Thank goodness for a talented chef

4th and Swift

621 North Avenue NE

Building B

Atlanta, GA  30308

678-904-0160

Had supper last night at 4th and Swift, a recently opened kinda-fancified comfort food resto in Old 4th Ward (the area around North Avenue and Glen Iris).

All I can say is that had the food not been fantastic I would have had to do something I normally don't do - complain.

The service:

Our server seemed nervous - must've been new - and started off on the wrong foot by explaining, with a lot of pauses and corrections and "ums" and "uhs", the ENTIRE menu.  Now I don't mind a little highlight convo from the server to tell me specials and/or maybe their favorite dish but to review nearly the entire menu was a bit much.  I was almost to the point of asking him to stop after 5 minutes.  It went on forever.

But - I and my dining partners decided he was new and nervous so we let it go.  Which was the beginning of us letting a LOT go on the promise of good food.

We ordered drinks - took about 10 minutes to get them.  We ordered a (really tasty) cheese plate, which took nearly 15 minutes to arrive.  We asked our server twice for a bread basket to supplement the crackle toast on the cheese plate, and never got it.  Had to ask another support person for it.

Ordered yet another round of cocktails - never got them from our server and finally, after about 15 minutes, had to ask the support person AGAIN to help us get them.  

Server came by, checking on us periodically and, as my rule is to never complain until I've received my food (you really can't control what happens to it and I'm certainly not upsetting my server until my food is served) we brushed all of the service issues off in hopes of a tasty supper.

Finally - after another round of delayed cocktails, it's time for us to order - which of course has been 45 minutes or so since we first sat down and I had forgotten what I wanted to order.  So, had to look and he got a little irritated about it (I could tell - ) but finally, the three of us ordered a flat iron steak, scallops and risotto, and my dish, Three Little Pigs - pork loin, belly, and sausage with mac-n-cheese.

All three were great - from the time my plate hit the table I was turned immediately from my irritated state to one of pleasure and contentment.  The pork belly, always a favorite of mine, was perfectly braised - almost to the point of melting when it hit the tongue (no chewing involved!).  A small pot of mac-n-cheese came along but honestly, compared to the belly and loin - which was lean and peppered and fantastic - and lastly, the sausage, the mac-n-cheese took a back seat.  It was good - really good - but I've had better and you know, it's really hard to screw up a mac-n-cheese.  

My supper pals were pleased with their dishes as well.  The seared scallop dish brought an exclamation of "wow!" from one and along with its partner risotto, was served perfectly portioned and plated.  I tasted the risotto and yep, twas good.  My friend's flat iron steak was evidently great because, even though I didn't taste it so I can't really say, he enjoyed it to the point of using a piece of bread (from the aforementioned hard-to-come-by bread basket) to soak up some remaining juice.  Plate clean!

But again - back to service - not once during our entrees did the server come by.  I'm not one to be bothered to death by a server but at least check once, after a few minutes, to see if everything is ok.  Not in this case.  

So thanks to a very talented chef the evening was saved from being one of the (honestly, and I don't complain about this much) worst dining experiences I've had.    I can only recommend 4th and Swift with a caveat attached - don't expect great service.  As this was my one and only time there I can't say for sure it is a disease among them all, and hopefully it was just one isolated bad server, but if you can deal with what may come (or not come!) from your server, the food is definitely worth a little irritation.