Restaurant in Atlanta, United States
OAD-ranked American cooking, Athens over Atlanta.

Hugh Acheson's Five & Ten in Athens, Georgia has appeared on the Opinionated About Dining Top Restaurants in North America list two years running (2024 and 2025), making it a genuine reason to drive 70 miles from Atlanta. Book dinner for the full experience; the intimate room and serious American cooking reward food-focused travelers willing to make the trip.
Five & Ten sits on South Milledge Avenue in Athens, Georgia, and has held a place on the Opinionated About Dining Leading Restaurants in North America list in both 2024 (#496) and 2025 (#601) — a meaningful credential for a neighborhood restaurant in a college town. That ranking alone answers part of the booking question: this is a serious restaurant operating well above its zip code's expectations. What it costs per head is not publicly listed, but the OAD placement and the Hugh Acheson provenance put it in the mid-to-upper range for Athens. Go in expecting a proper dinner check, not a casual drop-in price.
The space at 1073 S Milledge is modest in scale , a converted house-format dining room that keeps tables close and the atmosphere personal rather than grand. If you are coming from Atlanta or comparing against the formal dining rooms at Bacchanalia or Atlas, lower your spatial expectations and raise your expectations for the food. The room works leading for two or a small group of four. Larger parties will find it tighter, and the intimacy that makes a dinner here feel considered can tip into cramped if your table is not well-positioned. The layout rewards early reservation-holders who can request seating away from the service corridor.
Five & Ten has been open long enough to have shaped what Southern-inflected American cooking looks like in Georgia , Hugh Acheson became a recognizable name nationally from work done here, and the restaurant's two consecutive OAD appearances confirm it has not coasted on that history. For food-focused travelers coming through Athens, or for Atlanta diners making the 70-mile trip, the question is not whether it is worth visiting , it is whether your timing and reason for going are right.
The editorial case for dinner over lunch at Five & Ten is direct: the OAD rankings are built on the full evening experience, the kitchen's American cooking with Southern roots reads better with a full menu, and the room has more atmosphere after dark. Dinner is the version that justifies a special trip from Atlanta or a detour for food-focused travelers working through the American South. If you have visited restaurants like Emeril's in New Orleans or Hilda and Jesse in San Francisco for their lunch programs and found them satisfying, you are the right diner for a Five & Ten lunch , but the dinner sitting is where the kitchen has historically shown its range. Book dinner if you are making a special occasion of it. Book lunch if you are already in Athens and want a quality midday meal without planning around a full evening.
For comparable Southern-focused American cooking in Atlanta, Miller Union offers a similar seasonal-American register closer to the city. Banshee covers a different part of the spectrum but appeals to the same food-engaged diner. Five & Ten's value proposition relative to both is the depth of its history and its OAD standing , you are eating somewhere that has genuinely earned its recognition over time, not a newer restaurant still building its identity.
Book Five & Ten if you are a food-focused traveler passing through or based in Athens, if you are making a deliberate day trip from Atlanta, or if you want a special-occasion dinner with real culinary credentials in a low-key setting. It is also worth considering if you have worked through Atlanta's leading tables , Staplehouse, Lazy Betty, Miller Union , and want to extend your Georgia dining map beyond the city. It is a less obvious choice if you want a polished, formal dining room: the space is warm and personal but not grand, and Athens is a 90-minute round trip from central Atlanta.
For context on how this fits into the broader American fine dining picture, Five & Ten operates in the same tier as regionally important restaurants like Smyth in Chicago or Lazy Bear in San Francisco in terms of critical recognition, even if the format and price point differ. It is not in the French Laundry or Le Bernardin conversation, but for American regional cooking done with genuine seriousness, it belongs on a serious diner's Georgia itinerary.
Google reviewers rate it 4.5 across 475 reviews , a strong signal that the experience holds up for a broad range of guests, not just critics. That consistency, combined with back-to-back OAD placements, is the clearest answer to whether you should book: yes, if Athens is reachable for you.
Reservations: Easy to book , no extended lead time required compared to Atlanta's harder tables. Address: 1073 S Milledge Ave, Athens, GA 30605. Cuisine: American, Southern-inflected. Chef: Hugh Acheson. Awards: OAD Leading Restaurants in North America #496 (2024), #601 (2025). Google Rating: 4.5 (475 reviews). Dress: Smart casual is appropriate; Athens is a college town and the room is relaxed, but the kitchen warrants dressing up slightly for dinner. Budget: Plan for a mid-to-upper Athens price point; exact menu pricing is not published, but the OAD standing implies a dinner check above casual dining range. Getting there: Athens is approximately 70 miles from central Atlanta , roughly 90 minutes by car. No direct public transit link from Atlanta makes this a drive-only option for most visitors.
If you are building a broader Georgia food trip, see our guides: our full Atlanta restaurants guide, our full Atlanta hotels guide, our full Atlanta bars guide, our full Atlanta wineries guide, and our full Atlanta experiences guide. In Atlanta proper, The Optimist, Fred's Meat & Bread, and Home Grown cover different parts of the city's food spectrum. For something farther afield in the American fine dining picture, Single Thread Farm in Healdsburg and Selby's in Atherton are worth knowing about.
| Venue | Cuisine | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Five & Ten | American | Opinionated About Dining Top Restaurants in North America Ranked #601 (2025); Opinionated About Dining Top Restaurants in North America Ranked #496 (2024) | Easy | — |
| Bacchanalia | New American, American | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| Staplehouse | New American, Contemporary | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| Lazy Betty | Contemporary | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| Atlas | Modern European, New American, American | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| Lyla Lila | Southern European, European | Unknown | — |
What to weigh when choosing between Five & Ten and alternatives.
Yes, with the right expectations. Five & Ten has held a place on the Opinionated About Dining Top Restaurants in North America list in both 2024 (#496) and 2025 (#601), which gives it genuine editorial credibility for a celebratory dinner in Athens. The format is a personal dining room rather than a grand occasion venue, so it suits milestone dinners for couples or small groups who want serious cooking over spectacle. For a formal-feeling Atlanta occasion with more room gravitas, Bacchanalia is the closer fit.
The kitchen's American format and Hugh Acheson's reputation for vegetable-forward cooking suggest reasonable flexibility, but specific dietary accommodation policies are not documented in available venue data. check the venue's official channels before booking if restrictions are a deciding factor. Do not assume allergy protocols without confirming.
Specific menu items are not listed in the venue data, and the menu changes, so naming dishes would be guesswork. What the OAD rankings reflect is the full dinner experience under Hugh Acheson's American cooking approach — book dinner rather than lunch if the ranking is part of your reason for going, as the evening sitting is where the kitchen operates at full range.
Bar seating availability is not confirmed in the venue data. Five & Ten operates from a converted house-format space on South Milledge Avenue, which typically means limited bar capacity relative to a purpose-built restaurant. Call ahead if bar dining is your preference rather than assuming walk-in availability.
No dress code is specified in the venue data. Athens, Georgia has a relaxed college-town register, and Five & Ten's house-format dining room runs personal rather than formal. Neat, put-together casual is a safe read — think dinner-out rather than either business formal or beach casual.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.