Gus’s: Atlanta, GA, USA
This joint is located in downtown Atlanta, and it has the reputation for having the best fried chicken in the A. For those of you who are not ATLiens, “the A” or “the ATL” is what we locals refer to the city of Atlanta. We don’t call it “Hotlanta”, for the record. So fried chicken is a southern staple. There are so many types of fried chicken, varying from the batter to the chicken meat moisture. I do have to mention that after finally getting Gus’s fried chicken, this really may be the best fried chicken in the city.
Gus’s Fried Chicken: 3 piece dark plate (with slaw and fried okra)
PROS
- crispy hot breading
- special kind of flavor, and it’s spicy – not overly spicy, not overly salty, but yet you can definitely sense an underlying sweetness. I trust my tastebuds wholeheartedly as they’ve identified some “sub” ingredients in a few dishes that many others did not.
- meat was moist and not dry
- goes great with honey even though I got totally called out for being weird. Hey, to each her own.
CONS
- none with the chicken
- cole slaw was really runny. It may have been better to at least drain it before serving it on the plate.

whole plate – 3 piece dark

fried chicken (up close)
Truthfully I could just buy a bucket of the chicken itself, minus the sides. Then I’d run down to Community Q in Decatur and grab two pints of their awesomely creamy mac n’ cheese, and run next door to Mason’s Tavern to get their not-as-sweet slaw. MMmm. My summary all in all with just the chicken is as follows:
- fried chicken: ****.15 (4.15 stars)
- cole slaw: *** (3 stars)
- fried okra: *** (3 stars) – I can’t really write home about the fried okra, it was good but it wasn’t stellar, yet it wasn’t crap.
You can find Gus’s fried chicken here:
The Mall at Peachtree Center
231 Peachtree Street NE, Suite A-05
Atlanta, GA 30303
Definitely check them out, the chicken is so good!
R/g