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This week I want to introduce to you Brittany. She is one of my oldest and dearest friends. We met in first grade, ended up living in the same neighborhood for a large portion of our childhood, and now we thankfully live less than 10 miles from each other in the beautiful city of Atlanta. She’s been there for it all!
In true Turner & Smooch 2.0 fashion- Britt has an adorable (yet feisty) dog, Riley, — who actually has his own Instagram @roamingwithriley– and her husband (as of a few months ago!), and they also enjoy cooking delicious meals!
However, this week, Britt has a special feature to share with anyone local or visiting Atlanta. You’ll want to listen up, because I can promise you, when it comes to the BEST spots in Atlanta, Brittany is my go-to person. She always gives the best recommendations & knows the latest and greatest spots!
Part of making fantastic home cooked meals is finding inspiration from the experts; and half of really wonderful food is pairing it with really delicious drinks. That’s what makes this week’s Featured Friday so perfect.
As the warm days gets longer here in ATL & the humidity really starts to settle in, you’ll absolutely want to know the best place to stop for a cold drink and find some inspiration for delicious meals. So look no further than The Atlanta Margarita Crawl.
The Atlanta Margarita Crawl
By: Brittany
Let me first start out by saying that I am in no way qualified with some fancy certificate to rank food and beverages. In fact, none of the people that came along on this adventure are qualified with special titles or have taken training on how to spot different tastes within consumed edible dishes. We however, were armed with our passion for a good quality margarita, and thirst for a well put together beverage to accompany us when eating Mexican food, or to keep us company on a hot summer day.
This adventure began with the on-going debate that seems to always creep up in conversation when different personalities come in contact. Mostly my now husband and my friends. The debate titled: “Best Margarita in Atlanta.” I had grown tired of listening to the bickering, arguing, and hateful things being said about such an enjoyable drink! These debates would usually happen while we’re already intoxicated, and quite frankly, I just wanted to enjoy my then drink and not have to listen about how another drink was a thousand times better. Thus, the Margarita Crawl idea was birthed.
Coming into this, it is worth noting that Cory, my husband, was confident that La Parilla had the best margarita in town. My friends Tori and Katie were equally confident that Bartaco had the best. Me on the other hand, I was excited to let this argument finally be put to rest while enjoying lovely drinks. I did not care who was pouring them as long as they were good. In order to make sure we were equally grading the margaritas, we came up with criteria that made a good drink. Because honestly, a bunch of slightly tipsy and stubborn adults trying margaritas and convincing each other that one was better than the other would not solve anything.
The Criteria:
Now, please know that we DID NOT order the house margaritas at each of these places. We decided that margarita mix is not the best judge of a margarita and therefore we ordered the skinny margarita at each stop in hopes that this would give us a good feel for their bartenders, the freshness of their ingredients, and also not completely ruin our summer bods.
The first category was presentation. Now this may not seem like it matters because really, does presentation effect taste? YES! Your initial impression of said margarita can be tainted by how it’s presented, therefore you go into your first sip with caution or excitement. So yes, this is a category. This included how it looked, ice cubes, glass, etc. This category can get up to 5 points, just like all the others.
The second was price. Simply put: is the price worth it? This can be interpreted how ever the scorer chose. Was the margarita a good bang for your money? Was it too expensive for how crappy it tasted? Was the margarita worth the high price? A marg could get up to 5 points on this as well.
The last category was portion. Now this is the taste! Portion meaning tequila to sweetness/sourness ratio. Was it too sweet, too sour, too much tequila (if there ever could be such a thing) etc. And the marg could earn up to 5 points for this.
The Scoring:
On our margarita crawl we had 7 people scoring. So when all is said and done, each marg could earn up to 105 points. So just keep this in mind when looking at the results below. If you can’t figure it out… just think of it like a 100 point scale in school. It’s basically that (100-90 A, 89-80 B, 79-74 C, 73-70 D, 69 and below is a big fat FAIL)
Results:
Minero – 44
This sits in Ponce City Market, which is a super cool place if you haven’t been. Awesome place that also has outdoor seating and even if you don’t like their food, you could take your marg and walk around with it and eat somewhere else or shop if you’d like. This idea is great in theory, however you’d be walking around with basically an orange juice with tequila. There isn’t a specific “skinny” margarita on the menu, but that is what we ordered and that is what we were told we got. Normally I would say, “well, it’s just not for me.” However, this margarita was not for any of the people in our group of 7 so that’s saying something. Plus it was the most expensive margarita of the day at $10. I would say.. NOT worth it. But, if you like tequila sunrises, here you go!
Superica – 59
Superica is a great Mexican restaurant, often packed with people from Krog street market that are looking for a restaurant feel and not a market style, find your own seat, thing. Our margs were served in the standard glass that’s like a mini version of a glass cup you’d get at Chili’s (you guys know what I’m talking about with the indentions on the bottom half and smooth towards the lip). Anyways, it comes with a lime which is great, but it was just okay. It’s a little sour… to the point where you know it’s sour and probably say it out loud when you take your first sip just like the rest of us did. But hey, it’s a marg and it does the trick if that’s what you’re in to.
La Parilla – 68
Now you can just imagine Cory being infuriated with the fact that his precious La Parilla came in third. However, he did in fact LOVE the winner so he is okay I promise. Their skinny margarita is served in a great glass that fans outward starting from the base. There’s a lot of ice and of course a lime which is great. You definitely taste the tequila and it’s worth the $8.99 because chances are you are not going to need 5 of these bad boys. Plus, the food is your typical Mexican place and the service is always great too.
Bartaco – 80
Cory was okay with his margarita not winning. Tori and Katie on the other hand… not so much. Although they love the winner, they still love Bartaco’s margarita. It is served in a very modern straight glass, with a lime, and with VERY large ice cubes. It has a fizz to it so I assume it is mixed with some club soda. It adds just a hint of their own signature taste to it which compliments the tequila and lime. You really cannot beat the atmosphere and the cheap tacos that you can get on the side too. Out of all the categories, it lost the most points on price. It’s a little steep at $9.75 and it was not even 12 oz. Try and get a carafe of these things at they’re nearly $50. It is however an AWESOME margarita and a great atmosphere.
The Winner – Agave – 94
I cannot stop talking about this place. We honestly didn’t even have it on the list until I did a little digging of my own of the best margaritas in Atlanta. I’m glad I did, because oh. My. Heavens. Best margarita I have ever had. The rest of the group was on board with this except for Katie (who may or may not have still been a little sour from the Superica margarita that was drank right before agave). It is sweet, tequila-y, lime-y, agave-y… yes all those words I just made up, all in one. They make their own agave and put it into their margaritas and boy you can tell. The bartenders, servers, and quaint restaurant is not one you want to pass up or rule out when looking for the perfect margarita. I guarantee you will not be disappointed. It’s also only $9.50 (cheaper than Bartaco) and SO worth every cent.
So the ending question: Will another Margarita Crawl happen? Yes, probably. Agave will be included in our next planned adventure and we will score again using the same criteria. Honestly, I’d rather just spend the rest of my days sipping on these delicious margaritas in cabbagetown for the rest of my life in Atlanta. But alas, I know the argument will arise sooner or later when Cory or one of my friends venture out into the unknown and find another margarita that they deem fit to put against Agave’s golden nectar… but until then, enjoy your summer and I hope it is accompanied by an amazing fresh and cold beverage. Cheers!
Turner and Smooch 2.0 
