Eating in ATL {Antico Pizza} and Little Italia

Monday night was awesome. I had a date night with my boyfriend and we did several things on my yearly and summer bucket list - yay for new experiences! But my absolute favorite part about Monday was eating dinner at Antico Pizza in West Midtown. A little backstory: this place is minutes from Georgia Tech's campus and I've probably passed by it hundreds of times in my five years of living in Atlanta. I've heard of how amazing it is from close friends who visit often and from strangers, but I always avoided it because of the long lines I've seen and limited parking.

But Monday, all of that changed. We went to Antico around 4pm, and there were only a few other people in the restaurant and tons of parking. They actually have more free parking options than it seems, which is great to know (behind the restaurant and on surrounding streets). I finally got to try Atlanta's best authentic Italian pizza, and YES I approve!

Making a decision on the pizza we wanted was difficult because it all sounded amazing. So we asked the cashier for her recommendation for a vegetarian option. We went with the Pomodorini - fresh cherry vesuvian tomatoes, bufula cheese, garlic, and basil. And it was unbelievably delicious. Check out their entire menu here.

The restaurant set up is very cool. Several large wooden tables for family style eating and meeting up with large groups of friends...or meeting new friends at the restaurant. Oh, and everyone's favorite part about Antico...it's BYOB. People started rolling in around 4:45pm with coolers and bottles of wine, ready to start their own happy hour with some authentic Italian pizza.

Another cool thing about the restaurant is the open kitchen atmosphere. You can clearly see the chefs preparing your meal and go to the kitchen to grab some additional toppings for your pizza.

I mean just look at that cheesy goodness!

After eating pizza, we wandered next door to another section of Little Italy: Gio's Caffe. I couldn't resist trying some gelato! When I studied abroad in Spain, I had gelato several times a week, yum! The entire vibe of this cafe felt so European and relaxed, eating al fresco was a must.

I love how this "Little Italia" area is growing in Westside Atlanta and I'm happy to call this my neighborhood. Believe the hype about Antico Pizza and every other restaurant in this area...authentic Italian food that carb-lovers dream about!! Thank you, Gio, for what you're doing and please keep it up!

See other places in Atlanta I eat.