Best Restaurants for Outdoor Dining in Sandy Springs

We went for my boyfriend’s birthday dinner and it was amazing! We had Marc as our server and he was phenomenal— the French accent was an added bonus! He checked on us, filled us in on the menu, and listened to our tastes! He even brought out a birthday surprise!! Ask for Marc! 10/10 would go again! Last but CERTAINLY not least in this economy— one beer, one glass of wine, one cocktail, two nice steaks, two sides, and an appetizer did not break the bank!! Talk about bang for your buck!

My favorite local spot for lunch or dinner. Great fried oysters with a tasty horseradish sauce. The snapper special with mushroom au jus was outstanding! Crisp skin and tender, flavorful meat. All paired with a lovely Caymus Walking Fool red blend of Zin and Petite Syrah. Lakisha provided excellent service. So attentive!

A former colleague, and dear friend, Susan, texted me and asked if I wanted to go to Joey D's for dinner. Well... YES! It was a belated Birthday celebration as I turned 137 on the 10th. But we look for any reason to go out and it's always a hoot. Christmas revelry was in full force as the place was packed for our 6PM reservation. That said I was seated immediately waiting for her to arrive, by none other than Kaylee herself, and got my request for a table at the far end of the room. That's my favorite place to sit as you can see the entire room, watch the team work, and have a front on view of that wonderful backlit bar. Drinks were ordered, a martini for her and Prosecco for me, a rundown of specials, and upon our servers return we ordered. Susan had a garlic NY Strip. Ordered rare with a side Caesar and a loaded spud. ( I like saying spud ). The steak was delivered as ordered. Susan commented that there was ample garlic butter that makes this steak wonderful. I had the Caesar entrée salad with chicken. As you know this is among my favorite Caesar salads in the city and it came overdressed ( my term ) in that wonderful Caesar dressing and plenty of grated cheese. There was not a morsel left when I finished. Cannot remember my server's name but she did a great job stopping by to check on our drinks and food throughout the evening. It's good to see familiar faces in the front of the house. Amancho, one of my favorites, was delivering food to a nearby table and said hello, as did Drew the Assistant GM. I come here often and aside from my typical seating request I feel as though I am not at all a pretentious diner here, but it's nice to know that they appreciate my patronage. Business here is good and the team well-oiled. Kudos to the management! A birthday piece of cheesecake to go, And another wonderful evening at one of my very favorite places in the books. Oh .... cheesecake-sofa-sweatpants is the way to go if not eating in the restaurant!

Trout was excellent, wasn't so loud that you could talk.

Ray's on the River is the Go-To good restaurant for several of my friends. We are American but of English background and Ray's combines the highest food standards with European style classical decor and ambiance, functional and elegant. The service is especially good - what I would call International standard professional, attentive without being over-so; around when needed but not always interrupting conversation to ask how the food is. The menu is really good but not huge - they do what they know they do well. The upside of this is you get your good food unusually quickly. Not cheap but an excellent special lunch for two - shared starter, two mains, shared desert comes in at $60/$70.