"Atlanta's power steakhouse since 1979, named OpenTable's No. 1 in the country in 2024 — reserve for closing the deal."
A bone-in ribeye runs $89, carved in a clubby Buckhead room at 3130 Piedmont Road that has not changed its mind since 1979. Susan DeRose and Richard Lewis opened Bones that year and still own it, and in 2024 OpenTable named it the number-one steakhouse in the United States. The wine list is among the deepest in Atlanta, and the kitchen leans on USDA prime beef, Maine lobster and Southern sides.
Bones runs without a celebrity chef and is the stronger for it: founders Susan DeRose and Richard Lewis have kept the same blueprint for more than four decades. The kitchen sears USDA prime cuts hard for a dark crust, with the $89 bone-in ribeye and the 24-ounce porterhouse as the benchmarks, alongside double-cut pork chops and rack of lamb from Elysian Fields. Warm cheese wafers arrive with the first round of drinks, a house signature older than most of the room's regulars.
Seafood is taken as seriously as beef, with Maine lobster and crab among the starters, and the creamed spinach and au-gratin potatoes are the sides locals order without looking. Finish with the Mile High ice cream pie. The wine programme has held Wine Spectator awards for decades; bring your own and the corkage is a token fee. For the field around it, see Atlanta's best steakhouses and the global best steakhouse guide.
Bones is dark wood, white tablecloths and leather banquettes, a power-dinner room built for business rather than romance. The sound level is a confident hum, loud enough to talk freely without being overheard, and tables are spaced for private conversation. Service is veteran and old-school steakhouse in style, fast and unobtrusive. Dress is smart; jackets are common at dinner though not required. Downstairs holds private rooms for larger parties.
Reserve Bones for closing a deal because everything in the room is built for it: well-spaced tables, a noise level that lets you talk numbers, a wine list deep enough to flatter any guest, and steaks substantial enough to signal you are taking the dinner seriously. The private rooms downstairs suit a larger negotiation. See more restaurants for closing a deal and Atlanta's best deal-closing tables.
Not for vegetarians or a quiet date — this is a beef-first, full-volume business room, and the plant-based options are an afterthought rather than a reason to come.
Yes — for a classic American steakhouse, Bones is about as good as it gets. OpenTable named it the number-one steakhouse in the country in 2024, the dry-aged prime beef is consistently excellent, and the wine list is the deepest in Atlanta. It is expensive, with steaks around $89 and dinner for two near $250 before wine, but the cooking and service justify the bill for a special or business occasion.
Moderately — Bones takes reservations through its own site and OpenTable, and weekend dinners and the downstairs private rooms book up well ahead during convention season. A few days of notice covers most weeknights. The restaurant sits at 3130 Piedmont Road NE in Buckhead, with valet parking. Larger parties should call directly, as the private dining rooms are handled by the restaurant rather than the booking platform.
Smart and business-appropriate: jackets are common at dinner and never look out of place, though there is no strict jacket-and-tie requirement. Most diners arrive in business or smart-casual attire, in keeping with the clubby Buckhead room and its expense-account crowd. Shorts and athletic wear would feel wrong here. For a business dinner, dressing up reinforces the impression the room is built to make.
Steaks run around $89 for the bone-in ribeye, with sides ordered separately, so expect at least $90 to $140 per person for a starter, steak and a shared side before drinks. Dinner for two with wine commonly lands near $250 to $300. Bringing your own wine carries only a token corkage fee, which can soften the bill considerably given the markup on the deepest list in town.
Start with the warm cheese wafers and a crab or lobster appetiser, then the bone-in ribeye or the 24-ounce porterhouse, with creamed spinach and au-gratin potatoes to share. Finish with the Mile High ice cream pie. The double-cut pork chop and the Elysian Fields rack of lamb are the strongest non-beef mains. See the wider best steakhouses worldwide for comparison.
Via OpenTable · Buckhead, Atlanta
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Bones has been Atlanta's benchmark steakhouse since 1979 and OpenTable's top U.S. steakhouse in 2024. See how it stacks up against the world's great beef rooms.
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