Joe’s on Juniper
1049 Juniper Street
404-875-6634
Joe’s on Juniper, a community driven, cocktail sipping and festive locale, is a proud cohort in the LGBT village. It has hosted trivia, annual coming-out celebrations and weekly themed shindigs for more than 10 years. Weeknight affairs make the porch, strung with lights and rainbow motif, at Joe’s on Juniper worth fighting for a spot in the limited parking lot. Mondays are Movies at Dusk, Wednesdays are Crazy Bitch Bingo night and Fridays are designated as Theme night, to be determined and advertised weekly. Tuesdays after 8 p.m. means the “best trivia in Atlanta,” according to Creative Loafing, Fenuxe and Southern Voice. Adult trivia, that is, with host and local drag celebrity Brent Star. The party atmosphere successfully drowns out the lackluster service, presentation and taste of the food.
Joe’s on Juniper isn’t just a lively neighborhood hangout; the other claim to fame is the extensive drink list. An entire page of the cheeky and illustrative menu is dedicated to Pinnacle Vodka martinis for $5. The draft beer list is full of the usual domestic pours but also brags of specialty beers including two options for cider and Lindeman’s Framboise, a raspberry-brewed Lambic, or fruit-styled beer, from Belgium. The bottled beer list is also intoxicating, offering high-gravity Belgians like Three Philosophers, hefeweizens like Franziskaner and a pilsner or ale for everyone else. Unlike other eateries in Midtown, Joe’s on Juniper is as fun for your wallet as it is for the stomach. Daily specials include $2 Cheap Beer and the average price for a draft is $5.75. A glass of wine is $5 and the two-page long list of shots is more intimidating to read than to pay for.
The simplicity of good location plus good product for a good price stops with the drinks, however. The queso appetizer, lukewarm and partly coagulated, prepared us for the meal only by the hopes of being pleasantly surprised with the entree. Guinness Bratwurst, one of the options of sausage entrees, cost $5.95 plus $1 charge for the Chicago toppings that are onions, pickles, cucumbers, tomatoes, jalapenos and celery salt. Instead of a well-cooked brat that tastes like meat, the celery salt overwhelmed the dish, underwhelming the experience. Other styles of sausage toppings are called Dirty South: barbeque pulled-pork, and Trailer Park: pimento cheese and coleslaw. Weekend brunch, called Blunch at Joe’s, is 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. The expected mimosa and bloody mary list keeps up with a similar vein as the weekday drink menu– playful concoctions of flavors all adequately styled. Burritos, omelets and benedicts also make Blunch on the porch at Joe’s (hopefully) worth waking up early.