12 Atlanta Restaurants With Excellent Group Dining Options

If sharing is the unofficial rule of group dining, Boqueria might have cracked the code. The lively Colony Square restaurant brings Barcelona to Midtown with croquetas, patatas bravas, jamón Ibérico, paella, sangria, and enough tapas to keep plates moving around the table all night. Parties of six or more are encouraged to try the Chef’s Menu, which turns the meal into a communal tour through the restaurant’s Spanish favorites. It’s perfect for the group that wants dinner to feel less like everybody ordering separately and more like one big experience.

 

Near Piedmont Park, Verdure gives group dining a decidedly more glamorous backdrop with its lush garden setting and distinctive blend of African and Western cuisine. The menu travels freely across the continent and beyond with dishes like Ethiopian honey-glazed sea bass, Zanzibar roasted lamb rib chops, African Volcano tiger prawns, and fried plantains. Parties of nine or more can explore dedicated group and private dining options, making this an especially strong choice when dinner needs to feel like an event. Come hungry, but definitely come camera ready, too.

Persian dining practically comes with group dining built into the instructions and Delbar takes full advantage of that. Start by covering the table with labneh, hummus, muhammara, taftoun bread, and other mazze before moving into koobideh, joojeh, lamb kabobs, and fragrant basmati rice dishes. For larger gatherings, Delbar offers a family-style prix-fixe experience specifically designed around sharing. The hardest part might be convincing everybody at the table that “family style” means you actually have to share.

With locations scattered throughout metro Atlanta, 26 Thai makes it easy to gather the crew without making everyone drive to the same side of town. The Buckhead location is particularly group-friendly, with a private dining loft and a menu that ranges from Pad Thai and drunken noodles to curries, five-hour short rib, and a whole crispy red snapper worthy of the center of the table. Thai-inspired cocktails keep things interesting for the adults while the breadth of the menu gives adventurous diners and picky friends room to peacefully coexist. Sometimes keeping the group happy really can be that simple.

Long before Atlanta restaurants were designed with Instagram in mind, Nino’s was serving Italian food on Cheshire Bridge Road. The longtime neighborhood institution delivers the kind of red-sauce classics that make group dinners feel like family dinners, from lasagna and spaghetti with homemade meatballs to chicken parmigiana and plenty of pasta in between. Its warm, old-school atmosphere is especially refreshing when the occasion calls for conversation instead of spectacle. Order a few antipasti, open some wine, and settle in because nobody should be rushing through an Italian dinner anyway.

Some things simply do not need reinventing. The old-school steakhouse dinner with your favorite people is one of them. New York Prime in Buckhead still delivers with impeccable service, prime steaks, seafood, classic sides, and the kind of dining room where birthdays and business dinners both feel right at home. Its private dining room seats up to 36 guests with prix-fixe menus and plenty of cocktails designed for the table. And yes, splurging on the jumbo lump crabmeat appetizer remains a very good life decision.

Brookhaven’s Roc South remains one of those rare restaurants where you can bring your parents, your friends, or your favorite out-of-town guests and everybody leaves happy. Lobster mac and cheese, honey lemon pepper wings, and other Southern comfort favorites bring plenty of soul to a neighborhood not necessarily known for it. The atmosphere is polished without feeling stuffy, making it equally suited for brunch celebrations or a grown-up dinner with the crew.

Sometimes group dining doesn’t need white tablecloths. Sometimes, everybody just wants really good pizza, wings, and enough food in the middle of the table to keep the conversation going. Emmy Squared at Brickworks does just that with its signature Detroit-style pies, shareable salads, cheesy garlic sticks, and those addictive waffle fries. It is an easygoing option for the group that cares more about catching up than dressing up.

For the crew looking to turn dinner into an occasion, Little Alley Steak in Buckhead still knows exactly what to do. USDA Prime dry-aged steaks, a massive bourbon and whiskey collection, and sides made for sharing give carnivores plenty to celebrate. Larger parties can take advantage of preset menus, while the private dining room can accommodate up to 60 guests. Just make sure everybody gets the group text about the business casual dress code before leaving the house.

5Church Buckhead has enough personality to keep even the most easily distracted dinner party entertained. Between the famous Art of War ceiling, upside-down tree chandelier, glass-enclosed sunroom, and rotating artwork, there is almost as much to look at as there is to eat. More importantly, the restaurant is built for crowds, with multiple event spaces accommodating everything from an intimate birthday dinner to a 250-plus-person buyout. It is sophisticated enough for the company dinner but lively enough that nobody feels like they are still at work.

Louisiana Bistreaux continues to prove that a table covered in Cajun seafood might be one of the easiest ways to keep a group happy. Chargrilled oysters, seafood gumbo, crawfish étouffée, shrimp and grits, and Gulf seafood platters give everyone plenty to pass around while debating who ordered the best dish. The Buckhead location in particular offers group reservations and semi-private dining for birthdays, corporate dinners, anniversaries, and other celebrations. Just remember that no matter how much food your table orders, there should always be room for beignets.

Few Atlanta restaurants understand the assignment of feeding a crowd quite like No Mas! Cantina. The massive Castleberry Hill space can handle everything from a dinner with friends to events numbering in the hundreds, all surrounded by colorful handcrafted Mexican décor that makes dinner feel like a quick trip south of the border. For smaller crews, the Parrillada Los Reyes arrives loaded with steak and chicken fajitas, carnitas, shrimp, ribs, rice, beans, and all the necessary fixings. Add one of the restaurant’s many tequilas to the equation and suddenly organizing the group chat feels worthwhile.

Call (404) 574-5678 to make a reservation.