is great, and much appreciated after 10 hours in airports. We started with a white anchovy grapefruit app that was nice and lite. We had a plate of long beans that had the most delish sauce ever. We had ramen with pork belly and egg. Pretty salty but tasted great to us. We slurped it all down. We ended with a whole snapper served with grilled ruby red grapefruit. super fresh and light. All the good uses a unique combo of spices which makes the food great.
Keep in mind that all this great food was being served to us at 2am by a super nice server, art student from Cali. Great service and unique food in the middle of the night, unheard of! We would absolutely return bc this was a great experience that turned a horrible day around.

When you are craving more than bar food for late night eats, Octopus Bar fits the bill.
There is nothing fancy about the space but there is about the food. The sweet corn ravioli with ricotta and basil was scrumptious. I really wanted the lobster roll but I was told that is always on the menu but the sweet corn ravioli is temporary, thus my pick. At 1a, this dish and a glass of Prosecco was a perfect finish to a great night out.
The service was less than stellar, the atmosphere is less than stellar but the food — stellar!

There’s no better later night food (in my humble opinion) than soup. Whether it be phở, ramen, or chicken noodle, soup is good for the soul. The pork belly ramen at Octopus Bar has it all the flavorful broth, perfectly cooked noodles, soft egg, and crispy pork belly straight rock the taste buds. On the other end of the spectrum, the octopus carpaccio was slightly acidic and tasted of the sea. The oil and roe gave it enough to fat to balance it out perfecyly.

The red snapper that my friend ordered was delicious. It’s nice that the kitchen is open till 2:30am– we made it just in time after several hours of dancing.
The food was fantastic –really spectacular. The staff and the atmosphere is nice enough but nothing that is so remembering that I’m going to travel to East Atlanta every other Friday night to go there

Ordered the Ramen and the broth was saltier than the Dead Sea. No joke. The noodles and pork belly were good… but that salty broth ruined everything.
Not sure if I’ll be back.

My expectations for this place were pretty high given the amount of publicity and praise it received after opening, as well as based on the menu posted online.
We arrived very soon after it opened on a Saturday night and were able to get a table for 8 immediately. By about 11:30 most of the tables were full and the place was loud and energetic.
Unfortunately the online menu bears no resemblance to the brief one actually handed to you in the restaurant. While there are some interesting options, many seemed to be lacking either in the quality or quantity suggested by the prices. The ramen looked like the best thing on the menu but since I don’t eat pork I didn’t try it. Having just returned from Cape Cod the lobster roll wasn’t an option. The octopus carpaccio was interesting to look at but the slices so incredibly thin that there really wasn’t much there. It was tasty but again, barely a sharable dish. The ravioli was nothing special but the whole sardines were pretty tasty. If I returned there were some other options I’d try.
They have several good beer options as well as sake and other cocktails. Expect drinking to be the main event here with a few expensive snacks thrown into the mix. I guess the most unique thing about Octopus Bar is that you have to stay awake and sort of hungry until 10:30 to even try it, and that it does stay open very late. Having experienced it I’m not sure it’s worth the effort again. I like my sleep.

Not terrible but menu was quite different than from what I had seen online. No sea urchin, no oyster, no monkfish liver, no dumplings. Was excited about the concept of a late night dining experience with innovative food. Settled for a slightly better than average salt and pepper shrimp. They were served with tails, shells, and heads on… which is a nice touch and only amateurs try to peel them or leave the delicious heads on the plate. Had read that the lobster roll was «great», «amazing», and «spectacular». I found it as I find most lobster, pedestrian and over rated. Service was solid. Prices are not cheap but I’d say they’re reasonable. Crowd could definitely be defined as «hipster». It’s on an outdoor patio so on hot nights you might be sweating while you eat. Wanted so badly to like this place, just didn’t happen. Even stayed up late on a tuesday just to eat here.

This place opens at 10:30pm. We got their a little early on a weekday night so we were the first ones there. They also let us in a little early which was nice. The restaurant is cozy, but as soon as the place started filling up, it got pretty loud.
If I recall correctly, the place is pseudo-​outdoorsy with wooden walls and plastic flaps covering the windows. During our stay it rained pretty hard. I got rain on my face, but they soon had extra rain covers out as soon as the storm hit. However, the roof had leaks in several places throughout the restaurant. While I was unaffected by the dripping water other than the occasional drip on my head if I leaned the wrong way, I’m unsure of the fate of my fellow patrons at the octopus bar.
We ordered the ramen which was pretty good. The egg and pork were some of the best I had. The broth was pretty salty, but I guess that’s expected of ramen. Noodles reminded me of a more upscale version of the instant noodles you can buy at the supermarket; they weren’t bad — I guess I’m spoiled by umaido’s handmade noodles.
I also had their special that day (I don’t remember the name) which was essentially a tartar dish. The dish took a lot longer than I thought it would take — apparently the chef prepares it from scratch. It was small portioned, good, very flavorful with rosemary and black pepper.
Of note, I saw a lot of people ordering their salt and pepper shrimp. Also, apparently they only take 25 orders of ramen a night?
Not sure if I would come back again. I think it was nice to try once, but the place is too out of the way for me and the food not special enough for me to dream about.

Octopus Bar topped off an amazing evening out in Atlanta. I’ve been wanting to go for awhile, but being the lame person I am, am rarely out and about for their late night hours. You’ll head into So Ba Restaurant, which will look closed — hang a left out onto the patio and voila! You’re at Octopus Bar.
The ambiance is really neat and funky with graffiti art on the walls. Service is a tad slow, but nothing out of the ordinary for a bar on a Friday night. There isn’t a ton of seating, but luckily being a party of two were able to sit down immediately. It seemed to be seat yourself, but the server was very helpful and friendly in directing us.
I hear the drinks are amazing but didn’t try any this visit so can’t comment personally. We both ordered the lobster roll, and I have to admit I balked at the $ 20 price tag until our order came out. Wow. You seriously get an entire lobster stuffed into an amazing, perfectly crisp, butter soaked roll. I can’t even. It was amazing. So amazing, in fact, that at first I had asked if we could share one but fortunately my friend had been there before and knew we both needed our own!
I believe it is just street parking in the area, and it’s a little sketch so I wouldn’t recommend walking the area alone at night. There were a bunch of people out and about, but I am just super careful as a single female.
I highly recommend trying it out of you aren’t in getting your beauty sleep!