Lunch in Europe

Atlantic Cafe
325 S. Main St.

Hours:
Monday--Thursday
10 a.m.--10 p.m.
Friday and Saturday
10 a.m.--midnight
Sunday
Closed

I've posted about this downtown cafe before, but Ava and I went by on Saturday for another fantastic lunch. We were starving and about two in the afternoon there were only a few other customers in the cafe. For the first time, we sat inside instead of on the patio. Spring is so close, but not quite here. *sigh*

I ordered the Margarita pizza and soda. Ava ordered coffee and the parma prosciutto panini. Our waitress was friendly and spoke in a mix of English and a language I didn't recognize. I've heard the owners are Bosnian so maybe she was speaking Croatian? Like all my experiences with Atlantic the service is prompt and very polite.

As always my pizza was delicious. Atlantic makes an obvious effort to use the freshest and best ingredients in their food. The mozzarella was high quality and melted to just the right amount of stringy. The basil and tomatoes were fresh and flavorful. The pizza really is big enough to serve as lunch for two, but it's so yummy I ate most of it on my own.

Ava's fries were yummy. They are very thin shoe-string french fries cooked just right. I like these fries best with some salt and pepper. Ava prefers them with ketchup. Also Ava is absolutely in love with their coffee. It was served in a very adorable saucer and cup and apparently is some of the best coffee in the city.

The panini was delicious. It was probably big enough to serve as lunch for two, but when the food is that good it's no surprise Ava ate the whole thing. Congrats! It was an amazing feat of tummy stretching.

My favorite part about Atlantic is for a moment you believe you are in a cafe in Europe. The staff is speaking a foreign language, the extra virgin olive oil label is in Arabic, there are chocolates you've never seen before and the other patrons are a wonderful mix of locals and tourists. The atmosphere is very warm and inviting.

In all for a pizza, panini, soda and coffee it came to just under $25. I believe Atlantic has raised their prices since I was there last September. However, they are still reasonably priced for the quality of the food, the portions and the overall experience.