Elevation Chophouse and Sky Bar located at 1723 McCollum Parkway Kennesaw
(770) 485-7469
If it takes you a while to find this place, it will be worth the effort. (BTW…the entrance is on McCollum Pkwy at entrance “B”…follow the road and signs that say “restaurant”)
Elevation Chophouse is a restaurant located right in the middle of McCollum airport. This place should get 10 stars just for the atmosphere. It was really nice to sit and look out of the wall of windows and watch the planes and helicopters take off and land. This would a REALLY COOL FIRST DATE SPOT!! (do ya hear me guys?) I am told the atmosphere for dinner is great and with all the planes jetting here and there with all the pretty lights…well….it would definitely put ME in the mood.
But I digress….I’m here to talk about lunch.
The Elevation Chophouse and Sky Bar was built 2 years ago in the middle of the McCollum Airport from the ground up. There was definitely a vision to this place. The entire place is made of glass with two levels for eating and drinking. There is a stage area where the Sky Bar hosts live music every weekend. They also serve a Sunday brunch. When I asked what is on the brunch menu, the waitress didn’t know because it was so new. I will check it out and report as an “add on” to this post. If it is as good as lunch, it will be worth the wait.
As you know if you have read my other posts, Elma and I rate 6 categories on a five star rating. Please review our rating system so you’ll know what we are talking about.
Food Quality: Both Elma and I gave our highest rating in this area. Most everything is made fresh in the kitchen. There are details to the food (like cutting the cucumber decoratively) that really make the overall appearance and presentation top notch. The french fries are homemade, thick and extremely good. I just had to try the homemade chips for an appetizer.
These things came out light and crispy and warm with that blue cheese bechamel and the balsalmic vinaigrette reduction. Elma said, “Wow…that chocolate sauce on the chips is very good!” The reduction did bring a sweet flavor to it. Very good!!
I also ordered a house salad that was huge and filled with fresh baby greens that were chilled just right and came with tomatoes, cucumbers and red onion. The citrus vinaigrette dressing finished it off perfectly. ($7)
Value: We ordered a lot of food. I really wanted to taste as much on the menu as I could. So in reality, we ordered 1 appetizer, 3 entrees (the house salad is considered and entree), 2 drinks, and 2 desserts. The bill was $49.50. Not the usual $20.00 we like to spend on lunch….but we did leave with doggie bags–for both our entrees and the appetizer. It’s a bit more fancy, but we liked it. This is one of the reasons they lost one of their stars from us.
Atmosphere: Here’s where this place hits the heights (no pun intended) It was very interesting sitting on the first level (no way Elma’s knees could do the long staircase to the top level) but I could imagine sitting on the upper level must be great.
I really want to come back with some of my friends on a weekend night to hear some music and taste the drink specials (sorry, Elma…that’s past you bedtime) I am told the age and type of person that is here on a typical weekend varies. I asked the waitress if I would “feel like a grandma” if I came here on the weekend. “Oh no! There are lots of older people here on the weekends” (older…..older…….does that mean OLD? I’ll have to come back to see how many wrinkles I can count. ) It looks like it could have a lot of potential.
Wait Staff: I always feel guilty when I rate the wait staff because we usually end up eating lunch at 2:30 or 3:00 and we’re usually the only ones in the place. (Don’t forget…we’re running on “Elma Time”–wake up at 11:00, breakfast is at 11:30, lunch is at 3:00) If we can’t get good service between the lunch and dinner crowd, something’s wrong. Of course, our waitress was great and the food was served quickly and with a smile.
Senior Friendly: The parking lot is small and there were no handicapped spaces, but because it was so small, there was not a long walk to the door. There are no steps to get in, but the upper level is not accessible to those that don’t so stairs well.
Bathrooms: There was a sweet scent of clean (like Irish spring) when I walked through the door. It was very clean and it had a changing table, which was thoughtful.
Other things to note: The desserts are all house-made (except for the cheesecake) I decided to try the house made ice cream. The flavor this week was coffee (my favorite) It was great with tiny coffee grounds in it, but it looked so lonely rolling around in that big bowl. Can you give me a cookie or something to keep it company?
All in all, a pleasant experience and we will most definitely return. Check it out for yourself and see if we “hit the target” or had our “heads in the clouds”.
Some of the reviews I read were not so nice…….. we did not experience the things that others complained about, but we were only there one time. I will go back and add another report.